TM Issue 27

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education Create a policy that ensures your feedback, feeds forward p10

How to help build resilience in the classroom p22

How ditching your use of ability groups can increase students’ motivation and learning p24

Appreciation doesn’t cost anything, but it’s priceless p58

How bringing out the best in others helps you to grow too p62

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ISSUE 27

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Hello, First things first, we here at Spectrum Education are very proud to announce that Karen has won the NZ National Speakers’ Association ‘Educator of the Year’ award. What a fantastic reflection on the work she has done and the lives she has touched over the year through her marvellous parent, teacher and student workshops.

As we head towards the end of the year, it is a great time to reflect on what we have learnt over the past months, and what we might take with us in to 2015. This year we have had a variety of articles from our wonderful contributors all of which have inspired us to continue to learn and develop ourselves further as educators. I know that I have come across many ideas that I now try to incorporate in to my home and work life. This issue is no different, and is bursting with tools for you to use in your classrooms, staffrooms and personal lives.

If you, like me, have struggled against grouping students on their ability, then check out Jo Lewis’ Maths Cafe which is an inspired solution that increases student motivation and learning. Alan Cooper’s article also discusses student empowerment through the use of blended learning and Rosemary Cathcart describes a planning approach to differentiation that enables teachers to generate for themselves and their gifted students, a sense of freshness and heightened interest. These are but a few of the articles we have to help you reflect upon, and improve your teaching.

John Shackleton put in words some of the experiences I have had outside my son’s classroom since he started school a term ago. I am regularly surprised by conversations I hear going on around me about what and how the teachers should be teaching.

Maybe I’ll start a scrapbook for each of my sons’ teachers as they make their way through school!

Our new ‘foodie’ Irma Cooke has shared her experiences of teaching Food Technology in a middle school, and also given us a yummy and very versatile brioche recipe – perfect for those end of year morning teas coming up!

T h e r e a r e m a n y, m a n y m o r e inspirational ideas in this issue covering thoughts on religious education, ways to improve your teaching space, bullying, challenging your assumptions, and managing change positively. I know you will find something that motivates you to reflect on your current practice and make changes this term and in to 2015.

I hope you have a great end of year and enjoy a relaxing break!

Live, laugh, play and learn,

Like TeachersMatter on facebook

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an up her toys and place them back in the box at the r may have instructed her daughter to do so with the in a smack. Today however with smacking such a o ask her daughter how she would feel about putting 0 alternative courses of action from which the child is

CONTENTS

here they have more power and more choices than to be seen how this will impact on their approach to ssion as they move into adolescence and beyond.

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY PONGSUWAN PANCHAROENSAK

In this issue

related to return Ð nothing ventured, nothing gained. ge risk, Ôhedge their betsÕ and Ôgo out on a limbÕ in

spirit of previous generations has paved the way for e now take for granted. Throwing caution to the wind challenge had an attraction for older generations.

e when ly out of was time on.

ame and he street itnesses ever any risks Ð

an era throwing

p15 - Ready or not, here comes Gen Z! Editor’s note

22

5 ways to recoginse resilience SHARON DU PREEZ

38

Good news and bad news for people being bullied

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Using Rites of Passage to support our teenagers

24

40

DR ARNE RUBINSTEIN

JO LEWIS

A to Z of effective teaching

Welcome to the Maths Cafe

10

Marking in schools

We remember what touches us emotionally

12

Using cognitive connections to create high level thinkers

26

TERRY SMALL

42

One teacher’s experience of teaching Religious Education

LAUREN RIVERS

27

Attaining mastery through blended learning

44

Effective eye contact and how to use it

14

Stimulating or visually noisy?

30

How increasing your vocabulary can powerfully affect your life

BRIAN NOBLE

46

Building strong family-teacher relationships

32

Using the circle of learning to construe experiences in a positive way

48

Study Skills

GLENN CAPELLI

34

Teaching food technology in a middle school

50

Why you need to master the art of filing

52

The value of education

15

Teachers Matter

p38 - Good news and bad news for people being bullied

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4

p27 - Attaining mastery through blended learning

SARAH LINEHAN

JOHN MEDLICOTT

MEGAN GALLAGHER

Ready or not, here comes Gen Z!

MICHAEL MCQUEEN

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How to fall happily in love with differentiation amongst students!

ROSEMARY CATHCART

20

4 Strategies to improve your teaching space

DR RICH ALLEN

ALAN COOPER

IRMA COOKE

KANUKA SIMPSON KAREN BOYES

KATE SOUTHCOMBE

MICHAEL GRINDER & MARY YENIK

MICHAEL GROSE KAREN BOYES

DEBORAH BARCLAY NGAHI BIDOIS

Subscribe today

MAGAZINE CONTACTS

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

Teachers Matter Magazine Team Publisher, Sales and Advertising Karen Boyes Editor Sarah Linehan Art Director Mary Hester / 2ndFloorDesign 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 2014 All rights reserved.

56 p56 - Bring play into your classroom

p66 - A beam of bright light

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Responding to fear from a place of calm

66

Promoting picture books: A Beam of Bright Light

56

Bring play into your classroom through the use of technology

68

Brilliant brioche

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Quote

ELISABETH KUBLER-ROSS

58

Appreciation doesn’t cost anything, but it’s priceless

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Quote

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The Last Word: Why is learning so scary?

DR. LAURA MARKHAM

JENNY BARRETT

JOHN SHACKLETON

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Challenge your assumptions and improve communication

62

How bringing out the best in others helps you to grow too

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LINDA GUIREY

MICK WALSH

Managing change positively ROBYN PEARCE

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BARBARA GRIFFITH & TRICIA KENYON IRMA COOKE

Get a vision for your young adult YVONNE GODFREY MAHATMA GANDHI

Jokes

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.

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

All Enquiries Spectrum Education Ltd Street Address: 19 Rondane Place, Lower Hutt, New Zealand Postal Address: PO Box 30818, Lower Hutt, New Zealand Phone: (NZ) +64 4 528 9969 Fax: (NZ) +64 4 528 0969 magazine@spectrumeducation.com www.spectrumeducation.com

KAREN BOYES

Lioncrest Education

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Postal Address: PO Box 340 Cessnock NSW 2325, Australia

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Phone: 61 2 4991 2874 or 1800 249 727 info@lioncrest.com.au www.lioncrest.com.au

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Award Winning

educator and speaker Karen Tui Boyes

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aren is known for her engaging, entertaining and practical presentations. She has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in the business and has been recognised as a Certified Speaking Professional – an honour held by only the top 1% of speakers worldwide. She has presented across five continents, in 18 countries and has worked with over 300 organisations and schools. Karen’s keynotes, seminars and workshops consistently get outstanding feedback from participants who leave her sessions buzzing and are able to implement her teachings immediately.

Winner of the NZ Speakers’ Association: NZ Educator of the Year 2014 and NZ Speaker of the Year 2013, Karen is a sought after presenter who continually gets rave reviews from audiences around the world. Her dynamic style and highly informative content—which turns the latest educational research into easy-to-implement strategies and techniques — set her apart from others in her field.

An expert in effective teaching and learning, study skills, motivation and positive thinking, Karen has the rare ability to draw her audience in and keep them enthralled. She is both informative and entertaining as she passes on her practical solutions for learning, teaching, studying, living, working, communicating and growing more effectively as a person. This ability makes Karen the smart choice as a speaker and workshop leader.

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Through her unique blend of presentation skills, she gives her participants a mixture of highly effective learning tools along with improved self-awareness – a very empowering combination. With a burning passion to make a difference, Karen will not only educate you, but her presentations will also inspire and motivate you to go beyond your current limitations and to be more effective in whatever you do in life.

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Karen is an author and the creator of the Teachers Matter Magazine, Teachers Matter Conference, Kids Matter Conference, Study Smart Workshops and the Habits of Mind Bootcamp. She is also CEO of Spectrum Education, Affiliate Director of the Institute for the Habits of Mind, NSANZ: NZ Educator of the Year 2014, NZ Speaker of the Year 2013, NZ Business Woman of the Year 2001, wife of one and mother of two.

Energetic. Practical. Fun. Passionate. Inspirational

Presentations for Teachers: • Living & Learning with the Habits of Mind • Creating An Effective Learning Environment • The Many Ways the Brain Learns and Remembers • Developing Independent Learners & Thinkers

Parents:

• Helping Your Child At Home • Preparing your Child for Secondary School

“

Karen is the consummate professional who inspires the listener and creates opportunities for the learner to ask questions and structure their learning at the correct pace for change to occur.

- Mark Ellis, Principal

Students: • Study Skills for Success • Discovering & Exploring the Habits of Mind

Entrepreneurs:

”

• Success Behaviours for Entrepreneurs • Success Thinking and Living • It’s All Life – readdressing the work-life balance

“

Karen lives her philosophies and her delivery is relational, humourous, relevant and pertinent. She is an inspiring presenter and I am loving the impact she has had on my team.

- Lesley Johnson, Director: Read think Learn

”

To book Karen to speak at your next Professional Development Day, Conference or Function 2013 Speaker of the Year NATIONAL SPEAKERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND

please call the Spectrum Office on 0800 37 3377 or 1800 06 32 72

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DR ARNE RUBINSTEIN

Using Rites of Passage to support our teenagers How teachers are perfectly placed to lead the way

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orking with teenagers for over 30 years, I see that adolescents are often at one or the other end of a spectrum. They can be passionate, motivated, loving and lots of fun to be around. However they can also be angry, depressed, shutdown and all too tragically, even suicidal.

Below is a chart from RMIT showing Subjective Wellbeing of Australians between 12 and 55. Of note is the enormous drop in wellbeing that occurs between age 12 and 16 which is also when we see an increase in diagnosis of mental health issues, risktaking behaviour and more. My work involves looking at what we can do to avoid this slump and this has led me to the study of Rites of Passage.

boy or girl and his or her community.

Traditional ROP were often dramatic and could even be life-threatening, so many people might disregard these processes in a modern context. But at a time when we don’t have formal ROP let’s compare tradition with what we see our youth doing in contemporary life.

In Africa boys had to hunt and kill a lion or other wild animal with a spear; in Vanuatu they jumped head-first off high towers made of bamboo with a vine tied around their ankle that barely stopped them from hitting the ground. Apache Indian girls had a puberty ceremony where they stayed up all night singing and dancing in a trance-like state. Boys of the Algonquin Indian Tribe of Quebec were given a powerful hallucinogenic drug. In several African tribes girls had lip plugs inserted which were progressively increased up to 15cm in diameter. In New Zealand and Tahiti boys and girls received tribal tattoos on their faces and bodies.

Teachers Matter

The length of time dedicated to a ROP could be weeks or months, even l o n g e r. I n P a p u a N e w Guinea, some boys spent up to three years away from their mothers!

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For thousands of generations, indigenous tribes and communities around the world have recognised the critical importance of creating a process to support the coming of age of their boys and girls.

As they are going through the transition to become young men and women, enormous effort is put into elaborate Rites of Passage (ROP) in order to ensure that the process occurs in a manner that best serves both the

“ Puberty is a time when teenagers most need support, mentoring and guidance from their elders.”

Now, with no formal ROP young men seek dangerous risks like driving their cars perilously fast, getting into fights, surfing on top of trains or base jumping. Young women go to rave parties and trance dances, get drunk or take drugs and stay up all night. The availability and unsupervised use of illegal drugs is now part of their culture.

Increasing numbers are getting piercings and tattooing themselves all over their

bodies. Sadly many young men and women shut down from their parents and push them away for years.

Most tragic can be the consequences of teenagers trying to create their own unfacilitated ROP. Deaths and injuries from risk-taking behaviour are increasing and the actual level of risk is increasing as our young people look for bigger and bigger adrenaline rushes. Drug addiction and overdose are constant dangers and with the introduction of cheap designer drugs the incidences of psychotic episodes are greater than ever.

Creating safe passage The words ‘Rites de Passage’ were first used by the 19th-century French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep who found that all traditional societies had, ‘A ritual way of creating a passageway to pass from one stage in life to the next’. van Gennep found that no matter where in the world they occurred, ROP all had the same three basic phases. These continue to be an important part of modern ROP processes, and are easily adaptable to school settings.

