The Pig of Happiness

Booork, boork, boork, book, book... Titles from ULearn!

One ‘thing’ that is often a feature at ULearn is the many references to speakers, authors and fabulous book titles. Seeing as knowledge and learning is universal and in general we all learn from each other it is exciting to know the gateways of inspiration that lead these ULearn speakers on their own innovative journeys.

‘The End of the Average’ Todd Rose

The assumption that metrics comparing us to an average—like GPAs, personality test results, and performance review ratings—reveal something meaningful about our potential is so ingrained in our consciousness that we don’t even question it. That assumption, says Harvard’s Todd Rose, is spectacularly—and scientifically—wrong.

In The End of Average, Rose, a rising star in the new field of the science of the individual shows that no one is average. Not you. Not your kids. Not your employees. This isn’t hollow sloganeering—it’s a mathematical fact with enormous practical consequences. But while we know people learn and develop in distinctive ways, these unique patterns of behaviors are lost in our schools and businesses which have been designed around the mythical “average person.” This average-size-fits-all model ignores our differences and fails at recognizing talent. It’s time to change it.

‘Art as an Experience’ John Dewy

Art as Experience (1934) is John Dewey's major writing on aesthetics, originally delivered as the first William James Lecture at Harvard (1932). Dewey's aesthetics have been found useful in a number of disciplines, including the new media.

‘The Seventh Sense’ Joshua Cooper Ramo

A book that shows you how to build (design) a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage.

‘The Future of Learning’ Mark Tredwell

Having a theoretical model for how the brain learns allows us to develop a Learning Process that optimises how the brain applies its four+1 learning systems. The model is based on the latest neuroscience, sociology and psychology research

‘Drive’ Daniel Pink

From Daniel H. Pink, the author of the bestselling A Whole New Mind, comes a paradigm-shattering look at what truly motivates us and how we can use that knowledge to work smarter and live better.
Most of us believe that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is with external rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That’s a mistake, Daniel H. Pink says in, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, his provocative and persuasive new book. The secret to high performance and satisfaction—at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

‘The Mindful Leader’ Michael Bunting

The Mindful Leader combines scientifically-proven mindfulness principles with world-class leadership practices. The result is a practical guidebook that provides all the tools to transform your leadership style and dramatically improve all areas of your life.

‘World Peace and other 4^th Grade Achievements’ John Hunter

In John Hunter’s classroom, students fearlessly set about tackling global problems-and discovering surprising solutions-by playing Hunter’s groundbreaking World Peace Game. These kids—from high school all the way down to fourth grade, in schools both well-funded and under-resourced—take on the roles of presidents, tribal leaders, diplomats, and military commanders. Through battles and negotiations, standoffs and summits, they strive to resolve a sequence of many-layered, interconnected scenarios, from nuclear proliferation to tribal warfare.

Now, Hunter shares inspiring stories from over thirty years teaching the World Peace Game, revealing the principles of successful collaboration that people of any age can apply anywhere. He offers all of us not only a forward-thinking report from the front lines of American education, but also a generous blueprint for a world that bends toward cooperation, rather than conflict. In this deeply hopeful book, a visionary educator shows us what the future can be.

'Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration'

Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios

The Academy Award–winning studio behind Inside Out and Toy Story, comes an incisive book about creativity in business and leadership—sure to appeal to readers of Daniel Pink, Tom Peters, and Chip and Dan Heath. Fast Company raves that Creativity, Inc. “just might be the most thoughtful management book ever.”

‘The Myth of the Perfect Girl' Ana Homayoun

The Myth of the Perfect Girl explores the changing dynamic of today's culture of perfectionism, and offers practical, thoughtful solutions to promote the healthy social, emotional, physical and spiritual wellness of today's young girls and women. The book is an  inspiring look at how we can help our youngest generations create their own blueprint for personal success and happiness.

The Lie - a powerful statement by 10 year olds

The Lie - https://vimeo.com/182020903

The Mindful P4C Mish Mash - Owning Mindfulness in the classroom

When I was first introduced to Mindfulness a few years ago the 'permission' and support in creating a time and space to teach my children these very important 'soft skills' was both freeing and mind-blowing. I owe a lot to an incredibly understanding and empowering principal and the school's health mentor for the opportunities provided to develop this journey of mindfulness.

I must say that I was more than a little put out when 'mindfulness' became the new fad and 'in' word around schools. It's popularity seemed to cheapen the progress, social development and self-management skills which the children developed through the 'Mindfulness in Schools Program'. And, as the years ticked past, making time for specifically teaching mindfulness became less prioritized. It was not until earlier this term when I had the opportunity to attend the Gifted and Talented Symposium that it came once again to the forefront of my philosophy.

One of the workshops I attended at the Symposium was called 'Philosophy for Children' (P4C). It was structured around oral language etiquette and the articulation of ideas. Afterwards I dived into the great world of Google to find out more.

