TM Issue 18

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

Friendly vs.

Approachable pg. 14

Scrapbooking: Just like Facebooking? pg. 32

“Sorry:” the world’s rewind button pg. 54 NZ$15 / AU$15

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ISSUE 18

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The alarm you’ll look forward to: iStudyAlarm The iStudyAlarm is now available from the Apple itunes store.

S

tudying for a class, mid term or final exam just got easier with iStudyAlarm. Staying focused while studying can often be a challenge, and the iStudyAlarm is designed to help exam students of all ages. Research shows that studying in 20-minute intervals and taking a five-minute brain break is highly beneficial for learning and memory. Studying is supposed to get you ahead in life, not make you a nervous wreck. Plus studying for too long causes your brain to get tired and forget key information.

How the iStudyAlarm works When you are ready to study, simply tap the start button. The timer will go off after 20 minutes and prompt you to spend two minutes revising what you have just learned. Next the alarm will time your five-minute brain break.

Brain break ideas What you do during a break can be as important as when you are actually studying. This menu provides quick brain-friendly break ideas.

Exam tips Ideas of what to do before, during and after an exam. Tips include questionanswering advice, what to do if you can’t remember and hints about what examiners are looking for. Each tip can be expanded to find out more information.

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Practical tips to keep you on track and studying in a brain friendly and effective way. Tips include setting up your study environment, memory and recall strategies, brain food and note making ideas. Each tip can be expanded to learn more.

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CONTENTS

In this issue

18 10

A better approach than relying on rules

dr marvin marshall

12

From classroom…to family adrian rennie

14

Developing professional relationships with parents

16

Amusing ourselves to death!

18

Kaizen pow(er)!

20

Self managing students – dream or reality?

michael grose

Teachers Matter

4

22 People interpreter allie mooney

24

Teaching the parent

angela ladavia-cox and lauren carener

26 Maintaining “actively

participating” students

in the classroom lauren rivers

daniel groenewald

28 Being safe on the

information highway alan cooper

glenn capelli

44

30

30

Tell your students what they can become

chris kerr

bette blance

32

Is Scrapbooking the educational Facebook?

34

Innovative teaching strategies

36

Fostering social competence through art

38

Ditch homework

40

Educating for global competence

42

Igniting our under-achieving students – How technology can help

44

Keep it under your hat

kate douthie

stephen johnson

kate southcombe kevin mayall

Laura Jane Linck and George Yeager

Teachers resources and lessons pages 66-69

viv armstrong

charlotte humphrey

MAGAZINE CONTACTS

Teachers Matter Magazine Team

Subscribe today

Publisher, Sales and Advertising: Karen Boyes

To receive your own copy of the next issue, send an e-mail to magazine@spectrumeducation.com

Editor: Kristen De Deyn Kirk Graphic Design: Mary Hester / 2ndFloorDesign.com Printer Spectrum Print, Christchurch

Subscriptions Toll free (NZ) 0800 373 377 Toll free (Australia) 1800 249 727 Thanks to the educators, speakers and authors who contributed interviews, articles, photographs and letters.

Teachers Matter magazine is registered with the National Library: ISSN 1178-6825 © Spectrum Education 2012 All rights reserved.

54

64

Exploratory learning through thinkboards

60 Warming winter

comfort food

serenity richards

karen tobich

48

A to Z of effective teaching

62 Book Review: History lessons

46

karen boyes

50 When you shouldn’t

be “smart” ngahi bidois

52 How to keep all the balls

in the air

Barbara griffith & tricia kenyon jenny barrett

Street Address: 19 Rondane Place, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

70

emma winder

Students taking charge

Postal Address: PO Box 30818, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Jokes

Phone: (NZ) +64 4 528 9969

54

Sorry – The world’s rewind button

71

56

Coach teen athletes toward successful change

73

wendy sweet

All Enquiries Spectrum Education Ltd

robyn pearce

The opinions expressed in Teachers Matter are those of the contributors and we love them!

64 Gizmos and gadgets

john shackleton

Parts of this publication may be reproduced for use within a school environment. To reproduce any part within another publication (or in any other format) permission from the publisher must be obtained.

Fax: (NZ) +64 4 528 0969

Creating rites of passage for children

the last word: Karen Boyes

75

Quote

Maria Montessori

magazine@spectrumeducation.com www.spectrumeducation.com Lioncrest Education Postal Address: PO Box 340 Cessnock NSW 2325, Australia Phone: 61 2 4991 2874 or 1800 249 727 info@lioncrest.com.au www.lioncrest.com.au

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editor’s NOTE

W

ouldn’t it be great if you could • Let students call the shots (don’t be scared; read Simon Evans’ article) quickly skim the contents of Teachers Matter a n d s u d d e n l y • Invest in solutions, not standards become the teacher of every student’s, parent’s (imagine the possibilities with Barr y and principal’s dreams? Not possible, right?

Musson) We know that the process of becoming an exceptional teacher takes openness, research, • Follow a GPS and map it out (Bena Kallick suggests that you take hints practice and commitment – in other words, a from technology to stay on track in the significant investment of time.

Stephen could have stepped back after such a success, classroom) work blesses me with the chance to learn But there is something you can do right now content that he had accomplished something few people about amazing people, people who aren’t to at least start the process. Here are some • Freeze the positivity (tips on keeping kids do (keeping students engaged!), but that wasn’t the case. satisfied to just do their job: They must do quick teasers – a few words to summarise excited, compliments of Chris Kerr) Soon after, he stepped up again when a coworker had to more, just because of who they are. what the experts in this issue are sharing – retire early to illness • Be the community kinddue (how to go and another group of students to sparkInyour interest. a deeper look“more.” at their minds,Take though, it’s not It’s just about were faced being taught by a variety of relief teachers. beyond a good student to awith good citizen their articles then go further being later there and for others andeven being willing to help, whenever with advice from David Koutsoukis) by reading more about techniques, and however.

Who their cares if it’s not in their job description: The students were a year younger than his, and he taking It’s a class, trying in their heart.the techniques and decided hisofolder students could act as mentors as • Slip, Slop, Slap (from the that master catchy then eventually mastering them. Step by step, he became their teacher, too, along with a part-time phrases – Glenn Capelli) Stephen Johnson, a teacher in Australia, is one such you’ll be on your way to communicating staff member. He convinced teachers and students of the person. When he learned that his students had a less-thanyour students (Kevin clearly, motivating your students and helping • Get personal with benefit when they weren’t so sure – and the school year fabulous year the year before he met them due totells high Mayall you why) them develop a lifelong love of learning: ended with everyone loving the combined class. staff turnover, he was concerned. He wanted to pull the • If it’s not broken, still fix it (Martz Witty students out of their rut and reinvigorate their passion for Read his article and learn about how he designed the keeps you improving) learning -- and for life. His idea: Have the students start a classroom and how he showed off the students’ talents to business, Class Kids’ Café. everyone, creating a community connection and a new • Share your “view” with everyone in the I hope he’ll motivate you as much (Ngahi Bidois usestradition an analogy to process. show you “This gave me a wonderful opportunity to integrate our as he motivated me. And if (or should I say when?!) you the rewards) theme across other curriculum areas. For example, in find yourself inspired to do something new because of literacy we looked at the use of advertising to • Iftechniques you’re ready, the “not-ready” Stephen’s stories, orchild any of our great contributors’ ideas, assist in advertising our Café appropriately.might In numeracy still growplease (Maggie Dent explains let us know.

Maybe we can then share your success we were able to focus on money amounts, budgeting, how the right teacher makes difference.) and keepathe cycle of inspiration going. profit/loss and staffing costs (as students were paid for their roles into their ‘bank books,’ which also doubled as our class reward system),” Stephen shares in his article in this issue. “In health, we were able to look closely at nutrition and hygiene in food preparation as well as occupational health and safety.“

Teachers Matter Teachers Matter

My

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He saw improvements in the students’ speaking and listening skills and workplace etiquette practices as they learned every aspect of a business and then applied for the jobs that interested them most.

Before long, the café was open, and the community was impressed, especially the students’ parents, who told Stephen that their children were happier and doing better in school.

Kristen De Deyn Kirk

Introducing the

Online Habits of Mind Course with Art Costa & Bena Kallick This is an online Introduction to Habits of Mind with Art Costa and Bena Kallick.

Over 8 weeks join a group of other like minded educators while Art Costa and Bena Kallick share their experiences and insights about the Habits of Mind. Your learning journey is supported and guided by both Graham Watts and Karen Boyes with many years of school based experience working with the Habits of Mind to ensure you get the most out of the course.

This course is self-paced and can be completed in your own time. Graham and Karen will guide you for the 8 weeks in which time you should easily be able to complete the modules.

What does this online course cover: • Introduction to Habits of Mind • Get to know the 16 Habits • Why the Habits of Mind are Important • Interview with the Experts • Creating a shared Vision • Plus lots more...

The Teachers’ Learning Centre is Home to Spectrums Online Courses The Teachers’ Learning Centre brings together like minded teachers and educators from around the world who share a passion in successful, lifelong learning. Our mission is to offer high quality professional development that blends social interaction with new technologies. Additionally, our learning programmes mark the start of anongoing professional dialogue for teachers within your school, connecting teachers in other countries. Our online learning platform allows teachers anywhere in the world to discuss and co-construct their learning with leading international experts in various fields.

All of our courses can be offered in your school, led by experts for those that want to go further than the courses offered online.

The Teachers’ Learning Centre is ideal for: • One person or for the whole staff training • New staff training and induction • Anytime, any place learning • Learning with teachers within and across nations • Keeping teachers in the classroom, not out on courses • Learning at your own pace • Focused, applied learning • Working alongside the experts

To learn more about this Course and the session times, contact Spectrum Education.

Phone NZ on 0800 37 33 77 or +644 5289969 | Australia phone 1800 063 272 or fax 1800 068 977 Email: info@spectrumeducation.com

Your Hosts Graham Watts and Karen Boyes are dedicated to making a difference in education through teacher development. Based in the UK, Graham’s experience leading Thinking Skills and Habits of Mind programmes in a diverse range of schools around the world, gives his workshops a rich breadth and depth. From a league table topping school in New Zealand to one of the UK’s most improved secondary schools, Graham has developed highly successful students’ thinking and learning programmes. Karen is often described as Australasia’s “Mrs Education.” An expert in effective teaching, learning and living, Karen turns research into practical and simple to use techniques that create success. As the Founder of Spectrum Education, an author, publisher of the Teachers Matter magazine and the Affiliate Director of the Institute for the Habits of Mind, Karen is an expert in teaching and learning throughout the world.

CONTRIBUTORS

Adrian Rennie A successful classroom teacher, Adrian is passionate about excellence in teaching.

He combines simple yet effective classroom techniques and Art Costa’s Habits Of Mind to create a culture of thinking.

Alan Cooper Alan Cooper is an educational consultant based in New Zealnd. As a principal, he was known for his leadership role in thinking skills, including Habits of Mind, learning styles and multiple intelligences, information technology, and the development of the school as a learning community.

Allison Mooney Allison is a passionate and endearing speaker who infuses a desire in her audience to significantly increase their performance as educators through identifying the behaviours and traits of others. Author of Pressing the Right Buttons, Allison has been twice awarded “Speaker of the Year” by the Auckland Chapter of NZ National Speakers Association. www.personalityplus.co.nz

Angela Ladavia-Cox Angela Iadavaia-Cox has been involved in books and parenting issues throughout her professional career. For the last 20 years, she has worked in a school district 15 miles north of New York City, providing information to parent on school programmes and other topics, including the Habits of Mind.

Barbara Griffith

Teachers Matter

Barbara has been a primary school teacher for 36 years. She has specialised in the teaching of literacy for more than 20 years and recently retired from a position as a Resource Teacher: Literacy, which she had held for the last 16 years.

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Bette Blanc As an educational consultant and instructor with William Glasser Institute, Bette Blance works with schools in New Zealand and Australia focusing on pedagogy and behaviour. She helps school staff, counsellors and community members who have the desire to learn more about how and why we behave the way we do.

Charlotte Humphrey Charlotte Humphrey is co-director of International Learning Styles Australasia (ILSA). A passionate and creative primary and secondary school teacher, teacher educator and adult training advisor, she specialises in Learning Styles, Thinking Maps and English/ Literacy. Charlotte works with individuals, schools, businesses and organisations in New Zealand and overseas.

Christine Kerr Christine has 30 years experience in education, the last decade in school management. She facilitated a structured counselling service for her intermediate school students and is a qualified, professional life coach. Passionate about meeting young people’s needs for ongoing success, Christine created the Mighty Minds programmes. Using 21st-century research and mindset tools, she inspires young people to take leadership in their own lives, culminating in a total package for future reference throughout their lives. Post-programme support is available for participants through a range of media pathways and interactive funshops. Visit www.lifeseeker.co.nz

Daniel Groenewald Daniel Groenewald is a writer and English teacher at Methodist Ladies’ College Perth.

He has presented on IT and Education at the Expanding Learning Horizons (2009, 2011), Australia’s premier Education and IT conference, in Lorne, Victoria. Groenewald has a Masters of Arts (Literature) and a Masters of Education from the University of Melbourne.

Emma Winder Emma is a primary trained teacher currently teaching year 6 at Willow Park school in NZ. Over the past three years she have developed a pedagogical approach which she calls My-Learning. Essentially this is a new way of teaching and e-learning that is self-directed, utilises technology, aims for personalisation of learning and makes use of formative assessment practices to ensure learning is tailored to the students as much as possible.

Her blog is http://my-learning.me/

George Yeager George Yeager of the Palm Beach Day Academy is a Nationally Certified third grade teacher specializing in writing and science instruction. George’s interdisciplinary approach to teaching has allowed him to create a learning environment that makes thinking and the Habits of Mind the highest priority. By integrating Visible Thinking Routines and lessons highlighting the use of Habits of Mind into his instruction his students have demonstrated the capability

to actively engaging in the ideals of global competence.

Glenn Capelli An author, songwriter, radio and television presenter and creator of the Dynamic Thinking course for Leadership, Glenn delivers a message of creativity, innovation and thinking smarter. He teaches people how to be a learner and thinker in today’s fastpaced and ever-changing world through the use of creative thinking, humour, enthusiasm and attitude. Glenn’s new book, Thinking Caps, is available from Spectrum. www.glenncapelli.com

Jenny Barrett Jenny is the CEO for Breathe Technology. Her enthusiasm for technology came when thrown in the deep end whilst teaching at a Taiwan high school. Jenny has since undertaken a Master’s of Education (Ed. Technology) and has supported classroom teachers to use educational technology in UK and NZ projects. www.breathetechnology.co.nz

John Shackleton With a sports psychology and sports coaching background, John now shows international business audiences techniques that exercise and improve the biggest, most powerful muscle in the body – the brain. His clients include Coca-Cola, Air New Zealand, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Sony and Renault. www.JohnShack.com

Kate Douthie Having majored in arts and social science (youth, health and physical education), Kate Douthie is now a health and physical education teacher at Methodist Ladies College, Perth, Western Australia. If you have any questions please feel free to contact her at kdouthie@mlc.wa.edu.au.

Kate Southcombe Kate’s business, EPR Training, combines her passion for horses and her educational background by supplying online products to support people with behaviour management of horses and children. This novel approach is grounded in science and draws on the principles of applied behaviour analysis. Kate is an Early Childhood Education lecturer and private tutor.

Karen Boyes Karen Boyes is a leading authority on effective learning and teaching in Australasia and is founder and CEO of Spectrum Education. A highly skilled, enthusiastic and dynamic presenter with over 18 years experience in the education profession, she works with teachers, parents, students and corporate clients internationally, unleashing their peak performance. www.spectrumeducation.com

Karen Tobich

Lauren Carener

Karen is a food stylist who is passionate about living off the land and creating and presenting food. She believes that sharing food connects people and fosters quality relationships in so many ways. She shows you how to transform home and locally grown seasonal foods into delicious healthy and inspiring foods to make, to give, and to share.

Lauren A Carner has worked as a psychologist in a suburban school district for over 30 years, and maintains a small private practice. Over the years she has led many parenting groups and has presented programmes on a wide range of topics. Recently she has focused on the Habits of Mind as a versatile and powerful approach to parenting.

Kevin Mayall

Dr Marvin Marshall

As an internationally renowned speaker and personality profiler, Kevin Mayall specialises in the needs and management of Generation Y both in the education and corporate sector, creating and selling licences for programs designed for national and International curriculums. He founded the GenNext series of programs which help students transition from education into purposeful lives. www.kevinmayall.com

Marvin is an international staff developer and the author of the best-selling book, Discipline Without Stress, Punishments or Rewards: How Teachers and Parents Promote Responsibility & Learning. His approaches demonstrate how using internal motivation and non-coercion is far more effective and significantly less stressful than using threats, punishments, rewards, and other manipulations aimed at obedience. www.marvinmarshall.com

Laura Jane Linck

Michael Grose

Laura Jane Linck of the Palm Beach Day Academy is an educator, curriculum developer and teacher mentor with a master’s degree concentration in reading disorders, cognition, and creative thinking. She is a Harvard Graduate School of Education Project Zero Classroom and Future of Learning facilitator and fellow. She is a Habit of Mind professional developer in training and a senior member of South Florida Visible Thinking. As an Undergraduate at Cornell University, Laura Jane was advised and mentored by Dr. Urie Bronfenbrenner. As a graduate student Dr. E. Paul Torrance advised and mentored her as she implemented her master’s thesis in creativity training. Laura Jane has 16 years of teaching experience with a strong focus on interdisciplinary collaboration.

Lauren Rivers Lauren Rivers is an American educator who has taught for 15 years. She earned a bachelor’s in elementary education from The University of Maryland at College Park and a master’s in curriculum and instruction: school administration from McDaniel College. For the first 10 years of her career she was a classroom teacher teaching all content areas in grades third through sixth. Currently she teaches art to 6th, 7th and 8th grade students in southern Maryland. She was listed in the 2006 edition of Who’s Who in American Education and was awarded the Maryland Art Educators Associations Teacher of the Year in 2007. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two children and their beloved chihuahua, Burnie.

Author, columnist and presenter Michael Grose currently supports over 1,100 schools in Australia, New Zealand and England in engaging and supporting their parent communities. He is also the director of Parentingideas, Australia’s leader in parenting education resources and support for schools.