1) The separation The first stage of the ROP was when the boys or girls were taken away by the male or female elders and separated from the rest of the community. They would not return until the ROP completion.

2) The transition The main part of the ROP always involved the following in some form or other: The history, values, beliefs and knowledge of the community or tribe would be passed on to the boys or girls through storytelling, songs and dances.

DR ARNE RUBINSTEIN

A challenge that involved facing mortality whilst overcoming fears and difficulties was created, and importantly facilitated by the elders.

The elders would recognise and acknowledge the young man or woman’s individual gifts; their spirit.

3) The return The final stage was when the young men and women returned and the whole community would gather to witness and celebrate.

There were two key intentions or outcomes to a coming of age ROP. The first was a shift from thinking and acting in child psychology. In this state the boy or girl is the centre of the universe and acts with little regard for others or the future. They are selfish, controlled by their emotions and take no responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Boys are looking for a mother and girls to be treated like a princess.

This is normal in a young child but highly inappropriate in an adult man or woman.

Traditional societies recognised there needed to be a shift to healthy adult psychology where the person would know they were a member of a community and that their thoughts and actions had to consider others as well as the future. Traditional societies knew that a society run by people functioning on child psychology would not be sustainable.

The second key part of a traditional coming of age ROP involved the public recognition and naming of the individual gifts and talents, or spirit, of each child as they are becoming a young adult. This is based on the belief that there are roles that need to be filled within any community and each role has a person who is best suited, or even fated, to fill it. The task of the elders was to help each young man and woman find their role. All roles needed to be filled and each person had a role to take.

Finding their role While traditional societies had a spiritual approach to defining a person’s role in society, from a purely western or even medical approach this is still just as relevant. Every person has natural gifts and talents. Every person has things they love doing and in children it is often most evident. Some will love building, others singing or dancing, there will be children who take things apart to see how they work or are always off exploring or pushing the boundaries. The key is to support our youth to find what they are passionate about, or as Joseph Campbell said ‘to follow their bliss’. When a person is doing what they love and are best at, then they will be most motivated, best able to learn and most fulfilled. We need builders, singers, dancers, engineers and explorers. It’s all about finding the right people to do the jobs to which they are best suited.

A large percentage of people spend so much of their lives working at jobs they dislike or remaining in situations they know aren’t good for them. Often they have done so due to pressure from parents, peers or a society that says that money and possessions are the ultimate goal.

Many boys and girls feel enormous pressure to confor m and are sacrificing their individuality as well as that which they are most passionate about. Meanwhile we have an epidemic of depression and mental health issues among adolescents that is largely treated with pharmaceutical drugs.

This sickness of the soul cannot be overcome by medication when the underlying issue is a failure to connect with their true spirit and passion.

School-based Rites of Passage Increasingly it is being recognised that we need to be recreating community-based coming of age Rites of Passage and schools are the perfect place to do so. Students have regular times for camps for example, and it is very possible to develop a programme somewhere between Year 8 and 10 that utilises the elements of a Rite of Passage.

Students sharing their own stories as well as hearing from elders who may be parents or teachers is deep and powerful.

Challenges can be created and examples include spending time solo in the bush, going on a long hike or even learning to ski.

Finally, an opportunity to be honoured by peers and elders who name the gifts and talents they see in the boy or girl is a process that has incredible impact on the self-esteem of the individual and can be a life-changing event.

The greatest physical, emotional and spiritual changes a male or female will ever go through occur at the time of puberty.

It is a time when they most need support, mentoring and guidance from their elders, and teachers are perfectly placed to lead the way.

Dr Arne Rubinstein is the founder of Uplifting Australia, a harm prevention organisation for children and families.

He is the author of The Making of Men (Xoum Publishing, $24.99). He regularly presents seminars and programs in schools for parents, staff and older students, as well as running Making of Men camps and Global Rites of Passage Leadership Training programs at his stunning property in northern NSW, Australia. www.drarne.com.au

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“ Is respectful listening used consciously, proactively and intentionally? ”

PHOTO: GRAHAM OLIVER

JOHN MEDLICOTT

Marking in schools

Create a policy that ensures your feedback, feeds forward

Teachers Matter

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e teachers spend hours and hours marking pupils work, only to hand all that rich data back to students. What do we hope students will do with the marking? They are likely to compare their marks with other students and either feel good about themselves or disheartened. What about the comments diligently made by the teacher in order for the student to improve? In reality, no matter what your lead team have asked you to do in their marking policy these constructive comments are often ignored and regularly go without any action on the part of the student.

Strong feedback is timely, specific, actionable (pointing students in the direction of more information), and useful. Students are given opportunities to re-learn and practice the skill again right away.

To feedback well is to “feed forward.” That is, as teachers we should ask ourselves: How will I use what I learned in the feedback process to inform my teaching? Feed forward helps us anticipate misconceptions and decide what needs to be re-taught and to whom. Too many teachers fail to both a) track their feedback, and b) use the data to alter their upcoming lesson plans.

Many schools are looking to update their marking policies in light of the recent emphasis by Ofsted on student’s books and files as evidence of “deeper learning”, “rapid and sustained progress” and “over time”. I would advocate moving from a marking policy to a feedback or even feed for ward policy. I’m actually not a big fan of educational jargon, so it doesn’t really matter what a school calls its policy as long as the ethos of why we mark is fully understood by staff and pupils alike in schools.

I often ask teachers to complete what appears to be a simple ranking exercise in my training courses to justify why they mark. This often causes a polarisation in

JOHN MEDLICOTT

“Any marking policy must have the students at the heart of it.”

groups as some teachers interpret this as why should they mark, rather than why do they mark. There are numerous external pressures in schools which compel teachers to mark in a certain way for a certain audience; many teachers mark because there is an upcoming learning walk or book scrutiny or because it is the school policy to do so. For marking to really be effective it must be seen as part of a process whereby we use assessments to inform the next steps in our teaching, so in essence it should involve feeding forward. Many schools are still stuck in an older model of planning lessons, teaching them and then marking the work when really it should be the other way round. Marking the work allows the teacher to “plan astutely “(to use more Ofsted speak) and then teach more effectively.

The most effective policies are closely linked to learning and teaching policies which describe the ethos of the school and set assessment in this context. They do not expect every subject or phase to follow exactly the same procedures, but rather set an expectation for an approach in each context. It would be very difficult for a maths teacher to provide feedback in the same way as a teacher marking English written work. They also will give guidance on the regularity of marking and the often suggest different levels of detail in marking. It would be impossible and unproductive to mark every piece of work in the same depth. An appropriate balance needs to be struck in each subject and school context. For example, some primary schools have one focused piece of written work each week and on the following day allocate timetabled time for feedback and for pupils to respond to marking.

Any policy must have the students at the heart of it. Encouragingly, when asked why they mark, most teachers will describe a positive impact it has on their students learning, progress or independence. I’m heartened that individual teachers have not lost sight of this as many school policies and book scrutinies have become box ticking exercises based on hearsay of what we imagine Ofsted will expect when they visit. In reality, we don’t mark for Ofsted or for our leadership teams; we mark because we believe it improves individual students understanding and progression. Ofsted focus on the outcomes of our marking not the format and do not expect a certain style, they will triangulate their decision based on lesson observations and discussions with pupils in an aim to assess its impact on learning and progression. Where teachers set work using clear objectives or learning intentions and success criteria, marking is more focused, more useful to learners and quicker for the teacher. It is often true that those who spend a long time marking were not clear about the purpose and intention of the task in the first place.

In my training courses we look how to put this into practice, to mark smarter, improving the quality and the valueadded aspect of marking and feedback without necessarily increasing the quantity. After all, what is the value of marking every single piece of work? As we move towards a “Talk Less/ Learn more” approach to teaching much of the work we produce in class is not really designed to be marked. A Head of Department on a recent Birmingham course recommended attending my “Perfect Marking” INSET to “Get your life back” in a tweet; if the strategies I provide can help teachers

reclaim time with their families and friends whilst delivering higher impact lessons then we really are starting to redress the balance.

Top tips for creating the Perfect Marking Policy • Keep it short and simple – so that all staff feel they can adhere to it • Keep it flexible- we don’t all feedback in the same way, an English essay is very different from a set of exercises in Maths • Keep it realistic- not all work is suitable for marking, plan keystone pieces of work to mark in depth • Keep it focused on the outcomes – to maximise student performance • Consider creating a feedback or feedforward policy which covers all forms of student teacher interactions

John is a passionate educator, keen on sharing the best practice in pedagogy beyond the UK. He already runs a nationally recognised course called “Perfect Marking” which he feels could be of great interest to teachers in NZ and Australia. John can also be booked for whole school training and intervention work.

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/ pub/john-medlicott/46/a59/65 Blog: http://johnmedlicott.blogspot.co.uk/ Twitter: @johnmedlicott

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this through visual media, reading an article, or let them select their own source document. Use debate partners who are on opposing sides. Have them prepare their talking points and questions together, and encourage them to talk to each other about how they can counter the other’s claims.

Often we have students prepare solo or in a team of likeminded individuals, but partnering with the opposition will help students understand how the opposition may pick apart their argument.

LAUREN RIVERS

Using cognitive connections to create high level thinkers Tapped In or Tapped Out?

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dministrators from superintendents to the local schoolhouse principals enter the classroom and look for this key indicator: engagement. During your post observation conference, it is likely that this question will be raised and there will be that selection of students who seemed to be detached from the learning environment.

Perhaps they did not raise their hand, refrained from participating in the group discussion, or were drawing doodles at their seat. Whatever their conduct, it boils down to how you as a teacher can have effective classroom management skills that foster active student engagement.

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Therein lies the biggest problem for all classroom teachers and it leaves us all wondering, “How do I craft a lesson where they all are engaged and sharing their thoughts?” What I am proposing here is that there needs to be a shift in our collective thought process of ‘classroom engagement,’ or ‘student engagement.’

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Whereas the question, “Are they engaged?” only lends itself to a cursory study of what is truly going on in a student’s ability to appear engaged. For example, a student may look like they are working, may raise their hand, but their thought process is focused on something else completely. Asking about student engagement only brings attention to the students who ‘play school’ well, the ones who consistently show that they are tapped

in and taking part in the educational setting.

On the other hand, those who do not ‘play school’ well are tapped out. They were done learning before they got to school and in their bag of tricks they have a collection of distraction and work avoidance tactics.

Cognitive connections, students discussing instructional topics with alacrity, accuracy and evidence to support claims, are what educators should desire to see and experience in the classroom. Crafting lessons that challenge students to become a part of the process of gaining new knowledge, seeking to understand it in a way that evokes the senses and links it to experiences that make them think, making cognitive connections, about their learning will ultimately create a classroom culture where all students desire to partake in the educational experience.

How do I craft lessons that take students up a notch and into the realm of cognitive connections? Students like to talk so I propose that we create lessons that give them an opportunity to do so: Debates: Debates require students to make a personal connection to a topic, own it as their own, and defend it to opposition.

It creates cognitive connections by creating an atmosphere of thinking in real time after they have dedicated some time to research. Start off small with presenting students with both sides of a topic. Do

Collaborative Groups: Collaborative groups of 3 to 4 students can be very powerful when you push the student task beyond simply preparing a project or presenting ideas together. When putting students in a group we need to align that group with a mission that allows them to use their collective thinking to develop an end product that demonstrates a higher level of learning than they would achieve if they worked by themselves. For example, a poster on Nelson Mandela with a set of requirements may be a good group project. However, using that same group of students to take their research, create discussion questions, select information or ideas that can be opposed, and present it to the class in a way that is innovative (using technology, acting, role playing, …) takes their group effort from fact finding and reporting to a whole new level where they are taking ownership of their learning and creating a learning experience for their peers.

Socratic Seminar: A Socratic Seminar is a discussion that takes place in a circle and is based on a reading selection, picture or in some cases a video. The circle can be big or small, but typically a Socratic Seminar in my classroom is run with my whole class. Teachers often develop the question sets for their students and create ways to make the discussion equitable so that it isn’t always the top five students in class answering question after question. Ideally, the discussion should be completely student run. Assign a student reading, have them to take notes and prepare for questions, and then have them develop their own question set. Encourage them to create questions that make you think, reflect, and refer back to the text and to stay away from questions that are only asking for details from the reading. To start off, you may need to heavily model the type of questioning.

