Edbooknz terms 2017

+Andrew Murray +Bede Gilmore +Jill Farquharson +Ritu Sehji +Rosalie Reiri +Simon Feasey +Sonya Van Schaijik +Virginia Kung

About the Cover I have always believed that my educational qualifications alone, do not define me and that I am defined by my cultural background, my upbringing, my values, morals, my travels and people I connect with and learn from.

This same belief has inspired the EDBookNZ 2017 cover design. My professional learning network (PLN) on Twitter and otherwise have had a great influence on shaping me into who I am today. For it is here that we learn without borders and boundaries.

One of my hobbies include painting. Although, I mostly choose to paint traditional forms of art like Kalamkari, I have explored Van Gogh in the past. As if by chance, my idea of culminating the photos sent in into a collage lead me to Picasso’s art form of Cubism. Pablo Picasso was a Spanish draftsman, painter, printmaker, and sculptor popular for his Movements and Styles: Cubism, Symbolism and Surrealism. I wanted my professional relationships with my PLN to reflect through my Picasso inspired Cubism and collage artwork for the book cover.

In the teaching profession, we are constantly gaining new knowledge and skills, challenging perceptions; are influenced by the many faces and facets of educators and their educational philosophies. These frame us and our thinking on a regular basis - who we are and what we become as a result of this collaborative learning.

The inspiration we draw from our PLN collectively, inspires actions and ideas.

When I dared my PLN to share a close up photo of an area of their face for the Picasso Cubism inspired book cover, a lot of our PLN contributed. Some without hesitation and some with a bit of nudging. Through the process, I made an interesting observation. Most people contributed a picture of their eyes. So apt, the eyes do play a critical role as the 'Eyes are the windows to the soul.' Through our eyes we speak the unspoken words, relay our thoughts, experiences, pain and we sure can smile through our eyes. When we smile with our eyes, we are feeling happy and channel good thoughts that are genuine.

Ritu Sehji @rsehji 2

The photo contributions came not just from New Zealand but from different parts of the world and although, I was unable to use every single one of them in my artwork, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone.

Gratitude to: Tahu Paki, Claire Amos, Sonya Van Schaijik, Annemarie Hyde, Richard Wells, Campbell Potter, Kerri Thompson, Sean Welsh, Scott Richards, Gail Boddy, Dr. Michael Harvey, GK Dada. I have also incorporated some facial shots of my children.

Ritu Sehji @rsehji 3

#EdBookNZ 2017 People and their 1000 Words ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Cover Outlier Teachers: @rsehji Ko wai e taraiwa ana i te motokā? (written in Te Reo) @RReiri Communal Leadership and Community Engagement in our Schools @smfeasey Coaching - A Way of Being @ginnynz01 Developing a Localised Curriculum - @bedegilmore SYSTEMIC CHANGE - spinning straw into gold. ○ A Kāhui Ako leader’s story two years on. @JillFarquharson Remembering and Forgetting: A message to the the Right Honourable Curran @vanschaijik Servant Leadership @andrew_murray33 Teacher Outliers: The Process @rsehji

This co-constructed #EdbookNZ project organised by Sonya Van Schaijik and co-authored by a great set of New Zealand based educators, yes you as well Simon, for Connected Educator Month.

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Ko wai e taraiwa ana i te motokā?

He tuhinga tēnei o tētahi kauhau i tukuna e au ki mua i ngā tāngata i tae atu ki te hui nui o Uako. Nā CORE Education/Tātai Aho Rau ngā kaiwhakahaere o te hui. Nā reira ko te ngako o tēnei kōrero ka whaia ngā ture o te kaupapa pecha kucha.

Ka kōrero te kaikōrero mō te 20 hekona ki i a pikitia, kia 20 ngā pikitia anake. Mēnā ka pau te wā, ka mutu te kōrero. Nā reira ka hāngai pū tēnei ki tēnei whakatauki ‘iti te kupu, nui te kōrero’.

Mai i ngā maunga whakahī o Tararua ka rere ngā mihi ki te maunga tapu a Taupiri, ka mihi ki a kīngi Tuheitia, ki te whare kāhui Ariki, Paimārire ki a rātou.

He uri tēnei nō Ngāti Kahungungu ki Wairarapa e mihi ana ki a tātou katoa i tēnei rā.

Nā Rosalie Reiri @RReiri 5

He tamaiti au i whānau mai roto i te ao Pākehā me te ao Māori.

He Pākehā tōku māmā, he Māori tōku pāpā. Tokoono ngā tamariki i roto i tōku whānau, nā reira ko ahau te tuarima o te whānau.

Tokorua ōku kōtiro, 21 te matāmua, 18 te pōtiki.

He mokopuna tāku.

Ko Rosalie Reiri tōku nei ingoa.

He kaimahi ahau ki Core Education.

Kāore au i tipu i roto i te reo, nā reira i ako au ki te kōrero ki te taha o ngā tamariki i roto i taku akomanga.

Roa taku tū hei kaiako Māori ki roto i ngā kura Māori. He tino taumaha ngā mahi a ngā kaiako Māori i te mea kei raro tonu ngā Māori e putu ana.

Nā reira ko tētahi o ngā mea taumaha, ko rātou e pupuri nei i ngā mana whakahaere o te kura, ko rātou e taraiwa ana i ngā kura.

Nā Rosalie Reiri @RReiri 6

I tētahi rā i kī taku matua kēkē Pākehā “Why would you want to be a Māori teacher?”, “Your mother would be so disappointed in you!”, “You need to broaden your horizons”. I tipu ake au i roto i te ao Pākehā, kāore whakaaetia tōku pāpā kia ako au i te reo Māori i te mea, tē taea te whāngaihia tō whānau ki tērā o ngā huarahi.

Tēnei tau i Uako ka kōrerohia e Andrew Judd, (te mea tawhito o Taranaki) ki a tātou mō tana kaupapa ‘Being a self confessed recovering racist. Ka kōrerohia e ia e pā ana ki ngā Māori o roto i ngā mahi tōrangapū ā-rohe me ana rautaki whai hua kia rangona te reo a Ngai Māori.

Nā Rosalie Reiri @RReiri 7

Tētahi o ngā kaupapa rite ki waenganui i a māua ko Andrew, nō Masterton māua tahi. Ahakoa ka kiia e Anaru ‘he recovering racist ia’, ka kīia e ahau he tamaiti tāmitanga ahau, he tamaiti hoki ahau o te whakapākehātanga. Kua tipu ahau ki roto i tētahi rohe tē taea te kite i ahau anō i roto i te taiao.

Te nuinga o taku tupuranga i piri au ki tōku pāpā.

Ahakoa ki hea haere ai ia, i reira au. I mahi tahi māua i ngā mahi kaikutikuti hipi, i te ao ,i te pō, i te pō, i te ao. I ngā wā kāore māua i te mahi, i te ruku kaimoana, tapahi rākau me te patu hipi.

Nā Rosalie Reiri @RReiri 8

I haere au ki te kura o East school ki te Wairarapa. I kaha pānui au i ngā pukapuka pēnei i te Horrorkapotchickin, Jack and the Candlestick, Stone soup, Pied Piper, The Enormous Turnip me ngā pukapuka katoa o te rōpū Sweet Porridge.