In 2010 Michael spoke at the prestigious Headmaster’s Conference in England, the British International Schools Conference in Madrid, and the Heads of Independent Schools Conference in Australia, showing school leadership teams how to move beyond partnership-building to create real parentschool communities. For bookings, parenting resources for schools and Michael’s famous Free Chores & Responsibilities Guide for Kids, go to www.parentingideas.com.au.

Ngahi Bidois Ngahihi o te ra is from Te Arawa and is an international speaker, author and consultant. His website can be viewed at www. ngahibidois.com

Robyn Pearce Robyn Pearce is known around the world as the Time Queen, helping people discover new angles on time. Check the resources on her website www.gettingagrip.com, including a free report for you: How to Master Time in Only 90 Seconds. She is a CSP, a Certified Speaking Professional. This is the top speaking accreditation in the profession of speaking and held by only about 800 people around the world. www.gettingagrip.com

Serenity Richards

CONTRIBUTORS

Stephen Johnson Stephen Johnson has been teaching in Western Australia for the last 6 years. He has a Primary background and has worked predominantly with Upper Primary students.

He is now a Secondary English teacher and has for the last 4 years held a pastoral care role in his school in Bullsbrook, north of Perth.

He has a keen interest in pastoral care and is a part of a large student services team in a K-12 district high school. He is a passionate and motivated teacher leader who enjoys seeing his students’ and colleagues develop. In addition to teaching, Stephen is also an NCAS Equestrian Coach and competitor in the sport of Eventing and has held a position on the Australian Talent Search Squad. He and his wife run a small property in the Perth hills with their young family.

Tricia Kenyon Tricia has been involved in the field of literacy for 17 years, firstly as a Resource Teacher:Reading, then as a Resource Teacher:Literacy. She is passionate about books and reading, and feels privileged to be in a position where she can share that passion with students, their parents, and fellow teachers.

Viv Armstrong Viv has a strong background in teaching, senior management and administration in schools spread over many years. Viv’s passion is to help make a difference in all New Zealand schools. She has a particular interest in literacy and numeracy and the targeting of individual needs. Viv spends much of her time visiting New Zealand schools and keeps up to date with educational issues, knowledge that enables her to advise and guide schools in meeting their challenges.

Wendy Sweet Wendy Sweet is a regular contributor to Teachers Matter magazine on health and lifestyle issues. She has a lengthy career in the industry and is best known for having founded personal training in NZ for the Les Mills group. Wendy lectures at the University of Waikato in the sport and leisure studies division in the faculty of education and is currently undertaking her PhD. She is a well respected seminar presenter on work-life balance and has presented at a number of professional development workshops for schools. She can be contacted on wsweet@ xtra.co.nz or wsweet@waikato.ac.nz

Serenity Richards has been teaching for thirteen years in a primary school setting.

In recent years she have been working as a numeracy coach, working with teachers to improve pedagogy in classrooms.

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dr marvin marshall

A better approach than relying on rules Exploring rules vs. procedures

R

elying on classroom rules is a mistake, even though it is common practice.

When I returned to the classroom after 24 years as a principal and district director of education, I quickly discovered how rules hindered good relationships and effective discipline. I found myself coming to school every day wearing a blue uniform with copper buttons. I had become a cop — rather than a facilitator of learning, a role model, a mentor, a coach.

The reason is simple: If a student breaks a rule, our tendency is to enforce the rule.

This is a natural thought process because the assumption is that if the rule is not enforced, people will take advantage of it.

Therefore, to remain in control, the rule must be enforced.

Rules are necessar y in games. But in relationships between people, reliance on rules is counterproductive because the enforcement mentality automatically creates adversarial relationships. Enforcing rules too often promotes power struggles that rarely result in win-win situations.

Although people establish rules with good intentions, their implementation often produces deleterious effects. When Johns Hopkins University researchers analysed data from more than 600 schools, they found seven characteristics associated with student discipline problems. Four of them concerned rules: • Rules were unclear or perceived as unfairly or inconsistently enforced.

this includes students. Even the slowest salesperson knows enough not to alienate the prospective customer.

Rules are “left-hemisphere” dominant.

They are sensible, orderly, and structured.

“Left hemisphere” dominant students are often the ones who follow rules and are successful in school. But what about the “right-hemisphere” dominant type of student who acts spontaneously and impulsively and whose brain processes randomly? These are the students who don’t follow the rules. Yet, these students need structure and relying on rules does not provide what these students need for success.

After analysing my rules, I concluded that they were actually expectations or procedures. Here is what I mean:

Expectations Realising that positivity is more effective than negativity, hoping to empower rather than overpower, and wanting to promote responsibility, I stopped using the term “rules.” Since my goal was to promote responsibility, I used the following: • Responsibilities: • Have my materials • Be where I belong • Follow directions • Do my assignments • Be kind to others

Teachers Matter

• Students didn’t believe in the rules.

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• Teachers and administrators disagreed on the proper responses to student misconduct.

• Teachers tended to have punitive attitudes.

The findings that “teachers tended to have punitive attitudes” is often the result of the enforcement mindset, and this does not help teachers in the classroom. We market information. Note that people don’t “buy” from someone they don’t like — and

Procedures When a student doesn’t follow a procedure, the natural tendency is to teach the procedure until it is learned. This is a positive, empowering mindset, and the same approach teachers use for anything else that was taught but not learned.

I found that teaching procedures is the essence of good classroom management.

Here is what I did. Regardless of the grade level, I did not assume students knew what I wanted them to do. Instead, I modeled the procedure, taught it, and the class practiced it. In addition, every time something bothered me, I asked myself, “What procedure can I teach?”

Since the brain envisions images, rather than words, I started to have my students visualise procedures. For example, the number of homework assignments that I received significantly increased when I started having my students visualise procedures about their homework. I started asking questions, such as the following: • “When will you do your homework?”

• “If you are engaged in some enjoyable activity, what procedure will you use to redirect your attention to do your homework?”

• “Where will you do the homework, sitting at a table or lying on your bed?”

• “Will you be watching TV and have your brain switchtasking?”

• “What materials will you need to take home or have ready to accomplish the task?”

When I started teaching procedures, rather than relying on rules, my relationships significantly increased and so did student learning. In a nutshell, what I had done was simply to change my mindset from an enforcer of rules to an effective teacher by teaching procedures. I was now in the relationship business and had regained the joy of classroom teaching.

dr marvin marshall

photo: Gevorg Gevorgyan

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adrian rennie

From classroom…to family The teacher leads the way.

I

ntroducing the Habits of Mind into a class or school where there is a lack of positive, inclusive culture is like throwing seeds onto rocky ground and expecting them to grow.

The biggest and most powerful influence on the culture of a classroom, and ultimately a school, is the teachers’ demeanour. The culture of a room is made up of the ideals and values that are indirectly spelt out through: • The tone the teacher uses to talk to students • The activities they design • The systems they put in place • The fun the teacher has • The examples they set • The attitude they choose • The environment they create These are the things that are noticed every day by students. They are what students react to. Everything the teacher does and the way they do it builds the classroom culture.

The success a child is destined to achieve is directly linked to the teacher they have.

To be successful, students need: • To be engaged by a stimulating, relevant class programme • To feel safe and welcome

Teachers Matter

• To know it is ok to make mistakes and to fail

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• To know that failure is interesting and necessary to learn • To establish a strong, positive relationship with their teacher • Lots of positive and relevant feedback • Too have their needs addressed and catered for • T o h a v e c l e a r b o u n d a r i e s a n d expectations around them

• To have some power over the direction their learning takes The posters in this section were created by the staff of Northcote School to capture and display the popular, successful language used by everyone in the organisation. It is vital that everyone standardises the language they use with students. If every student hears the same messages from each teacher that message of positive success is more likely to be internalised. The posters are displayed in classes, referred to daily and used as teaching tools to raise the success levels of everyone.

What if you were able to capture the successful language of your class or school and display it for students? What if all of your teachers started using similar language?

How do I alter and build the culture of my classroom?

Change the name of your class Include in your class name the big ideas that you are teaching to students. “Room 5” could become “Our Room 5 Thinking Family.” Place a poster including that language at each door and visitors to the room immediately know what is valued in the room. Students who are consistently described using that language naturally begin to value those ideals themselves.

Eventually most students will become great thinking family members. They will need to have those ideas of “thinking” and “family” unpacked and explored further as opportunities arise for discussion.

Improve your attitude Chose to be over the top happy, excited and powerful every day with your students even when you don’t feel like it. Control problems will decline. Engagement levels will rise.

“ Children need teachers who are passionate, p o w e r f u l , dedicated, enthusiastic and full of energy. “

adrian rennie

Love your kids If you are only in this job of teaching kids for the money, then consider a career change because you are probably not doing a good job. Teaching is the most important career there is because we are nurturing the future of this world. Children need teachers who are passionate, powerful, dedicated, enthusiastic and full of energy.

Connect with every student There are always some kids that fly under the radar. They don’t talk much. They are the ones we have trouble writing report comments for. Make an effort to contact as many kids as possible every day. It is through the strength of the relationships we have with students that we make a difference. We can talk all we want about the Habits of Mind and success. The impact it will have on students is multiplied many times when there is a strong relationship.

Tr y d i s p l a y i n g t h e ‘ B I G IDEAS’ of the class. Add more descriptive language to it and students will begin to understand what school is all about.

Teach basic social skills Students often come to school with little experience of what it means to be sociable and polite. Model to children how to smile, make eye contact, respond in full sentences, be mindful of the tone they use (a huge percentage of human communication occurs through the tone we use rather than the words chosen), how to share, how to compromise, how to avoid selfishness and how to use good manners.

Have them practise in oral language times.

they need to use. Teach them to say, “I don’t like the way you… It makes me feel… Please stop it.” Teach them to discuss the issue rather than to revert to attacking the person. Teach them to stay calm and to respond thoughtfully!

Stamp out sarcasm and bullying Nothing under mines the confidence and safety of students in a classroom more than sarcasm and bullying – especially when it is the teacher doing it! People do get into bad social habits and need to be told that what they are doing is harmful.

Display the big ideas of your class.

Have you thought about the ideals or underlying principles of your teaching? Do students know what you are trying to do with them? What would they say if we asked them what you thought was important? Try asking them. You may be surprised at their responses. They may say:

“Being neat in our books.”

“Sitting up straight”

“Putting up my hand”

Contribute positively to your learning community Many staff rooms are scary places.

Gossip, bad feelings and arguments often damage the morale of a staff.

Make sure you are not the source of such bad feeling. Encourage others to be positive with each other.

• Teach students to solve social problems thoughtfully, calmly and successfully • G i v e s t u d e n t s t o o l s t o s o l v e s o c i a l problems. Instill in them the language

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michael grose

Developing professional relationships with parents The difference between friendly and approachable

At

the end of a recent parenting evening, I saw a young teacher nursing one attendee’s baby.

The young teacher was being friendly to the point that this parent was taking advantage of her good nature.

If this strategy seems a little harsh, then I suggest that you are thinking from your person, not your position.

A quick chat with this teacher revealed my suspicions. She was having difficulty separating her person from her position.

She was being friendly when she should have been approachable. She needed to save “friendly” for her private life, and when she puts her game face on to go to work, she needed to be approachable, which is different.

Teachers who go into parent meetings as their person generally think, “I hope they like me.” If this is your thinking, then you will do fine with easy parents, but you’ll struggle with difficult, demanding parents who don’t want a relationship. They just want solutions.

Teachers must develop a professional relationship with parents, which is different from a personal relationship. A professional relationship involves being accountable, providing client care and working in the children’s best interests. It doesn’t include nursing babies.

Separate yourself from your position

Teachers Matter

Yo u r a b i l i t y t o s e p a r a t e y o u r p e r s o n from your position will go a long way to determining your success in any profession, but more so in teaching, where relationships are highly valued. But relationships come in many flavours and knowing which type you want makes all the difference.

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You need to separate yourself from your position to successfully manage difficult parents and mediate in potentially volatile situations. When things get tough, it’s the credible professional who will hold sway.

The credible professional will employ strategies to manage difficult situations. If they are threatened they will look the bully in the eye without blinking as they know that he or she who blinks first loses face.

Get your thinking right

Teachers who go into parent meetings as their position think, “I hope they will listen to me.” They won’t take it personally if they don’t, but they’ll look for ways to mediate outcomes in their kids’ best interests. They will also be less likely to take the stress of the workplace home with them as they know that their position is not their person.

“ Te a c h e r s w h o go into parent meetings as their position think, “I hope they will listen to me.”

They won’t take it personally if they don’t, but they’ll look for ways to mediate outcomes in their kids’ best interests.”

michael grose

Keep locations separate Skilled teachers work from both their person and their position when they are with parents. They’ll be friendly to parents on the one hand, but will be business-like and credible when it’s required. It’s easier to keep your persona and your position separate by having two locations for meetings. Keep your friendly banter to the playground or school gate, but conduct problem-solving or information-sharing meetings in an office or around a desk.

Separate the locations, and it’s easier to know when to work from your person, and when to meet from your position.

It helps also to remember that you put your game face on when you go to work each day, which separate you from parents. It makes you a little dispassionate about the outcomes of meetings, which in many ways will help you to be more successful -- and definitely less stressed.

So go and do your job, not your “person.”

Three points to keep in mind: • Separate your person from your position when you meet with parents.

• Think “Will they listen?” not “Will they like me?”

• When meetings get tough be credible, rather than pursue relationships.

photo: James Martin

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Daniel Groenewald

photo: Graham Oliver

Amusing ourselves to death Cultivating wellbeing in a tech-rich world

A

re irrelevant emails, midnight texts, addictive apps, mindless net-surfing and tech-obsessed kids disrupting your life? It is time to switch off .

Teachers Matter

At night, when the kids are asleep, and the house has been thumped into shape, I grab a warm cup of milky English breakfast tea, a stash of Cadbury chocolate and begin my nightly unwind by perusing some old YouTube favourites: gigantic waves, paranormal activities and great goals of world football. I know this is a sign of fatigue but I’m searching for something remarkable – something that will blow my mind.

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Just when I get on to something interesting, I’m interrupted by a stream of events. A text from my wife, a shift worker, asking whether we need anything. “Chocolate and milk,” I text back. I notice new emails on my phone. Runners half price. Jobs you might be interested in. I click the job link - an opportunity in China but not an opportunity for me. A tweet on the job page informs me that my football team lost. A direct message: “What time is tomorrow’s run?” Six. That reminds me ­- an early morning work meeting! I dash quickly to the home PC to print out the minutes.

Just as it is being printed, my wife arrives home. I quickly log off, dissatisfied with the evening’s plunder.

Cyberspace offers so much but does it deliver? I must have spent at least two hours trying to be entertained. Instead, I got excited about jobs that didn’t exist, superficially remained in touch with a few people, made vague plans, prepared for work and generally got side tracked and distracted.

But I am not the only one seduced and disappointed. My eight-year-old son wants to play my phone at every lull. Family outings to the coffee shop are marred by ‘tech-nagging’. Screen time is carefully negotiated but screen games catalyze sibling and parent conflict.

Parents are in trouble too. Precious moments are missed. I see a dad in the park– half present – checking out investment properties on his phone while his kids kick a soccer ball. Clever tweets are uploaded while compelling events pass twits by. It is life lived in parallel universes: adult bodies here and minds sucked into cyberspace.

Parents and schools, once community leaders, are mounting an ineffective, rearguard mop-up action. If we’re honest, most of us aren’t handling the online environment. We’re reluctant to say no.

Technology is stimulating and exciting.

Want to check something? Google it. Need groceries? Go online. Bored? Hit YouTube.

Dissatisfied with your job. Seek. A new outfit.

Shopbop.com. Don’t know where it is? Ask your phone.

There is no doubt the digital dream has transformed our lives and that much of the change is good. Access to incredible resources and rapid global communication are two clear examples. These changes are generally well documented and marketed.

But it is much easier to get trapped in the web and its family of ‘smart’ distractions then profit from it.

Instead of uplifting humanity, the internet has exploited our most basic needs, interests and desires. The popularity of pornography, for example, exploits sexual instincts; social networking, our striving

for connection; gambling, our hopes and impulses, consumption, our need for status, reassurance and something new. We’re being sucked subtly into a dark zone – a place where our sleep is punctuated by late night texts; where we’re not asleep because we can’t convince ourselves to forsake that last email/Facebook check/tweet/linked in update/YouTube clip and switch it all off.

Or we are giving in to the relentless technagging, handing over the phone in the café or allowing the chat room device to stay in our teenager’s room after bedtime, ostensibly to expedite that last-minute piece of homework.

In reality, living with technology is tricky and it’s beginning to affect our personal wellbeing and productivity. Our kids seem to be losing the capacity to entertain themselves, develop conversational skills or sleep the requisite eight to ten hours they need? I think it is problem. And any others do too.

Dr Richard Yin, a Perth based GP who teaches mindfulness meditation, says we need to quarantine our technology time. “The screen is seductive,” says Dr Yin. “We must cultivate a routine where we consciously enter and exit cyberspace”. To gain control, we need to stop and recognize our habitual mindless way of interacting with the screen.

He says we need to be present and mindful of how we are feeling when engaging with our technology. We shouldn’t react to the restless boredom that demands “a fix” but respond wisely by choosing alternate activities that foster greater calm and joy in life and healthy rapport with others.

Professor Timothy A. Pychyl, an expert on procrastination, and a faculty member in

Daniel Groenewald the Department of Psychology at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada), writes that technology use is linked to decreasing academic performance for teenagers. He says today’s teenagers lack sleep, struggle to get things done, appear more anxious and compulsive than previous generations and struggle to delay gratification – a key quality required to achieve advanced skill development. “I’m worried about our children...” Professor Pychyl writes. “We need to help them develop self-regulatory skills.

We need to help them understand that it is a problem to use these tools compulsively. We need to help them recognise this ‘deep hole’ of the 21st century. Most importantly, we have to demonstrate through our own lived action that ‘amusing ourselves to death’ is a serious risk in a world dominated by media.”

However, sticking a lap-top in the hands of a teenager doesn’t mean they’ll access the best educational resources online. Unfortunately gaming, YouTube and social networking prove attractive than learning Latin online. It’s a bit like handing a previous generation a textbook and hoping they’d absorb it by osmosis.

