Kaupapa Māori & Our Research Topic

Kaupapa Māori & Our Research Topic

To gain a deep understanding of what's happening with our ākonga our research topic will take a focus on whānau engagement. For individual ākonga their whānau is an integral part of their identity and if we are being culturally responsive then both ākonga and whānau will be involved in the school learning design.
I think it would be helpful to define what learning design means as it is a relatively new concept for me.
I plan to collect evidence of ākonga not understanding learning design or questioning what we do here. 
Judy Helbert discusses truly understanding what's going on rather than just using our opinions. These are the learning principals from the OECD: 

• What’s the experience of kids? 
• Do they get the kind of feedback on a daily basis that helps them own their own learning?
• Do they feel connected to this school? 
• Can they answer the question, “Can you name two adults who believe you’ll be a success in life?”
• Do they have the opportunities to see the links across subject areas and to the community so that they can understand the relevance of what they’re learning, or do they see it as a set of discreet tasks?
• Do they have the opportunity for tuakana/teina? 

From this article I formulated a survey for ākonga: How is your learning at school going?

Tino Rangatiratanga - the self-determination principle 

Tino rangatiratanga in this context is related to mana motuhake, this means sovereignty and self-determination. 

Tino rangatiratanga is about having meaningful control over one’s own life and cultural well-being. 

This principle is embedded in the Treaty of Waitangi and both partners to Te Tiriti o Waitangi have the rights to protection, participation and power. The Māori version guaranteed ‘tino rangatiratanga’ (full authority) over ‘taonga’ (treasures, which may be intangible). 

Taonga tuku iho - the cultural aspirations principle 

Kaupapa Māori theory asserts a position that to be Māori is normal and taken for granted. 

Te reo Māori (language), matauranga Māori (knowledge), tikanga Māori (custom) and ahuatanga Māori (characteristics) are actively legitimated and validated. 

This principle acknowledges the strong emotional and spiritual factor in Kaupapa Māori. Kaupapa Māori knowledge has its origins in a metaphysical base that is distinctly Māori. Understanding this principle helps us understand the influences on the way Māori people may think, understand, interact and interpret the world.

• What relevance does the topic of interest have to our Māori students?

Our inquiry topic means that Māori ākonga and their whānau will have the knowledge and understanding to able to participate, feel ownership and connection to the learning design at Haeata.

• Have we taken into account the ways our ākonga think, understand, interact and interpret the topic of interest? How would you know?

The main rationale for the inquiry topic is to gather information on how ākonga think, interact and interpret learning design. We know this by directly asking them and taking note of what they say and do.

References:

Kaupapa Māori Research: Retrieved from http://www.katoa.net.nz/kaupapa-maori

Disengaged Students

Encouraging engagement in students

The topic of disengaged students has been a focus for my assignments since the very beginning of Mindlab. What is engagement? What motivates ākonga to be engaged? 

Engagement is complex and it is a cognitive process. When we think of ākonga we need to consider 1) how invested are they in their own learning and 2) their personal learning strategies, Hattie (2009).

Once we define engagement it can be measured. 
It has multiple layers:
1. behaviour
2. emotional 
3. cognitive

According to Hattie (2009) what we need are practical strategies to encourage positive outcomes and promote engagement.

Engagement = connected with learning 

Cognitive:  Engagement depends on a student's psychological investment in their own learning

"When cognitively engaged, students concentrate, focus on achieving goals, are flexible in their work and cope with failure" (Hattie, 2009, p. 2)

Behaviour: Engagement looks like students' participating in learning and classroom activities. Behavioural engagement is the easiest to measure. This means that students who able to control and regulate themselves look like they are "physically ready and willing to learn". 

Emotional: We can develop emotional engagement through relationships between students and their teachers, classmates and school. This has also been called 'identification' with school and learning practices.  Students are engaged when they feel included in the school and feel an emotional bond with the school, its teachers and their peers.

Ākonga need to be connected to their learning in a holistic way. They need to believe in what they are doing, feel safe and respected and be psychologically ready to learn.


The challenge is to measure all of these types of engagement (p. 5)

Hattie (2009) also goes on to explain different types of student and teacher questioning.