As time goes by, student ownership of the process should be encouraged. Therefore, creating a classroom culture where students become masters of the materials and feel comfortable challenging and questioning one another in an academic setting. This is a prime example of the type of thinking

demonstrated when students show that they are making cognitive connections.

Wi l l m y c l a s s r o o m b e l o u d ? N o t necessarily. It will have a lot more talking, but it will be on topic. When you try one of the models above, I suggest that you set firm guidelines and model the desired behaviors. Teach the class what you expect from them and how you will signal them that you want their attention. Create a ‘tapped in,’ signal.

My students know when I say, “Tap in!” that I want them to tap their desk, stop talking and look up at me. Once I have their attention, I praise them by drawing their attention to what I see going well in the classroom, redirect them if I see some things that need improvement or clarification, and I remind them of where they should be in the process.

Next year take your instructional practices a step beyond student engagement to cognitive connections and challenge your students to be “Tapped In” to their learning experience. By doing so you are creating students that are not just ‘playing school,’ but are becoming higher level thinkers.

Definitions: Cognitive Connections: A level of classroom instruction that promotes a learning environment where students discuss or write about instructional topics with alacrity, accuracy and evidence to support claims. An instructional process where gaining new knowledge causes students seek to understand it in a way that evokes the senses and links it to experiences that make them think.

In New Zealand Improve Improvethe thedepth, depth,breadth breadthand andrigour rigourofofyour yourschool’s school’s thinking, learning and inquiry programs. thinking, learning and inquiry programs.

Engage Engageyour yourlearners learnersininpowerful powerfulcurricula curriculathat thatdirectly directly connects connectstotoauthentic authenticreal-world real-worldcontexts. contexts.

Design Designrigorous, rigorous,significant, significant,authentic authenticlearning learning experiences experiencesfor foryour yourstudents studentsthat thatpromote promotedeep deep knowledge knowledgeand anddeep deepunderstanding. understanding.

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PHOTO COURTESY THE NEW YORK TIMES

MEGAN GALLAGHER

Stimulating or visually noisy?

Does what you display in your classroom make a difference to your students’ learning?

R

ecently I came across an article in The New York Yimes (Rethinking the colourful kindergarten classroom) which talked about some research into visually crowded classrooms and the effects of this on learning for children. This was really interesting for me from a teaching/ learning perspective as it was something that had been brought to my attention a number of years ago.

Teachers Matter

The article shared some recent research which explored the differences in performance of a small group of young children between working in an austere classroom and a more colourful, dare I say, typically western classroom. Admittedly the sample was small, 24 kindergarteners (so most likely children around 5-6 years old), and the time in the learning spaces was limited (only 5-7 minute lessons taken over several days) so to be fair, the findings are not conclusive at all but they are worth considering.

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This research suggests that for young children, competing visuals interfere with their ability to concentrate on the task at hand. They find it hard to discern what is important if everywhere they look there is important stuff. As children get older they get better at working out where they need to focus so this may be less of an issue for older students. I find this ironic as traditionally secondary/senior classrooms tend to be more austere whilst the early primary classrooms are usually more decorated.

A number of years ago during my first year of working in a mobile classroom with an attached small office, I was having an appraisal. As part of that my manager spent time in my little office going through my paperwork and writing up some records. He was in there for nearly an hour and came out with books in hand stating that he would find a room in the school to work in as my office

was ‘visually noisy’. That surprised me as I thought the office was bright and interesting - it was tidy, with everything needed in easy reach. However when I reflected on it I could see where my manager was coming from, and as we talked I realised that I had also created a classroom environment that worked for me but it may not have worked for all of my learners.

As a regular classroom teacher I loved creating interesting displays for my classroom. I was so lucky to have generously sized classrooms and we still managed to fill them up with mostly children’s work. When I moved into the mobile classroom environment (my classroom was about the size of a refrigerated unit on the back of a semi-articulated truck), I still ensured that there was a lot of visual information available for the learners to make it an attractive environment despite the original intention of the classroom being blank when children entered it and the learning displays built as the sessions progressed. After my appraisal I revisited the original intent of the blank classroom and the fact that we had the children working with us for such a short time, we could ill afford to create distractions or make it harder for them to concentrate on the area of focus. So I changed my practice. I did still use some posters and other materials but made sure they related to the topic of conversation and if possible were actually referred to or used in the learning session in some way. I confess it actually made a difference for me too as I think I ended up being more focused as well! This was something of a revelation for me at the time and I have shared it with my colleagues over the years.

I have been reminded many times, in many settings, that less is more. (Those of you who have offered me this advice over the years please know that I am improving... slowly!) I know I would do things a bit differently now if I was back teaching in my own classroom.

Most importantly I would observe more, and talk to the children to find out what works for them. If needed, I would change things around to better meet their needs not just my whims.

I would align the classroom displays even more to fit with big themes/topics and keep it

relevant, so perhaps display less but change it more often.

As an aside, another thing that I will do when I am teaching is to turn off the fluorescent lighting as soon as possible as I recently heard that this type of lighting can be distracting/ stress inducing. I hadn’t even noticed the lighting until I turned them off, and was amazed at how much calmer I felt. I just thought, “Wow, I wonder how that would impact on behaviour in the classroom?”

So many little things together contribute to the classroom learning environment we create; it isn’t just the stuff on the walls!

The key message that I take from this is that everyone has different preferences in learning environments, and as teachers we have the ability to set up the environment to better meet the varied needs of our diverse learners rather than just doing what appeals to us. Generally speaking (and this is a gross generalisation), teachers have succeeded in information-dense learning environments and so it could be argued we create an environment that reflects how we like to learn. I think we need to reflect a little more about why we do what we do and experiment knowing that we have a range of learners in our classrooms.

I am thinking the challenge here is how we create a stimulating learning environment without creating a distracting or stressful one.

The learning environment we create has the capacity to make a difference for all of our learners, so it is well worth giving yours a second look!

Megan is a committed learner. She has been a teacher and an educational leader who has specialised in health education for a number of years. She is an avid promoter of building resilience in our students and selves.

ny toddlers know their way around an smartphone s that have been downloaded specifically for them

escribes the Zs as a generation Ôwho have only ed ay

ery he a ds he of f it

MICHAEL MCQUEEN

ER ATT S M 2015 R E CE CH TEA FEREN TE N O O N C KEY KER A SPE

or computer screen each day. Many toddlers know their way around a Smartphone by age 2 and even have apps on parent’s devices that have been downloaded specifically for them to play with.

Australian social researcher Mark McCrindle describes the Zs as a generation ‘who have only known a wireless, hyperlinked, user-generated world where they are only ever a few clicks away from any piece of knowledge.’

dia nd in ce

Ready or not, here comes Gen Z! A look at the youngsters about to make their presence known

W

e’ve heard a lot about Gen Y in recent years, however there is another generation looming on the horizon. They are the children currently filling our kindergartens, primary schools and day care centres. Their name Generation Z. Although this group born from 1999 to the present day may still be too young to profile with any great certainty, the early signs indicate 7 characteristics and trends. They are shaping up to be:

1. Tech Savvy Gen Zs have only known a world where instant connectivity is the nor m – a generation who in their short lives have had unprecedented access to technology and instant gratification. Consider the fact that most Gen Zs have never seen a camera that requires film much less had to wait for photos to be developed!

Gen Z’s exposure to technology is starting early with one recent study indicating that almost two thirds of babies under the age of one are spending an average of one hour and twenty minutes in front of a TV

While such access to information may be a very positive thing, a British report that was cited in The Daily Telegraph in March 2008 found that a worryingly large number of under-16-year-olds spend more than 20 hours per week on the internet. Worryingly, they also found that 57% of children have seen online pornography, most of it accidentally in the form of pop-up ads.

Much of this exposure to technology and media from a young age leads on to the second characteristic researchers are witnessing in Generation Z – a lowering of the age of innocence and a premature maturity.

2. Prematurely mature Zs are exposed to more, experience more, and experiment more at a younger age, than previous generations. Added to the societal influences shaping this, physiological and environmental factors also have a role to play. Today, puberty hits boys and girls one to two years earlier than it did thirty years ago.

Physiology aside, popular culture and media saturation are undoubtedly the key causal factors in a lowering of the age of innocence in Gen Z. As sociology professor Tony Campolo describes it, we have a generation of children who “know too much too soon.”

This young group are the most marketed-to generation of children the world has ever seen and it is estimated they are exposed to

15

For older generations, risk is seen as directly related to return Ð nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Builders and Boomers were taught to manage risk, Ôhedge their betsÕ and Ôgo out on a limbÕ in order to achieve and grow.

The adventurous, inquisitive and pioneering spirit of previous generations has paved the way for

many of the inventions and discoveries that we now take for granted. Throwing caution to the wind MICHAEL MCQUEEN and overcoming a seemingly insurmountable challenge had an attraction for older generations.

Builders and Boomers grew up in a time when

4. Empowered

between 30,000 - 40,000 TV commercials children stayed out playing all day completely out of each year. contact with their parents and knew when it was time empowerment is typically a very head homeWhile because the street lights came on.

Of great concern is the fact to that body positive thing, the way in which Gen Z image is becoming an issue of increasing are being empowered from a very young Accidents concern for both boys and girls in earlywere simply that. No-one was to blame and age is resulting in some unintended and they were just a part of life. If you fell over in the street primary school rather than early high school. challenging consequences. you actually hoped no-one saw it Ð having witnesses Parenting expert Michael Grose points to was the last thing you wanted!

There wastoddlers never any No longer are they simply or startling research by author and beauty question of who was responsible for taking risks Ð children – young Gen Zs are called ‘little stylist Gregory Landsman which found naturally it waspeople’. the individual taking them.

It is almost as if children are now that children as young as six reportedly simply seen as miniature versions of adults. disliked their bodies and found themselves In contrast, Generation Z has grown up in an era As such, they are expected to have the unattractive. where risk has become unacceptable and Ôthrowing same level of discernment, self-control and caution to the windÕ is akin to negligence.

Leading Australian demographer Hugh capacity for reasoning that was previously Mackay highlighted Gen Z’s premature not expected until an individual’s late teens maturity in an editorial he wrote for The or early twenties.

Sydney Morning Herald on 12 January, 2008.

Prof. Jean Twenge picks up on this trend Speaking of the fact that children’s parties in her book Generation Me. Highlighting are becoming quasi-adolescent affairs, how parents begin asking children their he described the growth of the Adolescent preferences even before the child can Childhood (AC) syndrome. This syndrome answer, Prof. Twenge contrasts modern is one that Mackay suggests is reflected in parenting approaches with those adopted in the curious desire of parents to hasten their past eras. She points to the trend of parents children’s development toward adulthood who would never dream of making every by encouraging them to act like minisingle decision for their child without first adults. Looking at how this trend relates asking what the child wants – a far cry from directly to raising girls, Mackay argues that the ‘be seen and not heard’ days where the machinery of modern marketing has children fitted in around the parent’s lives encouraged parents to buy their daughters and not vice versa. Twenge argues that this clothes, shoes, cosmetics, dolls and music results in children coming to believe that designed to ‘create the illusion of a their wants are the most important.” precocious, premature sexuality’.

While we are only seeing early signs of the impact of this trend on childhood development, it will be interesting to see how Gen Z approaches adolescence when so much of the sense of discovery, innocence and curiosity associated with this stage of life in past eras has been lost.

Teachers Matter

3. Pampered

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Gen Z are growing up with fewer siblings than children of previous generations.

Census data indicates that around 60% of families with Gen Z children have two kids or less and currently the average family has just 3.2 members including the parents. As a result of shrinking family sizes, attention, affection and money are being lavished on this young generation like none before.

There are early indications of a self-centred individualism among Gen Z that eclipses anything we have seen in Gen Y.

To look at how this empowerment plays out in everyday life, consider the example of a mother instructing her three-year-old daughter to clean up her toys and place them back in the box at the end of playtime.

Twenty years ago, the mother may have instructed her daughter to do so with the warning that failure to comply would result in a smack. Today however with smacking such a societal taboo, the pressure on mum now is to ask her daughter how she would feel about putting her toys back in the box and then outlining 20 alternative courses of action from which the child is to choose the one that suits her best!