Like most people, schools have been too busy to see the wood for the trees. They’ve been so busy with online bullying, virtual stranger danger and inappropriate tech use that they’ve lost sight of the power of faceto-face teaching – the most power catalyst of learning - and they’ve neglected students’ overall digital wellbeing. I’m not suggesting we demonise schools or this new age but I think we – the adults, the parents, the educators – have a responsibility to help our children develop positive psychological strategies to manage it.

Such strategies would begin with an awareness of the impact of technology on student’s productively and wellbeing in everyday life. It would teach students to be more regulated, healthy and observe and address impulsive tech-use and procrastination.

“ In reality, living with technology is tricky and it’s beginning to affect our personal wellbeing and productivity. ”

Technology adds pressure to family life says Felicity Beaulieu, a parent and Occupational Therapist in Perth. Our parents wouldn’t have banned us from using the phone to interact with our mates – the medium of choice fifteen years ago, but phone calls would have stopped after 9pm. These days it’s trickier. Teenagers will often lose sleep communicating with peers. They’ll make poor decision about what they say or upload which may have ramifications for later life. What are solutions? Families need to Turn the tech off and box it after 7pm, says Beaulieu. Professionals need to change their expectations about productivity. Don’t respond to everything at all hours. Expect less from others and yourself and you might notice how much more productive you are.

Our schools are under pressure too. Schools have been persuaded by government, IT companies and education departments to incorporate technology into the curriculum ostensibly to engage and future-proof them.

I’ve been an early adopter of technology in my own teaching and witnessed the benefits including high engagement and motivation.

Many parents have been caught off guard too.

Some lack confidence to make rules about technology use and are frustrated about the constant negotiation with their children about its place in family life. Other parents are aware of the power and prestige afforded by the latest gadgetry. Some feel pressured to upgrade hardware and software; others have developed rules and strategies to deal with this new context.

We owe it to our children to makes rules and regulations that help them manage the tech-world, which is, as we are told, the key factor in their working-futures.

Games that constantly ask kids to log in because characters require nourishment are addictive by design. Parents should act swiftly to delete or stringently regulate these applications. We should teach our children to be critical and aware of these strategies.

We can do more.

• U s e p a s s c o d e s , p a s s w o r d s a n d n e t nanny software to prevent access at inappropriate times.

• Program your phone to switch off at 10pm and back on again at 7am.

• Create specific times and routines for social networking or checking email. A Harvard Business School paper, ‘Manage Your Energy’, found productivity rose when email use was circumscribed and workers took more breaks.

• Take your phone out of the bedroom.

Buy a simple alarm. It will eliminate unexpected distractions – texts, email, app updates.

• Head out without your phone. It is not necessary to be contactable all the time.

Make plans you stick to.

• Encourage children to spend more time playing with friends outside. In the United Kingdom, The National Trust published a list of 50 things to do before you are 11 and ¾ which included tree climbing, flying a kite and fishing.

• Avoid multitasking or encouraging it. You will be more efficient if you do one thing well at a time.

• Turn the Wi-Fi off when writing or reading so you are not interrupted.

• Avoid using technology to keep kids compliant while having a coffee or on a long drive. You unwittingly deprive them of the capacity to entertain themselves or endure reasonable discomfort and boredom.

• Get more sleep. Adolescent psychologist, Michael Carr-Gregg, reminds students “the best study tool for Year 12 students is a good night’s sleep”.

• Allow yourself and others at least 48 hours to answer non-urgent queries.

This will help reduce your expectations, frustrations and anxieties.

I’m in awe of my smart phone. It’s the culmination of incredible research, development, collaboration and creativity. I use it all the time, like my brain, to ten per cent of its capacity.

But we can’t function if enslaved by our devices. We need to use technology as a tool for engaging with the world not as a lens to view it.

Participate in life’s big moments rather than recording them. Do continue looking for the remarkable in life. But do so offline as well. The best things in life are free; and that really blows my mind.

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glenn capelli

Kaizen pow(er)!

How people – especially the “tigers” – can inspire you to improve.

E

ach week I have the joy and challenge of presenting a radio show called Thinking Caps. For years I did this on ABC radio in Western Australia and now I am on 3AW Melbourne. Thinking Caps is designed to provoke thought (and often humour) from the listeners who call in, with the belief that everybody has a story; everybody has some gems inside to share.

Recently my radio host Denis Walter asked me (with his magnificent voice) who were the folk who had inspired me and taught me the most. We then opened up the topic of inspiring folk to the 3AW listeners.

Teachers Matter

The question took me back to 1979, the year I started teaching. I had been fortunate to be asked to interview for a position at Wanneroo Senior High School, a public school that was initiating a state experiment in having a hand-picked staff.

As soon as I entered the Wanneroo grounds, I knew it was the place I wanted to teach.

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Later, Principal Glynn Watkins would talk to me and the other first year teachers about a school and a classroom having a climate.

He described climate as “a mysterious thing that is hard to explain but you feel i t i n t h e a i r. ” H e wanted Wanneroo to have a climate of learning, a sense of community care that you could feel in the air.

I understood what Glynn was talking about because as soon as I had parked my old EJ Hydromatic Holden in the school car park, I had felt the feeling. This was where I wanted to teach.

Glynn was an inspiration and I talked about him on air. Later that day, walking back from the 3AW studios, I thought more of 1979 and another name of inspiration struck me: Jeff Pow, a “tiger.”

Glynn had told the teachers that he wanted us to fall in love with the tigers, the student who will stretch you to find other ways of teaching and reaching them. Tigers can cause you headaches; they can even eat you alive, but when you really reach them, they will help you be a better teacher.”

These days we might associate Jeff with a known acronym or we might say he was impulsive, funny, active, loud, kinaesthetic in style, fast audio by mouth, quick on his feet… Some might use other phrases as well.

To me, he will always be a magnificent tiger who helped me learn and grow.

Think about your tigers and everyone who has inspired you – and remind yourself of the lessons you learned when you need motivation, now and in the future.

“He wanted Wanneroo to have a climate of learning, a sense of community care that you could feel in the air.”

glenn capelli

photo: Matthew Gibson

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bette blance

Self managing students – dream or reality?

What you can do to help them get started

W

Teachers Matter

hile working with some teachers in Tokoroa I shared the idea of using THE DOOR, a schoolwide strategy for getting students to solve their own disputes. The strategy is a quick, simple process for promoting relationships, resilience, and negotiating differences. A copy of the process is put on the door of

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every classroom. As students come in from the playground having had a disagreement, they can work through their problem independently.

As I described this process, one of the teachers visibly sighed and sat back in her seat. “Oh how I wish,” she said. We all

know what the line up after play time takes so much energy and time.

If we want classrooms where children are self managing, where they take responsibility for their own choices, we need to find ways that they can firstly learn and then practise these behaviours.

bette blance

Opportunities for the self evaluation lead students to self management. Working from choice motivation (internal control) rather than control motivation (external control), students learn to use William Glasser’s connecting habit of negotiating differences.

These types of strategies are not just band aids; they are part of an overall philosophical approach where the major goal is learners self managing.

The head of the school was recently doing duty on the playground when two young students came up to him. One complained that other had pushed him. The Head of School said “Have you been to the DOOR?” The two students went off to the script that was placed on the gate to the playground.

“If we want classrooms where children are self managing, where they take responsibility for their own choices, we need to find ways that they can firstly learn and then practise these behaviours.”

The following strategies work from an internal motivation perspective, giving students the responsibility to sort out disputes, and evaluate their own work and behaviour.

The Door This strategy, based on work at the Junior School at Moama Anglican Grammar School in New South Wales, uses signs on the back of door in every classroom, every corridor, every toilet door and even on the gate to the playground. Students learn the strategy and are self directed in taking someone else to the DOOR. At THE DOOR, students work through the following statements and questions.

I don’t like it when you…

I feel….

I want you to…

The “complainer” could not remember the script nor could he read it yet. The child who was the “pusher” read the script while the “complainer” repeated the questions and waited for the answers.

Taking responsibility is big in this school.

Stickers Te a c h e r s w h o b e l i e v e t h a t e x t r i n s i c rewards are necessary to motivate student engagement believe that external motivation works.

If we use stickers to reinforce behaviour or academic work this is external control. As the teacher we are in control of the reward: who and when and how many. This shortterm motivation may work for a short while or with some students, but not others.

For long-term outcomes and students who are self motivated we can invite all students to self evaluate their work or behaviour.

Why not give all your students a sticker and ask them to place it on the work they are most proud of for the day? Have a box of small photocopied certificates ready and invite students to choose one at any time if they think they deserve one. Experience shows that once this freedom is offered, learners tend not to need them anymore after a short time.

Setting goals Remember the words of Toby Keith: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up somewhere else.”

Setting clear goals enables learners to evaluate how close they are to achieving them. The more specific and measurable the goal, the more easily they can self evaluate.

Learners can ask themselves, “How close am I to getting what I want?” “What do I now need to do to get closer to that goal?”

Mastery of self control ( self management, self regulation), as described in the Dunedin longitudinal study following 1,000 children over 32 years, predicted health, wealth and public safety of the population. By the age of 10, students who had mastered self control were more likely to have success at many life tasks.

As teachers we can have an influence on students’ ability to self-manage. These strategies are examples of how to ensure this happens.

What do I want you to do…?

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allie mooney

People interpreter Understand your students – and their “type”

In

my conversations with teachers, they say “please give us tangible ways that we can communicate effectively with the different personalities.”

Observing our students’ behaviour can give us great insight into how they see the world. There are four primary personalities, although most of us are a blend:

1. Playfuls

photo: Andrey Kiselev

Playfuls are the easiest to identify. They laugh a lot, talk a lot, move a lot. If you taped their mouths, they would still communicate somehow. A teacher needs to keep an eye on these ones because they can distract those around them, chatting

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“ I n m y c o n v e rsations with teachers, they say “please give us tangible ways that we can communicate effectively with the different personalities.”

allie mooney

away about what they are going to do after school and in the weekend. These students are always happy, enthusiastic and positive.

In the classroom, they are wonder ful “discussion” starters. They learn best with demonstration and a “hands on” approach.

They find written instructions difficult. They love variety and flexibility and a certain amount of freedom in their schedule.

Being active and creative helps them to concentrate. They love group activity, and definitely prefer short-term projects rather than long, complicated ones. They have a tendency to start well but slowly dwindle if the atmosphere is dull and boring.

Working with a playful: Minimise tasks that require long periods of concentration. It takes huge amounts of discipline to keep focussed for these ones.

Provide for group activities; they love participating and discussing the subject (they love hearing their voice!). Incremental assignments work best for these types, and don’t forget to give them warnings about the deadlines along the way. Incorporate sensory stimulation such as taste, touch, sound and light. They are responsive to this.

More than anything you will make school their favourite place if you are generous with praise. That is their motivator. It’s up there with breathing for these ones.

2. The precise These children are serious about learning.

They require structure, definition and clear detailed directions.

Their preference is to finish one project before starting another. They have an ordered mind, so enjoy a clean, organised and uncluttered work space. They don’t like it when teacher decides to change half way through the program. They are good students and study to master a subject.

Working with a precise Be aware: They love “drill” “rote” and “wellstructured tasks” and most of all “seeing a workbook completed.” One thing that is so important in developing this child is to teach them the difference between a perfect job and one that simply needs to be completed.

They labour more than any other student in wanting things done perfectly. They take forever to finish tasks, because they check, recheck, and check again to make sure it is perfect. (Playfuls are happy if they get 51% in a test; the Precise would be miserable for days if they got 99%!)

4. The powerful child

These students are sensitive, and they will respond to you if you acknowledge their accuracy and carefulness. Don’t overload them with too much responsibility. They can feel overwhelmed by it. Precise children love working in a quiet environment. They have a love for music and art more than the other types.

Working with a powerful Allow these students to choose activities.

Nurture their great decision-making ability.

Provide feedback so they can measure their classroom progress. They are competitive with others. Whereas the Precise likes to compete with themselves.

3. The peaceful They are the quiet, easy-going children in the class. They’d prefer to watch and observe than participate in discussion. They are good at problem solving, and thrive in a slow, easy, consistent environment. They value people more than goals. These students see when someone is struggling and will reach out in a quiet and caring way. More than anything the peaceful student needs time to consider and to think through answers.

This child loves to be challenged. They thrive in a stimulating and fast-paced classroom environment. They “get things” quickly, and can seem bored, as they grasp concepts quicker than the other types. They have an intense approach to learning, and rise to a competent instructor, resulting in a healthy respect for them. Because these types have the greatest propensity to leadership, it’s helpful to encourage this in the classroom. They take any leadership opportunity seriously.

Powerful children can be used to assist the teacher in giving clear and concise instructions. Sometimes these students can have poor peer relations as they come across bossy and dictatorial. Help them to understand positive leadership. They are task focussed.

So you can see the types are quite different in their approach and behaviour, and the skill of a teacher is to identify those they have in a classroom and give them what they need. They will then thrive and love coming to school.

Working with a peaceful Always approach them in a friendly and war m manner. They need gentle encouragement to get them involved in activities. They respond to limited choices and smaller assignments. They can daydream at times and can put up a wall to criticism. With their hidden will of iron, it’s hard to get these ones to do something they don’t want to do. Their greatest need and motivation is to be accepted for who they are, not for what they do. No matter how much you express what good work they have done, they won’t hear it like they will hear you appreciate them for who they are: kind, thoughtful, caring, patient, etc.

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photo: M.G. Mooij

Teachers Matter

angela ladavia-cox and lauren carener

angela ladavia-cox and lauren carener

Teaching the parent

Share your tricks of the trade and watch your students grow

“I

just don’t know what to do with Alex,” Mrs Davies said with a tone conveying exasperation about her 9-year-old son. “When I tell him it’s time to turn-off the videogames and do homework, he acts as though he doesn’t hear me.

When I finally get him to the table to do his work, he thinks of a hundred ways to avoid starting on it. When we finally get to look at his assignments, he claims he doesn’t remember or doesn’t understand what he is supposed to do. And, when he finally does buckle down to work, he is up again in five minutes with one excuse after another.”

Mrs Davies, looking discouraged, asked, “How do you do it with a class full of children? Any suggestions? I could use some help.”

Teachers who are using the Habits of Mind in their classrooms are in a great position to collaborate with parents in tackling this and other similar problems. Teachers may not always realise how effective their methods are in helping their students develop a mindset that conveys: We are here to learn; we have important work to do; we will set goals and experience the deep satisfaction that comes from accomplishing what we set out to do; we will push ourselves to do more than we thought we could. The parent- teacher conference is the perfect vehicle to share some of that hard-earned expertise.

Alex’s teacher might discuss with Mrs. Davies some metacognitive strategies to help focus his attention and to better structure the homework situation. The habit of metacognition helps us to become more systematic and structured in our approach to work and in getting a task done efficiently.

One of the first lessons that beginning teachers must master is the necessity of establishing routines and expectations in the classroom. Think back to the first days and weeks with your new class. A considerable amount of your time is spent explaining and practicing with your students all the

“regularities” that create a smooth running classroom. You make it clear what the morning routine is. You have expectations and models for student work. None of this happens magically. It takes shape because you visualised how you wanted your class to run, and you had the foresight to explicitly teach your students behaviours that make that vision a reality.

It is probably fair to say that parents have no idea all that goes into creating such a classroom. They would do well to establish similar routines in their home. To assist Mrs Davies, the teacher might suggest these metacognitive strategies: A family meeting to problem solve some ways of making the homework expectations clear and for developing a specific process for starting and completing it A written homework schedule so there is no question about what is to be done and when.

Each night, Mrs Davies might ask Alex to read out loud all his assignments and then tell her what he will need to complete them as well as estimate how long each will take.

A plan for Mrs Davies to communicate with Alex’s teacher so that she knows what is going well and what is presenting difficulties Other organizational strategies that work in the classroom such as color-coded folders, clearly marked bins and trays for materials and supplies, and an appropriate space that is conducive to concentration and focus.

If Alex is having trouble sticking with his tasks, some persistence strategies may help.

Specifically his teacher could suggest:

• Increasing Alex’s stamina by making it a fun challenge. “OK, Alex, you put in 10 focused minutes yesterday on your reading. What do you want to aim for today? Shall we go for 15 minutes? I think you can do it! I’ll set the timer. Ready?”

• M a k i n g c o n n e c t i o n s b e t w e e n h i s assignments and own life experiences, particularly If Alex is having trouble “getting into” his work. If he is working on math problems involving money value, for example, she could get a few coins out, and “charge” him for his snack, thus reinforcing in a fun way the value of knowing how to make change.

Finally, any improvements should be acknowledged with warm approval. Mrs Davies can help Alex understand the deeper connection between effort and achievement by pointing out his progress and by making it clear she is happy about it. If he finishes his homework in a timely and cooperative way, then a logical consequence would be that he gets to spend some pleasant time with his mom doing an activity of his choice.

Parents we speak with are eager for any help they can get with instilling positive attitudes and work habits in their children. Teachers who lead mindful classrooms have a wealth of ideas and suggestions to offer parents. By sharing what works in the classroom and helping parents “translate” those strategies for use at home, teachers can ensure that their positive influence extends way beyond the school day.

• Breaking the homework down into smaller, shorter segments, with breaks b u i l t i n s o t h a t i t d o e s n ’t s e e m s o overwhelming • Instilling a sense of autonomy, and thus motivation, by giving Alex limited choices: “Do you want to work on spelling first or maths?”

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lauren rivers

Maintaining “actively participating” students in the classroom 1, 2, 3’s of teaching AP students.

Here is a quick list of classroom management techniques that will promote actively participating students:

Teachers Matter

1. Raising your hand is optional Students are conditioned at a young age to raise their hand to ask permission to share their ideas. Those few who can do this are consistently praised by the teacher. So what happens? The student with his hand up bouncing in his seat gets ignored over and over again; the student who had her hand up over two minutes gets discouraged and learns “the teacher doesn’t value my thoughts;” and the student who knows the answer but doesn’t feel like sharing just doesn’t and gets away with it.

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Stop asking your students to raise their hands. Today. Try it for 10 solid days of instruction. Call on your students by name.