Ki ōu whakaaro ko tēhea te pukapuka pai rawa atu ki ahau?

Nā reira, ko wai rā e taraiwa ana i te waka? Kei te kōrero au mō tēnei waka mātauranga.

I te tau 1867 i whakaarohia ngā mema o te paremata mēnā ka whakamate ngā Māori, ā, ka whakapākehā ngā Māori rānei mā te waka mātauranga. Ki te pērā, te whakapākehā ka kawea mā tētahi reo atu i te reo Māori.

Nā Rosalie Reiri @RReiri 9

I te kōrero tonu ngā mema o te paremata me te kī “Kia tūpato, kia kaua tātou e whakamataku i ngā Māori e pērā rawa i te wā i whakamataku i a rātou ki te hokona atu i ā rātou whenua”.

Nā te ture o te Native Schools i whakakorehia te reo Māori i roto i ngā kura.

I ēnei tekau tau he kaha te kawana ki te whakaputa ngā ture pērā, pēnei i te public works act, prisioners act, settlers land act he aha atu, he aha atu. Ko te raru o te ture public works, i whakawātea te ara ki te tauiwi ki te tangohia ngā whenua e hiahiatia ana e rātou.

Nā te urunga atu o taku whanaunga a Marama Fox ki te paremata, i ākona e au ngā kōrero o te Native Schools Act. E ai ki tērā ture me whakaako i ngā marautanga pānui, tuhituhi, pāngarau anake ki ngā tamariki Māori. Me whakareri hoki i ngā tamariki mō tā rātou ao mahi, nā reira i whakaakona ka pēhea te tuitui kākahu, whakapai whare, ngā mahi o te kaiāwhina. I noho ora tērā o ngā ture mō te kotahi rau tau. I te 1967 i tīni te ture.

Nā Rosalie Reiri @RReiri 10

Heoi anō, ko wai tērā e taraiwa ana i te motoka? I te tīmatanga ko Ngāi Māori anake i roto i te waka. I pōwhiritia atu ki Ngāi Tauiwi me te kī, nau mai.

I tino tere te hau mai a te Pākehā ki te tūru i roto i te waka. I te tau 1881, whā tekau tau a muri ake o te tiriti i konei kia 500 mano tāngata tauiwi ki Aotearoa.

E mōhiotia ana koutou tōna 550 ngā Māori i hainatia te tiriti o Waitangi. Tōna 50 ngā Māori i haina i te Treaty. Ki tō mōhio ko tēhea tiriti e whāia ana e tātou ki Aotearoa? Ko te Treaty of Waitangi te whakautu. I hainatia ngā iwi e rua ki tēnei kaupapa te ōritetanga, engari tē taea te kite.

E ai ki a Patricia Grace “If there are no stories, or not enough stories that tell children about themselves but only tell them about others then those children are being given the message that they are not worthy of affirmation in literature, in stories, in media. They become the invisible ones, the marginalised. This is not safe for them. It is dangerous and damaging”.

Nā Rosalie Reiri @RReiri

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He wero tēnei ki a tātou katoa. Whakaarohia ki tō mahi i roto i ngā kura, whakaarohia ki tō akomanga hoki. Ko wai e taraiwa ana i te waka ki tō mahi? Ko te kaiako, ko ngā tamariki rānei? Ka taea e ngā tamariki te kite atu i o rātou ao ki roto i te taiao? Kei te mōhio rātou ki o rātou whakapapa?, nō heā rātou? me ngā pūrākau e hono ai rātou ki te whenua?

Ko te wero matua mā rātou e hangaia ngā kura hou, ērā o koutou ki ngā poari, me ērā o koutou e whai mana i roto i ngā kura. Koutou e pupuri nei i te kōrero whakamutunga mō te katoa.

Ki ngā kaiako e whakahaere ana i ngā akomanga ia te rā, ia te rā. He aha rā i ngā kōrero matua e whāngaihia ana ki ngā tamariki? He aha hoki ngā kōrero matua e rere ana ki ngā whānau, ki ngā hapori hoki? Ka taea e rātou te kite atu i a rātou katoa i roto i te taiao, i roto i ngā mahere ako? Kia kitea e rātou i o rātou tuakiritanga, me tā rātou Māoritanga ki roto i te taiao o te kura?

Nā Rosalie Reiri @RReiri

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Ki ngā mema o te paremata, ērā o koutou e taraiwa ana i te motoka o tēnei whenua. Kei te noho tonu Ngāi Māori me ngā kōrero o te Māori me ngā whare kore, ngā Māori i roto i ngā kura kei raro e putu ana, ko ngā Māori kei roto i ngā whare herehere, te rawakore, me te rawakore o te hinengaro.

Ko taku wawata mā tātou ki roto i te ao mātauranga me tēnei rautau 21, kia taraiwa tahi tātou. Ko ngā kaiwhakahaere me ngā hapū/iwi.

Ko taku hiahia kia kōrero tahi ngā iwi e rua mō tēnei kaupapa ‘ōritetanga’, kia noho rite te mana whakahaere, kia noho rite te wā taraiwa.

Ko tēnei taku pūrākau!

Nā Rosalie Reiri @RReiri

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Communal Leadership and Community Engagement in our Schools Writing in 1887, the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies introduced the terms gemeinschaft (community) and gesellschaft (society) in highlighting and examining the shift away from a vision of life as sacred community and toward a more secular society. The transition from a hunting and gathering society to an agricultural society, and then on to an industrial society, he says, have seen community values replaced by contractual ones.

In 1992, Sergiovanni argued for a change in our theory of schooling and the extraction of modern day schools from the gesellschaft camp. Not advocating a polar swing, rather, ‘to build gemeinschaft within gesellschaft’.

That, in order to revive a sense of common membership; community of kinship, of place, and of mind. A mutual binding to a common goal and shared set of values. I wonder how schools might cultivate relationships with families and local community in order that such an authentic sense of community be invoked?

Blau and Scott (1962) say that communities are socially organised around relationships and the felt interdependencies that nurture them. I have an interest in social interactions across the school community and how the building of relational trust might address issues around relational power. Bryk and Schneider (1996) task leaders with taking actions that reduce parents and caregivers’ sense of vulnerability in social interactions that take place in and around school. They see trust very much as a precondition for authentic participation in partnerships. Relational trust is based on perceived respect, competence, integrity, and personal regard for others, and depends on reciprocity. Need we think then on the nature of social interactions taking place in and around the school community and problematize the case for authentic partnership?

We might take a guiding definition for authentic partnership from Susan Auerbach’s (2012) work on conceptualising leadership for authentic partnerships: Authentic partnerships are respectful alliances among educators, families and community groups that value relationship building, dialogue across difference, and sharing power in pursuit of a common purpose in socially just, democratic schools.

Simon Feasey @smfeasey

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And a guiding definition for relational power as defined by Warren and Mapp (2011): ‘If unilateral power emphasises power “over”, relational power emphasises power “with” others, or building the power to accomplish common aims’.