Indeed, Gen Z are being raised in an era where they have more power and more choices than children in previous generations did. It waits to be seen how this will impact on their approach to notions of responsibility, deference and submission as they move into adolescence and beyond.

5. Risk averse For older generations, risk is seen as directly related to return – nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Builders and Boomers were taught to manage risk, ‘hedge their bets’ and ‘go out on a limb’ in order to achieve and grow.

The adventurous, inquisitive and pioneering spirit of previous generations has paved the way for many of the inventions and discoveries that we now take for granted.

Throwing caution to the wind and overcoming a seemingly insurmountable challenge had an attraction for older generations.

Builders and Boomers grew up in a time when children stayed out playing all day completely out of contact with their parents and knew when it was time to head home because the street lights came on. Accidents were simply that. No-one was to blame and they were just a part of life. If you fell over in the street you actually hoped no-one saw it – having witnesses was the last thing you wanted!

There was never any question of who was responsible for taking risks – naturally it was the individual taking them.

In contrast, Generation Z has grown up in an era where risk has become unacceptable and ‘throwing caution to the wind’ is akin to negligence.

These days, risk seems too frightening a proposition for many young people.

After all, it could lead to failure, danger, disappointment and har m. Fear is a powerful driving force in our modern age – fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of terrorists, fear of neighbours – but, most of all, fear of being sued.

MICHAEL MCQUEEN The pace at which Australian society has adopted the litigious mind-set of our American counterparts has profo u n d l y s h a p e d Generation Z’s aversion to risk. Accidents are no longer just accidents. Someone is always to blame – and it can’t be me!

Rather than being seen as a necessary part of living in the real world, risk has become public enemy number one.

In a recent article in The Daily Telegraph, Sydney University Health Sciences Professor, Anita Bundy, argued that safety-first measures have all but killed off the fun of today’s playgrounds. She said: You need things where kids can be safe but where there is a bit of perceived risk – they shouldn’t be able to fall on their head easily, but it can’t be so safe that they are bored to tears.

With such a focus on shielding Gen Z from risk, it is reasonable to wonder how this will affect their approach to innovation, adventure and entrepreneurialism as they grow older. Furthermore, how will this group’s personal development and sense of identity be shaped by a world where they never have to experience risk, pain, disappointment or failure? After all, we learn best by challenging physical boundaries, taking risks and experiencing a certain degree of pain. As American author Lenore Skenazy so rightly attests, kids who aren’t allowed to take any risks turn out to be less safe than those who do!

Gen Z’s aversion to academic risk is also highlighted by primary school teachers who often talk of the reluctance among this generation to put their hand up in class to answer questions. Whereas Gen Y tended to exhibit a bold self-assurance and confidence in their younger years, Gen Z seem acutely afraid of getting it wrong – failure, it seems, is not an option for this group.

6. Protected While it may be nothing new for older generations to wax lyrical that “today’s kids have it too easy”, there is a strong and growing sense of worr y amongst many grandparents that their Gen Z grandchildren are being raised as ‘cotton wool kids.’ This sentiment seems to extend into the general community as well with almost two thirds of respondents in a recent parenting survey indicating that they believe today’s kids are over-protected.

Indeed, Gen Z are being raised in an environment where they are being guarded and protected by their largely Gen X parents. Ironically, whereas ‘Latchkey Kid’ Gen Xers were raised with unprecedented levels of freedom, they themselves are the infamous ‘helicopter parents.’

While the parents of Gen Z may be very fearful for the safety of their children, the data indicates that such anxiety is largely unfounded. Despite the fact that 80% of parents report being afraid for their children’s safety (particularly outdoors or in public) current rates of violent crime against young people have actually fallen to below 1975 levels.

On top of going to great lengths to protect their children’s safety, wellbeing and selfesteem, there is a growing trend amongst the parents of Gen Z to shield children from the consequences, negative emotions and the realities of life.

This is perhaps most clearly seen in the behaviour of over-zealous parents who come to the rescue and defence of children at the first hint of disciplinary measures being taken at school. I have heard countless stories from teachers of students messaging parents when their teacher sends them from the room, removes a privilege or dares to give a detention. Before the end of the lesson, parents have arrived at the school ready for a fight: ‘It couldn’t be my son; my daughter would never do that; you must have been mistaken’ and the list goes on. Is it any wonder that teachers recently rated dealing with parents as their number one professional headache.

Indicative of how out of control this parental compulsion to shield children from consequences is becoming, one principal recently reported two separate instances in the past year of parents arriving at school accompanied by the family lawyer in order to defend their child against disciplinary measures taken by the teacher. While it is tempting to dismiss such cases as unique and exceptional, one recent survey found that 20% of school principals spend five to ten hours per week writing reports or having meetings simply in order to avoid litigation.

In addition to shielding their children from consequences, many Gen X parents also feel compelled to protect their Gen Z children from negative emotions in life too. This is evidenced by the modern version of the

childhood party game ‘pass the parcel’ where every child now gets a prize to prevent disappointment.

While protection and nurture are perfectly natural parental instincts, there is a real possibility that Gen Z are being shielded from the consequences of their actions and the realities of life to the detriment of their character development and resiliency.

Perhaps we need to work toward a better balance between letting our children experience the negative aspects of life and overprotecting them. To this end, I think American politician Ivy Baker Priest offers a healthy perspective on parenting: My father had always said that there are four things a child needs – plenty of love, nourishing food, regular sleep, and lots of soap and water – and after those, what they need most is some intelligent neglect.

Despite some of the more concerning trends emerging in Gen Z, there is certainly a lot to be excited about with this group too! Early signs are that Gen Z are an incredibly switched on group of youngsters who are technologically adept and environmentally aware.

It bears repeating that Gen Z is probably still too young to profile or describe in a definitive way.

However, the characteristics of this new generation will undoubtedly be marked by the unique societal climate of their upbringing.

Recently watching an elderly Builder interacting with his Gen Z great-grandchild highlighted for me just how dramatically things have changed in one century. If you thought Gen Y were different, wait till Generation Z start making their presence felt!

Michael is an award-winning speaker, social researcher and 3-time bestselling author. His most recent book Winning the battle for Relevance is a landmark title that explores why even the greatest businesses and institutions become obsolete and how others can avoid their fate. w w w. m i ch a e l m c q u u e n . n e t info@michaelmcqueen.net

17 17

ROSEMARY CATHCART

How to fall happily in love with differentiation amongst students!

Teachers need to find school a rewarding, happy place to be

T

eachers matter too.

That’s something that it’s all too easy to forget as we respond to increasing pressures to measure this, assess that, introduce another learning area, pay more attention to that social problem, etc etc etc!

One place where those added stresses take their toll is in provision for gifted children.

Sometimes it just feels like the last straw when, on top of everything else, we’re asked to plan something different, something extra, for the one and only gifted child in the class. It doesn’t help that most of us have had no real training in working with these children and aren’t too sure which ones genuinely fit the bill – or why they need extra help in the first place.

It can come to a head when we see just what’s expected of us when it comes to “differentiation”. There are various lists out there purporting to show what’s involved in achieving differentiation.

They are usually lengthy a n d c o m p l e x . F r a n k l y, they’re frightening. Little wonder that many teachers say there just isn’t time to deal with this.

Teachers Matter

But there is another way to do this – and it’s a way developed right here in New Zealand, for our teachers and our schools. Evolving from years of working with (and listening to) teachers, it’s based around asking just

18

three questions. Just three, that’s all. They are: Why is it important for children to learn about this topic? Why does it matter?

What concepts do children need to have or develop if they are to understand this topic in depth?

What issues might arise when considering this topic? How can we use this topic to help children explore and build values?

Very briefly, what makes this approach not only much less daunting but also both highly effective and genuinely different is that it asks teachers, not just to focus on what they want the children to learn, but to start by critically examining their own thinking about the topic in question.

When this happens, very interesting shifts in perspective and depth of thought tend to take place, valuably including a closer alignment with the way gifted children think, and generating for teachers themselves a sense of freshness and heightened interest. The material generated can fit into various planning styles, but one very user-friendly plan is also demonstrated.

This approach is explained step by step in the book Differentiation Made Practical, published by Essential Resources, along with a host of developed plans.

Meanwhile, to give you some

idea of how it works in practice with surely a very unexpected topic, see the following example on the bottom of this page.

A unit on Walls [1] Why is it important for children to learn about this topic? Why does it matter?

Walls appear simple but actually represent a considerable technological achievement.

Learning about their structure introduces children to some basic principles in physics.

Walls have a symbolic significance in our language and culture. Learning about walls can help children to understand these symbolic references more fully.

It may also help children to become more aware of how we use symbolism in our language.

Some walls have had great historical significance. Knowing about these is part of our human cultural heritage.

Walls have a great diversity of functions, more than almost any other single physical structure we build.

Learning about walls is an example of looking more deeply and carefully at things in our lives which we normally take for granted. It can help us to become more aware of the value of doing this.

[2] What concepts do children need to have or to develop if they are to understand this topic in depth?

WALLS!!!! Did you enjoy this unexpected topic – and approach?

Did you know….. REACH Education offers an online certificate course packed full of such innovative teaching ideas and strategies for working with gifted students of all ages. Highly practical, with individual guidance from experienced tutors. In 2015, REACH is hosting an international symposium with 10 leading experts on giftedness.

FIND OUT MORE! Go to www.giftedreach.org.nz or email reacheducation@xtra.co.nz

ROSEMARY CATHCART

The concept of a wall

Mind-opening query

Structure and construction

Walls support roofs. Is that all they do? Can you think of any other uses for a wall?

Foundations The concept of historical significance Symbolism Privacy Barriers [3] What issues might arise when considering this topic? How can we use this topic to help children explore and build values?

To what extent are we entitled to the privacy walls can create?

How we decide when walls are necessary or advantageous in a building.

Should we have graffiti walls in public places?

Dealing with invisible walls – emotional or social barriers.

------------ --------------------Teacher notes for following Mind-Opening Query – uses of a wall: suggestions: walls can: Define a space Support roofs Give privacy Create barriers Play a significant part in the internal or external décor of a building Provide for the display of works of art Act as storage places Contribute to the insulation of a building Conceal items such as electrical wiring Mark property boundaries Serve as memorials of important events Create a sense of security Be part of a defence system Signify power, prestige, wealth Offer challenges to surmount, e.g. in climbing.

--------------------------------- -

--------------------------------- Establishing our data

Some towns have decided to have an official “graffiti wall”. Write a set of guidelines for people who want to use the graffiti wall.

Write a short story OR create a cartoon or cartoon strip which illustrates or uses one (or more) of the following sayings:

Walls are often built of bricks. Why are bricks laid so that the joins alternate from row to row? Why don’t bricklayers just build them straight on top of one another?

Walls have ears!

Why do walls have foundations? Do all walls need them? Does your local council have any building regulations about foundations?

It’s like nailing jelly to a wall.

What is a “load-bearing” wall? Why is it important? Do all buildings have them?

Walls have sometimes played an important part in historical events. Choose one of the following. What can you find out about this wall and its history? [a] Hadrian’s Wall [b] The Walls of Troy [c] The Berlin Wall [d] The Great Wall of China [e] The Kremlin Wall [f] The Wailing Wall [g] Tzompantli [h] Wall Street.

Why do people in some parts of the Pacific build some houses without walls?

In what circumstances might a young woman be called a “wallflower”?

What is the “Wall of Sound”?

---------------------------------Exploring our ideas How many sports can you think of which use walls as part of their “equipment”?

Make a chart, diagram or montage to show your findings.

What living creatures might make their home inside a garden wall? Create an Advent Calendar-style picture to show a garden wall and its inhabitants.

Optional: Make a rubbing of a garden wall to act as the “front” for your picture.

Walls can tell us about their owner’s interests.

If a stranger came into your bedroom and looked at your bedroom walls, what could they learn about you? Make a bullet-point list of what they might conclude. Optional: Re-plan or re-organise what’s on your walls to tell a new story about you.

He drove me up the wall.

I’d like to be a fly on the wall……

The writing is on the wall.