When they still raise their hand, remind the others that a raised hand does not mean you won’t get picked and then, start picking the students who don’t have their hand up.

Restate the question (remember they may have been on Mars for the last minute or so), give them some time to think about it, and then expect them to answer.

In my classroom, this was a successful way for me to get students active and vocal.

2. Probability rules Shake up your class with new ways for selecting small groups and partners, setting up a jobs chart, or for selecting students to solve a problem at the board. Keep a jar of numbered Popsicle sticks that correlate to each student’s number on the class list.

When you need to select groups that are heterogeneous, go to the jar. Frequently, teachers spend valuable time working on the “perfect” list or groups or find themselves trying to select a group that “will do” for the day. Take the extended time and guess work out of it with this easy strategy.

3. Homework check-in: Home studies are important in retaining new concepts, skills and ideas. However, it can pile up and overwhelm a teacher with a slew of papers to grade. Opposite of that, if you make it a habit to check the papers as a class, you may get questions about using valuable instruction time. As an educator, the best measure I ever took on this front was to have my students “check-in” at the board each day. For example, for last night’s maths, I would have a two-column chart up:

HELP… Questions that were HARD last Night

In the chart, students only have to write down the question number that fell into those two categories. This was a miracle cure for managing time, and it was highly engaging and motivating for my students, who went from hiding their deficits to confessing them and seeking help. It empowered them and me, because they knew they would get help, and I felt great about getting to what they really needed help with.

These strategies are simple but can have a major impact. When assessments role around, knowing that you have covered the curriculum is only half of the battle. We need to question whether or not our students were receptive and actively acquiring the knowledge and skills presented. Teaching and learning is a lifelong process in which students need to have the expectations constantly raised. Empower your students to share what they know and don’t know and help them learn to work with a variety of individuals. In this way, you prepare them for daily learning in your classroom – and give them essential real life skills that are transferable to the world’s classroom.

Clear it Up… Questions I figured out but confuse me! photo: Wavebreak Media Ltd

At

the core of the dilemma in education is one key element: active student participation.

Some students are experts at masking engagement through facial expressions, eye contact, and even raising their hand on occasion to “prove” they are participating.

You’ll also face the disruptive pupil, whose motivation may be avoidance of work, attention-seeking (positive or negative), and emotional detachment. And then there are the students who look like they are engaged, but routinely seem lost or need repetition of directions just after they are given.

lauren rivers

“ Start picking the students who don’t have their hand up. Restate the question (remember they may have been on Mars for the last minute or so), give them some time to think about it, and then expect them to answer.”

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photo: Da

rrin Henr y

alan cooper

Being safe on the information highway

Just like driving on real roads, the online one must be approached carefully.

Teachers Matter

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i k e a n y o t h e r h i g h w a y, t h e information highway requires mindful driving. Just as there are hazards on physical highways so too are there on the information highway. As students increase their online friends, their online groups, and their online information sources, the traffic density continually builds. At the same time speeds increase. Without care, confusion, conflict and crashes, leading to a shattering of confidence, is bound to occur. We do not let anyone drive on the physical highway without supervised practice. The same must apply to the information highway. Every student and every teacher must know and understand the “rules” and apply them assiduously.

Be sensitive Sensitivity is the overriding rule. The digital world is a collective where collaboration is the driving force. Therefore it is all about empathy. In this context, empathy means

that students be aware of how others perceive them because of their online actions and how their online actions also affect the person reading them.

The cardinal point for all to grasp is that every time they go online they leave an indelible footprint which is there forever. It is the basis upon which each user appraises other users. It is the virtual equivalent of the face-to-face sussing out we all do in observing and analysing the behaviour of those whom we physically meet.

Be discrete The decisive requirement is for each student to be self-regulating to hold back on impulses and moods by recognising the effect these can have on others. Avoiding impulsivity, suspending judgement and thinking before acting are the hall marks in this. A useful overall guide, or precept to cover such would simply be, “Is this something I want my mother to see?”

Choosing “friends” is one aspect of this. As online collaboration and research becomes more and more the norm, with whom or with what sites each student associates becomes an important part of their footprint too. Their digital presence is tainted or lifted by with whom and with what they are associated. This is part of the online presence that is generated about them.

Thus conscious decisions need to be made about both accepting friendship offers from others, and equally offering their friendship to others.

Social skill The relationship, once its initial purpose has been filled may live or die. It is not the same as a physical school relationship. I have helped several Americans with contacts in New Zealand for their PhD research.

One I have no current contact with, one is a Facebook friend, and one I have had a continuing professional relationship with

alan cooper

including providing a chapter for a book of which she was the editor. A final question, after the initial purpose has been fulfilled, might then be, “Do I want to develop a permanent relationship?” It needs to be a conscious decision.

Two decades ago I was pioneering an email exchange for a cultural difference unit with Texan students of the same age. The comparison was being made about their favourite sport. When a large number of my class opted for cricket, back came the reply, “How come you have a sport named after a bug?” There was an awkward moment when my students thought they were having the mickey taken and an angry knee jerk response was narrowly averted.

Thus there is a need to be wary of cultural difference and the awkwardness that this may bring.

There is also the issue of appropriateness or etiquette. Again questions are needed. Does this require formal writing or is text OK? Should I use an honorific tile here or is a casual and informal hi OK? Cyber bullying Somewhere in the mix as part of the social side some instruction is required on cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is a major down side of current youth culture. Australian figures point to a third of their students (33 percent) being cyber bullied. It is highly unlikely that New Zealand has a better figure. Research links cyber bullying to suicide.

In the connected world, whether it be by email or more publically through various social networking sites, cyber bullying can occur anywhere anytime. Thus even the sanctity of the bedroom is not immune. In some circumstances it can be anonymous and therefore have an even greater emotional impact. It can spread instantaneously across all boundaries.

Moreover it is not just words. Photos taken on a cell phone in a thoughtless or unguarded moment can be even more devastating, as can be a similarly obtained video clip.

“ Avoiding impulsivity, suspending judgement and thinking before acting are the hall marks in this.

A useful overall guide, or precept to cover such would simply be, “Is this something I want my mother to see?”

Bullies need to understand that once out there their evidence as a bully is there permanently. It becomes indelible evidence of the type of person whom they are.

Moreover it can go viral – literally round the world – with their name and reputation attached to it.

Schools have policies about bullying, but the digital changes that are occurring require that to be modified for cyber bullying. Perhaps there should be a separate cyber bullying policy. Nor is it sufficient to merely have a policy. Both teachers and parents need to have a clear understanding of what action they must take.

Be skeptical Not everything that is on line is accurate or useful. Directing students to just go away and Google a topic without teaching the grammar, punctuation, and syntax of the internet is, to be blunt, irresponsible.

Rolling out ultrafast fibre to schools without providing teacher professional development in digital literacy is even more irresponsible.

So teachers need to be self-taught, which is not a happy circumstance when so much is at stake.

There are many internet sites for teachers to self-teach themselves and thus be able to at least pass on a rudimentary understanding to their students. A starting point could well be http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/ csmlibrary/tutorials/url.html. The third page has some useful check questions to ask. Look, too, for someone in your own school or nearby who can act as a mentor. It may be a fellow teacher; it is equally likely to be a student.

Even with heightened search literacy, a serious review is always needed for precision and accuracy. This means checking more than one source. At the same time awareness needs to be developed that there are many sides to most matters and that a conscious approach to involve the higher level thinking skills of analysing, and evaluation is needed before the students synthesise all and create their conclusion from the evidence they have found.

Plagiarism is rife in our schools. There will be times when it is deliberate but also times when it is done out of ignorance. Perhaps the latter is the overall general reason, thus there is a need to specifically teach about plagiarism too. This site is a good starting point, although registration is required order to download their paper: http://pages. turnitin.com/PlagiarismandtheWebHE.html The site may appear to be more an academic exercise than for practical use in dividing plagiarism into 10 separate categories, but it is a list, with concrete examples, to put before the students. On the same site is a grammar and plagiarism checker which students could use before handing their work in: http://www.grammarly.com/?q=pl agiarism&gclid=COXjkfG6krACFUWHpAo d6Qgzqw Overall the site advocates the importance of educating students about plagiarism. This is not just education about the ten types, as that on its own is sterile, but about how to correctly cite sources and how to paraphrase correctly when the students want to use their own language and terms.

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chris kerr

Tell your students what they can become Believe and they will, too.

Teachers Matter 30

The greatest teachers are those who inspire greatness within their students.

How do we do this? Probably the most powerful ways are the relationships we build with them and our genuine belief in them.

In both cases, we need to speak empowering words to them, so they build can build selfbelief.

Build the relationships All young people need people they can trust.

A teacher’s trust is invaluable, and takes time to build. If one word of encouragement can change the whole course of a person’s life, then imagine what you can do for a student over the course of a year. A spark comes alive in a child if they are told they

photo: Benis Arapovic

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here is a certainty that somehow each teacher will imprint an indelible impression upon their students, and that impression may not necessarily be based upon the teaching of the curriculum.

The key thing we should hope for is that we make a positive influence upon them in a powerful way.

chris kerr

have a particular gift or talent.

We should never expect that they already know it, or decide that someone else will tell them. That “someone else” may never get round to it.

It is up to us to sow the seed in a child’s mind of what they can become. And we probably need to tell them several times before they begin to believe it. We need to feed the seed of greatness.

Encourage self-belief Ninety-five percent of a young person’s belief system has been hardwired in their minds by the time they are 18 so it is imperative that we are aware of how we interact with our students.

The power of the tongue is often stronger than we realise. What we say to our students, and how we say it, can cause huge implications for their future. Our words can be overwhelmingly derogatory or amazingly empowering.

One word of encouragement can change the whole course of a person’s life. At first this may sound rather dramatic, but there are countless examples of this being the case.

When Oprah Winfrey was just 7 years old, a woman from her church told her that she was such a pretty little girl. We know Oprah today as a successful talkshow host, and more, but when she was just 7, her world was extremely different. When the lady spoke kindly to her, Oprah began to feel valued, and of course, the rest is history.

Whatever we say to a child, no matter how insignificant it seems from our perspective, can have huge implications upon that child’s life.

Talk the vision Once we have lit a spark of hope or value within our students, let us continue to talk the vision of their possible futures. Build their confidence by telling them they can “touch the world” in a significant way, and help them to identify their individual gifts.

Their gifts show them how unique they are, giving them power to contribute in some unique way to the world around them.

Share their dream, emotionally If we have built a relationship of trust, a child will share their dream with us. This is an emotional concept for them and can easily be destroyed with a careless negative comment, such as “Well, how on earth are you going to do that?” or “That could never happen.”

It is natural for a child to have no idea how they are going to achieve their dream at this point. John Key didn’t know how he was going to become prime minister when he shared his dream with his mother before he was a teenager.

No matter how bizarre or outlandish a child’s dream is, it is not our prerogative to deny them the possibility of it being realised.

Get excited about what they are saying, tell them about the attributes they have that will see them succeed, and ask them about their dream regularly in a genuinely enthusiastic way. Their dream is in their mind for a reason, probably because they are capable of achieving it. It is up to us to help support them to keep it in the forefront of their mind.

Today’s notable achievers include Hayley Westenra, Jacko Gill, and Jessica Watson.

You could have a student in front of you every day who will place their influence on the world in a powerful way. Even if you never hear of them specifically again, they could influence others in a positive way, because of the belief you placed into their minds and hearts.

Bold belief works We are advised and trained to set high academic expectations, and it is exciting when those expectations will be reached.

A terrific example of this: A school district principal in California chose the three smartest, most effective teachers in his area to teach the top 90 students between them.

The students were divided into three classes, and both students and teachers were excited and keen to rise to the challenge of teaching and learning at a 30 percent faster rate, in comparison to the other classes. As the principal expected, the students learnt 30 percent more and scored significantly higher in their assessments.

The principal then revealed that the students were not specifically selected due to their current IQs or other levels of achievement; in fact, they had been chosen at random and were no more intelligent than their “average” counterparts. As you can imagine, the teachers were highly pleased with themselves because of what they had achieved with these students. It was then revealed to them that they were also randomly selected for this task. They were actually not proven to be any more successful in their teaching standards than their colleagues.

So how did this principal do this? He gave genuine high expectations to his teachers and students, got them excited about what they could become, and they did it. Bold belief works.

Children can be emotionally crippled by low expectations. A simple example is if we tell a young child she has limited learning abilities. If she is continually told this, she will believe it and can easily become even more limited.

Never give up We can sometimes let our students get away with “just enough work,” and we know this will not bring them benefits. By encouraging them to stretch themselves, their thinking, their problem-solving and their practical abilities, we will build the gift of self-belief within them, which in turn will empower them to achieve greater things and take greater risks.

We need to remind ourselves every day about this concept, as this could be the day we make the necessary impression upon a young mind that could have one of the greatest impacts on the world forever. That’s why we will probably never know the effect of our influence upon our precious students.

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kate douthie

Is Scrapbooking the educational Facebook?

With all of the collecting, sharing and connecting, it seems so.

Teachers Matter

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crapbooking is generally a pastime that allows people to keep their family memories, especially photos, safe and sound in a decorative manner. How many people go into their community telecentre, library or around to a friend’s house to sit around a table and share memories, cut outs, photos, certificates and show the latest scrapbooking materials purchased, whilst chatting about the happenings of their lives? Scrapbooking is just another form of social networking. If you ask the majority of teenagers, they could list endless ways they can instantly feel connected to others, such as using Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Bebo and, of course, Facebook. Unlike Facebook, scrapbooks are a hard copy. They are personalised; they don’t require a password and the only people who view it are your actual, real friends. Maybe this is the appeal

of scrapbooking and the reason for its resurgence.

So, as an educator, is there a way we can include this creative, relaxing and enjoyable pastime in our classrooms effectively? Of course there is.

In 2010, I implemented scrapbooking into my health classes, and the feedback and result were magical.

Scrapbooking in the classroom Students displayed their health education work in a scrapbook format, but it wasn’t compulsory. The students in the classes had various learning abilities. These included Learning Centre, Flexi, and Gifted and Talented students. The course content was

given to the students in their work booklets and was supported by PowerPoint, cartoons, board games, audio, YouTube, and more on the Internet.

Here’s what I found: • The scrapbooks generated great interest in the students.

• Students have the opportunity to extend themselves if they choose.

• Students went and sourced information on a range of health topics in their own time.

• Students wanted more class time to work on books, meaning they had a greater sense of ownership and pride.

• S t u d e n t s r e c e i v e d s u p p o r t a n d encouragement from their peers, providing for a form of peer tutoring.

kate douthie

• The girls displayed enthusiasm when displaying their books.

• Girls were eager to continue their work after the end of the period.

• Classes went quickly.

• There was a marked improvement in student results and interest compared to the previous year.

What do the scrapbooks allow?

• The learner to be involved through personal interest • Activities to be collaborative, competitive, personal or group based • The activity to stop when the learner gets tired or bored and move on, an ideal feature for students with varying learning styles and abilities

• Time for the students to explore and discover through YouTube, magazines, and newspapers.

• P e r s o n a l c h a l l e n g e , r e p e t i t i o n t o consolidate skills and practical problem solving.

• Learning outcomes to be displayed in the scrapbook, but not always formally tested • Learning occurred through interaction with other students and their work What did the students think?

“I really enjoyed making scrapbooks in health. I found it easier to remember things with colour, pictures etc. The scrapbooks were really fun to make and when I had finished all of homework I would get out my craft box and start decorating, flicking through newspapers trying to find health articles.”

“I liked scrapbooking! It helped with remembering things about health; it makes it more fun; you can express yourself, and I liked how everyone’s are different. “ “I think that the health scrapbook has helped me to keep things organised. Instead of having multiple, easily lost handouts, it is all neatly glued and presented in a book.

Having a personalised, decorated scrapbook makes the class more fun because you can decorate and make each page yours. I like the scrapbooks.”

“It’s a fun way to keep track of all our work and we can put our personalities into them.

That is what helps us remember things.”

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stephen johnson

Innovative teaching strategies

A business plan and a two-for-one classroom could be just the beginning.

In Teachers Matter

my role as a Year 7 classroom teacher, I designed an innovative program for my Year 7 classroom in 2011 called the “Class Kids’ Café.”

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This program was successful in previous years, but I identified a need to reinvigorate and motivate a group of students who had experienced a disruptive year of schooling in the previous year due to high staff turnover. My 2011 Year 7 students presented with a lack of trust toward teaching staff, a disinterest in the curriculum and their individual progress and were reluctant to develop a positive relationship with the classroom education assistant and me.

Our Term 1 theme centred on the production of a café that we would open at the end of the term for parents and community

members. This gave me a wonderful opportunity to integrate our theme across other curriculum areas. For example, in literacy we looked at the use of advertising techniques to assist in advertising our Café appropriately. In numeracy we were able to focus on money amounts, budgeting, profit/ loss and staffing costs (as students were paid for their roles into their “bank books,” which also doubled as our class reward system).

In health, we were able to look closely at nutrition and hygiene in food preparation as well as occupational health and safety.

This programme also developed students’ speaking and listening skills and etiquette suitable for a workplace. Individual students applied for various roles within the café and had to go through an interview process to

obtain their “jobs.” This enabled students’ to apply for jobs of particular interest to them, e.g. wait staff, floor managers, bookkeeping, payroll, front of house staff, cooks, kitchen hands and baristas. Students with low oral literacy skills developed considerably and those students with strong oral skills were challenged in an environment with a different setting. Our weekly staff meetings were an opportunity to continue our restorative practice and inclusive classroom environment. Each student was appropriately challenged throughout the programme with an increased interest in the curriculum and positive relationships being formed with their teaching and nonteaching staff. Students ran the café at the end of Term 1 with outstanding feedback from teaching staff, parents and community

stephen johnson

“ Each student was appropriately challenged throughout the programme with an increased interest in the curriculum and positive relationships being formed with their teaching and nonteaching staff.”

members. Feedback forms and surveys were provided to customers to encourage a reflective practice for the café staff.

All feedback showed that staff, parents and community members alike were impressed by the students’ professionalism. I had prepared the students well enough that I was able to enjoy the opportunity to mingle with parents and community members, and the café was well received by all who participated. Parents were enthusiastic about the programme and many commented on their children’s overall happiness and wellbeing as well as their academic progress.