• Active answering – students voluntarily answer questions 
• Passive answering – students answer questions when requested by teachers 
• Question raising – students voluntarily ask the teacher questions

Do teachers identify engagement?  (p. 6)

More attention is needed for the "quietly" disengaged. 

"teachers are observed, and observe other teachers, with the aim of improving teaching and student learning outcomes." but what is the focus of this appraisal?

• learning outcomes of students 
• teachers’ verbal attention to students’ work (encouraging and recognising positive performance; continually asking questions and instructing students) 
• teachers’ non-verbal attention to students (eye contact, body language) 
• teachers’ individual instruction to students (provides personal instructions to students when they are involved in activities) 
• students’ involvement (answering questions, raising questions, engaging in activities)

These are important as they recognise the role that teachers can play in stimulating the engagement of students.

Dimensions of student engagement:

• participation in activities (behavioural engagement)
• asking questions (cognitive) and
• responding to teachers’ feedback (emotional).

Ultimately too, these positive learning behaviours recognise the impact that they should have on the learning outcomes of students.

What are the consequences of disengagement?  (p. 7)

learning outcomes?  achievement?

How to promote engagement?

Some studies have shown that engagement is increased through flexible, individualised teaching in a supportive learning environment. 

Project-based learning, for example, allows students to own their own task. 
Strong student-teacher relationships create a classroom where students feel safe and engaged. 
Student monitoring is a key step for teachers to assess whether they are having an impact on students.

Project-based learning  (p. 8)

Many disengaged students feel that school is not relevant to them. Engaging teaching is personalised and motivating for students.

Student-teacher relationships

Hattie (2009) finds that strong classroom management and student-teacher relationships have a significant impact on engagement and achievement

This means providing students with a safe environment: physically safe, and a place where students feel able to make mistakes.

Motivation is a fundamental part of engagement that is difficult to encourage where students are cautious about contributing and dispirited when corrected. 

Mutual respect drives high expectations. 

This leads to self-regulated learning where a student is able to shape their own goals.

Effective and engaging teachers ensure they are implementing approaches that will work for their students.

In this keynote speech John Hattie talks about not caring about how you teach but rather how your teaching impacts learners and what you think about your teaching.

https://visible-learning.org/2017/08/john-hattie-how-you-teach-video/

References:
Hattie, J. (2009) Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement, Routledge

Learning to teach technology

Technology is an area of the curriculum I am developing my knowledge of.

 As I was writing a learning narrative about a baking experience I needed to look up the technology curriculum to set goals for an student. I found this site with examples: Teaching Snapshots Technology  This seems like a good resource to explore further when I plan my next creativity & design workshop.

I was feeling a bit stuck as my last few design workshops have not gone to plan. What I expected from the ākonga was different than they either wanted to do or were capable of. I summarised real student issues for ākonga to work with but they still struggled with the concept of design thinking. I need to revise my approach again. I decided to observe another kaiako to see how they introduced a topic and scaffolded ākonga. I asked if I could observe another teacher's problem solving workshop last Thursday and I wrote some notes. 

My main reflection about this was I need to start simple and specific. Most students who come to my workshops are either expecting a free play exploration of hands-on materials or to be given a step by step guide. I am going to implement strategies to support this range of student learning styles and learning preferences. I am currently using a google classroom called Creative Kids where I put lesson pans, resources and links to expected activities. 

I believe the majority of ākonga who are struggling to be engaged in this workshop series are uncomfortable its open-endedness and loose structure. There's too much choice for them and their confidence is not high enough for them to be playful with materials or perhaps they don't see the point.

Online Part of Mindlab

Planning for Essay 1

bibliography

guide to making a video

These are some good suggests for research topics
inspiring teacher inquiry questions

My first initial brain storm about my inquiry topic:

Literature Review Research 1
The next step is using the literature review to inform my action plan.
My action plan Research 2 

Design for Learning

Design for Learning

Following on from a previous blog I thought I would add more thoughts on the design for learning process. After reading this article:  designing learning that offers a reason for being. I was reading a comment and this person discussed Project Wayfinder so I followed this link:   https://www.projectwayfinder.com/

Unfortunately it is an overseas provider and it costs to do the training and buy the toolkits. I really like the concept of a wayfinder and I wonder if we could develop our own Haeata model.