Either on your own or with others design a mural for your school which illustrates important things about the school, now and/or in the past. Optional: Discuss with your principal the possibility of painting your design onto an actual school wall.

--------------------------------- Examining our thinking Does an igloo have walls and a roof, or just walls, or just a roof?

What if my neighbour wants a wall between his house and mine, and I don’t? Who has the greatest right here? How could this be resolved?

Should we have walls between classrooms?

Would one big open space be better? What would the advantages and disadvantages of each arrangement be?

Are graffiti walls really a good solution to the graffiti problem, or just giving in to people who want to create graffiti?

Have you ever met a “wall of silence” when someone won’t speak to you? Why might someone act like this? How can we deal with such situations?

Rosemary has spent nearly three d e c a d e s w r i t i n g, t e a c h i n g a n d advocating throughout New Zealand for better provision for gifted learners.

She developed the REACH model in the 1980s, founded New Zealand’s first gifted education centre in 1995, oversaw development of the One Day School, and now heads REACH Education. www.reachgifted.org.nz

19

DR RICH ALLEN

4 strategies to improve your teaching space Why creating the right learning environment is as important as knowing your content

A

s teachers, we spend a lot of time making sure we know and understand our content. But we need to spend just as much time creating a positive and productive learning environment, where students are immersed in the instructional process. This article offers four strategies to improve the learning environment in your classroom.

Many people believe that teaching is about the person with the knowledge standing in front of students and verbally delivering this new information. The underlying assumption is that in a classroom, if the students are TOLD the information, then this content has been ‘covered’ – that teaching has happened and students should now know the new information. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

Here’s why:

Telling Isn’t Teaching!

We need to create an environment that actively supports learning. As the dictionary tells us, the two primary definitions of the word ‘covered’ are: To shroud in darkness, or

Teachers Matter

To bury in a hole.

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Given these definitions, our objective, as a teacher should certainly never be to ‘cover’ our content! In fact, our goal should be very much the opposite – we need to ‘uncover’, ‘reveal’, or ‘bring to light’ this new material.

Doing this requires us to fundamentally switch our thinking about how learning occurs. We need to: Consider learning from the viewpoint of the student.

Here are four fundamental techniques for achieving this:

Segmenting learning

information.

Incorporating physical movement

Once we have delivered our first 5-10 minute lecture, options for students to processes the information include:

Creating student ownership Using music

Segmented Learning.

Learning occurs best when it is delivered in short bursts. This means offering new information in chunks of approximately 5-10 minutes, then allowing students to process and encode the information in memory. When we teach in this way, the amount of material students retain

Peer to peer conversations about the content.

Making notes or drawing mind maps.

Students summarising main points in partners.

Applying the idea in some practical way.

Large group discussions where the class considers how this information could be applied in the real world.

“Simply ‘covering’ our content is not enough – we also have to make sure our students hear, understand and remember this information.”

rises dramatically compared to the more traditional approach of endless lecturing.

Many teachers become trapped by believing that the more they talk, the more students learn. In fact, the opposite is true. From the student’s point of view, the ‘overload’ point comes much sooner than we expect. Once a student’s brain reaches ‘overload’, the more the teacher says, the less material is truly retained. Simply put too much, too fast, won’t last.

In the right learning environment, learning is delivered in manageable segments, allowing students sufficient time to feel confident with one idea, before building upon that point and adding more

Physical Movement.

When students are actively engaged in the classroom, their attention levels soar.

Traditional learning environments have somehow become erroneously linked to sitting when in fact standing or stretching stimulates blood circulation, which actually enhances learning. Conversely, sitting for extended periods of time has a sedating affect and can become physically uncomfortable— factors that impede concentration. In an interactive learning environment, there are plenty of opportunities to encourage standing rather than sitting. Teachers stand; why not students?

DR RICH ALLEN

Why do so many students dread the classroom? Perhaps one reason is that they know they’re going to be sitting uncomfortably in a hard chair for most of the day. Certainly there is a time and place for sitting in the classroom, such as while taking a test or taking notes.

However, making students sit still for extended periods will very likely decrease their attention, motivation, and recall.

Here are just a few options for getting students up and moving – as a natural part of the lesson:

In a classroom, when students feel empowered, they tend to accept more responsibility for the conditions around them. This shift in perception makes them more receptive, and improves cognition and recall. This is because ownership gives learning meaning, which plays a critical role in cognition.

• Play slow-tempo music to calm your students or set an inspirational mood.

Opportunities to allow more ownership in the classroom include allowing students to choose:

• Invite students to stand up and form a pair or trio to come up with the answer to a question – or decide what questions they have for the teacher.

• Who they work with

• Play music while students are in small group discussions. This ‘sound pad’ acts as a cover for conversations, encouraging introverts to contribute and ensuring conversations from one group don’t distract others.

• Let students stand up to get their own resources – never ‘give out’ supplies or handouts.

• Conduct a short demonstration in the front of the room and ask students to gather round to watch.

• Ask students to stand up and repeat the main learning point to at least three of their peers before sitting down again.

• After a test, celebrate by inviting students to give high fives to at least four other students, while up-beat music plays.

Ownership.

Too often the entire learning environment is primarily controlled by the teacher.

Ownership refers to the value students derive from being included in decisionmaking processes during a lesson. When students feel their own voice matters a subtle, yet important shift in perspective and energy occurs. They move from being a passive receiver to an active explorer.

When students are given the opportunity to be involved at the decision-making level, they no longer sit back and expect the teacher to do all the work; they become stakeholders in their own success. This group dynamic not only produces a more stimulating teaching environment, it balances the onus of responsibility between the teacher and participants.

• Where to sit

• Whether to do a project as an individual or with a partner • The order content will be addressed during the lesson • To do just 7 of 10 homework problems

Music.

Music is often thought of as purely fun, something to be used only when taking breaks. Yet the fact that music can facilitate a state change in our mind/body makes it a powerful tool for teachers. Not only can music (when it is used purposefully) help reduce stress; it can enhance cognition, memory and emotional intelligence. We also know that music can induce relaxation, creativity, self-discipline and motivation.

Since music has an immediate physical, emotional, and psychological effect on human beings, it can help build social connections, heighten awareness, and provide a sense of safety. It floods the brain in rhythms and beats that induce a wide range of states from energized to relaxed.

What better way is there to tap into the emotions and consciousness of a learner than with the music they love?

As teachers, we can tap into music’s ability to enrich the classroom environment. Here are a few easy ways to integrate music into your teaching practice: • Play an up-tempo song to energise a group or set a lively mood.

• Play music during transitional activities, for example, while students pick up handouts or reorganise their chairs.

• Use a particular song to signal the end of an activity.

As teachers, it’s important that we know and understand our content. However, it’s just as important that we create the right learning environment, so our students can understand, process and remember the new information. When we involve students in the lear ning process – physically, emotionally, and intellectually – student engagement increases and educational outcomes improve dramatically.

Rich is a highly regarded educator and master trainer, with a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. His cognitive learning theor y research, which provided understanding on how the brain receives, processes, stores, and recalls information, forms the basis for his radical approach to teaching, presenting and facilitating

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SHARON DU PREEZ

5 ways to recoginse resilience And how to build these skills in the classroom

W

hen describing a resilient child you might say:

1.

They have a strengths focus. This means that they know what their strengths are and how to use them. There are many websites where one can find out what your strengths are but when I teach this to children, I like to add affirmation to it by getting each child to stand up and have the rest of the class volunteer what they think that child’s strengths are. I do this after I have taught them about strengths and why a strengths focus is important and then I use the VIA character strengths which I have printed on cards to give them some ideas on what sorts of things might be strengths. A fun thing to do after the class has affirmed each child, is to give each child 3 strips of paper to decorate as they please and on each one they write one of their strengths – preferably one that resonated strongly for them when the other children mentioned it. Once they have done that, I turn it into a paper chain containing 3 of each child’s strengths – usually that results in a paper chain that spans the room. That then gets hung up in the classroom so that children can see it and be reminded regularly of their strengths as an individual and also as a class.

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2.

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They can connect with others and know who their resources are. Children who are resilient have people around them who build them up and help them grow. They know who these people are and they know that they can go to these people for help in times of adversity. I use a profiling tool to help children figure out their resilience resources but it’s quite easy to explain to children the need for connecting with others by using a simple visual exercise. Using a ball of wool, the first child holds the end of the wool and says one of their strengths.

They then keep hold of their bit of wool but

toss the ball to someone else (not next to them). That child then does the same and so on. By the end, a web will have been created.

I then explain how spider webs are one of the strongest materials that exist and then use that to illustrate how connecting with others, using their strengths, makes them a lot stronger than if they were trying to deal with things alone.

3.

They know that their thoughts create their feelings and that they have the power to change their thoughts. Children often think that something “makes” them upset. They don’t realise that different people can all experience the same event but feel quite different about it. Some simple teaching on “what would you have to think to make yourself feel like…..” is very helpful in this regard. Once they have some basic vocabulary on different feelings and what kinds of thoughts create those feelings, it is relatively easy to start asking them what they could think instead that might help them feel a little better. There are heaps of resources online that delve into CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) for children; however it is very important that the child knows that their feeling is ok and is a natural consequence of whatever they have been thinking about whatever has happened, but that they are not powerless against their feelings. Sometimes negative emotions are appropriate and sometimes they aren’t. A resilient child is one who is becoming more self aware in this regard.

4.

They know the difference between an optimistic attitude and a pessimistic one.

They may not necessarily know those words but a resilient child will be able to recognise pessimistic thinking and know that it is not helpful. I like to teach children the difference between optimism and pessimism using extreme examples but then explain that we are not aiming for total optimism but rather

a balance somewhere in the middle. There are some great resources written by Martin Seligman on this subject, if one wants to take it to a deeper level. I find that simply teaching children the words and what each would look like already makes them more aware of their own level of optimism and pessimism and in an environment where they are reminded of this frequently, they can quite easily adjust their attitude to reflect a bit more positivity.

5.

Finally, a resilient child has some tools at their disposal for problem-solving.

A child who has no problem-solving tools often feels powerless to do anything about their problem, therefore it is good to teach them some skills such as how to figure out what they were expecting, what actually happened and how they can work toward an action plan that will STOP something from happening so that they get less of what they don’t want, START something that will help them get more of what they do want and KEEP whatever is already working well.

Again there are many resources online for this. My preference is to teach children how to set goals that are realistic – in other words ones that are allowing them to change what they can change and cope with what they can’t change.

Resilience is an important life skill for children to learn because resilient children become resilient adults and resilient adults generally have better mental health. It is so easy to teach, if we know what we are doing, but the most important thing to remember is that children learn more from modelling than they do from lecturing. We can’t expect to help children become more resilient if we ourselves are displaying un-resilient behaviour regularly. I find that some open honesty with children about these things being a life-long development really helps build trust and create a journey that is done together for a season… usually one that reaps precious rewards.

SHARON DU PREEZ

Sharon lives in New Zealand and is an immigrant from South Africa. She is married with two teenage children.

She has a degree in psychological counselling, a diploma in life coaching and has a special interest in resilience training and mentoring of both adults and children. She works with groups and individuals along with her colleague, John Turton. www.onlinecounsellor.co.nz/lifecoach/

PHOTO : ROMAN SIGAEV

“Resilient children become resilient adults and resilient adults generally have better mental health.”

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JO LEWIS

ILLUSTRATION: ALEXEY ZAITSEV AND MARY HESTER

How ditching your use of ability groups can increase students’ motivation and learning Welcome to the Maths Cafe

I

’ve been teaching for a long time –long enough to see fads and fancies come and go in the world of education- but one thing that I’ve always stuck with is ability grouping in my classroom. I guess that’s because when I trained at Cambridge University it was held up as the epitome of good child-centred teaching, rendering it possible to target teach to specific needs and differentiate to take children’s capabilities into account.

So for more than twenty years that’s what I’ve done, firmly believing that it was the right thing to do. However, I am a reflective practitioner, and in 2013 I began training to be a Maths Support Teacher, which involved taking a post-graduate paper through Massey University. One of the readings that I did for an assignment really struck a chord with me.

Teachers Matter

It was an article by Rachel Marks discussing the way that ability grouping affected children, regardless of whether they were in the top group or one of the struggling learners who we label Green Group or something else designed to disguise their position in the academic pecking order. And this article made me think long and hard about what I was doing.