Community classroom The development of my community classroom during Semester 2 of 2011 was borne from necessity and my strong sense of pastoral care for students within our school community. The context of this situation saw a Year 6 teacher in our cluster forced to retire early in Term 1 due to a debilitating spinal injury. In the months following the teacher leaving, our school experienced huge difficulties in staffing the position. For an extended period of time, the students experienced a myriad of relief staff with no consistency in curriculum delivery or behaviour management. Soon the disruption caused negative behaviour to increase and students reacted negatively toward relief staff and trial staff for the position. As I witnessed the gradual decline in social wellbeing and academic progress, I offered to open my year 7 classroom up with the joining classroom and teach both my Year 7 class and the Year 6 class together for the remainder of the year.

A part-time colleague was able to fill the year 6 position, and the students moved into the classroom adjoining mine which signified a fresh start. I designed the classroom layout based on cognitive development research and multiple intelligences. Half of the space was known as the “independent study booths,” where students could work independently and quietly when and if required. The other half of the space was set up as a cooperative group setting where students could interact face to face.

I designed a central reading station with two couches and reading resources to help divide the space and provide students with a space for reading and carrying out activities.

Students did not have designated desks and were encouraged to make positive choices each day about where they positioned themselves in the classroom.

To m a i n t a i n s t u d e n t m o t i v a t i o n , w e planned to hold a parent open night later in Term 4 to showcase the students’ work. This open night was met with an outstanding turnout of over 150 community members who shared in the students learning by taking part in a learning journey through the community classroom, having a meal with their family and watching two dance performances by the students who had worked extremely hard on a performing arts project together throughout the semester as well as the recital of some excellent student poetry. The impact of this open night was overwhelming. Parents were so impressed by the standard of work and performances that they asked that the school holds two of these a year. The performances by the students were so well received that the school principal asked for repeat performances at following special assemblies on both the primary and secondary campuses for the remainder of the year.

We continued the use of restorative practice to support our “community” feel. Early in the planning stages, we held a parent information evening for both the Year 6 and 7 parents. Parents of they Year 7 students were concerned about the disruption to their child’s learning, and the parents of the Year 6 students liked the idea of consistency for their children for the reminder of the year.

We addressed the needs of both cohorts of students through a negotiated curriculum and Integrated Literacy Block each day.

Students had ownership of their learning and the Year 7’s felt a sense of responsibility in helping to support the Year 6 students as they prepared for secondary transition.

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kate southcombe

Fostering social competence through art Teachers Matter

It’s child’s talk

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I

was visiting a student the other day on her final practicum in an early childhood centre. The practicum focus was on social competence; what is it; and how does our teaching practice support children in developing their social competence. My role as visiting lecturer was to observe the student’s interactions with children and give feedback on her practice in relation to social competence.

This particular student was at ease with the children, and had obviously begun to form effective reciprocal relationships with the children who surrounded her during an art activity. The student had organised a printing session for me to observe and as art is a favorite for me, I was eager to see what would unfold in terms of social competence and her teaching practice.

The activity involved sponges and three colours, and the children had ready access

to paper in front of them for printing. I noticed several children ignore the sponges and opt to use their fingers, seeming to take delight in the process of smearing the page with their hands. The activity continued for some time with different children coming and going, some modeling the actions of the others, choosing to use their fingers instead of the sponges, completing their picture and leaving. I was intrigued by how the children had taken charge of the direction of the activity and began wondering

photo: Jasmin Merdan

kate southcombe

However, I contemplated what effect turning the conversation around would have on the children. What if the student asked the children what they thought of their own work? How might social competence be enhanced through this sort of interaction and how would it impact other children seeing a child celebrate their pleasure in their own work?

how an educator could fulfill the role of “teacher” without destroying the children’s explorative efforts.

I began thinking about children-centred practise and what really happens as we attempt to respond to the child’s interests.

The focus of this session was on social competence: At a simplistic level, the children were sharing paint and taking turns with the sponges, but at a deeper level, I was interested in the social interaction between the student and the children with regard to their accomplishments.

The student acknowledged their efforts as the children came up to her with their finished work and she directed them to put their pictures on the drying rack. Her responses were appropriate: “Yes I like your picture.” “Well done, and I like the colours you have used.”

During the triadic with the student, I raised these same questions, as I asked her about the potential for developing and extending this learning experience and what she could do differently next time. We discussed ideas such as having a direct teaching session with the sponges, once the children have had the chance to explore the paint. After all there is an important place for structured teaching of skills; sometimes it comes after an initial “free play” session. We also talked about child-initiated conversation and how to encourage the child to comment on their own picture, rather than always seeking teacher approval. I challenged the student to consider another question: Do we take time to foster joint appreciation for individual achievement? Through joint appreciation, children have the opportunity to see that it is OK to be pleased with something they have achieved, and for others to share in this success. Surely it is social competence that enables us to empathise and share rewarding moments with others.

We talk of a child-centred curriculum, where children direct their own learning experiences and educators are guided in their planning by what children are interested in, yet do we really let this idea of “child-centred learning” flow through to our conversations with our children?

Child-initiated conversation is not about a token gesture toward the child; it must be genuine and stem from a sincere attempt to enable the child to confidently start a conversation. If we expect and desire children to become socially competent, they need to be able to initiate conversation, not only respond when spoken to. By providing opportunities and the time for children to make a statement about their own art work, maybe they will begin to see themselves as sources of their own approval and be able to express their opinions about their own achievements.

Some suggestions for fostering childinitiated conversation about their own art work: • Ask the child what they think about their artwork before they ask you.

• Comment on how exciting it is to see the child happy about their work.

• Comment on how exciting it is to hear the child talk about their art work.

• Encourage the child to pick something about their picture that they really love.

• Give children the opportunity and time to celebrate their art work with others.

• Hold a mini exhibition of art work – model giving feedback on specific elements in the pictures – use of colour, brush strokes, patterns etc, and ask the children what they like about the pictures/artwork.

There is no doubt that the role of an educator aiming to enhance and support social competence is demanding. Knowing when to intervene and direct some structured learning experience and when to back off and let the child explore their own ideas all involves a clever interplay of sensitivity and awareness of individual needs. With regard to developing conversation, it may even mean keeping quiet. I would challenge any teacher to count the opportunities they give their students to say how they feel about a finished piece of art work, and how often do you, as the teacher, say - well if you’re pleased with it – that’s great!

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kevin mayall

Ditch homework Your classroom — and society — will love you

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oes homework have the desired results you want or are you just building resentment in your students?

Perhaps homework started when teachers believed it was important to get students into the habit of studying. The research says kids need “repetition” because that’s how the brain learns. Somehow this repetition learning theory was linked to homework.

This might work on times tables and spelling in primary school; however, at the high school level, forcing students into doing this same repetition as homework may only entrench a dislike for their teacher and school. Ask most secondary students, and they say homework is just another chore forced upon them.

Perhaps homework was the answer to the overcrowded curriculum: There is not enough time for the learning in class, so the solution was to do it at home. Added to this is the fact that many parents unwittingly think homework is a great idea. When their child is doing homework, he was quiet and must be learning something.

Teachers Matter

Homework, however, remains just that: Work done at home. If you want your students to resent you, then keep dishing out homework. Most kids only do homework on the subjects they like. If there are exam credits attached, and they know they have already passed, often there is no reason to do any extra work outside of school. Homework just reinforces the belief that the teachers are forcing something unnecessary onto them.

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Neill O’Reilly, principal from Windsor School, backed this up at the 2011 International Conference on Thinking (ICOT) when he said: “There is no research to show homework is beneficial and may actually be harmful.

Kids should have conversations, play games, interact more with parents. Research, commonsense, family demands, and experience tell us that traditional homework (other than basic facts and reading) does not

improve outcomes for learners. All homework does is increase stress, create workloads, and disrupt family life. In an age where we understand the need for children to be thinkers, creative, users of their curiosity and imagination, active participants in their community and involved in the arts and sport, O’Reilly asks this question: “Is there really time and justification for worksheets, projects and assignments?”

Employers’ message to the education sector is clear. There is a disconnect with what the education system is sending them and what they need. Most common complaints from the workplace are students are exam focused, not problem solvers and have little in the way of life skills to equip them for successfully transitioning into the workforce.

So what is good homework?

Make whatever you give students after school tailored to achieving their own personal goals, not yours.

Kids need to know, be inspired by, and truly believe in their own unique career life pathway. Homework must have a link to this pathway. When students see this link, they are motivated to do further study. Kids need to know why they are doing something. That “why” needs to be powerful and meaningful for the student. If there is no reasonable reason for doing something (telling them they have to do something is not reasonable in the eyes of a teen) then your students will just zone out from you.

Kids want to be engaged. One of the worst pieces of technology in schools is the photocopy machine. Kids hate being given worksheets. It’s boring. So get personal instead. Find out: • What are your ideas for your future?

• How will you do this?

• What do you need to learn to achieve your goals?

Knowing and believing in those aspirations allows you to tailor your curriculum linked to those aspirations.

Relate any homework to your students’ futures and aspirations. Homework then becomes all about the student.

Academic studies should end at the school bell. Students need the rest of the day to meet family commitments, play sports and have the opportunity to get workplace experience.

In a perfect world, students would work in areas after school where they want to make a career and gain exam credits for that work.

Originally the Western education system was designed as a conveyor belt process designed by academics from the university down. Academic studies and getting a degree was seen as the most successful outcome in the education system. This is not enough anymore. Employers are asking for well-adjusted, work-ready employees. After school activities need to have a work-ready component. Homework just gets in the way of this learning.

Homework needs to be tailored to preparing your students for the future, letting them see what they’re capable of, and arming them with skills, work habits and inner confidence that no one can ever take away. Keep that in mind when planning your assignments.

kevin mayall

photo: Evan Sharboneau

“ If you want your students to resent you, then keep dishing out homework.”

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Laura Jane Linck and George Yeager

Educating for global competence Using Habits of Mind and Visible Thinking

As

part of research, a teaching team led a third grade class using the Habits of Mind and Visible Thinking routines, a set of easy-tolearn, goal-oriented strategies developed

by Project Zero researchers at Harvard University. They did this to educate their students for global competence. As a result, the teachers found a significant increase in their students’ ability to see another person’s perspective, think critically, communicate and collaborate.

Teachers Matter

Global competence is the term that describes the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required to understand and act creatively and innovatively on issues of global significance. The four global competencies are: investigate the world beyond their immediate environment; recognise their own perspectives and others’; communicate ideas effectively with diverse audiences; and take action to improve conditions. Global learning puts learning in a global context and fosters critical and creative thinking, self-awareness and open-mindedness.

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Educating for global competence in our classroom has presented my teaching partner and me with important challenges. Our first venture into taking others’ perspective involved a “Frame of Reference.” Our literal frame, made from gold-painted yardsticks, served as a physical anchor for the students’ thinking. When discussing characters from literature, we began with Kate DiCamillo’s The Tale of Despereaux. We would lay the frame down on the carpet and students could literally step inside the “frame of reference” and become that character, taking on all of his or hers traits. At times we would even use costume elements to reinforce the task’s objective. While in the frame, and taking on that character’s persona, the students would field questions from the teachers and classmates. Initially, the questions required concrete answers usually taken directly from the text, but through repeated modeling and prompting by the teachers to promote deeper thinking, the questioning

progressed to a level where students were inquiring about what caused the characters to behave in a certain manner in specific situations, what effective Habits of Mind they displayed that led them to a resolution and what thinking dispositions contributed to the relationships that the character had. Some students even began to take on the characters’ persona when asking questions. Over time, these activities uncovered students’ thinking and provoked a collective thinking or dialogue that involved extended exchanges with little intervention by the teachers.

Building from our concrete example of stepping inside a physical frame, we scaffolded the students to use a paper version of the frame. The students drew or placed a picture of their character inside the frame accompanied by a spectrum of light to dark.

The light side signified positive, peaceful thinking, while the dark side of the spectrum signified negative, conflict-laden thinking.

On this spectrum, the students placed a mark signifying where that character would place

him or herself, and another mark signifying where the student would place that character. Students then had to explain their thinking and defend their placements using evidence from the literature. Eventually, after much practise, students were able to place themselves on the spectrum and explain why they felt they belonged there. Surprisingly, not a single student placed himself completely in the light, and a few students placed themselves closer to the dark side.

It was necessar y to help the students understand what creates a person’s “frame of reference,” highlighting the reality that past experiences shape who we are as people. At this point we incorporated a “multi-flow” map inspired by David Hyerle of Thinking Maps Incorporated. For these exercises, we began to focus on what motivates people to think and behave the way they do. We would place a picture or simply the name of a character in the center of the “multiflow,” signifying the character at the present

Laura Jane Linck and George Yeager possessing such dark dispositions can be.

time. On the left side, we used three boxes to incorporate experiences that shaped that character’s personality. Students pulled some experiences directly from the text, but overall the students had to think deeply and take the character’s perspective.

One of our favorite characters to discuss was Despereaux’s mother, Antoinette, who is self-involved. The students, now disdainful of characters showing obvious signs of darkness within their thinking, began asking questions about what could have made Antoinette behave in this manner.

They began forming theories about her past experiences and debating what causes people to develop unsavory behaviours, how they can avoid developing them themselves and what the global consequences of

After dissecting Antoinette and other darker characters, students came to understand that characters and people who appear to be undesirable might have lived through circumstances that have generated their behaviours.

Examining characters that the students felt leaned toward the lighter end of the spectrum highlighted how positive experiences can have equally powerful results.

The students were once again asked to examine themselves to gain a better understanding of what experiences shaped them into the person they are today. They looked at what events contributed to developing their Habits of Mind, attitudes, priorities, and general outlook on life. They recognised how their past shapes their present and future.

After completing many of these exercises, students no longer needed physical or graphic representations to prompt the perspective-taking process. It had become clear to us that they had internalized the perspective-taking disposition when general

questions about the literature of the day began to spark spirited debates about character motivation and implications for future events. Our students were beginning to display global thinking when they expressed feelings of sincere empathy for the characters and examined the possible actions that could be taken to improve conditions within the situation. Their understanding of text became much more profound as they were able to take what they have read and synthesize new ideas based on prior knowledge and understanding of how a person’s frame of reference was created. Reading time has now become more of an interaction with characters, the lives they lead, the dispositions they possess and the morals and lessons that students can learn from them as they work to become globally competent world citizens.

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resources by viv armstrong

Igniting our under-achieving students How technology can help

H

ow do we make a real difference in the learning of those students either performing in the lower 20 percent or who are under-achieving, despite all of our best efforts.

New Zealand schools are known for their ability to deliver quality education, but when all best practice has been utilised, and the learning of this group has still not been ignited and real progress is not being made, we have to ask “what now?”

To do this successfully, I need to work with every student individually every day to: • gather evidence on their strengths and weaknesses to inform my evidence based decisions as to the next best step for them • closely monitor their progress so the necessary adjustments can be made at the right time, and make those changes so their learning will be ongoing.

The use of clever technology can often provide the missing link.

• provide them with specific and relevant individual resources for the ongoing teaching, practice, reinforcement and maintenance of essential skills.

So let’s examine through Mary’s story: Mary is an excellent teacher and works long hours for her students. She believes that if she can find a way to hugely increase the buy- in to learning for her students and achieve more depth in the time she has with them it will make the difference. So far she has not found a way to facilitate her beliefs.

This is how she explains her predicament:

Teachers Matter

It is obvious that we cannot all learn the same tasks at the same time, because we did not start in the same place. As a teacher I need to tailor learning to individual needs.

Most probably all that is needed is a tweak, not a huge overhaul, to find the missing link that will make the difference for these students and their teachers.

We have invested hugely in hardware and software in our schools. Students show excitement and motivation in using what is their medium of choice, so it makes total sense that we take advantage of their engagement in technology.

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work, or in relationships.

As the person tasked with helping each individual learn, I want to support the strengths and facilitate the weak areas. I have 30 students each on their own path, and their knowledge is variable. We all have gaps in our learning of fundamental concepts. These gaps hold us back when we try to think through a problem. Identifying and closing those gaps is essential but time consuming. We know that if learners are missing certain skills, they can’t make sophisticated links. We all know this statement to be true whether in school, in

• focus more on problem solving strategies.

• help them to mitigate external blocks to their learning.

• give them daily encouragement and feedback and provide pastoral care.

She also needs to document and report outcomes for her students.

Mary wants to offer every student individual choice, exciting, stimulating, individualized programmes relevant to their interests and instant feedback on tap, unlimited help, and the ability for them to get excited by watching their progress on a daily basis. She also wants to provide the necessary pastoral care they need, when they need it.

This is a big ask. The sheer quantity of individual tasks that need to be performed at the same time is beyond any mere mortal.

Mar y acknowledges that she spends a large portion of each day working with basic skill development. Teachers in the classroom know they cannot per form ongoing assessment with the specificity that technology can achieve.

So Mary needs to engage technology to perform the more manual tasks so she can facilitate the learning she wants for her students. Good technology can collect, process and deliver an enormous amount of information for individuals at the same time with no effort.

SuccessMaker’s clever digital teaching and learning tool has been specifically designed to perform these tasks. It works alongside the teacher to develop basic skills and provide specific ongoing assessment that it uses to adapt its programmes. It shares this data with the teacher for classroom intervention.

And because its data correlates with asTTle, PROBE and STAR, teachers do not have to worry about its accuracy.

SuccessMaker has a specialized management system that provides a specific path for each learner based on an enormous battery of fundamental skills. This tool carefully monitors each student’s responses, and in fact plans the next question based on the previous answers. It automatically tutors problem areas, gives instant feedback and reports on areas that need improvement.

It does not need teachers to spend time adapting it to suit their students’ needs, and not even the most determined reluctant learner can resist the excitement and motivation it offers them.

SuccessMaker will deliver massive amounts of content, observe fine details, plan learning paths, report on areas of strengths and weaknesses, and provide the information that the teacher needs for quality one- toone intervention. It will still allow her to facilitate evidence-based teaching and learning that is informative, motivating and challenging for all involved, whilst allowing her to spend far more quality time with individual students.

Around the world and throughout New Zealand, schools are already employing S u c c e s s M a k e r ’s s p e c i f i c l i t e r a c y a n d numeracy technology with great success for all concerned.