This is what I discovered from their site:

I feel like I have made a start with this by using a few pages from my drawing book. I used these on Wednesday's workshop "Creativity through design". 






Ākonga were able to either use the google form I made (using the questions/activities in the book) or write directly onto a photocopy of the book.  

After the ākonga completed this task I shared their answers and discussed having a growth mindset e.g. it's okay to say you don't know! One of the most powerful things about this was that the kids seemed to find it empowering. I believe they found it engaging which helped them with the next part. 



One of my successes from this workshop was also having 3 students who started with wanting to be outside the classroom and then make their way into the room to use the hot glue guns.

Earlier this week I wanted to stop this series of workshops as I felt the structure was too loose and I felt out of my depth. However doing these tasks first helped provide a direction for solving student problems at Haeata.                                                                      

I think this is where I want to direct my teaching as inquiry. This relates well to my assignments through Mindlab as well as the Mental Health Education book we are reading as part of book club.

I am going to start by reading this chapter: "Wayfinding our Purpose" by Patrick Cook-Deegan. 

It's from: "Purpose rising: A Global Movement of Transformation and Meaning" (2017) Emanuel Kuntzelman (Editor)

WEIRD - learning by design

WEIRD - designing for learning

Will Richardson from Modern Learners discusses design for learning in this article  https://modernlearners.com/designing-for-learning/

In this he first discusses the acronym WEIRD - which means western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic societies. Then Richardson shares Carol Black ideas about western Society and how it is weird. Black states there is "appalling personal lack of freedom" in a democracy and Western education is an outlier. Here's a video of her presentation: Carol Black: "Alternatives to schooling"

Richardson discusses how educators make broad generalisations about kids and seem to ignore the nature of learning. Students are being trained to succeed in artificial environments which aren't connected to the world around them and they might not be able to succeed in the real world. Things that connect people to learning is passion, interest, making and fun. Real learning is learning by doing and emulating others.

Design thinking 

We need to start with the 1st element of design - empathy

To flourish in democracy students should be learning in ways activities that interest them and teachers should design learning around this. Adults are learning from the process of teaching as well.

There shouldn't be a disconnect, we have to think about what's is best for our students.

Ira Socol asks the question, "what do you want our children to be?"  greatest aspirations Ira Socol  it defines everything about what a school is.

We should be designing learning with our greatest aspirations in mind not what's an efficient way to teach and deliver knowledge to students.

We want our students to be creative, collaborative, communicators, make choices, to build their own work or learning environments, curious, kind, learn from the great wide world throughout their lives, have healthy relationships, engage with technology well and live healthy lives etc.

This should be the focus of our designs moving forward.

Leadership Theories and Styles

The task was to watch the video 'Leadership Theories and Styles', then identify a change initiative that you have been involved with, where you contributed to leadership or followership. Create a diagram that links your experiences to one or more specific leadership theories, with some explanation of these links.

Democratic Style  ---> providing opportunities for followers to have their say and get involved in the change process in a variety of ways

Transformative leadership ---> using empathy to guide others through the change process

For my own change initiative:
Use those above as well as:

• Situational leadership ---> changes to suit the needs of followers
• Tu Rangatira ---> concepts of Ako and Hauora, Tiaki (guardian), visionary, manager, and advocate
• Emotional intelligence ---> includes empathy, listening, warmth, caring (something to look into further).

The makers movement

We watched this video "The maker movement in schools" by  Jason Wik & Gabriel Wilkes, They are part of |TEDxTokyoTeachers

 The following is a summary of the main points: 

The future of education is Innovation and how do we foster this?
One answer is STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics

This can be applied in

• Real life situations
• maker tool set e.g.
• electronics
• coding
• 3D modelling ( 3D printers) and 
• robotics

When we use digital technology it is only the tools which have changed

"Innovation infused curriculum render ideas into real life situations"

We can use a framework - this provides the criteria  (e.g. science teacher)

Inquiring & designing

• Outline problem
• Testable prediction
• Collect data
• Evaluate results ( e.g. solar light bulb for energy project)