We inhabit a world in which social divisions are widening not lessening. I believe that community development and commitment to social justice and sustainability requires an understanding of how power works at every level.

A few years ago my interest in this dynamic was sparked by Warren and Mapp’s (2011) brilliant work reported in A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organising as a Catalyst for School Reform. The authors locate the problems of public education in the US as grounded in unequal power relations in a socially and economically stratified society.

Contextually different to the UK and, indeed, New Zealand, maybe, but what can we learn from descriptions and analysis of ‘active participation’ in works such as Warren and Mapp’s? Saul Alinsky was an American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing. Alinsky was wholly appreciative of local traditions and values. He immersed himself in them when he organised. He thought the only way to communicate with people was within their experience and you could not do that if you did not learn how they thought or talked, or the stories they told.

Modern day schools operate in a high stakes, ‘standards’ driven domain. School leaders are held accountable in a way they never have been before. Yet school leaders also have a direct influence on shaping a school community climate of trust and belonging. What is it that relational leadership has to offer a vision that is based on empowerment of others? One in which leadership lies not in the position given, but in the position taken (Foster, 1986). Should we focus on forms of communal leadership and how that might advance understanding of the position school leaders might take, accepting that school leaders do have a direct influence on shaping a school climate of trust and belonging through “boundary-spanning interactions” with families and local community (Adams et al.,2009).

I believe that relational leadership turns on our understanding of relational power, relational trust, and our willingness to truly engage with, listen to, and have authentic dialogue with all members of our school community. I would say, too, that in looking to exercise communal leadership we need pay attention to community capacity building.

Simon Feasey @smfeasey

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In exploring community capacity building, we would do well to turn to the field of critical pedagogy (a form of popular education based on people’s life experience) and how that impacts the concept of social justice in our schools, interrogating the insights provided by the likes of Paulo Freire, John Smyth, and Henry Giroux.

The Brazilian educator and philosopher, Paulo Freire, said that ‘Without dialogue there is no communication, and without communication there can be no true education.’ Founding itself upon love, humility, and faith, dialogue becomes a horizontal relationship of which mutual trust between the dialoguers is a logical sequence. False love, false humility, and feeble faith in others cannot create trust. Trust is contingent on the evidence which one party provides the others of his true concrete intentions; it cannot exist if that party’s words do not coincide with their actions.

Community capacity building approaches provide space for those most affected at the ‘grass-roots level’ to identify the constraints they are experiencing. The adoption of ‘co-learning’ and ‘problem-solving… dialogue among equals’ (Eade, 1997) trumps the idea of ‘experts’ administering to those deemed inexpert. Smyth (2011) offers a relationship-centred and dialogical problem-solving approach. The approach hangs on the premise that if change is to be sustainable then what has to be engendered is ownership, and producing this means being patient and flexible in the way in which relationships are created and sustained around authentic trust, respect and notions of mutuality and reciprocity.

The following extract is drawn from a research project carried out in the UK by Harris, Andrew-Power and Goodall, reported in Harris et al. (2009), that explored the relationship between parental engagement and pupil achievement.

Parental engagement seems to be the worst problem and the best solution. It is the worst problem because it can be difficult to secure, and it is the best solution in terms of raising student performance.

The research findings highlight a number of barriers facing certain parents in supporting their children’s learning.

The authors argue that powerful social and economic factors still prevent many parents from fully engaging in schooling. Furthermore, that schools rather than parents are often ‘hard to reach’.

Simon Feasey @smfeasey

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I strongly suggest that we despatch the notion that some parents are ‘hard to reach’ to Room 101 and work on fostering a climate that sits at or towards the end of the spectrum recognised and defined by Warren and Mapp as “power with”. Empowerment involves a form of critical education that encourages people to question their reality: this is the basis of collective action and is built on principles of participatory democracy. What is more…

We are spending a great deal of time, energy, and resources on learning all we can about twenty-first century instruction. We spend millions of professional development dollars searching for those ideas that will bring us success with every student – a success that still eludes us. In all of this, the notion of family engagement, that being empowering the first and most influential teachers of children, seems to somehow get lost. We simply cannot let that to continue to happen.

(Constantino, 2016) Think on this… Joyce Epstein’s theory of overlapping spheres of influence, determines that students learn more when parents, educators, and others in the community work together to guide and support student learning and development. In this model, three contexts – home, school, and community – overlap with unique and combined influences on children through the interactions of parents, educators, community partners, and students across contexts.

With attention to contexts and social relations, the theory of overlapping spheres of influence changes the narrow focus of “parental involvement” from what an individual parent does to a broader, more realistic representation of how students move, continuously, in and out of several contexts and how the influential people in those contexts may work together to contribute to students’ education and development.

As a school leader, I have worked with Steve Constantino’s logic model.

Simon Feasey @smfeasey

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Critically, Constantino’s work talks of and seeks depth of engagement. It incorporates Epstein’s ‘Six Types of Family Involvement’ and factors in activity across the 3 Spheres. Chapter 1 in Steve’s book Engage Every Family: Five Simple Principles is titled Would Every Family Choose You? What better starting point? If we cannot trust ourselves to check back in with that on a regular basis should we consider emblazoning it big and bold somewhere on the walls of our staff rooms and offices? I say that family and community engagement is the responsibility of all in school, and leaders have a responsibility to provide top quality professional development opportunities around family and community engagement, plus the time to immerse themselves in active participation, alongside parents/carers and community members.

Returning to Auerbach’s definition: Authentic partnerships are respectful alliances among educators, families and community groups that value relationship building, dialogue across difference, and sharing power in pursuit of a common purpose in socially just, democratic schools.

I am saying that such an aspiration will not be achieved without school leaders exercising relational leadership and communal leadership in order to ignite community capacity building so that the best interests of our young people be met.

I explore all of these ideas and more in greater depth through a series of blogs, here communal leadership and social justice and would greatly appreciate your feedback.

Simon Feasey @smfeasey

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REFERENCES Alinsky, S. (1972) Rules for radicals, New York: Vintage Press.

Auerbach, S. (ed.) (2012) School Leadership for Authentic Family and Community Partnerships: Research Perspectives for Transforming Practice, New York: Routledge Bryk, A. S. and Schneider, B. (2002) Trust in Schools: A core resource for improvement. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Bryk, A. S. and Schneider, B (1996) Social trust: A moral resource for school improvement. Chicago: Consortium on Chicago School Research.

Bryk, A. S., Bender Sebring, P., Allensworth, E., Luppescu, S. and Eatson, J. Q. (2010) Organising Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Constantino, S. (2016) Engage Every Family: Five Simple Principles, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Eade, D. (1997) Capacity-Building: An Approach to People-Centred Development. Oxford: Oxfam.

Epstein, J. L. (2011) School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools (2nd edition), Philadelphia: Westview Press.

Simon Feasey @smfeasey

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Freire, P. (1972) Pedagogy of the oppressed, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Freire, P. (1994) Pedagogy of Hope, New York: Continuum.

Giroux, H. (2011) On Critical Pedagogy, London: Bloomsbury.

Harris, A., Andrew-Porter, K. and Goodall, J. (2009) Do Parents Know They Matter? Raising achievement through parental engagement, London: Continuum.