Below we have included some examples of assessment data from two NZ schools using this powerful system.

resources by viv armstrong

Te Awamutu College Y9 Students – Gain Compared with Time Spent

Information supplied by Tony Grey, Principal of Te Kowhai Primary School

The results below indicate that SuccessMaker’s computer-based learning is a significant intervention tool for enhancing achievement in reading for all students, in particular for boys (gains average of 1.22 months per hour).

Average Stanine Gains by Students using SuccessMaker Average Gain per Hour in Months using the SuccessMaker Programme www.successmakernz.co.nz

“115 students using 4 SuccessMaker workstations = total operating hours 1960 - Equivalent to approx. $30,000 in teacher aide hours” A student’s stanine is not necessarily expected to increase over time, i.e. a year 3 student with a stanine 5 is reasonably expected to maintain a stanine of 5 at year 8. This would be normal progress. Any increase in stanine over time is accelerated progress.

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charlotte humphrey

Keep it under your hat Secrets of a master teacher

E

veryone remembers a special teacher who touched their heart or mind or both. A humble gentleman called Mr Coe belongs fairly and squarely in my catalogue of influential educators.

1. Love what you do and know that it matters “To love what you do and feel that it matters: how could anything be more fun?,” Katherine Graham

I met Mr Coe when I was just 3 or 4 years old.

He was the much-loved traffic officer who delivered road safety programmes to schools and kindergartens in the Wanganui district in the 1960s, when my three sisters and I made up a generous percentage of the roll at the local kindy.

The Dominion Post recently featured an article entitled, “Emotional engagement: the x factor in teaching” which heralded the findings of a recent Massey University study into effective teaching. According to its authors, “teachers who tap into their pupils’ emotions to create a caring, welcoming classroom are likely to get best results.”

Recently I came across his obituary in the local paper.

It occurred to me that the passing of time since I last encountered Mr Coe (and the fullness of the intervening years, of which there have been approximately 45) had not diminished my memory of the man or his message. Thanks to him, to this day I still “Stop, Look and Listen.”

Why is that, I wonder?

You may argue that the lesson “stuck” because my little life depended upon it.

Research and commonsense support the argument that real learning and enduring understanding is more likely when the context is relevant, and we believe the skills or information to be important. But there was more to it than that. Mr Coe also made it his business to establish rapport, and he concentrated on clarity.

Albert Einstein once remarked, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” He was on to something. Mr Coe was, too.

Teachers Matter

I believe Mr Coe did five simple things particularly well:

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Mr Coe loved his job and loved his audience. His genuine interest in us and our little lives, his accommodation (as opposed to deflection) of our individual questions and contributions, and his obvious enthusiasm for his subject made his curbside classroom a happy and secure emotional environment in which to learn.

Let your students see that you love your work. Believe in the importance of what you do. Make your classes feel as though your time with them is the highlight of your day.

Mr Coe did.

2. Start smart. First impressions count.

I will never forget the sight of Mr Coe cruising into the kindy car park.

First, there was that car, resplendent in its Traffic Department livery. Then there was the thrilling possibility that Mr Coe might activate his siren, the ultimate sound and light show.

The Coe-Curriculum Five Quick Lessons from a Master Teacher 1. Love what you do and know that it matters.

2. Start smart. First impressions count.

3. Break. It. Down.

4. Engage their senses.

5. Remember the monkey. Last impressions count too. illustration: liam jefferies

charlotte humphrey

“His trump card was his iconic monkey puppet, Winkles, who delighted in extricating himself from beneath his master’s cap just as the lesson was drawing to its close. This entertaining little ritual was eagerly anticipated by the big kids, and never failed to surprise and thrill the newbies. ”

It might not be possible indoors to rival Mr Coe’s exciting entrance, but pause when you’re planning and consider other ways to achieve an engaging, authentic, conceptbased opening for your lesson, especially if you want to introduce new, difficult or particularly important information and ideas. Be creative – but make sure the reason for the creative introduction is clear – and you’ll hook in all types of learners, regardless of age.

Oh, and dress smart. Look the part.

Mr Coe did.

3. Keep. It. Simple. (Break. It. Down.)

Mr Coe covered many aspects of road safety in his lessons, but his key points were always reduced to bite-sized chunks.

For example, his main message, “Stop, Look, Listen,” comprised a mere four syllables.

Savvy songwriters, advertisers and instructors the world over use simple, rhythmic choruses and catch-phrases to promote memory and recall. And audiences of all ages and stages – pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary or adult – appreciate having something to hang their details on.

Regardless of the complexity of the content, emphasise the essence.

Mr Coe did.

4. Engage their senses.

You can’t learn to cross the road without crossing the road.

The Traffic Department may have coined the slogan “Stop, Look, Listen,” but it was Mr Coe who embedded it. He intuitively understood that learning is a multi-sensory experience and that different children absorb and process information best in different ways. Furthermore, he realised that children are especially responsive to tactile and kinaesthetic activities and that these can be used to introduce or reinforce visual and auditory messages.

Choosing to limit his use of chalk and talk, Mr Coe introduced pedal cars and a road grid to help children understand the risks and rules of the road as they applied both to pedestrians and drivers. As I understand it, this was pioneering stuff in road safety education in the 1960s.

Incorporate a range of learning modalities in your lessons. And teach your students to cross the road by crossing the road.

Mr Coe did.

5. Don’t forget the monkey. Last impressions count, too.

There’s a lot to be said for an element of suspense or surprise in a lesson. Mr Coe knew this and kept his crowning glory under his hat, literally and figuratively.

His trump card was his iconic monkey puppet, Winkles, who delighted in extricating himself from beneath his master’s cap just as the lesson was drawing to its close. This entertaining little ritual was eagerly anticipated by the big kids, and never failed to surprise and thrill the newbies.

Like all great teachers, Mr Coe capitalised on our imagination, creativity and curiosity, but in doing so he certainly couldn’t be accused of relying on gimmicks. Winkles wasn’t just cute; he was an extension of the man and a key conduit of the message. He endorsed Mr Coe’s lessons and encouraged us to stay safe. And we promised we would.

Forty-five years later, we still “Stop, Look and Listen.”

Save something special for the end of the lesson.

But keep it under your hat.

Mr Coe did.

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serenity richards

Exploratory learning through thinkboards Many ways to master the same idea

The benefits of using a thinkboard

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hinkboards are wonder ful tools, giving our students the confidence and disposition to understand and apply mathematical concepts. Thinkboards allow students to problem solve, analyse data, and most important, make connections within mathematics.

I first saw a sample thinkboard a few years ago. I left thinking, I could make one of those. To date I have now made over 400 thinkboards for myself and the teachers I work with. I love watching the children explore possibilities. When students write or draw a response that is not correct, the thinkboard strategy allows them to “have a go” multiple times, developing their problem-solving skills and awareness of reasonable answers.

Teachers Matter

Students can use thinkboards individually; h o w e v e r, w o r k i n g i n p a i r s p r o m o t e s wonder ful conversations between the students and allows teachers to hear the children’s “real thinking,” assess their current understanding and examine their misconceptions.

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The thinkboard as a teaching/learning tool provides teachers with multiple opportunities to watch and hear student’s thinking “their ways of working.” Teachers have found them successful as they are “hands-on” and encourage substantive mathematical conversations.

• They allow for the use of a range of mental strategies, formal and informal recording methods for place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions/decimals/percentages and other number concepts. Only limited by one’s imagination.

• Students show different representations of the same concept, allowing students to make connections in mathematics.

• Easy to DIFFERENTIATE:Each student or group of students can have different problems or questions according to their level of competency.

• Great for formative and summative assessment. Understanding at the beginning of a concept can be compared to the understanding at the end of learning a concept.

• Children enjoy using the thinkboards.

• S t u d e n t s b e c o m e f a m i l i a r w i t h mathematical language and begin to understand and use it in context.

• Great to incorporate literacy; read a story using mathematical concepts and have the students respond using the thinkboard.

• BONUS: Through students sharing and justifying their responses, it is a great informal way to practise speaking and listening skills.

The thinkboard has been such a successful tool to observe students’ mathematical learning while allowing students to make errors, re-think and try again while developing a culture of “success with risk-taking” in the classroom. Remember the Confucius quote: “I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do and I understand.”

Something I always tell teachers: “The doer does the learning.” Students learn through doing and learn from their mistakes. I don’t ever tell students they are wrong. I use another student’s presentation to show them the correct way, or guide their thinking through direct questioning to eliminate misconceptions causing incorrect responses.

Why not try it electronically? Use a program like Kidpix and let them draw away.

problem-solving skills and awareness of reasonable answers.

Students can use thinkboards individually; however, working in pairs promotes wonderful conversations between the students and allows teachers to hearserenity the children’s “real thinking,” richards assess their current understanding and examine their misconceptions.

NUMBER - can be many representations in one box. For example: 13 1 ten and 3 ones 10 + 3 = 13 - any mathematical numbers or symbols

PICTURE - use many representations including use of a key and a number line - students could draw varied representations: number lines, expanders, calculators, 100 board, place value chart

CONCRETE MATERIALS - give students a variety of material (not to start with), playdough, bundling sticks, unifix cubes, counters, strips of paper, grid paper, pipe cleaners, beads, abacus, etc.

WORDS - numbers in real world familiar situations using many representations: thirteen baker’s dozen ten birds in the tree and three more flew in

thinkboa Thinkboard

Operations: Tips for using a Some of the • Give students a number sentence to The thinkboard as a teaching/learning tool provides teachers with multiple opportunities to represent in other forms mathematical concepts watch hear student’s thinking “their ways of working.” Teachers have found them • Ask students to use a number sentence Youand will need to explicitly model the use of that can be covered

and show various representations of it to a thinkboard. successful as they are “hands-on”Number and and encourage substantive mathematical conversations. place value: Allow time to share students’ different responses and let them explain why it can be used to represent the given problem. This allows students to see representations they may not have thought about and through peer teaching gain an understanding of such a representation. It may also allow children to come to a realisation that their answer may or may not be a correct representation of the given problem, rather than simply being told it is right or wrong.

represent a single number

• Ask students to show a particular number (13)

The benefits of using a hinkboard:

Students can put more than one response in each section of the thinkboard. Encourage it.

• Ask students to represent a partitioned number (3 ones and 7 tens) • Ask students to show other representations of a MAB number (ddddaaa) • Give students a number story and ask students to show other representations Fractions/decimals/percentage: • Give students one representation (%) and ask students to use a variety of representations (decimal) • Show students a pictorial representation and ask students to show other representations.

• Give students a word problem to show in other forms

Like any new strategy, students may take time to respond accurately using the thinkboard. Give it time. The students are exploring concepts in depth. These deep-learning episodes will lead to deeper learning and better understanding of mathematical concepts. The use of quality focused questions to personalise learning and give teaches a richer understanding of what each student knows and doesn’t is an invaluable addition to the thinkboard.

I have used my class set of laminated A3 thinkboards for almost every mathematical concept. I also have a class set of whiteboard markers (a great addition to classroom booklists at the beginning of the year) and a container of felt pieces to use as dusters.

Using thinkboards as a regular teaching/ learning tool in the classroom has been a wonderfully supportive resource promoting mathematical thinking and communication.

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B

ABCDEFGHIJKLMN karen boyes

A to Z of effective teaching

A by-the-letter guide – with one letter in each issue.

Baroque Music

Barriers to Learning

Beliefs

Research reveals that Baroque music pulses between 50 to 80 beats per minute. Baroque music “stabilizes mental, physical and emotional rhythms,” according to Chris Boyd Brewer, “to attain a state of deep concentration and focus in which large amounts of content information can be processed and learned.”

Music affects your brain waves.

Slower baroques, such as Bach, Handel, Vivaldi or Corelli, can create mentally stimulating environments for creativity and new innovations. Alpha brain waves originate from the occipital lobe during periods of relaxation.

As you relax you can move out of stressors that otherwise impede your creativity.

Use Baroque music quietly in the background when students are concentrating, thinking deeply or when you want them to be in a creative space.

Stress is one of the biggest barriers to learning as the brain under any form of threat, downshifts from the higher order thinking part (Neo-Cortex) to the Emotional centre – the Limbic system of the brain. If the threat is big enough the brain downshifts to the repetition part – the flight of fight, survival part of the brain.

Many different factors may stress the brain – if the learning environment is too hot, too cold, too brightly lit, too noisy, too quiet and so on. If a student feels their contribution will not be valued or they may be laughed at this is often a stressor for the brain. If a teacher uses sarcasm, shout or argues this may also be seen as a threat for the brain. It is a fine line to create a safe environment for every student in the classroom and teacher awareness is one of the first steps toward lowering the stress levels for students.

Personal beliefs are critical for students in reaching their goals and potential. Researchers found that the single best advance predictor of success in mathematics was their expectation of future maths success. Once students are in class, the best predictor of their continuing Maths was its importance to them. It is often stated that positive beliefs, by themselves, have a placebo effect.

As a teacher it is paramount that you give students firstly the belief that they can do it and secondly, an authentic reason why. Also a t e a c h e r ’s b e l i e f a b o u t t h e potential of a student can affect that student’s performance. This is known as the Pygmalion Effect.

Teachers Matter

Bb

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ABCDEFGHIJKLMN

B

NOPQRSTUVWXYZ karen boyes

Brain development

Brain Fuel

Bridging

Understanding the development of the brain is critical for teachers.

It has been proven many times that most brain functions of memor y, learning, attention, stress response and emotion are moulded in early development when the brain is most malleable.

Research verifies that the fetal brain is very different entity from the infant brain which, in turn, is different from the adolescent brain; and the adolescent brain is very different from the adult brain. Whichever age group you teach, find out about the brain development at your level and adapt your teaching style to this.

Brain cells consume glucose and oxygen for fuel. The more challenging the brain’s task the more fuel it consumes.

Low amounts of oxygen and glucose in the blood can produce lethargy and sleepiness. Water is also essential for healthy brain activity as it required to move signals through the brain. Many students, and teachers, do not eat a breakfast with sufficient glucose, nor drink enough water during the day for health brain function.

Eating a moderate portion of food containing glucose, fruit is an excellent source, can boost memory, attention and motor function. Ten of the top brain foods are; blueberries, nuts, fish, broccoli, banana, yoghurt, olive oil, wholegrain bread, spinach and tomatoes.

The teaching technique of Bridging is designed to help students make transfer links between the past and the present, and present to future. It is teaching for transfer, enabling students to see the connection and abstraction from what the student knows to new lear nings and contexts. Three ways this may be achieved are using brainstorming, analogies and metacognition.

When introducing a new topic, ask students to brainstorm ways this new learning can be applied in other situations. After a topic, use an analogy to examine the similarities and differences between one system and another.

When problem solving, ask students to investigate ways of approaching the solutions and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both.

“ Understanding the development of the brain is critical for teachers.”

NOPQRSTUVWXYZ

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ngahi bidois

When you shouldn’t be “smart” Dreaming isn’t the time to play it safe.

I

was talking with Ian Mandeno, one of my professional speaking buddies, about goals and objectives when our conversation turned to dreams and aspirations. He took me through a process to see how good my dreams were, and I would like to share the process with you.

Teachers Matter

To start, think of one of your dreams -- a new educational position, more resources, outstanding student results, a new house, car, career, invention or other.

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Keeping your dream in mind, I would like you to answer yes or no to the following questions to determine how SMART your dream is: • Is your dream Specific? Can it be clearly defined and is it simple?

• Is your dream Measureable? Can it be measured in time, value, money or hours?

• Is your dream Achievable? Can you attain your dream? Is it actionable?

• Is your dream Realistic? Can you resource it and is it reachable?

• Is your dream Timely? Is it tangible, trackable and time-framed?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions in relation to your dream then I am sorry to inform you that your dream has failed the dream test -- and you may be pleased to know that you are not a dreamer.

If you answered no to all of the questions above, then your dream is a good one, and congratulations, because in my opinion the world needs more dreamers.

When it comes to dreamers, think of people like Steve Jobs or Richard Branson. They are two examples of dreamers who thought outside the box creatively and brought us

incredible technology, along with the ability for people to fly into space without having to be qualified astronauts.

As an inter national leadership speaker I am privileged to meet many dreamers who have made their dreams a reality, people like Mark Ingles, who climbed Mount Everest with no legs, and Sir Ray Avery, 2010 New Zealander of the year, who will help millions of blind people to see.

So how are your dreams going? If you failed the above test, I encourage you to dream bigger - much, much bigger.

Just remember, when it comes to dreaming, it pays not to be too SMART.

photo: Yang Jun

ngahi bidois

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robyn pearce

How to keep all the balls in the air Managing work and home

So

you have family responsibilities or exciting interests you’d love to develop — and a busy and demanding professional role.

Does it sometimes get all too hard? You’ve just had a long weekend, or a good holiday, and your heels drag reluctantly back to work. You wish the holiday could go on forever. On the first morning back, you wave your family goodbye as they head into their day, and you long for the opportunity to spend more time with them. Or you put aside your special passion, lay down your paintbrush, your music, or your sports equipment.

You arrive back at work and the boss says, “Thank goodness you’re back. I just can’t manage without you.” You slip right back into the hectic schedule. Within a few days, it’s as if you’d never been away. You’re happy to be needed, but buried inside under the avalanche of “busyness” is a thought that you’re living life in the fast lane, without ever stopping long enough to check if you’re on the right highway.

Here are some tips to get you started: • Be strong enough to say “no” politely, but firmly if you have last-minuting team members who consistently ask you to stay back when it will conflict with your other responsibilities.

• Make regular outside commitments clear when you first consider a job. Once you’ve started, if something new comes up, discuss it with your boss. Managers are not mind- readers; communicate. Most of the time, they’ll be flexible if asked.

• Yo u w o r k w i t h c h a l l e n g i n g p e o p l e who won’t support your interests? Try future pacing. Imagine yourself coming away from a meeting with them that

• Have pre-cooked meals in the freezer for the nights you’re too tired to think, let alone cook.

• Put children on a household duty roster, including cooking duties. Even a five-year old can prepare vegetables and plan a simple meal.

• At both work and home, develop a “Do it NOW” attitude. If you touch something, complete with it. Don’t shuffle “stuff” from place to place.