Different tools are used and we could use this in maths, engineering, fine arts, sports and language

An example of this is playing test demo e.g. pinball
Children and teaching adults how to make again

Maker revival
e.g. NASA astronaut - this was made using:
scratch, makey makey and snap together electronics (little bits, Mindstorms robotics (lego), arduino (sound), motion detectors
collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and communication



I like the idea of using #Scratch and #Makeymakey as tools. The examples in the videos showed a range of resources which I think would be awesome to have in a classroom. I wish I could improve the students access to electronics as I could see this being so effective when designing and innovating. I think the cost is a barrier at the moment. Scratch by itself is free to use and can be made to create games or interactive stories.  I would introduce students to Scratch and let them try some of the tutorials, perhaps show them a few demos. #Hornby #Rangiora #Christchurch

Computational thinking: Why learn to program?

Computational thinking: Why learn to program?

As part of the flipped preparation for Mindlab I watched "The Poetry if Programming" by Linda Liukas:  a delightful way to teach kids about computers
 It'a a TED talks video about computational thinking and I wrote down some notes. 

"Look wider, don't be too narrow" 

I think this quote is important as sometimes we try to focus on only what we know. I think it is especially important for high school trained teachers as it's potentially a trap that a teacher falls into when planning activities for students.

I learnt that computational thinking is a way humans solve problems and relates to human behaviour. This surprised and intrigued me. When you know very little about coding it seems very daunting, I think a lot of people may be put off the idea just by the perception that it contains a lot of maths.

I found this video fascinating as it explores the concepts that programming and computational thinking. There was an activity done in Mindlab where we had to guess a number with the fewest amount of guesses. There was methods that worked but ideally the strategy is to take the number and divide by half each time to narrow the range.
Other concepts discusses were, decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction and designing algorithms.

Our next activity was "unplugged programming" where we have to write a list of instructions to move one of our team around a table. We then also used this to make a series of movements we all did, to make a "dance". We had set criteria for this activity.

"Lets teach kids to code" by Mitch Resnick (Fluent in language) Is a book mentioned during this workshop. I want to look into this further. Let's teach kids to code by Mitch Resnick
We then had a go at using Scratch, this is found on a website and suited for 8+ year olds. It's possible to use it to make interactive stories.

In pairs we had turns being the driver and navigator role. These roles help ākonga to work on collaborative tasks.

Digital Technology Curriculum - Digital Passport is something I would like to look at if I had more time.

Backwards Bicycle  - Brain Experiment

knowledge =/= understanding

This video teaches you to be careful how you look at thing because you have bias
For an adult it took 8 months to learn but it was quicker for a child, for them it took 20 mins to relearn!
This relates to neuroplasticity & rewiring brain. As a teachers is relates to experiences of your students as what is given attention and repetition grows and strengthens these connections

We looked into growth mindsets, especially Dweck (2010) Mind-mental attitude and 
Dweck (2006) "Mindset: The new Psychology of Success"  www.mindsetonline.com and 
Guy Claxton (2002) "Building Learning Power" and explored the implications for learning. 

We then tried to research so we could bust a myth about the brain 

I enjoyed learning how to use stop motion and we worked together to make stop frames to demonstrate whether Mozart makes our brain smarter.
Ideas for further use: replacement parts and facial expressions can be made suing a 3D printer e.g. used in movies like Box Trolls & Paranorman

Suggested app - Unmashable? Stop motion animation - is a chrome extension and its fun to play with. This inspired me to introduce this to students... I want to continue to try new  and different ideas as I believe this is an exciting and accessible way to have students be creative and collaborate naturally.

Learning spaces and their uses

Learning spaces and their uses

The cave, campfire and watering hole are concepts that are about 25 years old. They have relationships at the heart of their definition. This reflection is both about the physical and the virtual.

The Cave is a reflective space, free from stimulation

It is for One to self relationship - where the learning is all internal. 

What is my opinion? What do I think about this?

Campfire, this is a one to many space. It is also a space for expertise e.g. many learning from the guru, it is a powerful space.