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There were lots of things in my classroom that took my time away from teaching: controlling the behaviour of children who were supposed to be working independently, keeping the children in my teaching group focused on their task, motivating the children to push themselves academically, trying to make them take responsibility for being independent workers and thinkers, getting them to set academic goals and

strive for them, and enabling the children to reliably self-assess their learning and progress.

I wondered if there was a way to make all these things happen, and it occurred to me that forcing the issue of grouping actually created many of these situations. I did a bit more reading, and came to the conclusion that the groups had to go.

So I came up with Maths Café.

Welcome to Room 3’s Maths Café. Take a seat and relax. The menu today features seasonal dishes of addition and subtraction strategies and everything is served with a side order of fun and humour. Today’s Dish of the Day is “adding up in our heads by using a tidy number

and compensation”. If you have ordered that dish, then please remain seated. If that dish is not to your liking then please feel free to choose from our smorgasbord.

This is how maths is taught in my classroom. The whole class will have enjoyed an Appetiser together (usually a game or quick thinking challenge) and then the Dish of the Day is announced.

Some children will have already ordered it at the beginning of the fortnightly cycle, and some will decide just today that they would like to take part in the teaching session. At the end of the lesson we will come back together and share Dessert – often a game or a chance for children to

feedback to others what they have learnt during the lesson.

independent practise of what they’ve just learnt.

It has taken a year to refine this system and to teach the children the skills they need to make it work, but we have got there. The children love the fact that they are in charge of their learning – behaviour management is no longer an issue in my maths classrooms except for asking some of the games groups to maintain an appropriate volume when they get carried away – and it is having a positive impact both on our results and on our children’s perception of themselves as mathematicians.

When we have had a substantial helping of mathematics, we come back together and celebrate with a Dessert (feedback time, plenary session or maybe a number game on the board).

How does it work?

This runs on learning cycles of 2 – 3 weeks.

At the beginning of a learning cycle I post the various strategies and lessons that I will be teaching.

The children check their maths profiles in their portfolios, and order the lessons that they think they would benefit from (the Dish of the Day). They order by writing their name onto a waiter’s pad next to each “Dish of the Day”. The Dish of the Day and the waiter’s pad are displayed together on the relevant day so the children can check if they ordered it or not.

I decide the order in which I am going to teach the lessons. The objectives are taken from several levels of the curriculum to address the varied needs of my class, and I try to move between levels each day so that different children will spend time with me.

We begin with an Appetiser – something to get the children’s mathematical brains warmed up.

Any children who didn’t order today’s Dish of the Day lesson move off to choose from the Smorgasbord – a whole range of activities linked with the focus in the room, and include • number knowledge activities, • basic facts’ practice, • some group problem solving activities, • games and computer programmes.

Some of the children will be finishing off a Doggy Bag from a previous Dish of the Day. Some will put in an order for a Second Helping of something they previously ordered.

The Dish of the Day group might be just 1 or 2 children, or it might contain 15 depending on the lesson being offered. If there is time, I may offer 2 Dishes of the Day. Once children have had their Dish of the Day, they take a Doggy Bag activity to do

How do you make sure the children learn enough?

Children are accountable for their choices. If I think they’ve chosen things that are too easy I make them sit through the session anyway.

The same goes if they choose from the hardest sessions which I think are beyond them.

They do the session anyway (I might have underestimated them). They get bored and it usually only takes one time to convince them to make appropriate choices.

How you make sure they are doing all the independent work?

Children are accountable for their choices here too. They have to sign off each piece of work as they finish it, and I check halfway through the second week to see if they have done each piece well. They are expected to do each activity on offer during the fortnight time-frame. If they are not doing the work to the required standard, if they aren’t completing enough work or if they are spending too much time on the computer or playing maths games then they lose the right to choose for a specified period of time.

Do they all get the same independent activities?

No – each type of Smorgasbord activity is offered in a range of levels. Children pick their own level. They become adept at choosing one that is appropriate for them. Basically they don’t want to be bored because it’s too easy, and they don’t want to get frustrated because they can’t do something.

How do you work with a group that contains many different abilities?

I actually reverse the usual order of working.

Normally we introduce a new strategy or concept using materials, we move into imaging the materials and then we use abstract symbols. In a mixed ability group I start by going through the strategy using abstract representations (numbers, symbols and equations) and then I pause to offer those who feel confident with the strategy the chance to take their Doggy Bag and get started on it. Anyone who is not feeling confident stays with me, and we go back through the strategy using materials. At any point when they feel confident, children can opt to take their Doggy Bag and move on.

JO LEWIS Are there any downsides to Maths Café?

It does take a lot of setting up initially, but once you’ve got the routines and activities sorted out it is fine. Also, you do that planning once every two or three weeks, and then work from it.

It also takes a little while for the children to get used to working in this way. They will need coaching in how to make those decisions – what lessons they need to order, which levels of activities are right for them, and why they should not just order every Dish of the Day (they do need some time to do their Doggy Bags and independent activities).

What are the benefits of Maths Café?

The benefits I have seen so far have been: A dramatic increase in student engagement and motivation A similar decrease in time spent dealing with behaviour management Students are much more aware of their learning paths – where they are, where they need to go and how they will get there Good or accelerated rates of progress for the majority of students A marked improvement in students’ ability to self-direct their learning - this became obvious in many areas of the curriculum once Maths Café was embedded And finally...

Having seen Maths Café in action in my classroom for 3 terms last year, my school Principal decided that we should implement it through the whole school this year. Every student, from our 5 year olds through to our 13 year olds is using it, with similarly positive results throughout the school.

I have recently extended the idea into my Literacy lessons as well – and the children love it!

Jo’s enthusiasm for teaching and learning is highly infectious. Since graduating from Cambridge University, she has worked with students from a diverse range of backgrounds, both in the UK and in NZ. Jo is passionate about enhancing people’s thinking and planning skills through the use of Thinking Maps.

25

TERRY SMALL

We remember what touches us emotionally The Charles Schultz philosophy

W

hat really matters to most people?

• Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

• Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special!

On a recent speaking engagement in Switzerland I had the opportunity to visit the Olympic Museum in Lausanne with my good friend Poll. The museum is interesting and after we left a thought lingered in my brain. Let me put it to you as a question:

• Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

• Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

• Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

Easier?

How did you do?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials... the most

Can you name the winner of the very first gold medal awarded at the modern Olympic Games?

I couldn’t either. It was James Brendan Connolly for the triple jump. The first gold medal.

Sorry James, we forgot your name.

Our brains remember what touches us emotionally.

I hear a lot of talk these days about leaving a legacy. So many times leaders, teachers, parents, all of us get it wrong.

Teachers Matter

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip. You don’t have to actually answer the questions.

26

Just read straight through, and your brain will see the pattern.

• Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

• Name the last five Heisman Trophy winners.

• Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.

PHOTO: SNOOPY.COM

The above observation serves to remind us of an important aspect of how brains work. Thinking is a process of electrical and chemical reactions that takes place across a rich tapestry of connections in the brain. In other words, thinking is a physical process.

One of the great recent discoveries about the brain is that most of the neural messaging originates in the limbic system. This is the emotional part of your brain. Not that many messages come back the other way from the cortex, or the rational part of your brain.

The point is none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.

These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields.

But the applause dies. Awards tarnish.

Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

money...or the most awards.

They simply are the ones who care the most.

They were just there.

Pass this on to those people who have made a difference in your life, like I just did.

And remember who you are. Be yourself.

Everyone else is taken.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one: • List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

• Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

• Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

Te r r y i s a m a s t e r t e a c h e r a n d learning skills specialist. He has presented on the brain for over 30 years and has a wealth of teaching experience and extensive involvement in applied neuroscience. http://www.terrysmall.com

PHOTO: RACORN

ALAN COOPER

Attaining mastery through blended learning Empowering students to own their learning process

T

he goal of Blended Learning is to attain mastery through an amalgam of proven traditional teaching practices in association with digital devices being used to add value.

Such a combination allows for a culture in the classroom and the school that has students and teachers with mastery based expectations, that has the learning personalised, that empowers the students and gives them ownership and interactive learning.

This requires a paradigm shift in both the teacher and the student role. For the teacher this shift is from a lecturer-fixer; to a facilitator-interviewer, coach and mentor. The basis of this is a move from providing the students with the right answers to empowering the students to

own the learning process and get the right answer for themselves. For the students, the basis of the shift is from less individual effort and competition to more interactive/shared collaborative effort, all the time striving for individual excellence.

This is not to say that individual effort is not important and provided for. Those who do the work grow the dendrites and grow the learning.

Personalising the Learning An example of the importance of individual effort comes through the personalisation of the learning that is opened up when the lesson, or segments

“With the students making the decisions there is not only accurate differentiation but also empowerment and ownership.”

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PHOTO: RACORN

ALAN COOPER

of it, is delivered in video clips of no more than six to ten minutes using one on one video. This video use is a centre piece of Blended Learning whether the video is teacher or commercially developed. From this, many value added opportunities for learning become available.

Teachers Matter

The first of these is that the student can now pace and adjust the lesson to their personal, differentiated, learning needs. The pause button becomes a vital component for this, as does the ability to slide back to a previous point in the video lesson if the meaning was not clear.

A teacher cannot be slid back to clarify, nor paused to get something right in the students heads before moving on.

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There are many reasons for individual differences requiring both pauses and back tracking if mastery is to be achieved. For instance basic activities like note taking will be done at various speeds determined from a number of idiosyncratic attributes ranging from the speed of hand writing or typing skills, to the rate of comprehension often based on the degree of prior knowledge, the mood of the moment, and more.

Marzano’s research shows that the best practice for note making, an essential skill, is not to make notes on the run as the lesson proceeds but to do so by providing pauses within the lesson. However, if this is controlled by the teacher, at best it is a blunt form of differentiation/personalisation.

With the students making the decisions there is not only accurate differentiation but also empowerment and ownership.

So a simple operation like pacing, aids mastery by giving time to get the understanding and any appropriate notes completed adds high expectations by allowing time to get it right, empowers the learner by giving them control of their learning and altogether gives ownership.

This is also helps create a classroom and school culture where the students feel valued as individuals and the added empowerment that that gives.

Gather the Data The in the moment data that the teacher can have available in the Blended Learning classroom allows immediate

individual, group, or class remediation that personalises. As well, because it allows the teacher to act before a student feels a failure, gets frustrated and gives up, it maintains high expectations while, provided the teacher acts accordingly, empowering and maintaining student ownership.

Many of the commercial systems already on the market provide for this data. The teacher dashboard that Google provides, the student progress window that the Khan Academy has and so on give a constant window on what the student is doing, where they are at, and by back tracking to the history, where they have come from.

Thus the teacher has a constant stream of quantitative and qualitative data as it happens. By knowing where any student is at and whether the student is struggling or sailing smoothly ahead teacher intervention is finely targeted.

Where the teachers or schools lesson plans are teacher made there are a number of devices that can be used such as Clicker or Survey Monkey using teacher made multi question surveys.

ALAN COOPER

As a general guide, to gather the in the moment data, these question should be asked immediately after major knowledge points (tending to rote learning)and any associated subset of key points (tending to conceptual learning), plus at points where misconceptions may occur. Any questions just seeking right answers or for ranking are a no, no (see my article in Teachers Matter Issue 20, page 20).

This data must be gathered frequently enough to give the teacher sufficient warning of any gaps or even potentially developing gaps before mastery is lost.

Graham Nuthall’s New Zealand research shows how often misconceptions are learned rather than what the teacher had thought they had taught. If this is not picked up early there is interference - not just with mastery in the present, but also mastery in the future.

Sound systems can provide the teacher with what individual group members are saying thus allowing control over misconceptions and off task behaviour.

Act on the Data Where mastery is absent immediate remedial action is required otherwise the in the moment data is criminally wasted!

Good lessons are a staircase with each new part resting on the foundation of the old so there is not much sense in moving on when part of the class have already stumbled or missed a step. Personalisation is required.

Thus, as and when required collaboration groups (either large or small depending on the numbers) are formed and reformed from day to day, hour to hour, or even minute to minute. Flexibility rules.