Henderson, A. and Mapp, K. (2002), A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.

Sergiovanni, T.J. (1994) Building Community in Schools, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Sergiovanni, T.J. (2004) The Lifeworld of Leadership: Creating Culture, Community, and Personal Meaning in our Schools, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Smyth, J. (2011) Critical Pedagogy for Social Justice, London: Continuum.

Smyth, J., Down, B., McInerney, P. (2014) The Socially Just School: Making Space for Youth to Speak Back, New York: Springer Warren, M. R. and Mapp, K. L. (2011) A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organising as a Catalyst for School Reform, Oxford: OUP.

Simon Feasey @smfeasey

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COACHING - “A Way of Being” When we think about coaching, most of us think of coaching in the context of sports and fitness coaching to life and business coaching.

By definition, a sports coach is ‘ a coach is a person involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople. A coach may also be a teacher.’ Coach (sport). (2017) In a School Coaching model teachers who coach other teachers are visible. The teacher coach listens and questions and then listens some more which leads to further questioning in order to build awareness.

This process allows and leads the teacher coachee to identify a goal or way forward.

“Leadership Coaching is a dialogue in which the coach and the coachee collaborate to unlock the coachee’s potential and maximize performance.

Coaching is a relationship that helps coachees to learn and enhances their professional effectiveness and on-the-job performance, ensuring accountability and support for managing workplace issues, reaching goals and sustaining development. … and also it is about transforming good intentions into great results.”

(Growth Coaching International)

Virginia Kung @ginnynz01

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Misconceptions Coaching is NOT therapy, training, mentoring (is a relationship between expert and novice involving the giving of advice) or consulting.

During my two days of training with Bernard Fitzgibbon, a certified GROWTH Coach, I walked away with an understanding of what coaching is and the benefits of choosing to use a ‘Coaching Approach’ in my Leadership.

I learnt to use the GROWTH coaching process to structure coaching conversations and use key coaching skills to develop the coaching “way of being”.

My Journey I have to admit that when I was initially asked if I was interested in undertaking a two day course around coaching I felt skeptical about how this could help me in my leadership. I believed that I was already using several strategies when having learning conversations and prided myself on already growing the teachers that I work with. However after the two days of sessions I identified the benefits of choosing to use a GROWTH Coaching approach.

As the year unfolded I heard myself using terminology learnt during the sessions and new ways of questioning which I have identified contributes to building a coaching culture. Culture is about the way we do things at our school. This is not something that just happens but is created from the top down.

A collective and shared responsibility is required in order to build a coaching culture that maximises the potential of all.

Virginia Kung @ginnynz01

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“Building a coaching culture is about embedding a conversational culture that contributes to the learning environment focused on constant improvement, where everyone feels confident and motivated in their roles.”

Our thoughts behind using Coaching at our school was to produce greater clarity, confidence and competence around our practice.

“Increased confidence and receptiveness to new ideas and growth bring with them a natural ownership of responsibility for self-development, for the necessity to effect change.” (Robertson, 2009: 44) Coaching relies highly on a trust and honesty model, building a relationship, collaboration and open communication. Anyone who is involved in coaching is responsible for supporting and developing others. As a result there is a shift in your learning. The focus is CHANGE. The GROWTH Coaching Model This framework focuses on questions on key steps that will move the person being coached, the coachee, from where they are to where they want to be.

Virginia Kung @ginnynz01

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The Benefits of Coaching● ● ● ● ● ●

Setting goals (ISMART) - reviewing performance (both own and children’s).

Acquire the skills to select and use the appropriate technology and resources to support and enhance their learning.

Becomes a self-directed, expert learner who monitors progress and reflects on learning.

An effective form of professional development.

Helps with dealing with issues and concerns.

Provides perspectives and feedback on practice.

Everyone has a different approach and suits different questions to suit different registers.

How do I know if coaching has had any effect?

Our staff fill in a ‘Coaching Journal’ which they use to document their discussions with their coaches and reflect on the session.

A survey was filled in Term 1/2 and then again in Term 4 focussing on the 8 Key Coaching Skills checklist. From this I was able to compare and analyse data from the beginning of the year to the end.

Virginia Kung @ginnynz01

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The challenges of coaching Time is a big factor when it comes to coaching. Teachers can perceive coaching sessions as another meeting, therefore the leadership team needs to be mindful about building this time in. We value the importance of coaching and how it plays an important part in what we do. Regular sessions were scheduled in on a three weekly cycle as part of our Staff Meetings.

Sometimes you might come across colleagues who are unwilling for help. This could be an opportunity for you to work your magic and use your coaching skills. Often colleagues don’t know what they don’t know. Or is it plain out pride?

Overcoming barriers Coaching starts by establishing a relationship of trust and where strengths and weaknesses are discussed.

Conversations might include mutual help.

Coaching can happen anywhere and at anytime.

Instead of focussing on what is wrong and what needs fixing, the coach focuses on what is going well and working on these strengths.

Often I do not realise I am coaching. How you coach and how effective you are comes down to the focus of your questions. As stated by Bertrand Russell, “The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.”

As a school leader I wonder if Coaching should be explored and built in as part of professional learning for schools. I can see the difference that GROWTH Coaching has made in the conversations between our staff and the shifts in their practice.

Virginia Kung @ginnynz01

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Reference

Bertrand Russell. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2017, from http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_russell.html Coach (sport). (2017, October 10). Retrieved October 22, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coach_(sport) Growth Coaching International. (n.d.). The Growth Coaching Approach. Retrieved October 22, 2017, from http://www.growthcoaching.com.au/UK/the-growth-coaching-approach O Sullivan, G. (n.d.). Instructional Leadership and a Coaching Approach. Retrieved October 22, 2017, from http://www.growthcoaching.com.au/articles-new/instructional-leadership-and-a-coaching-approach Robertson, J. (2009). Coaching educational leadership: building leadership capacity through partnership.

London: SAGE.

Virginia Kung @ginnynz01

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Developing a local curriculum (At Winchester School) How to review a school curriculum.

This writing outlines some of the processes undertaken and explains some of the decisions made when reviewing a school curriculum. Others wanting to review their own school curriculum might find our journey useful.

This year I was appointed principal of Winchester School situated in Palmerston North. Our school curriculum was reviewed with our school community.

The New Zealand Curriculum Identifies five Key Competencies: ● Thinking ● Relating to others ● Using language, symbols, and texts ● Managing self ● Participating and contributing In addition English, the arts, health and physical education, mathematics and statistics, science, the social sciences, and technology are identified as the learning areas. So the question is asked, Which is the most important? Knowledge or skills?

Shane Kennedy’s post, ‘Curriculum, the culprit?’ certainly caused me to pause and think more deeply about what is most important. In deciding what is important we often turn to measures of academic performance, and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has been a favourable measure by many who make decisions about education in our country. If however, we change the lense by which we judge the outcomes of our education system, then we might be surprised by what we learn about our students and what we see as a result of our system.

Bede Gilmore @bedegilmore

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● ● ●

What if student well-being or happiness was the most important outcome?

What if we judged the success of our education system on what we observe in our society?

Have we got our priorities right?