• This one sounds a little outrageous, but I’ve used it with my six children and husband to great effect. Sick of tidying up after family members who won’t put things away? Warn them beforehand

“ We can control more of our happenings than many people realise.”

Does this sound familiar?

Teachers Matter

Few people take time to see clearly where they want to go in life. They hear the far off music, but don’t take the time to search for the source. If we have no goals, no clear path, we’ll never know for sure whether we’re driving down the right road. We’ll also feel pulled and pushed by the winds of fate, instead of experiencing a sense of control, balance, and satisfaction with our life.

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Yes, life is exciting. Yes, life is lived in the fast lane these days. And - another yes - we can control more of our happenings than many people realise. However, it takes some thinking and planning ahead, and you may have to enlist others’ support.

has gone really well. You’ve expressed yourself eloquently; they’ve been totally supportive; and you’re feeling great. Do you know that your subconscious can’t distinguish the difference between present and future? Create a memory of success, and when the time comes to ask, you’ll walk in with more confidence. You’re also much more likely to get your desired outcome.

• Hire a cleaner. Many people say, “I couldn’t afford it.” How much do you spend on lunches and snacks right now?

A couple of hours will only cost between $30 and $45; you’ll come home to a clean house, and Saturday can be spent on lifeenriching pursuits instead of embracing a broom and a toilet brush.

• Do a load of washing every few nights.

of your strategy. Then, any time you find mess in the kitchen, pots which mysteriously missed the washing up, and clutter anywhere, put the offending items in the middle of the floor in their bedroom or on their bed. Shut the door and walk calmly away. A few piggly people will step over their debris, but most will be shamed into action.

I’ve even heard of some parents who in desperation threw toys and clothes in the rubbish bin (after numerous warnings of course).

• Don’t be a perfectionist. So there are dust curls under the beds? Who’s looking? Will it matter in five years’ time?

• Have fun, and don’t take life too seriously.

We get no second chance.

robyn pearce

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photo: Tatiana Gladskikh

john shackleton

Sorry – The world’s rewind button

Teachers Matter

Practice saying it, and feel its power.

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I

was driving my kids to the swimming pool the other day when Luke, my eldest, came out with what I thought was an amazing concept for a 6-year-old: “I wish the world had a rewind button.”

He wanted to go back to a conversation with his mum about a party he’d been invited to.

He was adamant that didn’t want to go, and now he’d changed his mind and desperately wanted to. I suggested to him that there was a way of rewinding what had happened and asked him what he wanted to achieve. After

he’d told me his goal, I asked him what he thought would happen if he just explained his goal to his mum.

“I’ll tell her I’m sorry for causing the bother, and afterwards I’ll ask her what job I can do to pay her back for her efforts.”

“I’ve tried that,” he said. “She just got annoyed and said that she’d already told them that I won’t be going.”

As you can probably imagine, he got what he wanted and has hopefully learnt a wonderful lesson at the same time: Sorry is one of the most powerful words in our language.

I asked him if there was something else he could say before he told her what he wanted, and he stopped and thought about it for a few moments. Eventually, after a lot of prompting from me, he came up with a plan of action:

It’s always amazed me how few people seem to understand the power of this small, simple word. I bet you can think of a situation that’s happened to you recently

john shackleton

“ He got what he wanted and has hopefully learnt a wonderful lesson at the same time: Sorry is one of the most powerful words in our language.”

that would have been solved if the other person just said sorry in a heartfelt and authentic way. And before we get too high and mighty, I think we should also realise that other people have these feelings, too, and they are often expecting us to say sorry.

I think one of the problems is that it usually takes courage and good self-esteem to admit you were wrong and apologise. In fact, I’ve met people who have such low self belief that they just can’t seem to say the word, even when everyone involved knows they are at fault. They just don’t seem to be able to pluck up the courage to say it, even when they know it would fix the problem.

Some people think that it’s a sign of weakness to admit you were at fault and say sorry. To me it’s exactly the opposite; it’s a sign of strength. Most people can only say something like, “I’m sorry; I was wrong; please forgive me” when they have good self esteem, or when they feel good about themselves.

But what happens when you do it, when you take the plunge and say that magic word?

Does it usually help solve the problem? Does it help repair the damage that’s been done to the relationship? Does the other person feel better after you’ve said it?

I think saying the word sorry can really help our own self-belief, and I highly recommend it as a confidence builder. It takes a bit of guts, and it usually hurts when you say it, but after a short while you almost always feel better about yourself and you’ll get to a solution quicker.

The word sorry can have magic qualities and when we say it like we mean it, it can often rewind a negative situation back to where it was before things started to go wrong. Apologising is not something that always comes easily to our children, particularly when they are younger and have yet to develop real empathy, but it is a skill we need to encourage them to develop. All through their lives the ability to say that one word, with meaning, will help them through all sorts of situations. And, of course, it is something that we need to demonstrate the ability to do, too, so that our children can experience how it feels to receive a heartfelt apology and the sense of closure it brings.

Just a little word, but it is up there with “please,” “thank you” and those other little phrases that help make the world a nicer place to be in. Let’s keep it that way.

Those are all wonderful, positive things that occur when you say sorry, but the best thing that happens is internal, not external.

How do you feel about yourself after you’ve apologised for something you’ve done wrong? Personally I usually feel stronger, more in control and better about myself after I’ve apologised. By saying sorry I’m not trying to apportion blame; I’m just trying to get to the solution phase as quickly as possible. I’m assuming responsibility and being proactive in trying to solve the problem. Net result: I feel better about me.

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photo: cathy yeulet

wendy sweet

Coach teen athletes toward successful change Different approaches for different times might be the key.

Teachers Matter

T

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he coach-athlete relationship was (and still is for some) linear, unilateral and authoritarian. In other words, “coach says, athlete does!” It’s a style of coaching that has caused many athletes to walk away, especially teen athletes. More recent research suggests that an authoritarian style is anathema to successful behaviour-change. In its place is a new type of motivational leadership and coaching style -- that of client or athletecentred counselling. In the States it’s called high quality coaching or HQC. It’s a style of leadership-coaching-motivation that offers a frame-work for a consultative approach to exercise and nutrition behaviour change.

Clients and athletes are assisted to explore and resolve their own ambivalence toward making fitness or nutritional changes. The

new coaching-style is about using a series of probing and counselling questions, empowering clients to set their own goals around the how and when of their behaviour change and ongoing efforts to maintain any new habits.

feedback and direction. Utilising research from a number of disciplines, Costa and Garmston developed a model of professional development that allowed teachers to make effective changes to their styles of teaching and over time cognitive coaching was born.

Stanford University research suggests that modern coaching’s roots evolved from the education setting not the sports field. A need to improve the professional development of teachers led two professors, Art Costa and Robert Garmston, to search for ways of providing new teachers with feedback.

With teachers having to make decisions on the spot, the professors realised that they could help teachers by increasing their independent thinking, without having someone there to give specific

At its core, cognitive coaching allowed teachers to elicit students’ best thinking about their own behaviours. Following years of further research, this cognitive style of coaching has become the pre-cursor to high quality coaching. Wellness practitioners the world over are welcoming the behaviourchange success it brings.

The underlying tenet is that successful behavioural outcomes occur in the context of caring relationships that respect differences and varying levels of personal

wendy sweet

Ta k e m y e x p e r i e n c e w i t h “ C h r i s , ” a knowledgeable and experienced trainer who is training some of best athletes in the United States. His passion was triathlons and his background was military physical training instruction. He didn’t suffer fools, and he got great client results. Chris didn’t mince his words. His greatest ability was to take an overweight client with low selfefficacy (confidence) and turn that client

“ Results from behaviour change research undertaken with leading personal trainers in New Zealand suggests that a more direct approach may well have a place in fitness and sports settings.”

• listening more rather than talking • asking questions which enable the clients or athletes to figure things out for themselves • eliciting conversation and motivation so that the client’s needs are to the fore of the coaches/trainer’s needs.

But whilst this style of coaching is gathering momentum, there hasn’t been equivalent exploration and research in specific exercise and sporting environments where clients or athletes need specific fitness or weight loss results within certain time frames.

Testing the approaches My personal experience working in fitness settings for nearly 30 years, as well as results from behaviour change research undertaken with leading personal trainers in New Zealand, suggests that a more direct approach may well have a place in fitness and sports settings. I’ve noticed that effective personal trainers use a more positive authoritarian and direct-approach with clients when they want to elicit change quickly.

into a competitive triathlete. By blending his exercise science knowledge with his military training, he took his clients on a journey of self-discovery, pushing them to their limits and inevitably beyond. Although most of his clients desired improved health and body shape transformation, many were elite athletes, wanting that extra “something” to push them further towards their performance goals. Chris delivered every time. His was an authoritative leadership style delivered in a positive motivational tone, embedded in him through his experiences with the authoritative paradigm of coaching and training the British armed forces. He knew how to use this leadership style to his advantage, because he, like many other trainers, knew that the results you got with clients were what built your own personal success and longevity as a personal trainer.

In contemporary “leadership speak,” Chris was an authoritative transformational leader. He was in control of the structure of each exercise workout, which also meant coaching and cajoling each client authoritatively through it. If he wanted greater effort from clients, he knew from his

army days the motivational language and tone to apply for clients to dig deeper. He sought accountability from his clients -- from extra training sessions to daily nutritional changes. His clients had to stay on top of their commitment to him and themselves by recording in their diaries. He checked up on them every week without fail. It was a style of leadership and coaching that worked for him and those clients that sought him out.

His client base steadily grew as he became known as a “no-nonsense” trainer.

So perhaps a more direct style of leadership does have a role at times? A 2008 study of personal trainers in New Zealand alludes to this. All of the trainers told a similar tale, a tale that has come about from working with clients who desire change, but who lack the other “D” word – discipline. Many of the trainers’ clients had tried to lose weight and get fit on their own terms or through medical counselling programmes, but they still didn’t know “how” or lacked the motivation or “discipline” to sustain change long enough to see any tangible results. The trainers had therefore learnt to apply authoritative styles of leadership and motivation because they “had heard all the excuses in the world.”

Using a direct, authoritative but positive motivational persona in the first few weeks

photo: cathy yeulet

development. The coach can build the client’s capability and cognitive capacity to think differently about how they can change their own behaviour. Instead of just “telling them what to do” (which may still have merits in skill acquisition and perhaps weight loss), high quality coaching involves practitioners integrating a number of strategies into their session time with clients or athletes. This includes:

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photo: cathy yeulet

wendy sweet

Teachers Matter

became common practice to keep clients on target and have them appreciate the self discipline required for progress.

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Every trainer told numerous tales about how many of their clients who focused primarily on weight loss required a more forceful approach than those wanting to just be more “physically active.” In one trainer’s case, she used what was described as “a boot-camp approach at times” if there was a need to “get tough on some clients.”

Another experienced trainer described how she would engage in frank discussions with her clients and ask questions such as “how badly do you want it?” Other trainers described that when they first started out in their personal training careers, they believed they were initially “too soft, letting the clients

dictate too much of their behaviour.” Each had learned to exert authority by “being brutally honest” and “not beating around the bush when clients aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing.” When working with his newer clients, particularly those intent on losing weight, one trainer would typically say something like: “Well look, I can’t see that you can actually expect results if you aren’t going to put a little time into your exercise programme, so unless we can find a way that you can fit it into your day, then there is no way that I can see that you will drop some weight.”

Adopting an authoritative approach but always with an optimistic attitude, one of the Trainers acknowledged she had to take a tough stance with new clients especially:

“I have a very honest and up-front approach with people. That comes from experience. If they aren’t prepared to put the hard work in, then I suggest to them that they shouldn’t waste their time or money. People often get a shock, but it does work, especially with obese clients.”

Although coaches and trainers should heed the latest motivational counselling styles of leadership extolled by behaviour-change experts, perhaps too, they shouldn’t be afraid of exerting a more contradictory and controversial “do as I say” authoritative style of leadership to keep their athletes “on task” with the performance changes they are seeking.

Finally a book for parents that explains and demonstrates the Habits of Mind in the home ...

Raising Caring, Capable Kids with Habits of Mind is all about ensuring that children leave home with the wider skills they will need to thrive throughout their lives.

The Habits of Mind movement created by Art Costa and Bena Kallick in the US is tried and tested in schools. But this book breaks new ground in taking the Habits of Mind out of the classroom and into the home.

Clearly explained theory and research is complemented by really practical and useful examples for parents to try out.

This book offers wonderful support for parents across the world who want to help their children succeed and thrive. Parents who adopt these methods can help their children become powerful learners, well-equipped for the 21st century world in which we are raising them.

Raising Caring, Capable Kids with Habits of Mind provides many engaging stories and examples for parents to their help children succeed and thrive in school as well as in life. There are practical tips that apply to daily life with children _ for issues big and small _ everything from managing homework to resolving arguments between siblings to encouraging the reluctant child.

To order please contact Spectrum Education www.spectrumeducation.com

This is essential reading for every parent and a must on every schools resource library shelf...

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karen tobich

Warming winter comfort food The food that will make you feel good

I

t’s getting to be that time of year when we crave warm, home-cooked food. I love getting cozy and warming up from the inside. I love the colours of my favourite winter vegetables and tend to stick with basic recipes. Even if I am not cooking for the whole family, I still cook the same volume; it just means I don’t have to cook every night. These meals freeze well and are great to take to work for lunch.

Winter menu Multi-colored Cauliflower & Broccoli Soup with Garlic Croutons Pot Roast with Winter Mash smothered in gravy Yoghurt Donuts Balls

Pot Roast with Winter Mash For the winter mash you will need: 6-8 large potatoes diced 6-8 large carrots diced A large bunch of silver-beet chopped 1 teaspoon of salt 50g butter Enough milk to create a nice mashy consistency 1 brown onion grated A cup or two of grated cheese for extra comfort Salt and pepper to season

Multi-colored Cauliflower & Broccoli Soup with Garlic Croutons Serves 6-8 If you can get your hands on multicoloured cauliflowers, use half a head of each color or one head of white cauliflower and one broccoli, all finely chopped.

Teachers Matter

20g of butter 1 large leek thinly sliced 2 large potatoes diced 4 cups of chicken stock 1 cup of milk 1 cup of cream salt, pepper and some grated nutmeg to season I loaf of bread cut into chunky soldiers (I love using ciabatta or a rustic sourdough) Olive oil 1 large clove of garlic peeled In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat and cook the leek until soft. Stir in the potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli and add the stock and the milk. Cook until tender and set aside for 15 minutes to cool. Use a stick blender to pure and add the cream and seasoning. If you do not have a stick blender just use your potato masher and go for the rustic version.

Cut your bread into thick chunky soldiers; drizzle both sides with olive oil and toast in the oven. Remove soldiers and rub each side with the garlic clove.

Serve steaming hot in a mug or bowl with garlic soldiers.

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For the pot roast you will need: A good sized piece of pot roast 2 onions finely diced 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped 2 cups of red wine 2 cups of beef stock Salt and pepper to season Olive oil 2 tablespoons of cornflour

“I cook the pot roast in the crock pot and put it on in the morning. By the time I get home in the evening, the house smells heavenly.”

Season the roast well with salt and pepper and brown it in olive oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan until brown on all sides. Remove and set aside, add some more olive oil and sauté the onion and garlic over low heat until translucent.

Place the roast and the onion in the crock pot, add wine and stock and cook for at least six hours in the crock pot.

To make the mash, cook potatoes and carrots in salted water until tender, add the silver-beet in the last five minutes, drain the cooking water, add butter and milk and mash until chunky smooth. Stir in grated onion and grated cheese.

To make the gravy, transfer the liquids from the crock pot into a small sauce pan and reduce by a quarter. Mix cornflour with a bit of water into a smooth paste and stir into the juices from the crock pot. Stir until you got a nice thick gravy.

Serve mash with ample of gravy and slices of succulent meat.

karen tobich

Yoghurt donut balls

To make the batter, mix all the ingredients together into a smooth consistency. You can make the batter ahead of time and leave it covered in the fridge until needed.

You will need: 6 eggs 1/2 cup of sugar 500g thick greek yoghurt 2 1/2 cups of flour 1 tsp of baking powder a splash of vanilla extract Coconut oil - or any other oil for frying To serve: sprinkle with icing sugar and a dollop of jam

I do have a deep fryer, so I love to kick these out whenever. I only ever use coconut oil for frying because it is so good for us (it is expensive but it is well worth it). But of course you can use any oil and you can make these easily in a saucepan on the stove. If you use a sauce pan on the stove, never leave the pot of oil unattended. Fill your pot with two to three inches of oil and heat it until a drop of the batter turns brown when dropped in the oil. Cook the donut balls in batches of six or so to avoid overcrowding and the oil from dropping too much in temperature. Cook for about three minutes or until golden brown and remove with a slotted spoon. If you are cooking with any other oil but coconut oil place balls on on a paper towel to absorb any extra oil. With coconut oil you do not have to do this as the oil is actually good for you and it is not so oily anyway. Dust with icing sugar and serve hot. When you break them open you can add a spoonful of jam in the centre. Enjoy!

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Barbara griffith & tricia kenyon

History lessons

One tree can teach so much.

In

this beautifully crafted picture book, an elderly Maori gentleman, a Kaumatua (Koro), narrates over the radio waves the life tale of a stately tree as a backdrop for New Zealand history. Alongside this, Grandma reads about historical events, disasters and developments from around the world. The child listens to both as they create an interactive tale woven along a 2,000-year timeline.

The Millennium Tree cleverly aligns the growth of New Zealand as a country within the context of the world’s history. It offers both adults and children a multi-layered perspective of the past two millennia.

Taketakerau - The Millennium Tree Author Manie Anstis Paintings Patricia Howitt Drawings Kelly Spencer Published by Manie Anstis in association with Steele Roberts Aotearoa ISBN 978 1 877577 68 0 http://www.themillenniumtree.com/book

This valuable resource for the teaching of history and geography, science, writing and reading, art, Te Reo and Tikanga Maori would be a welcome addition to any classroom bookshelf.

The tree, now over 2,000 years old, still lives in a stand of native bush in the Hukutaia Domain, near Opotiki, Eastern Bay of Plenty.

“If you don’t know history,

Teachers Matter

You don’t know anything.

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You are a leaf that does know It’s part of a tree.”