Here's how P4CNZ defines itself...

'Whether it is truth or beauty, friendship or fairness, what’s right or what’s real, philosophy deals with so many things that children love to discuss. Set these ideas and concerns in stories and novels written for children. Add to this the procedures of classroom inquiry based upon the philosophical tools of reasoning and imaginative exploration. Top it off with a teacher whose role is to develop and challenge the students thinking. This is the starting point for philosophy for children.'

Some interesting avenues to explore:

What excited me was how much of this we as teachers already  used in one way or another this structure in school. It was just more fine-tuned and so closely linked to the Curriculum's Key Competencies not to mention the oral language, confidence and respect it was reinforcing everyday.
Look! Here is an example of P4C with three year olds! ( Three year olds!)

http://www.p4c.org.nz/

http://www.philosophy4children.co.uk/home/p4c/

http://www.thephilosophyman.com/about-p4c

So, in getting back to the classroom what did this all mean to my mindfulness journey and how was I going to use these new epiphanies with the class.

I began by creating a structured 'Circle Time' every morning. This began with the children sharing their news around the circle. It was predictable. They could 'pass' if they wanted to and zone out (often). They knew when their turn was coming, how long they had to wait and whether or not they had time to get their news together.
I gradually began to change this by adding in a hug circle to our circle time. Two children would hug each other and then turn to 'pass' it along to the person on the other side of them.
More changes were added.
Children needed to say good morning to the class even if they didn't have news. Children needed to stand up and speak. A ball was added. Children had to think about who to pass it to. A turn was no longer predictable.
There were tears, embarrassment, impatience, and plenty more struggles.

But how does my mindful classroom look like now?

This morning after the roll all the children scoot up and tuck themsleves in close to my feet. We watch a video on my laptop which I discovered on facebook the night before. It is about a little girl, who while eating dinner in a cafe notices a homeless man outside and gives her dinner to him.

The children then wiggle themselves backward into the circle. "Thinking time!" I call. " What was happening in the video? What did the little girl do?...and why?"
Immediately hands start popping up or waving around by knees. ( We are still working on indicating with our hand on our knees rather than by waving it around in the air.) I roll our little globe ball to a child. Children indicate when they have something they want to say and can agree with others or disagree. They can speak as many times as they want. They all listen as one child is speaking. They are free to share their own childlike ideas without the interruption of an adult trying to form or change their thinking. They think about and process what other children are saying. If someone passes the ball to them and they don't have anything to add they simply smile, say 'good morning' and pass it on.
I indicate for the ball and lean the topic towards 'What does it mean to be homeless.' The children relate this to homeless people they have seen and take the conversation of their own accord as to why someone might become homeless. To wrap up I ask the children to think about some of the things that they are grateful for and we finish by listening to our mindfulness bell and as the sound finishes children pop their hands on their shoulders to share some of the things they are grateful for.

 

Some of the things I have noticed:

-Children are more aware and interested in what each other is saying.

-It is valid and relevant to them.

-They are safe and do not see the others in the classroom as a threat.

-Participation is for all children (Two boys in my class who are on the spectrum have grown in confidence, joy and participation in engaging and relating to the children in the classroom at this time.)

-self-management and calm has blossomed

-anxiety has lessened

... and what excites me the most is that the children are listening. Really listening. Listening to each other and listening to themselves, processing their ideas, thinking, noticing and respecting each other.

It is a wholesome place to be and it is the favourite part of my day!

Notes on 'Blog' Sharing - The Weekly Staff Meeting where the real PD Hides

Mark Maddren - Connected Learner's Young and Old
Just a few notes today on Mark Maddren's PD with our staff this week who is working with us on using digital devices in school.

- Interesting -  Woolf Fischser research program lead by Rachel Williamson hired students and teachers to engage with and respond to the children's blogging and posts over the summer break to maintain engagement and provide quality comments and feedback. Children were showing a high percentage of fluidity in writing and surface features in their blogging and commenting. This was notably different to the deficit idea that children's poor surface features (spelling, sentence structure, punctuation etc. ) would reflect poorly on the school or reinforce poor writing as these comments would not be sustainable to proofread and manage.

Some of our concerns  and questions about student Sharing:

Sustainability
 - How can we ensure quality not quantity?
-  How do we build classroom sharing into the classroom program without making extra work?
Accuracy
- How do we ensure that children's messages get across correctly? - eg. If they comment and spell things wrong.
- This is a public forum - How do we ensure that things are 'ok' and not a 'bad' reflection on the school eg, langugage, ideas, spelling


Proofreading or Not
Kate and Simon's response:
In our class there is a requirement to post one thing a week. Kate responded to some of the questions and concerns by explaining the modelling of good tasks to put on blogs and being perceptive about the children who needed their topic/subject matter learning directed to or helped in selecting which learning to put on blogs. Simon mentioned that 'best' bloggers (most prolific) would only post 3 times per week at most because they were aware of quality and effort required to give quality learning.
Rubrics have also been  designed for blog posts and comments. Children now know what to do with practice.