If there is a small number all that is required is for them to be temporarily formed into an interactive group with the teacher facilitating the learning past the blockage. However, if a large proportion has not got it another remedy such as peer tutoring groups may be the answer.

Those who have gained initial mastery can form small interactive groups to undertake activities that move the new knowledge segment(s) higher up the

memory chain: out of short term and into working or even long term memory.

While there are many such interactive activities, one that works well is to require students to prepare and to perform a two or three minute role play about some aspect of the newly learned material. This not only invokes what the neurobiologists tell us is an important attribute to learning – movement – but also, to plan and perform a role play, higher level thinking skills are also required: analysing the lesson, evaluating a key point or key points and then creating the role play. Thus dendrites are strengthened and deeper learning is achieved.

students to write reflective journals. This can be simply answering questions like what they found easy or hard but always with the preposition because inserted.

Thus they are forced to think: to analyse and evaluate and to create a path forward.

While the teacher must be careful not to mark these comments in any way they are invaluable for creating a student teacher dialogue, a mentoring relationship, to extend the student thinking further about their own best practices. This is a powerful way of supplementing the personalisation, the ownership, empowerment and high expectation through such a student teacher interaction.

With such immediate remediation no student leaves the lesson in deficit with accompanying low expectations. Just as importantly having embedded in the classroom and the school this culture of getting it right before moving on, provides an overall sense of the importance of persevering, and precision and accuracy, excellence and therefore, high expectation.

Metacognition by dialogue like this is a powerful learning partnership at a personalised level, because through this teacher student interactive relationship student ownership, empowerment and above all expectation of mastery are developed and maintained. An unpublished 1999 research by Massey College of Education enthusiastically recommended this approach.

Nor do those who had not got it and who originally missed out on the consolidation of the learning through the role plays, need to miss out on the role play learning.

These students can be integrated, if necessary one by one, into the existing role play groups as the teacher finds (by such as Clicker or the traditional oral questions) that they now have mastery.

It is also an avenue for the teacher to learn too.

This flexibility of groups, with change amongst the group members as and when needed, is a characteristic of the personalisation of Blended Lear ning practice. Groups are not per manent.

There are no Rabbits and Frogs, there are no “Accelerate” and “Remedial” groups, named or unnamed. Expectancy is not dampened by being in the wrong group.

Labels are not a learning assist!

Student Reflection Qualitative data is also important. Some Blended Learning models have what they call Mentoring Fridays. A suitable activity here is to use this time, or part of it for the

To conclude, these websites bring further and deeper meaning. h t t p s : / / w w w. k h a n a c a d e m y. o r g / partner-content/ssf-cci/ h t t p : / / w w w. h i l l i a r d s c h o o l s . o r g / blendedlearning/

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. acooper@clear.net.nz

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BRIAN NOBLE

How increasing your vocabulary can powerfully affect your life

PHOTO: SERGEY NIVENS

The first and last word in teaching should be a new word

V Teachers Matter

ocabulary: that marvellous tool to improve academic ability, income, relationships, communication, student engagement, teaching ability, writing skills, comprehension of complex and complicated subjects, company productivity, spiritual insight, mental health, success, and peacefulness - the list goes on.

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Reading this sounds like a sales pitch for snake oil in the 1800’s, however the power of vocabulary is more tangible, empowering and scientifically proven than the unsubstantiated promises of any snake oil. Realising the life changing impact of vocabulary and establishing some easy habits to increase vocabulary can bring success in all of the above areas.

Our brains are similar to a computer. If you have an old computer running graphic

intensive software it operates extremely slowly. Regardless of how fast you operate that computer, it is limited by its ability to process information. The same task on a modern computer runs rapidly and effectively. Increasing vocabulary is like upgrading the power of your brain, the more words we know, the faster our brain can and will operate. It is like increasing our I.Q. Words are the substance of thinking.

In the early stages of learning a foreign language we translate and process in our first language. Once we are fluent in the new language we start thinking in that language.

With comprehensive vocabulary it is easier to process information, as less mental effort is required. The brain is empowered to work at its natural faster speed. The more complex an issue is, the easier it is to mentally process

with an extensive vocabulary. Superior words are more descriptive. One advanced word would require many basic words to process or communicate the same information.

Vocabulary could be described as the tool box of the mind. If you are repairing a car with only a screwdriver, it is extremely difficult or impossible to complete certain tasks. With an extensive tool kit you can complete any task provided you have the knowledge. Knowing words and how to use them gives the ability to think and communicate any feeling, concept or knowledge.

The saying “If the student hasn’t learnt then the teacher hasn’t taught” could be described as the core of teaching. The easier and more effectively a teacher can help the student to learn the better for both teacher and student. With superior vocabulary it is

easier for a teacher to teach and a student to learn. Building both our own and our student’s vocabulary will have a tangible and significant return in many ways:

Financial If offered $50 for every new word you learnt, would that be sufficient incentive to build vocabulary? Being paid to learn words is an incredible offer. I’m not making this offer because it’s not needed. All that is required is to know that this is the estimated return every new word will bring to college students in their lives from each new word they learn. An experiment was run in a medium size company. Everything was kept as static as possible; only everyone’s vocabulary was increased. The result was that profit and vocabulary increased in direct proportion. As everyone was thinking faster and smarter, communicating better, emails were more concise, less time was wasted in clarifying information, people felt better understood. The high cost of communication errors were avoided and people could work more efficiently. Increasing vocabulary in our country by just 10% would increase productivity geometrically.

Reduce violence in society This may sound like I’m stretching the benefits of vocabulary a little too far. Consider for a moment being highly frustrated about a situation or relationship and lacking the communication skills to bring about change or explain how you feel. What happens?

Frustration builds to a point where the only alternative appears to be physical action, violence towards others or things.

The violent nature of many films, games and television programmes is conveying a message that violence is an acceptable way to communicate; it’s not! Low vocabulary people often do not see an alternative to deal with frustration, so physical action is the outcome. I believe this is particularly true of men with low vocabularies. With high vocabulary to correctly articulate feelings or situations, accurate communication gives a better alternative to bring change. The tongue truly is mightier than the sword.

Teaching ability Teachers with a high vocabulary have a more comprehensive and superior set of tools to communicate what they are teaching regardless of the subject. High vocabulary people are more skilful at selecting the

right words, equipped with an extensive word toolbox think faster to select the right words. Regardless of the vocabulary level of your audience, your vocabulary level will empower you to communicate better as you will convey information with greater ease, more accurately and with greater eloquence. We should never use words that are beyond our audiences’ understanding, or use advanced words to try to impress others; neither is smart or helpful.

We can easily make the error when teaching very young children with limited vocabulary to use only basic words. If we do we are missing a wonderful opportunity. When we are young we have a greater ability to learn words, consider how quickly a baby learns a complete language. We should take advantage of this opportunity and use advanced words; just add an explanation of the word in the same sentence. You will only need to use the word a few times and the children will understand it and its meaning.

Advanced vocabulary conveys more information with fewer words and greater accuracy. What an incredible tool.

Three keys to build vocabulary Use the three prong approach to expand vocabulary: Build by osmoses – gradual assimilation Build by intention – give new words Build by task – learn a new word every day.

Build by osmoses The way we learnt our first language was by being exposed to lots of words. As a small child we learned to speak at a young age by those speaking around us. As our parents and family talked, we picked up the vocabulary.

It did not take us long to be able to speak a complete language with pronunciation and accent. The more advanced the language of our parents and family the more advanced vocabulary we learnt. If we were brought up in a multi lingual household then we would have learned more than one language.

Being exposed to wider vocabulary will help us to build our vocabulary. If you really want to master a new language go and live in a country where it is the first language spoken.

The day by day exposure to the new language will enable you to speak that language sooner.

In teaching we should be stretching the vocabulary of those we are teaching and we can easily do this by simply using words that are more complex and adding an explanation of the word.

BRIAN NOBLE Build by intention Have a list of words to learn both for yourself and your class. In testing vocabulary levels we use the order of difficultly principle: starting with basic words building to advanced words. As people do this test, initial words are easy; then they come to words which they think “I have heard this word before, I’m just not sure what it means”.

Finally the words towards the end are like “Is that a real word?” The words that fit in the middle category are the easiest for us to learn as they are somewhat familiar, since we have heard them previously. The words that fit into this middle category are the most effective ones to learn. Have a list of these words and work through the list.

Build by task Make it a part of every class every day to use a new word in your teaching. Use the word several times as a component of the lesson and give the meaning of the word. The repetition of the word as part of what you are saying will build the vocabulary of your students. With the knowledge that revision increases the retention of any information, revising words that you have introduced at the end of the week and end of the month will reinforce the new vocabulary in the students’ minds and therefore grow their vocabulary and confidence.

Our words have a powerful impact on others either positively or negatively. There is incredible power in the tongue and adding new words to your vocabulary and building the vocabulary of those we teach will have a long term and powerful impact on the future success of our lives and those around us. In the words of King Solomon “A good person’s words are like pure silver”. Make your words pure silver both by what you say and the words you use.

Brian Noble is CEO and founder of Achievement Discoveries, New Zealand’s most experienced Aptitude Assessment Company. He has an extensive and diverse background ranging from Television Engineering a n d Te c h n i c a l O p e r a t i o n s t o Top Sales performance, General Management and Business Broking.

His passion is to empower people to know and use their true aptitude potential for life changing results. brian@ad.org.nz www.ad.org.nz www.careersure.co.nz

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GLENN CAPELLI

Using the circle of learning to construe experiences in a positive way Consciously considering events in your daily life

H

ow is it that some people react to a situation in one way and others face the same circumstances and react in a very different way? How is it that some people encounter adversity and grow from it, while others become cynical and embittered? Part of the answer can be found within the circle of learning.

The first part of the circle of learning emerged from a conversation I had with Environmental Studies Professor Larry Neal of Oregon University. Larry and I met late last year when we both spoke at a conference for Parks and Recreation at the Burswood Conference Centre in Western Australia. We hit it off immediately and made arrangements for him and his wife Pat to dine with Lindy and myself on their return from a tour around the beautiful South-West of Western Australia.

Two weeks later we picked up Larry and Pat from their Fremantle Hotel and drove to a riverside restaurant. As we drove, Larry said something that became the basis of the first part of the circle of learning. He said how much Pat and he had been looking forward to the meal; how much they had been anticipating the event.

Teachers Matter

He went on to say that even though we would probably only be participating in our shared meal for an hour or two, he was looking forward to all the things we would talk about and to reflecting on our dinner time conversation for much longer than the duration of meal itself.

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Larry explained how he uses these three points of anticipation, participation and reflection when talking about the learning process with his university students.

The Circle: Anticipate Participate Reflect

these intelligences stretch far beyond the traditional view of intelligence as measured

by IQ.

Anticipate Reflect

Participate

Extraordinary Minds is an extension of the MI thesis in which Gardner portrays a variety of exceptional individuals through an examination of their extraordinariness.

In particular he focuses on Mozart, Freud, Virginia Woolfe and Gandhi as examples of what he terms Masters, Makers, Introspectors and Influencers.

“Only practice separates the ordinary from the extraordinary.” H. Gardner

To continue to use our meal as an example Larry anticipated the pleasure of the dinner event, he participated with a presence of mind and fullness of attention and afterwards he reflected on the friendship, the conversation and the learning that emerged from it.

Since that evening with Larry, I have often thought about our meal together. I too had been looking forward to it, loved the company and also had inspired reflections on our time together and the many things we spoke about. In fact, the concept of the circle of learning itself grew directly from my reflections about the learning that emerged from that evening.

A couple of weeks after our meeting, Lindy and I flew to Taipei to conduct a threeday learning workshop for the China Productivity Centre. Our flight was via Singapore. At the Singapore airport I picked up a copy of Howard Gardner’s 1997 release of Extraordinary Minds and I read it on my way through to Taipei.

Gardner is the Harvard Professor responsible for the theory of Multiple Intelligences - the notion that we each have many kinds of intelligence inside us and that

Masters are people who perform far above others in any particular domain, for instance Mozart in the field of music.

Makers are those who, like Freud, invent a whole new domain or field of knowledge.