Watering hole, is a space for many to many. People bounce ideas from each other in a free for all, it is improvised e.g. problem solving. A space for collaboration

In virtual space a cave is a blog post, it is an internal reflection.
A virtual campfire is like blended or flipped learning which is "free to access" by students
A virtual watering holes can be any of the collaborative online apps e.g google docs

To manage avoidance or constraints - make these spaces available through out the day.

This is my reflection on G+ Community

It's tricky to think how I could use the #cave in my classroom. During tutor time (the only space thats like a normal classroom in design) the students are used to being asked to reflect and they do this regularly (usually as a reflection post they put on Linc ed). During the rest of the day some students also like to be able to find quiet spaces to work but not usually alone, this is for independent work but they usually work collaboratively via shared docs or slide with each other and teachers. Some of my students have started to go to the library although the building they are meant to be in is "meant" to be a quiet space. Having more smaller and clearly defined spaces within the larger open space may encourage students to respect the quiet space. Students have to be able to self direct or self manage in order to work in these spaces, otherwise teachers are constantly having to tell them to be quiet. I would like to encourage more individual exploration or reflection but my students need scaffolding to be able do this. The year 7-10 age group are very busy being social! #Rangiora #Christchurch #Hornby

Reflection on Growing Creativity - Design Process

Workshop date: Wednesday 26th September (week 10)                          Students: year 7 -10

In this workshop the plan was to go through the design process and design a product. Depending how long it took them I also planned to show them some logo ideas using their devices and perhaps set up them up with some designs for advertising or packaging.

The brainstorm was meant to give the ākonga a few ideas to design a product which they could then pretend to sell. However this became a deeper and the students were focussed on providing their voice. 

The brief: “In paris or small groups discuss a problem to solve: “What are some problems you have being a student at Haeata” This brainstorm delved deep into the students minds! 

It was a challenge for the groups to move onto the next stage. So I had to take on the “role” of designer. I listened to their problems and tried to define the common theme and give them a direction for their solution. This process role modeled good communication and as a designer I had to listen. I also asked questions to clarify what the groups meant. Once I listened I defined the problem and then we could have moved onto the creative “making things” stage if we had time. 

Interesting to note: Charlotte (my daughter, year 7) was the only one who did her own thing and just started making stuff! After watching the video it was all she needed to get started on the design process. 

I think if I was more prepared it would have taken less time. I definitely underestimated how long the brainstorm process would take and 2 groups needed a lot of scaffolding for this part. 

I am wondering if I use these ideas for a follow up workshop and try and encourage the ākonga to be more creative and play with a range of material, creative junk or digital programmes. 

My concern is that the ākonga were bored and won’t want to finish this process and so I might get no students or completely new students turn up.

Ideas I have to improve the delivery of this material:

• Summarise a problem and present a range of possible solutions
• Students can use their own as well
• I can use the data collected from these group
• This will support ākonga to give the process another try
• If I include some sketches or programme links then they might be inspired to add their own touches
• It remains a creative exercise with individualised components 
• It provides more structure (I think the students need a little more guidance)

Further reflection on using this data:

• I could use this information to help research or start an inquiry!
• Perhaps I could turn this into another theme called “grow your student voice”?
• The student’s voice is very valuable and I know I need to use it to make a difference
• Perhaps I can use the identified problems to make a hāpori wide contribution?
• Collaborative problem solving - it’s part of what I learnt in Mindlab on Wednesday - Scrum!

How can I get as many contributions as possible? 

• GOOGLE FORMS? - advertise on Panui
• Paper surveys

How do I approach/inform other kaiako about this project?

• Add to Wunderlist?  
• Add to Panui?

I like how I summarised the process in a diagram but the hand-out needed more work. 

I had planned to print layout pages from the resource I was using but time ran away on me. 

I need to start preparing workshops earlier to allow more time for unexpected delays. 

It’s not an excuse but I had woken up on Wednesday at 2am and had trouble going back to sleep. By the end of this day I was at Mindlab in Rangiora and I was exhausted, I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

Week 2 @ MINDLAB

Notes from week 2

Leadership and the Key Competencies

Thinking
Relate to Others
Use language, symbols and text 
Manage Self
Participating and Contributing

Holistic, experiential
Whakamana - empowering
Whanaungatanga - positive and collaborative
Manaakitanga - welcoming caring and creative learning environment
Pono - integrity

Professional Relationships - actively contribute, improving & leadership
Discussion:
In a collaborative teaching environment: - there are more warm "fuzzies" and giving each other messages of support and caring about others comes more naturally.