Marks response to proofreading - Use Google read/write. Teach the children to highlight and select google read so they can hear where they have made the mistakes.

 Other ideas we discussed were the deliberate and specific teaching of our children to analyse and reflect on what they were sharing and 'saying' (digitally)
Right time, right place, right thing...
Are our parents good models of these things?

Sharing parameters - require a lot of reinforcement and teaching on how to comment.

'A digital playground with no one on duty'
 'These children will grow up to be 'good' parents because they have been taught how to be responsible 'sharer's' Mark Maddren

Some ideas in reflection:
How much sharing do we do as adults?
What do we share?
 How do we manage all the different sharing forums? - Instagram, snapchat, facebook, twitter etc.


What the teachers think:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IKzKCFiYgktTAG7lFKqxBd236nANKgNaS6NQFOVaBB4/edit#slide=id.g15ff698af5_0_319

 'Teachers need to be willing to change their practice in the classroom. That is the only thing required for the children to begin raising their standards of learning.' Mark ( In the context of working with Mark Maddren on technology)

To the Very Best of RTLBs

I feel very blessed to have been able to work with some fantastic RTLBs during my few years of teaching. A few have stood out by far in comparison to others. Yes, I do tell my children not to compare. People have different qualities to offer and we can only focus on the present and acting on our ability to do the best with what we have got. However...

Recently, a 'new' RTLB began working with a newly arrived student in the classroom. Here are some major things that stood out.

Proactivity
She was proactive from the beginning about the information she needed and went about setting this up of her own volition.
-She asked for the best observation times and carried these out until her 'picture'/ necessary data was complete. At least 3 obsevations and at different times and in different settings.
- She asked to asses the child and carried out a raft of assessments, both similar and more extensive assessments than those generally used in school.
- She kept in regular email contact.

A Fly on the Wall
-She was completely unobtrusive in the classroom.
-She was engaging with myself and respectful of the classroom atmosphere and current time and place.

She did not interrupt and expect to hold 'adult' conversations while I was in the middle of teaching or managing.
She did not expect my time or input at any time outside of times prearranged for meetings. 

Purposeful
-Meetings were purposeful and kept on track.
- Agendas, ideas and goals were preformed based on data and only required teacher input and collaboration.
-She came prepared with resources and pre-formed documents to annotate.

She did not:
Spend the time talking through things she had noticed... (except when applicable to a goal)
or making unhelpful suggestions.
She did not read through her notes to me!


Feedback
-She provided feedback about the observations and interactions in the classroom.
-She acknowledged the strategies already in place and was aware of the strategies being used in the class and how these could work into the goals set for the child.

Resources
-She made resources (the ones that she used for testing and many others) available
-She took on the responsibility (without being asked) to create the sets and resources that we had brainstormed to achieve specific goals.


To the very best of RTLB's

Thank you for acknowledging that we teacher's do not have the time for assessing above and beyond our 'needy' students. We barely have time for our class assessments.
Thank you for writing up the RTLB IEPs and collating the data so that it presents well for the funding and support required. You are so much more equipped to do this.
Thank you for sourcing and creating resources for the children who need support. It means one less evening of prinitng, cutting and laminating. It also saves hours of my 'trying to reinvent the wheel' specific to a certain child's needs.
Thank you for keeping me on track in discussions and outlining achievable and practical targets.

I do worry about my most needy students and often carry the burden that I cannot provide everything they need. THANK YOU for helping to ease that burden and not add to it.

 

Kate in Action

... a retrospective post.

Thursday Week 4 Term 3

As part of our reflective practice as teacher's this term we are all going around and observing in other classrooms or having others critically observe our own teaching practice to provide feedback.

Thank you Kate Machlachlan for the opportunity to watch your Guided reading lesson!

Ideas and observations:
-Key focus for the lesson was suffixes and prefixes.
-Key word list was resvised with the children on the laptop before beginning the book.
-This word list was made available and introduced to the students before the lesson/ beginning the book.
Idea - Make a list on the ipad/ modelling book
Idea - Use the ipad/ explain everything as a reading modelling book
-All children had notebooks, pencils and/ chromebooks with them in preparation for the lesson.
-At the beginning of each lesson the word list was revised.
-'Experts' were called on for specific word knowledge.
-Word associations discussed
-Follow up tasks were specific to story (eg. article and fact finding)
-Children could access video links that gave them living examples of the story and provided extended knowledge and facts.

To follow up:
-Revise the SHARP Hilton Aery program
-Set up notebooks for turquoise and above groups