Content or knowledge teaching To clarify, I do believe in content or knowledge teaching because there is a time and place for us as teachers to impart ideas and clarify understandings. However, if all we do is teach content, then we’re neither fulfilling the full vision of the New Zealand Curriculum, nor are we equipping our students with all the necessary skills that they will need to actually ‘cut it’ in today’s society. Also, who decides what’s most important or what will make our youth most likely to succeed?

The only way to really know is to ask your school community. I interpret this as developing a local curriculum. That is, one where our school’s community has decided what will be prioritised.

In New Zealand we have the autonomy and the freedom to develop our own curriculum and to decide what we believe is most important for the students of our schools. Asking our community what they value above all else determines what we focus on. And what is focussed on gets achieved.

We’ve placed Key Competencies as being important within our school curriculum. When I had been principal for a few weeks at my current school, I simply asked, “What kind of learner do you want your child to be?”

All responses were wordled and the following image helped us see what our community wanted.

Bede Gilmore @bedegilmore

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There was some initial alignment to Michael Fullan’s New Pedagogies for Deep Learning work which has 6 competencies: collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, citizenship, character and communication.

After further consultation with the community, staff and students, we’ve decided on our outcomes for Winchester School.

Students, teachers and parents were consulted as to what they considered to be important to learn about. As the outcomes emerged it was important to consider what we learned about and how this would support our outcomes.

For example, in the wordle above, our community indicated that we want our children to be confident.

Therefore we have to consider what learning experiences will enable this outcome to occur.

Using an Inquiry approach to learning became apparent because this would support our prioritised outcomes.

These ideas were coupled with our outcomes and then the New Zealand Curriculum was considered again to ensure all learning areas would be explored by our students.

Using an Inquiry approach to learning became apparent because this would support our prioritised outcomes.

These ideas were coupled with our outcomes and then the New Zealand Curriculum was considered again to ensure all learning areas would be explored by our students.

Bede Gilmore @bedegilmore

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A Local Curriculum Developing a local curriculum is important because the process consolidates what each school does. A local curriculum should not be about cutting anything out, but rather highlighting what is most valued from the school community's perspective. A local curriculum enables a common language to be developed within each school and is the framework for planning. The review process gives a focus and a reason for doing what we do. Considering what the NZC states and ensuring that all learning areas are included is also an important part of the process.

Our New Zealand Curriculum places a heavy emphasis on the Key Competencies and some critics would question how these outcomes might be measured. Questions asked could include,

‘How will our school know if students are improving at being Confident or Creative?’ This is a fair question. We are embedding our outcomes into reporting to parents so that progress and achievement can be seen over time. We are developing key descriptors for each of our four outcomes so we can report against those.

When placing Key Competencies so importantly within our curriculum, a key component in knowing whether students are developing their skills will be teachers observing students. Kath Murdoch has a term for this; release. She names "release" as one of 9 key teacher attributes in her book, "The Power of Inquiry".

A teacher who can release themselves from the learning process for periods of time is able to observe what is actually happening in the class.

Bede Gilmore @bedegilmore

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There are many facets to consider when developing a local curriculum. I've outlined the thinking to date and wonder what we might not have considered so far. The opportunity to write about this recent work was well timed. It has allowed me to reflect and to justify the decisions that we've made.

I hope that outlining the process we undertook is useful for any reader considering what process they might use as they review their own school curriculum.

References Fullan, M., McEachen, J., Quinn, J. (2016). New Pedagogies for Deep Learning. NPDL Global Report. (1st ed.).

Ontario, Canada: Retrieved from http://npdl.global/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/npdl-global-report-2016.pdf

Kennedy, S. (2014, March 05). Curriculum, the culprit? Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://educationcentral.co.nz/curriculum-the-culprit/

Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum

Murdoch, K. ( 2015). The Power of Inquiry : Teaching & Learning with Curiosity, Creativity & Purpose in the Contemporary Classroom. Melbourne Seastar Education

Bede Gilmore @bedegilmore

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SYSTEMIC CHANGE - spinning straw into gold. A Kāhui Ako leader’s story two years on.

Auckland Central Community of Schools or ACCOS as we have come to be known, was one of the early adopters of a 2014 government initiative called Investing in Educational Success. The purpose of this initiative was to lift student achievement by improving teacher practice in addition to offering career opportunities for teachers and principals. At the end of 2015 I was fortunate enough to be appointed to the position of lead principal of ACCOS. In the early days of CoL leadership I likened my position to a character in one of the Grimm's brothers fairy tales Rumpelstiltskin. The fairy tale tells of a foolish miller who lied to the King saying his daughter could spin straw into gold. The king calls for the daughter and shuts her in a tower room filled with straw and a spinning wheel and demands the straw be spun into gold. The miller's daughter looks nervously at the impossible task ahead. She was hapless, miserable and full of questions: “why am I here”, “how can I possibly do this job".

As a new CoL leader I have to say there were many similarities between the way I was feeling and the miller's daughter. So many in fact that I was on the lookout for my very own Rumpelstiltskin!

Jill Farquharson @JillFarquharson

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My story As a new leader I hoped to provide additional and complementary support to eleven high performing schools who all had exceptionally competent and high achieving principals. The purpose of my work was to build collaboration within the community to meet our shared achievement challenges. Throughout the two-year appointment I have felt immensely proud of our achievements, particularly the strong focus we have kept on student achievement, the proactive way we have addressed challenges, and the collective progress we have made. Certainly one of the most rewarding things I have undertaken in my career and it is for this reason that I am happy to share my story.

Background As one of the first Communities of Learning, KÄ hui Ako to be established, our aspiration was to strengthen pathways for our students as they moved through their schooling journey. We drew on the resources of all members of our educational community to support this objective. In doing this we have successfully built the individual and collective capacity of our members while strengthening our inquiry mindset.

Once our achievement challenges were endorsed at the end of 2015, I felt it important to focus my leadership on the good things that were happening in schools through appreciative inquiry. By encouraging teachers and leaders to consider new and different ways of doing things, opening up our thinking, challenging current practices and creating opportunities for all stakeholders the capacity of our network would increase.

My approach has always been one of engaging members of the community in self determined change focusing my attention of what works and what people really care about.

Jill Farquharson @JillFarquharson

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There have been many accomplishments in our two years and as the leader it would be very presumptuous for me to take credit for all of these the achievements. They are the result of a huge amount of work from our Across School Leaders, In School Leaders, principal colleagues and teachers at the chalkface. This initiative is steeped in collaboration therefore this story is “ours” not “mine.

Planning for Leadership Using prior knowledge and experiences from a joint leadership position I previously held in a learning and change network, I knew it was important from the commencement of my position as CoL leader to initiate change through the process of transformational leadership. This meant guiding members of our community with dignity and integrity in all of my actions.

Early on two sub-leaders (Deputies) were appointed who provided regular support, guidance and direction not to mention numerous coffees! We very quickly set challenging expectations for ourselves knowing if we modelled quality and excellence we would empower members of the CoL to achieve higher performance. We met regularly to discuss, debate and deliberate, valuing each other’s contributions and involvement.

Our In School and Across School Leaders have driven the work of ACCoS including many challenging initiatives.