Relationships - have to feel safe and valued when they work with each other.

"Reflective thinking turns insights you get from your experiences"

Digital Footprint - what you post on-line
* How to comment effectively on a blog  e.g. class newsletter

Embracing Change - buy in, quality, up to date with technology, research to justify teaching style/process
Collaborate
Tips for managing time: do homework (readings and videos), workload, pace yourself, keep it  manageable, "MIND LAB" time

Collaborative Rubric from ITL research: 

This is our video for the IN CLASS TASK:

Collaboration Mind Lab

Week 3 Reflections

Digital Reflective Task:

Reflect how you could incorporate a Flipped or Blended approach into your classroom. 

What tools could you use, who could you collaborate with to make it easier?

I already use Google Classroom with my Puna Ako class. I collaborate with the other kaiako however because they have been using it longer than me they are putting more mahi on there compared to me. This includes, student timetables, reflections and tasks.  I am thinking about using Google Classroom for my Kaupapa and/or Mai time workshops. I am going to explore using different digital tools. As I am fairly new to using technology with akonga I feel I need to develop my confidence and my own knowledge. I need to practice before I can implement anything new for others to use. 

Leadership Reflective Tasks:

Reflect on how SAMR and/or TPACK model might help you in planning your DIGITAL 1 assessment 

I'm not sure how I can use these. Everything is just so new to me! I feel I just need to get to grips with what I am doing and what is required of me. So I think I just need to familiarise myself with what they mean! I have made a summary of them for myself so I can refer to them when I am reflecting and assessing myself.

SAMR & TPACK

http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/Teacher-inquiry/SAMR-model 

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) attempts to identify the nature of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge.

Source: http://tpack.org

http://matt-koehler.com/tpack2/tpack-explained/

At the heart of the TPACK framework, is the complex interplay of three primary forms of knowledge: 

• Content (CK) "Teachers’ knowledge about the subject matter to be learned or taught".  This includes "knowledge of concepts, theories, ideas, organizational frameworks, knowledge of evidence and proof, as well as established practices and approaches toward developing such knowledge” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
• Pedagogy (PK) “Teachers’ deep knowledge about the processes and practices or methods of teaching and learning. They encompass, among other things, overall educational purposes, values, and aims."
• Technology (TK) Knowledge about certain ways of thinking about, and working with technology, tools and resources. and working with technology can apply to all technology tools and resources. 

The TPACK approach goes beyond seeing these three knowledge bases in isolation. The TPACK framework goes further by emphasizing the kinds of knowledge that lie at the intersections between three primary forms: 

• Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) The teacher interprets the subject matter, and transforms it in various ways. The teacher represents the knowledge and adapts and alters the learning material to alternative conceptions to suit the students’ prior knowledge. 
• Technological Content Knowledge (TCK)     An understanding of the manner in which technology and content influence and constrain one another. Teachers need to master more than the subject matter they teach; they must also have a deep understanding of the manner in which the subject matter (or the kinds of representations that can be constructed) can be changed by the application of particular technologies. Teachers need to understand which specific technologies are best suited for addressing subject-matter learning in their domains and how the content dictates or perhaps even changes the technology—or vice versa” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009). 
• Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) “An understanding of how teaching and learning can change when particular technologies are used in particular ways. This includes knowing the pedagogical affordances and constraints of a range of technological tools as they relate to disciplinarily and developmentally appropriate pedagogical designs and strategies” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).

• Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) “Underlying truly meaningful and deeply skilled teaching with technology, TPACK is different from knowledge of all three concepts individually. Instead, TPACK is the basis of effective teaching with technology, requiring an understanding of the representation of concepts using technologies; pedagogical techniques that use technologies in constructive ways to teach content; knowledge of what makes concepts difficult or easy to learn and how technology can help redress some of the problems that students face; knowledge of students’ prior knowledge and theories of epistemology; and knowledge of how technologies can be used to build on existing knowledge to develop new epistemologies or strengthen old ones” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).