National Standards con't...

We are doing our best with National Standards despite:

- A total lack of effective PD

- Confusion at the highest levels about specifics around implementation

- A lack of research and meaningful justification as to why we would report against age for the first three years of a child's schooling and then suddenly switch to year end reporting

- Conflicting statements from the various PD providers about how to implement the standards

- All the providers suggesting that we go back to school and determine what the standards mean to us (are they or are they not National Standards?)

- funding

But this is not the biggest issue. The biggest issue is that the standards have done and will do little if nothing to help the underachieving children in NZ. It was interesting to hear the media and Government acknowledge the massive issue of child poverty in NZ (200 000 children!)- Start there folks- look at the link between poverty and underachievement, address poverty and social inequities and you will begin to deal with under achievement.

National Standards will not help!

Despite this my staff and I continue to comply and do all that we can to ensure that the children at Windsor are not disadvantaged because of the standards (i.e being labelled "Below" in 2011- a year of unprecedented change, disruption, crisis and turmoil!)

We have entered the stage where our children are now guinea pigs for an untried, unproven and questionable practice- what a shame

Neill

Canterbury Children

I was amazed last week.

At our Learning Celebration Assembly (LCA) we had so much to celebrate that we were still going well after 3:00pm! Our children started the LCA with a moving rendition of the National Anthem on the eve of the launch of the Rugby World Cup. This was followed by children sharing their learning, their PRIDE challenges, our Jump Jam teams (who came 2nd and 7h respectively out of 143 teams nationally) performed and then Chris from World Vision spoke. This was the highlight for me. In a year when so much has been taken from the families of Canterbury the children of Windsor raised more money than they ever had for the children of Timor. Such was their generosity that our school was the top school in the South Island. Go Canterbury, Go Windsor , Go our children!

Lifelong and Self Regulated Learners

Randomly interview 32 children from 16 classes about their learning goals with no warning and allowing no prompts and what would you expect? I expected they might know something about their learning- like perhaps a few goals.

What I found was really exciting.

The majority (80%) could talk to me about their goals and next steps in reading, writing,maths and even a Key Competency (especially self management) goal.

These children could articulate what they were learning, why they were learning it and how they would know if they were successful. What a transition from 10 years ago when we "Did" learning to children. Now we engage and empower them, we encourage them to take responsibility for their own learning and we have an expectation that they can communicate their progress.

The aim of developing lifelong learners is very admirable, the reality- seeing it in practice is awesome!

The next step- if I, or someone asks a child What are you learning at the moment and why?"- can they respond in a meaningful manner, is there a close link between what the teacher was intending (the learning intention) and the learning that is taking place?

Skillful Thinkers

I recently had the pleasure of attending a workshop by Edward de Bono in Belfast Northern Ireland. His presentation regarding "Thought full lesson design" really resonated with me. Two key aspects struck a note:

1. To ensure that we are fully aware and plan for the understandings that we want the children to develop in a rich context

2. To plan to develop skillful thinkers by the language we as teachers use in the lessons as well as the teaching strategies we teach the children.

It sounds so simple yet it is so critical. What are we trying to do if not to develop skillful thinkers?

Yet to do this a teacher needs to consider:

- the type of thinking that is required for the child to be successful

- replacing "I want you to think about..." with " I want you to consider or debate, or discuss, or analyse etc..."

- the understandings (and what this actually means) to be developed and then the process to achieve this- this goes well beyond rote knowledge and is based on a conceptual curriculum

That is we become more precise about the type of thinking we are asking to child to engage in.

At Windsor we staff have placed large copies of words to use in place of "think" on the wall to provide prompts to themselves and children. Just one small step but I believe a powerful one. In addition they have planned for the type of thinking that will be required in the lesson and they have continued with developing specific deep understandings of concept based curriculum in their Inquiry Modules.

Thank you Edward for complimenting our work and providing some very useful insights to develop our children's thinking!

Why do we do what we do?

One of the biggest challenges in education is critical reflection.

It is a challenge because without it we (educators) do what we have always done and what was done to us. Why wouldn't we , we are a successful outcome of a western education system so why not replicate it.

My belief is that we should reflect deeply on all that we do, and be immersed in the best research and studies about teaching and learning so that we might improve our learning environments. You may think I am stating the obvious but if reflective practice was occuring regularly in our schools why are so many practices the same as what was evident 20-30 years ago?

Why in many schools:

- Are there still "Parent, Teacher " interviews without the child present?

- Do we still have seating that is all groups or all in single tables?

- Do teachers ask most of the questions in the classroom?

- Is homework unchanged from our parents day?

- Are lessons set between 9:00 and 3:00 and children at 5 years have the same length day as children at 12 years in NZ?

- Do we get children to line up in two straight lines

- Do we give the message to parents and children that successful learners are "Good and listen to the teacher and don't talk" rather than "Creative, questioning, critical, collaborative, interacting and active"

- Do children still not know what they are learning, why they are learning it and are aware of the success criteria

- Are facts and memorising information for tests valued

- Do we still teach topics (on a bi annual cycle) that often have no meaningful link to the child's world

I believe that if we are reflective, look at Best Practice Evidence and research about learning we might just challenge the above which are at the tip of the iceberg in terms of questionable practice in schools in 2011.

Laugh Out Loud! (LOL)

Why not laugh?

I attended a workshop at ICOT in Belfast last week that was literally a laugh (http://www.laughteryoga.org/).

The underpinning premise was that laughter is healing, heathy and restorative. The workshop had me doubled over laughing with a group of people I had never met before- I laugh a lot so this was not an entirely new experience for me- and we connected on a different level to all other workshops at the conference.

I wonder if you laugh enough?

As an educator it is very easy to look at the negatives in school- constant earthquakes, we were burgled last night at Windsor $100000 worth of i pads stolen, stressed staff, troubled children, upset parents, however it is relatively easy to adjust my attitude- just visiting the playground at interval or lunch and I will see and hear children laughing, usually our staffroom is filled with laughter.

Children appear to be able to laugh at the drop of a hat- as we get older we appear to be conditioned to take more care about why,when, where, how and with whom we laugh- and often we don't do it at all. One of our Teaching and Learning Beliefs at Windsor is " A positive and challenging learning environment", you can bet that means bring on the laughs (as well as giving 100% in our learning)

If you are an educator ask yourself the question, "Do I enable laughter and a positive learning environment?"

If not then I suggest you re think your role with children. Children are a joy, they bring joy with them, life is hard enough (we can attest to this in Christchurch), find a way to encourage laughter today in your school, workplace, classroom, staffroom or home.

You will have nothing to loose, your day will be happier and those around you will not complain that they were upset because together you laughed!

Pass on a laugh tomorrow!

Resilence

Since my last post from Ireland I returned home early to New Zealand following ongoing quakes and announcements about land remediation or zones that were to be totally wiped out due to excessive ground damage.

On my return I was struck by the resilience of our staff, children and the community. Despite repeated setbacks the team continue to provide a stimulating and challenging learning environment for our children. Families continue to smile and press on despite homes that are far from safe and in many cases at risk of severe structural damage in the event of another substantial shake. What strength, heart and fortitude. I am indeed proud to be a Canterbury resident and the Principal of such a school in such a resilient community.

The strength of our staff and children is written on the faces of our children.

Kia kaha Canterbury- be strong!