These leaders have been pivotal to the success of our Kāhui Ako so careful planning was required to build their capacity and capability. The work they undertook reflected each school’s improvement agenda, ongoing collaborative inquiries and the sharing of teaching practices across the sector. The Across and In School Leaders have led from the middle and in doing so successfully created a culture of collective responsibility for excellence and equity across all schools in the community.

Jill Farquharson @JillFarquharson

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At every stage of development, the ACCoS leaders including myself, played a critical role in establishing our priority goals and targets. These were soon transformed into Achievement Challenges which represented a collective commitment to improvement and the action we would take to meet these challenges. An openness to learning and a willingness to share information and evidence was prevalent among the schools. This continues today. Respect as a leader was gained from members of our community by walking the talk of our change methodology ‘appreciative inquiry’ a strengths based approach. My attention was focused on identifying strengths, building on those strengths and then facilitating the analysis of what worked well and why.

Taking time to value each and every contribution from teachers and leaders was important and became a helpful enabler when we were setting up inquiries so they were positively aligned to our achievement challenges.

In particular, my work with the Across School Leaders on open to learning conversations and coaching has been exceptionally rewarding as it has emphasized the importance of honest connections, inclusiveness and the value of diversity.

Developing and maintaining professional relationships is closely aligned to my role as a CoL leader which reflects the value I place on building strong relationships and ensuring they are functional. This in turn means the work we do and the progress we make will be successful.

In our Kāhui Ako there is a culture of transparency in everything we do. Through open and clear communication channels we have been able to facilitate the exchange of ideas and new knowledge. Formal and informal opportunities to discuss and network have been regularly offered at different levels (Principal, ASL, ISL, and cross sector) with the purpose of collaboration around a shared focus.

Strong professional relationships have been established in my time as the community leader and I have actively contributed to maintaining these relationships through a focus on learners, their families and whānau, colleagues, board members, other professionals and various groups in our community.

I believe relational trust, effective communication and highly developed professional relationships are fundamental to an effective Kāhui Ako.

Jill Farquharson @JillFarquharson

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When planning for success our KÄ hui Ako embraces the challenge of new possibilities, makes positive change and sustains improvement.

Professional Learning The community has been fortunate to have well informed members who are up to date with current research around teaching and learning and the benefits of working in a collaborative network. Members willingly exchange ideas, learn from each other and explore teaching practices that work and sometimes don’t work- there is a positive culture of risk taking. New knowledge is collectively developed and there is a strong correlation between this and student outcomes.

There has been and will continue to be a strong emphasis on research underpinning our actions, decisions and direction. This includes knowing about global trends that have the greatest impact on student achievement, synthesizing this information and then developing an understanding of what success will look like. It is important to us that learners make sufficient progress and there is equity and excellence for all.

Professional learning within our CoL has seen teachers inquire into the effectiveness of their practice at a class level, within teams and across school sectors.

Jill Farquharson @JillFarquharson

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These inquiries have embraced collaborative problem solving, expanded learning conversations, challenged current thinking and encouraged reflective practice. By building professional capability we have been able to strengthen our evaluative reasoning to better understand how our improvement actions have impacted on learners and what difference this has made. The exploration of evaluative practices such as asking good questions, gathering fit-for-purpose data/information, making sense of it and thinking deeply about next learning steps has encouraged deep and meaningful conversations between teachers. This shift in thinking and practice has also meant a more considered approach and cross sector understanding when looking at transition points and the transference of data between schools.

Professional learning has been a critical element for us in the KÄ hui Ako driving improvement and innovation.

Summary Having a personal sense of agency has helped me in my leadership role by reinforcing the fact that agency is socially interdependent. Every decision I make and every action I take has a consequence that impacts others.

The effects of agentic behavior is a huge responsibility as leader and one I undertake with the utmost respect for those I work alongside.

Looking back on our work over the last two years I am pleased to say that unlike the Grimm Brothers fairytale, our KÄ hui Ako has many treasures, numerous success stories and a very happy ending.

References Auckland Central Community of Schools (2016). Achievement Plan.Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/site/accosnz/goals Daly, A., Moolenaar, N., Bolivar, J., & Purke, P. (2010).Relationships and reform: The role of teachers’ social networks. Journal of Educational Administration, 48(3), 359-391.

Jill Farquharson @JillFarquharson

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Education Review Office. (2016). Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako: Collaboration to Improve Learner Outcomes. Retrieved from: http://www.ero.govt.nz/publications/communities-of-learning-Kāhui-ako-collaboration-to-improve-learner-outcomes Farrar, M. (2015, November). Learning together: The power of cluster-based school improvement. East Melbourne, AU: Centre for Strategic Education.

Halbert, J., Kaser, L. & Koehn, D. (2011, January). Spirals of Inquiry: Building professional inquiry to foster student learning.Paper presented at Association of Christian Schools Conference, Limassol, Cyprus.

Ministry of Education. (2011). Understanding teaching as inquiry. In The New Zealand Curriculum Update (Issue 12), Wellington, NZ: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2016). Community of learning: Guide for schools and kura. Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Education.

Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Communities of Learning | KāhuiAko. Retrieved from: https://education.govt.nz/communities-of-learning/ Nelson, T., Slavit, D., Perkins, M., & Hatham, T. ( 2008). A culture of collaborative inquiry: Learning to develop and support professional learning communities. Teachers College Record, 110(6), 1269-1303.

Michael Fullan - Public school improvement and the role of school leadership in that process | Australian Education Union (AEU) https://www.aeuvic.asn.au/michael-fullan-public-school-improvement-and-role-school-leadership-process Timperley, H. (2015, October 18). Effective professional conversations [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJrkAENKjzw&sns=em

Jill Farquharson @JillFarquharson

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A message to the the Right Honourable Curran In response to the Right Honourable Curran, New Zealand’s new minister of Government Digital Services recent call for “algorithmic transparency”.

Teachers as evaluators New Zealand schools gather and store data about their learners.

They do this in an attempt to make meaning of the school based learning processes - to determine the extent of their influence on changing the learners’ knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours over time. This data gathering and storage activity assumes that the infinite complexities of human understanding can be reliably and validly represented by a simplified set of statistical profiles and continuums.

Effective teachers think of themselves as “evaluators”. Teachers who want to make a difference are exhorted to adopt certain mind frames about what they do - “most critically a mind frame within which they ask themselves about the effect they are having on student learning.” (Hattie 2011 p14).

My fundamental task is to evaluate the effect of my teaching on students’ learning and achievement.

Hattie in Visible Learning for Teachers (2011 p159) When teachers are evaluators then schools become places where to paraphrase Schama (1995) “measurement is the absolute arbiter of value”.

Sonya Van Schaijik @vanschaijik

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Technologies have enormously enhanced the ability of schools to gather and store this data. As a consequence of the facility with which we can gather and store student data - the focus of school administrators shifts to monitoring the management and exchange of student data as the student moves through the school system. For example - the New Zealand Ministry of Education’s recently released report on the Student Information Sharing Initiative (SISI) is intended to improve the management and exchange of student data.