Timeline - Michael Chrichton

We would encourage you to explore this book as there are so many different ways it could be used.

Barbara griffith & tricia kenyon

Art - Illustrations

Geography

In this book, the illustrations expand on the text, using imagery to portray legends and hidden meanings. Eg the morepork and lizard were used as symbols of the tapu put on the tree. See page 72.

Use a world map to locate the events that took place around the world.

Be aware of country name changes.

A) Visit the website www.taketakerau.com for the artist’s notes for this book.

Writing

Please note: The page numbers in the artist’s notes relate to double page spreads rather than the actual page numbers.

Imagine you had a time machine and could visit one illustration as a time-point.

B) Use pages 70-73 for further information about the content in the illustrations.

Read the pictures.

Use descriptive language to describe what you may be able to see, hear, touch, smell, taste and the feelings you get there.

Science A) Try to identify/name the birds and plants b) animals, Use pages 70‐73 for further information about the content in the illustrations. oRead the pictures. n each illustration.

[Use pages 70-73 as a

reference for naming the Science flora and fauna in each A) Try to identify/name the animals, birds and plants on each illustration. [Use pages 70‐73 as a reference illustration.] for naming the flora and fauna in each illustration.]

B) Identify natural disasters that occur around the world in the book and put them on a timeline.

B) Identify natural disasters C) Identify animals and birds that are now extinct. that occur around the world in the book and put them on a timeline.

C) Identify animals and birds that are now extinct.

History

A) Create a long landscape timeline History Gather information from the book and enter onto timeline.

A. Create a long landscape timeline Group children to locate information and discuss. Groups could be Gather information from the book and enter onto timeline. allocated a time-block according to the timeline at the bottom of the Group children to locate information and discuss. Groups could be allocated a time‐block according to the timeline at the bottom of the pages. pages.

EG EG Rest of World

  

Robin Hood Arabic numbering system in India Notre Dame, Westminster and Salisbury cathedrals built



Maori canoes made landfall.

Iwi were formed.

Cleared land





Magna Carta signed Marco Polo went to China

1100 ‐ 1200



New Zealand

 

Maori adapted to new environment

1300

We have only touched on the possibilities of this book as a resource and yet it stands as an exceptional picture book in its own right.

B. Pages 70‐73 offer a timeline of New Zealand history which each picture depicting an aspect.

B) Pages 70-73 offer a timeline of New Zealand history which each Choose an aspect and find more information from as many sources as possible. picture depicting an aspect.

C. Using page 75 for initial background information, do a web search for further information on Norman Potts.

Choose an aspect and find more information from as many sources as possible.

C) Using page 75 for initial background information, do a web search Geography for further information on Norman Potts.

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jenny barret

Gizmos and gadgets for oral literacy New ideas for making learning fun O

Teachers Matter

ral literacy is integral to literacy, and there is an increasing range of “gizmos and gadgets” available to support the development of oral literacy.

Best of all, they also come with a relatively low price tag.

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Well known across New Zealand is the “Easi-speak” pictured here. It is an attractive MP3 recorder/player with a built-in USB. I have come across teachers using it simply to record students reading for achievement data, or for collaborative story telling (a student listens to what has been recorded so far then adds a sentence and passes it on). Outside the classroom it is taken on field trips to record reactions, and I often see it being used in conjunction with a radio station as a cheap effective way of prerecording outside broadcasts and interviews.

Veronica Adams, teaching assistant at Owhata School, scans in the running record and then inserts the captured audio file from the Easispeak. She also uses them in the classrooms for “Wondering Walls,” allowing children to record their thoughts as they

come to mind, not limited by writing ability.

These audio files can then be inserted into interactive whiteboard software to form an oral brainstorm or mind map. They are also left hanging on a wall to record children’s contributions to a vote or survey, left with

groups to record discussions, opinions and questions, and are also available for children to record any problems or issues, as sometimes it is easier to record them than talk about it face to face.

We also have the Talk Tracker, which we are increasingly seeing used in modern language and Te Reo classrooms to listen to the language that students are using, and to play back for further analysis and discussion. Like the Easi-speak, it is rechargeable, records up to four hours and can be set up to record WAV or MP3 files.

Recordings can be played back on the device or downloaded via built-in USB. Another engaging gizmo to encourage oral literacy is the “Sound Shuffle,” a sound recording sequencing device for creating stories, sequencing and sound effects.

Students or teachers can enter multiple recordings up to four minutes total time, and the recordings will play back in random for you to piece together your original pattern. I have seen these been used for “jabberwocky” style stories, unpicking number sequences and puzzles, drilling basic facts or setting fast-paced P.E. activities. Teachers can even use them for step-by-step instructions for groups or individual students by setting playback to “sequential” rather than “random.”

Moving down the school to the juniors, there are still more gizmos and gadgets to help develop the oral language skills that underpin reading and writing. Talking Photo Albums are a wonderful way of combining these skills. Simply insert drawings or photographs into the plastic wallets and record up to a 10-second message on every page to support the image / text. Drawings or photographs can be changed as often as required and the 10 second messages can be re-recorded when needed. For example a group can insert a photo sequence or presentation and each student can record the commentar y for each page. Each

jenny barrett

individual voice message can be played back at any time, simply with a push of a button. Whole classes can create books and these can be left out for parents and other classes to peruse.

Along the same lines, there is a Story Sequencer that allows students or teachers to slot in up to six of their own images or words, record a corresponding 10 second message per slot, and then just press to play back. Classes can create talking stories, class timetables, question and answer games or sequencing activities. One classroom that I visited was using it to create cartoons with voice-overs, which were continued week after week by a different group as part of their literacy task board.

Talking Tins are another popular tool.

Students can record up to 10 seconds on the tin and then it can be left around the classroom. Veronica Adams and Owhata School use them for recording learning intentions or on the noticeboard in the classroom with notices and reminders for children and parents. They are great for recording instructions so that the children are not reliant on the teacher to begin tasks, and the teacher never has to repeat instructions again. They also use them for recording messages for the juniors to take to the office or staff room, so no more miscommunications. Building on the success of the tins, there are now Recordable Pegs (pictured here), available in New Zealand, perfect for new entrants. These pegs can either attach to a “washing” line running across your classroom ceiling or to any metal surface. There are so many potential uses for these and I can’t wait to see how New Zealand schools use them.

Here are some of the ideas from the UK: • Use for dens • Talking number lines and timelines • Clip next to pieces of work to hear a description

• Make a talking display • Place near an activity so that children can follow instructions • Take outside and use on fences • Go on treasure hunts, listening to the clues each time you find a new peg.

By the way, if you have already got your hands on some recordable pegs and are willing to share your ideas, head to Sitech System’s facebook page (http://www. facebook.com/sitechsystemsnz). The best idea posted by the end of term three will win themselves another set of recordable pegs.

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Teachers Resources & Lessons

by Adrian Rennie

 Think of the best things about you. Which Habits of Mind are you really good at applying to problems which are hard to solve. Are Thinking About Thinking:  you really persistent?

Or perhaps you are accurate and precise.

Metacognition  Be aware of the good things inside of you. What Imagine you could put your best qualities inside a jar and sell it to  others who need to experience more success in their lives. quality thinking happens inside your brain. Are you aware of it when it happens?   It might look something like this:  Questioning And Problem Posing  Ask yourself which Habit of Mind is your best.

Ask yourself what it is you do that makes you so  successful at it. Ask yourself how could you set  out your bottle page so that people would want to buy it?   Do you need some   stickability?  Give up when it gets  hard?  Hardly ever finish   things?  Would you like to  wham every problem   along?  that comes   Need to turn that    frustrated feeling into    persistence?   Stick to it juice, keep going berries, don’t  Well!  give up sugar, wham the job  preservatives, hardly ever stop jelly.           is for you. A      spoon full a day   will keep failure    Only 3 easy payments of $39.95 for a six away.   month supply. It’s so easy!   

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©A.Rennie 2010

Teachers Resources & Lessons

by Adrian Rennie

Think of the best things about you. Which Habits of Mind are you really good at applying to problems which are hard to solve. Are you really persistent? Or perhaps you are accurate and precise.

Imagine you could put your best qualities inside a jar and sell it to others who need to experience more success in their lives.

Thinking About Thinking: Metacognition Be aware of the good things inside of you. What quality thinking happens inside your brain. Are you aware of it when it happens?

It might look something like this: Questioning And Problem Posing Ask yourself which Habit of Mind is your best.

Ask yourself what it is you do that makes you so successful at it. Ask yourself how could you set out your bottle page so that people would want to buy it?

Stick to it juice, keep going berries, don’t give up sugar, wham the job preservatives, hardly ever stop jelly.

Only 3 easy payments of $39.95 for a six month supply. It’s so easy!

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Do you need some stickability?

Give up when it gets hard?

Hardly ever finish things?

Would you like to wham every problem that comes along?

Need to turn that frustrated feeling into persistence?

Well!

is for you. A spoon full a day will keep failure away.  67

©A.Rennie 2010

Teachers Resources & Lessons

by Adrian Rennie



 Think of the best things about you. Which Habits of Mind are you  really good at applying to problems which are hard to solve. Are Thinking About Thinking:  you really persistent? Or perhaps you are accurate and precise.

Metacognition  Be aware of the good things inside of you. What Imagine you could put your best qualities inside a jar and sell it to quality thinking happens inside your brain. Are you aware of it when it happens? 

others who need to experience more success in their lives.

  It might look something like this: 



 



Questioning And Problem Posing Ask yourself which Habit of Mind is your best.

Ask yourself what it is you do that makes you so successful at it. Ask yourself how could you set out your bottle page so that people would want to buy it?





  



 





 

Stick to it juice, keep going berries, don’t give up sugar, wham the job preservatives, hardly ever stop jelly.

Do you need some  stickability?

Give up when it gets hard?

Hardly ever finish things?

Would you like to   wham every problem that comes along?

Need to turn that frustrated feeling into persistence?

Well!

     is for you. A

spoon full a day will keep failure away.

       

Only 3 easy payments of $39.95 for a six month supply. It’s so easy!

68 28 



©A.Rennie 2010

Teachers Resources & Lessons

by Adrian Rennie



 Think of the best things about you. Which Habits of Mind are you  really good at applying to problems which are hard to solve. Are Thinking About Thinking:  you really persistent? Or perhaps you are accurate and precise.

Metacognition  Be aware of the good things inside of you. What Imagine you could put your best qualities inside a jar and sell it to quality thinking happens inside your brain. Are  others who need to experience more success in their lives. you aware of it when it happens?

It might look something like this:  Questioning And Problem Posing  Ask yourself which Habit of Mind is your best.  Ask yourself what it is you do that makes you so successful at it. Ask yourself how could you set  out your bottle page so that people would want to buy it?



Do you need some   stickability?  Give up when it gets hard?

Hardly ever finish  things?   Would you like to wham every problem  that comes along?  Need to turn that  frustrated feeling into  persistence? 

Stick to it juice, keep going berries, don’t give up sugar, wham the job  preservatives, hardly ever stop jelly.

Well!

 































Only 3 easy payments of $39.95 for a six   month supply. It’s so easy!







28









   

              

is for you. A spoon full a day will keep failure away.

©A.Rennie 2010

 69

emma winder

Students taking charge With proper planning, teachers see students take responsible, embrace learning and seek new experiences.

In

students based on ability or interest. This system allows for flexibility, autonomy and ownership, which is something students in a My-learning classroom really value.

Self direction Students in a My-Learning classroom plan their time using a diary and a task list which they must complete within the requisite time frame of one week. This list consists of individual and collaborative tasks, eLearning and more traditional tasks, tasks to cater for individual abilities and learning styles and tasks covering a variety of curriculum areas. Children plan these tasks around pre-organised “meetings” that may be for the whole class or for groups of

Formative assessment Ownership of learning is a key component of the My-learning system. Students are able to articulate what they are learning, why they are learning this and what their next learning steps are. To achieve this, it has been imperative that time is made to conference with each child at least once or twice a week. This may be at the child’s or teacher’s request and is made possible by the flexible, self directed nature of the programme. Feedback is not solely given to the students by the teacher but is often generated by peers through the school’s online learning community and in the classroom. Teachers use this feedback in reassessing the next learning steps and students use it to reflect on their own learning pathway. However, students do not just rely on others; they constantly assess themselves formally and informally in an open and honest manner.

Teachers Matter

a small corner of the teaching w o r l d o n A u c k l a n d ’s N o r t h Shore, something exciting is going on. Children in Room 3 at Willow Park School are engaged, motivated, taking responsibility for their learning and progressing academically. This is all due to an innovative pedagogical approach that combines self-directed learning, formative assessment, E-learning strategies and personalisation and individualisation of learning. I developed this system in 2010 and have since named it My-Learning. It is spreading to other classes and schools.

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E-learning E-learning is utilised in a My-learning classroom as a tool to motivate and engage students, allow for effective collaboration and enable learning to continue outside of the classroom. It is utilised to a great extent when deemed the best tool for students to grasp a learning intention. An example of this is the children’s reflective blogs.

Students really enjoy reflecting weekly online, then giving and receiving feedback.

It is certainly a powerful learning tool.

Personalisation and individualisation of learning Students in a My-learning classroom have ownership over their own learning and are therefore encouraged to personalise their learning. It is not uncommon for students to recognise their own strengths and others’ and use this information to teach and learn from their peers. You are also likely to see children assigning themselves extra tasks to work on. You are also likely to witness children going to TED talks or Kahn Academy researching something they are curious about in their own time.

The teacher will also individualise the learning as much as possible. Children have individual writing and maths goals they work to achieve. They are constantly grouped and re-grouped according to strengths and weaknesses. There are also optional meetings organised when the teacher or children identify a need that must be addressed. Children can choose to attend such meetings and generally do not require the teacher’s input in making this decision.

The teacher will only organise a whole class meeting if the whole class needs to learn a concept. This means that the teacher’s planning is carefully constructed so that every minute of the school day is focussed and useful to the children.

In a My-learning classroom, there are very few behavioural issues; the children are motivated; they are mature and proactive learners. Are you inspired? Can you see this working in your class or school? For more information on this system as well as resources to make it happen, head to my blog: http://my-learning.me

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Birdbrained Q.What do you call a crate full of ducks?

A. A box of quackers.

Q. What goes “quick quick”?

A. A duck with hiccups.

Q. What do roosters use to wake up at dawn?

A. An alarm cluck.

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71

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-bell p r th ? o a ll n e e h b e r h u o t yo g do A. In Hamsterdam Q. Did wn his front d with winnin ol o e s d es e scho s h t b o taken in r ’s e each h. He Q. What’s brown on the top, blue on the ullest t A. Yea d e h t t call ! bottom and goes “Eeeeek!”? you jus g”? ht now ig id r d u y o A. A mouse sitting on an ice cube Q. Wh ly fascinatin ing behind y te d “absolu se he is stan au Q. What do you call a long line of hamsters A. Bec that can’t move?

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Teachers Matter 72

Eur

lol les

photo: hellovancity.com

the last word: Karen Boyes

Creating rites of passage for children Shifting the learning status

L

a s t t e r m m y d a u g h t e r ’s s c h o o l celebrated the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, with a lantern festival - as they do every year. Each student made a lantern and the entire school community gathered on the green at the bottom of the school. The junior students walked in line, creating a spiral, holding their brightly lit lanterns while everyone sang. As the sun went down everyone made their way up the hill to the top of the school.

The driveway was lined by the middle school children – each holding their creatively designed lanterns to show the way. At the top quad we all gathered around an unlit bonfire. A procession of senior students in their last year of school entered the quad and slowly circled the bonfire with fiery torches and ceremonially set it alight. In silence, the students and parents watch it burn for 10-15 mins, songs were sung, fire pois twirled and then we all walked back to our respective classrooms. The teacher tells a story followed by soup and bread rolls - provided by the parents. Finally, we all quietly leave and enjoy the peaceful walk back down the hill.

This is the sixth year we have participated in this beautiful festival and it struck me how many layers of development are evident and the rites of passage that encompass the evening.

Each classes lanterns get more and more sophisticated over the years to match the skill and maturation of the students, right through to the ultimate rite of lighting the

bonfire. Our daughter could see how far she has come on her journey in school and see where she is heading.

By definition a rite of passage is “a ritual that makes a change in a person’s status.”

My husband and I have developed these ‘Rites of Passage’ for our children at home.

Rightly or wrongly we have chosen ages that we have believed our children are ready to step up, preparing them for adulthood. At 8 years old it is the rite to receive pocket money and at 10 to be told about the birds and bees. On their 11th birthday our children receive a cookbook and must cook a meal once a month for the family and each subsequent year a new recipe is added to the book. At 12 the parent controlled Facebook page is started and so on. Not only do our children look forward to the change in their status, they know that it cannot happen beforehand and learn to manage their impulsivity and delay gratification.

How do you show the students in your classroom they are improving, growing and developing. Do they see the journey ahead, what they are aspiring to be or do? Do they know the bigger goals and the differing expectations of them throughout the school?

Creating rituals and ceremonies are a powerful way to do this. Mini graduations from one class to the next, gaining a pen or sewing machine licence, being in a higher group for maths and reading and so on. In Germany students starting in Class 1 are presented to their teacher at a full school

assembly and each child gives the teacher a flower. This ceremony is steeped with tradition and significance for not only the new students, but for the older students watching, it is a wonderful reflection time of how far they have progressed.

Canadian Educator, Lane Clark suggests teachers might create rites of passage for thinking. If your goal is to have your students working independently by the end of the term or year – do they know this? Can they see how close they are to gaining this status? Perhaps you use the ICT thinking strategy – Independent, Collaborative and Teacher group. When you set a task students may either choose to work ICT, or they earn the rite. For example, everyone starts in the Teacher group when learning a new skill. When they have shown mastery within the group they ‘earn the rite” to work Collaboratively next time. When mastery is shown at the Collaborative level, students “earn the rite” to be an Independent learner. Of course this has a multi-level benefit – when your capable students are taken out of the Teacher group, the remaining students have to step up, plus it gives you, as the teacher, more time to work with these students. For this strategy to be effective, students need to be very clear on the steps to mastery with rigorous rubrics, matrices or criteria.

In what simple ways can you create rituals and rites of passage in your classroom?

73

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