Balance: Good intentions and unintended consequences Postman (1998) reminds us of five things we need to know about technological change. His first idea is about balance. He reminds us that “for every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage�. The advantages of using technologies to make learning progress visible are commonly described and experienced. Even the most temporary of visitors find that signing in at the front office is transformed into an expensive data collection process where they find themselves - bar coded time-stamped, stickered and photographed - their names (first and surname) and signature recorded along with their intentions and details of their car model and registration.

I would like to explore this balance between advantage and disadvantage. What is the corresponding disadvantage to students when schools have a mandate to gather and to store their achievement data.

To ask just because we can gather and store student data - should we? (Van Schaijik, 2011).

My question asks: What rights does the learner (and or their family) achievement data by schools and institutions?

hold over the gathering and storage of their

Sonya Van Schaijik @vanschaijik

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Does the learner have the right to ask for the sharing of their data to be restricted?

Does the learner have the right to ask for their data to be forgotten?

Calls for data transparency versus the right to forget data.

Schools collect large amounts of varied data on students including their medicals records, academic scores, and character traits. They are expected to share student data in ways that keep parents informed on matters of their child’s academic and social well being. The shift to Kāhui Ako identifies that schools also sharing student data with other schools within their Community of Learners.

Sharing individual and collective student data can help build community and pedagogical content knowledge.

However, when others control and share your data it compromises the rights of children and families to make their own decisions about the data - their rights to privacy and autonomy.

Mayer Schonberger (2009) identifies three concerns about providing information to others who then store and share this information online. In school settings I would describe them as follows - concerns over: 1. Power and control Students and their families lose power and control of the data that educators put online in digital platforms like Kāhui Ako. Sharing the narratives, history, culture and creativity of students online comes with some important responsibilities. It seems to me that the use of digital platforms like Kāhui Ako for communicating and storing information about young children should raise many more questions than it does about the nature and ownership of our students’ digital memories.

Sonya Van Schaijik @vanschaijik

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Who is advantaged and who is disadvantaged when others own and control access to our memories and our data?

2. Surveillance across space and time Technology enables the collecting and storing of unlimited quantities of data and artefacts of student learning on digital platforms in ways that massively extends the surveillance available in the past.

This surveillance of student data extends over time and across all learning spaces.

Who is advantaged and who is disadvantaged by this surveillance of learning outcomes?

Who is disadvantaged when learning outcomes from the past are as easily accessed as learning outcomes from the present?

3. Information overload and impaired reasoning When we can gather unlimited quantities of information - and nothing is forgotten it makes it hard for us to discern the data that matters most. We let detail and data from the past that has long since lost any relevance influence our interpretation of data from the present.

Who is advantaged and who is disadvantaged when our past is so easily conflated with our present?

Building community One of the aims of KÄ hui Ako is to build connectivity between schools through transparency, collaboration and participation. Currently this is being carried out at teacher level and some student level. One area that has been identified for further focus is agency. As learners develop in understanding they will see that autonomy personal control - is an important facet of being an agentic learner.

Sonya Van Schaijik @vanschaijik

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When does personal control over individual student data and information become part of part of the learners journey?

Transitioning data Previously data has been drilled down at school and individual year levels, making school data transparent across classes. With the advancement of the New Zealand Ministry of Education data collection processes, student data can be seen across schools and across KÄ hui Ako. Now each learner has a National Student Number so with a click of a button and a bit of importing and exporting, data is shared across management systems. The system is not perfect we still ask feeder schools for manually collected data and information about their learners. However, the NZ MoE is active in devising better ways of sharing information across management systems as is seen from the SISI initiative.

The questions asked about this data collection all assume that collecting and sharing data more efficiently within and across schools as students transition will be advantageous. There seems little interest or appetite to ask about the disadvantages of student data sharing.

What breeches of privacy and autonomy are built into the architecture of institutional platforms like KÄ hui Ako? What rights do/will individual students and their families have over ownership and control of their data in KÄ hui Ako? Do students and their families have the right for student data to be forgotten?

Sonya Van Schaijik @vanschaijik

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Forgiveness and understanding Privacy and autonomy are too easily undervalued when building an online community of learners.

Therefore school must maintain a sense of responsibility and balance between the legal space of the internet and the ethical space of schools.

The internet has amplified the ideals of freedom of expression as well as the importance of privacy. Along with the advancement of cloud technology it has enabled ease of data storage in ways that have raised questions over the legalities of who owns the rights to control the data collected - its use and how long it should be stored.

Thinking about this in the context of schools makes it apparent that we must think past issues of data ownership and consider the collection and storage of student data in the context of forgiveness and understanding of what it is to be a young learner.

What limitations should we put on the storage of student data in the context of forgiveness and understanding?

What should we remember to forget?

The right to forget data As children move between levels historical academic data can now be accessed to give a clearer understanding of the progress of learning which gives a clearer learning picture than benchmarking against National Standards. As learners move sectors other information is also asked for and again the question is asked ‘What needs to stay out of the data gathering and might be better forgotten?’ Some schools believe that all information helps give a better picture of the child.

Sonya Van Schaijik @vanschaijik

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Yet surely there needs to be a balance to include new beginnings. Therefore ‘How much and what gets passed on?’ As is often heard, ‘if a child is in the banana’s reading group they will stay in the banana’s reading group.’

Hook, (2010) reminds us that “When the control remains with the producer of the content, and we shift the default back from retaining information forever to forgetting it after different time periods we restore something of what it is to live well with technology, we restore what it is to be human.”

I urge that all members of Kāhui Ako to find a positive balance between our communities desire for transparency and our students right to privacy so that each child and their families can be involved in the decision making over what happens to their personal details and data.

I’d like all school communities to discuss how their student data is gathered and shared. We must ensure that any data gathering has a purpose and any data sharing is done with fully informed consent - respecting fundamental rights and liberties of students and families over the use of their data - including decisions on how long student data can be stored or when it should be forgotten and deleted Note: I wish to acknowledge Pam Hook who as usual can really challenge my beliefs and thinking especially around using Digital Tools. She always gives fabulous precise feedback for my writing and helps me phrase what I need to say without loosing my voice.

Sonya Van Schaijik @vanschaijik

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References Curran, C., Hon. (2017, November 9). Address to Nethui 2017, Aotea Centre, Auckland. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/address-nethui-2017-aotea-centre-auckland Hattie, JAC. (2012). Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximising impact on learning. London: Routledge.

Hook, P. (2010, May 16). A giant romance of primitive life and unfettered love. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from http://artichoke.typepad.com/artichoke/2010/05/a-giant-romance-of-primitive-life-and-unfettered-love.html Mayer-Schönberger, V. (2009 , October 22). Delete: the virtue of forgetting in the digital age. The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. [video file]. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://youtu.be/XwxVA0UMwLY Mayer-Schönberger, V. (2011) Delete The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age. Princeton University Press.

Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://www.education.govt.nz/further-education/communities-of-learning-kahui-ako-information-for-postsecond ary-education-and-training-providers/ Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Data Services. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/data-services

Sonya Van Schaijik @vanschaijik

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Ministry of Education. (2016, June 22). Student Information Sharing Initiative Report. Retrieved November 11, 2017, from https://education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Ministry/consultations/SISI-Report-FINAL.pdf Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Student Information Sharing Initiative (SISI). Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://www.education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/specific-initiatives/integrated-education-data-ied-programm e/student-information-sharing-initiative-sisi/ Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Managing Student Data. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Connected-Learning-Advisory/Resources/Managing-student-data Ministry of Education. (n.d.). National Student Number. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://www.education.govt.nz/school/managing-and-supporting-students/national-student-number-nsn-for-scho ols/ Postman, N. (1998, 28 March). Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change. Talk delivered in Denver Colorado. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Neil_Postman:_Five_Things_We_Need_to_Know_About_Technological_Change Schama, S. (1995). Landscape and memory. London: HarperCollins. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from http://www.amazon.com/Landscape-Memory-Simon-Schama/dp/0679735127 Van Schaijik, S. (2011, August 14). How young is too young to have an email? Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://sonyavanschaijik.com/2011/08/14/how-young-is-too-young-to-have-an-email/

Sonya Van Schaijik @vanschaijik

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Servant Leadership Recently I was away with my Year 12 students considering leadership. Too often people associate leadership with a status to be earned, or a title that bestows power. Certainly, under some circumstances, those definitions are accurate. But I like to think of leadership differently. I think a great deal about St Paul’s thoughts on servant leadership.

There is a belief that I hold dear—we all can be leaders, and each of us has our own unique brand of leadership to contribute to the world. The question is if, when, and how we actually ever step into that leadership.

Finding our leadership is about finding our best selves, and then figuring out how and where to contribute our best selves to the world. Stepping into our leadership is about having the courage to do just that.

Sometimes having courage to not step up when the time is not right.

While away I thought about this quote around leadership: There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord, there are different workings by the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7) I am self-aware that my leadership philosophy is continually growing and developing. I am truly a life-long learner.

I believe a leader must be vulnerable and admit to not have all the answers. This is something that I have learnt over the past twenty years.

Leadership development calls forth the diverse gifts of people in our faith communities, and affirms their talents and abilities. So much depends on leadership in our ministry and as leaders we need to be called, trained and encouraged. As I am called to be leader I call others to walk with me acknowledging who they are.

The idea that we see the whole person, the three ‘identities’ he tangata, he tangata, he tangata– acknowledging our past, present and future.

Andrew Murray @andrew_murray33

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Teacher Outliers THE DESIRE TO LIVE ON THE EDGE Introduction Yay, the holidays! I was excited to have a bit more time to relax now.

Sleep ins and brunches, I was pumped to have a bit more time on hand to do some professional readings, catch up with friends who always give me something more to think about; time to get my slow cooker out and trial new recipes! Like all previous term breaks, I resorted to checking tweets and post by my PLN in between chores and other activities. Once again I was drawn to a tweet by my good friend, Sonya Van Schaijik.

Sonya is an Across School Lead Teacher for the Auckland Central Communities of Schools and a Wizard.

Ritu Sehji @rsehji 49

THE WONDERINGS Once I viewed the details and checked the other authors on the list the fear set in and my wonderings and doubts hit the ceiling. I scrolled down on the link to see who the other writers were in the previous years. Oh no, I hesitated, I am not as good as the educators on the list I. I hit retweet while still wondering deeply. And almost immediately, as if Sonya could read my mind, she invited me to participate.

So here I am! The topic she thought was apt for me was “Teacher Outliers” (TOs). Was I a Teacher Outlier? Even if I believe I was what traits do I demonstrate? Do others think the same about me or it is just my perception? What are the traits of TOs? How many of these do I embody?

Teacher Outliers – the definition I realized that TOs was a buzz word and many of my online PLN wondered what it meant including me. So I hit google…Images (I am impatient, and a visual learner in need for an instant overview). Ok, the dictionary definition- so an anomaly, different from the rest.

Did it have something to do with Success? Outliers in statistics? median, mode and outliers? I also found books on Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and Dr. John Shufeldt.

And then I came upon a post on Connected Principals link “Creating Innovators with “Outlier teachers:” A sneak peek at Tony Wagner’s new book.

Ritu Sehji @rsehji 50

A few things stood out as I looked for the definition or traits of TOs● ● ● ● ●

Outside of status quo Somebody outside Looks at things different way different approach different understanding of issue in education Sees different paradigm aspects of leadership, nuts Positive image- driving change through action and seeing results

THE WHY? To be a 21st century educator we must seeks to strengthen our learners’ future by teaching them to be super creative and successful problem-solvers by focusing on educational innovation, and, educating students to be innovative more so in this ever fast changing world.

THE WHAT? https://storify.com/rsehji/teacher-outliers According to Tony Wagner’s interview of super innovators themselves and their teachers and parents he identified that every super innovator identified a teacher● ● ●

Who inspired Set them on a course Who were outliers -out of the norm, eccentrics, distinctly different from most other teachers

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On the basis of Tony’s research, we could focus on the 5 fundamental constants of TOs: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Classroom culture that focuses on collaboration not individual collaboration Teaching practice is multidisciplinary covering many topics and subjects and not one of specialization, narrow disciplines or boundaries Practice and seek students to trial and error and not risk avoidance, facilitate an environment of risk taking Promote creating meaningful products not consuming or replicating Employ intrinsic not extrinsic motivation with learners THE HOW? Allow students many opportunities. pursue their passion, passions they found by play (creative play not limited by screens) and discovery. Maker space QUESTIONS TO ASK OURSELVES Are we aware of who the “outliers” are on our faculties? Do we have enough of them? Are we recruiting them, and are we protecting them? Are there enough opportunities for them to “break-out” and innovate?

Do the students have enough opportunities to take risks, and learn from failure and by trial and error? Are we asking them often enough, and pushing them vigorously enough, to generate and produce real product, to create rather than consume?

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How do we help the students develop the skills of effective and quality collaboration that stimulates and supports innovation?

Do we review the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and seek to find the best and ideal blend for our staff and students?

“AM I A TEACHER OUTLIER?” Ponder this! Maybe this might just inspire you to aspire for more than you already imagine you are.

Based on the feedback and contribution from a few of my PLN here are some of the traits they identified in me. How many can you tick off?

Question I asked – Why do you think I might be an Outlier?

Here are some of the quotes:

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So my question to you is: Are you a TO? If yes, what traits do you demonstrate?

What does being a TO mean to you? How would you define it?

Check out Richard Wells, Kerri Thompson, Dr. Michael Harvey and Patricia White’s video posts on @flipgrid and do share your thoughts and join in the discussion on: https://flipgrid.com/ozlwjem I look forward to hearing from you.

Message from Sonya This year the book began Teacher Outlier for the cover and it is only fitting to end with Teacher Outlier. The process and feelings that Ritu explained gives you some idea of what each writer goes through.

The EdBookNZ initiative is an ongoing process and I really like the idea of ending with FlipGrid because it is about keeping the discussion going. So do hop on and add your ‘TO’ voice.

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Andrew Murray

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Bede Gilmore

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Jill Farquharson

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https://theroadlesstravelledby.com/

Sonya Van Schaijik

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Virginia Kung

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http://ginnyaotearoa.blogspot.com/

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