Introspectors are the characters like Virginia Woolfe, who spend their lifetime exploring the path of personal self development, and Influencers are the seed planters, the Gandhi’s who shift the thoughts of people through a gradual and consistently passive process.

By examining some of the common themes that flowed through the lives of these four extraordinary people, Gardner is able to draw some conclusions about their successes and failures. In summarising he proposes the three key elements of • Reflection • Leveraging • Framing as forming what he terms ‘Lessons for the Ordinary’.

Gardner defines reflection as ‘regular, conscious consideration of the events of daily life, in the light of longer term aspirations’. Reflection takes many forms

GLENN CAPELLI

“ Only practice separates the ordinary from the extraordinary.”

- H. Gardner

After reading Howard Gardner’s insights, I realised that they completed the circle of learning.

PHOTO: TARCZAS

The Circle: and can include journal writing, dreaming, conversations with others, conversations with God, conversations with the sky, daily walks, meditations, strategy sessions, letters and simply taking the time to think and feel.

The term leveraging refers to the capacity to overcome or compensate for our own areas of weakness and to focus on strengths. A practical way to leverage is to know your own weaknesses and to teamwork with other people who are strong in the areas in which we are weak.

This relates strongly to the work of another researcher in the field of intelligence, Robert Sternberg of Yale University. Sternberg is one of our Learning Heroes from the CAPe who talks of ‘successful intelligence’ and says that successfully intelligent people 1. realise they have strengths and continue to grow them 2. realise they have weaknesses and learn to compensate for them or overcome them 3. use their talents in a practical way that shows up in real life actions and outcomes.

Framing refers to our capacity to construe experiences in a positive and apt way; it means that we are able to find silver linings in dark clouds, fresh energy from times of great trial and the empowerment to continue learning and proceed with life.

Some wisdoms to consider with the area of framing for optimism: Optimism is a strategy for making a better future, because unless you believe that the future can be better, it’s unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it so.

If you assume that there’s no hope,

Anticipate Participate Reflect Leverage Frame for learning

Frame for learning

Anticipate

you guarantee that there will be no hope.

If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world.

The choice is yours.

Learning

Participate Reflect

And keep on circling!

Noam Chomsky Every Wall Is A Door The Ground We Fall Upon Can Be Used To Help Us Rise Up Old Tibetan Truths

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 fast-paced 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

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IRMA COOKE

Teaching Food Technology in a Middle School Equipping students to be informed citizens

I

am extremely proud to say I am the Food Technology teacher at Berkley Normal Middle School.

Straight out of University I secured a job in a very supportive High School working with a dedicated mentor – Liz Reinsfield. She has a deeply embedded ethos for continued professional development and passion for the Technology curriculum. That meant I was included in the same training as registered teachers and given every opportunity to be the best teacher I wanted to be.

My experiences and commitment to the profession placed me in the position where I was offered a place sharing my expertise with pre-service teachers doing the same course as I did. University of Waikato student teachers complete the Diploma of Teaching and are required to submit a specialist

Teachers Matter

In 1999 I completed a Certificate in Professional Cooker y at Waikato Polytechnic. For around thirteen years I worked my way to becoming a Head Chef and received reviews in the Waikato times.

I occasionally dabbled in catering private dinner parties for customers like Sir Patrick Hogan and the late Sir Paul Holmes.

Working in the hospitality industry was really rewarding because it involved working and learning alongside creative and talented chefs. There is nothing like seeing customer’s faces when they receive your food and good customer feedback is something you set out to achieve.

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Thirteen years on, and a break from the hospitality industry, I was at home with our two girls when I saw an advertisement on television. I watched with anticipation about a possible path into teaching for New Zealand career changers who had trade experience. This involved a two-year course developed by Waikato University which enables applicants with industrybased qualifications to achieve a graduate diploma of teaching and a graduate diploma in either engineering tourism or hospitality.

I then applied and was awarded a two-year scholarship in 2009 through Teach NZ. I developed knowledge about the current technology curriculum with thirty other applicants from around New Zealand.

p r o j e c t , w h i c h a d d r e s s e s Te c h n o l o g y Education [NCEA level 1] Achievement standards. Supporting these adult learners has provided me with an amazing insight into education. I discovered very quickly that education becomes a passion; I constantly challenge myself because I love what I do and am completely hooked!

Technology at Berkley Berkley is a decile 9 state, co-educational composite school that provides learning programmes for students in Years 7-9.

Approximately 720 students attend our school and each has 19 sessions in both Food

IRMA COOKE

and Materials Technology. This is no mean feat as our programmes are structured to embrace all the strands of the New Zealand Technology Curriculum. We deliver the New Zealand curriculum through the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP). PYP learners strive to be inquirers, knowledgeable thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers (courageous), balanced and reflective.

I chose to teach Food Technology because students don’t just ‘make things’; our learners have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding by addressing needs and realising opportunities when thinking about developing a food product. Adaptation and innovation are at the heart of this subject and quality outcomes result from thinking and practices that are informed, critical and creative.

While at Berkley, our learners use modern facilities to develop a number of skills.

They learn how to analyse and investigate, how to create new foods, about the role of marketing in food development; they learn how to develop their own ideas, produce and test food products, and how to work as a team during practical projects.

For each year level students are given a brief to develop just as you would in industry.

We like to think we keep it authentic by trying to replicate the food industry as much as possible.

Within the brief, students must adapt a recipe to make it healthier. They practice cooking skills like weighing and measuring, basic knife skills, oven use and reading recipes. Students are introduced to sensory analysis of food sampling activities which helps guide them around food tasting. They use specific and diverse learning tools that allow them to develop the necessary literacy skills for success.

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IRMA COOKE We design our programmes to suit the needs and wants of our students as well as expanding their experiences. We aim to promote pathways from secondar y school through to tertiar y study and careers in the food industry, such as a food technologist, chef, product development, marketing, purchasing or health and safety or a teacher. We want to change attitudes around Food Technology as a subject. A lot of Food Technology students opt for Hospitality in Year 11-13 at high school.

This means Year 11–13 Food Technology classes are so small that they have to be taught as a combined class. We hope that by moving our junior students towards a more investigative approach in developing food will add to their enjoyment, raise their level of knowledge and better prepare them for senior Food Technology when they head to High School.

Berkley students embracing Technology Last term Year 8 students were asked to explore a given brief and follow a list of specifications to develop the brief within 9 weeks.

Teachers Matter

Berkley has a diverse number of different cultures and while working in groups, student trialled concepts that reflected ‘who they are’, and researched recipes that connect to their Turangawaewae.

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Students learnt that understanding about family heritage is really important because it helps identify ‘who you are’. Not only did students find out things they didn’t know before, they learnt how to make and adapt a favourite family dish, and sometimes they had to inquire into how to fix a problem if the recipe didn’t go to plan.

Eight Café days had finally arrived and all our students and stakeholders were excited and curious as they dressed the tables

appreciating the different cultures of other people. They had planned their time and resources well. The past 9 weeks had come together, and students were at a point of managing this session on their own. Guests arrived at lunchtime; they were greeted and seated by each student. Students then left to leave the stakeholders to enjoy their dishes.

The feedback forms gathered from students, teachers, student teachers and parents were one of the highlights of this project.

It was really neat to see our stakeholders practicing technological literacy, which is the language specifically used in Technology as a subject. This was evident when I read a stakeholder evaluation (Year 8) which read, “Yes I think this Beef and Vegetable Empanada is ‘fit for purpose’ because it is café quality. It’s crispy on the outside, golden brown and I would buy it in a café because it is a good size, healthy and it is cheaper to produce than buying a pie. “ “These have two vegetables and we make our own pastry, so I know it’s good for me,” said another student.

Our next cycle will produce another café but the transdisciplinary theme ‘Sharing the planet’ will be included as part of our students brief. Students will be given their own individual seedling envelope which they will learn to propagate and grow in our class garden (which is being developed by our materials technology academy group). They will inquire into the limited nature of our earth’s resources and we will be weighing our food wastage during our trials toward our Café.

Technology has a real place in the lives of each student; not only is the subject fun, it helps equip them to participate within society as informed citizens for our future.

Berkley students are taking Technology to the next level!

Irma Cooke, a former Chef and now puts to good use her skills and passion for food as the Food Technology teacher for Berkley Normal Middle School.

When she isn’t judging Waikato’s restaurants or working with students teachers for Waikato University, she’s having fun planning her next project for her middle school students at Berkley Normal Middle School.

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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PHOTO: MARCEL DE GRIJS

KANUKA SIMPSON

Good news and bad news for people being bullied Teachers Matter

How to take your power back

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A

re any of your students being bullied? If so, I have good news and bad news. Let us start with the bad news: be careful about how you break this to them, but they are responsible.

Yes, I know, that sounds bad and, to be fair, it is the bad news. But let me explain:

Most people tend to think that when someone is bullied, the person doing the bullying is responsible and should be encouraged to stop. The school is rung, the situation discussed, the bully reprimanded, the person being bullied (I find the term ‘victim’ so misleading, as they are just as responsible as the person doing the bullying) is given counselling, parents are

notified and then everyone prays that it will stop.

I do admit that the bully has their part of responsibility in the affair and I could write a whole article about why they are bullies; about the lack of self worth which pushes bullies to make others feel less good, thereby artificially increasing their own

KANUKA SIMPSON

being criticised. “La vérité sort de la bouche des enfants” (truth comes out of children’s mouths) is a maxim I heard a lot growing up and with four children, I can verify its dependability – independently of whether or not that truth could hurt the other or not.

So why do some start being called names more often? Is it really because they ARE fat, stupid, slow, disabled etc? To start looking for an answer, let us ask the question the other way around: Are there any children who are fat, stupid, slow, handicapped etc. who are NOT picked on and/or bullied? I’m not sure about your group of youngsters, but I have seen my fair share. So what is it? Why are some bullied and not others?

That’s where the good news comes in: They are responsible.

“ You can take a bully’s power away by changing your reaction.”

status; about the power that bullies crave which leads them to bully (and helping bullies who want to stop is a part of what I do – it just doesn’t often happen) and why they crave that power (but then again, why do governments crave power? Or big corporates? Or anyone for that matter?).

However in this article I would like to focus on the person being bullied and their part of the responsibility.

If you have ever been surrounded by a group of children or teenagers, you will not have missed how they speak to each other. “You’re fat!” “You’re stupid!” They are constantly pointing out (usually negative) things about other people. Things which adults have learned not to comment on – at least not in the presence of the person

If they are responsible, they have the power to do something about it. They can influence whether or not they are bullied, or stop it if it is happening. A lot of people think that they can stop being bullied by learning to fight. Though this is often true, the actual reason is not that they now know how to defend themselves. The key to understanding why they are being bullied is to look at their reaction.

When someone says to you, “You’re so fat!” your reaction will dictate whether or not they have any power over you and your reactions. Can they influence how you feel and how you (re)act just using words and body language? If so, they will continue doing it, because they crave that power.

They crave the ability to make you feel bad, so they feel good. It gives them a sense of self worth. But you can take that power away by changing your reaction. It is possible to learn to control one’s reactions and one’s actions. When you do, the bully loses their control over you and therefore leaves you alone.

This is actually what happens when someone learns to fight: They become surer of themselves and therefore react differently.

However they do not need to spend 1-2 years learning to fight before the bullying can stop. They can change their reactions in a few weeks, if not less. They may need to get some specialised, independent help in understanding what their reactions currently are and how they can change them (this is a part of what I do), but it is possible. I have seen it happen many a time.

So if you notice that any of your students are being bullied and they would like it to stop (believe it or not, some people are not ready to stop being bullied), there are several steps you can take: Check out the website www.knowthesigns. co.nz which has a lot of ver y useful infor mation about how to deal with bullying.

Encourage the person being bullied to take responsibility for their situation, examine and alter their reactions to ensure they are not giving the bully power.

If they cannot do this alone (it is usually very difficult alone), contact (or even better, have the child or their parents contact) an outside agent who can work with the child and help them understand how they are currently reacting, why that is leading to the bullying and how they can react differently.

Kanuka has been mentoring for 20 years and is now watching his children grow up, noticing how they are never scared about anything until they learn that they should be. If you would like more information about him and the work he does with young people, including helping them take the power back from bullies, check out his website: www.KanukaSimpson.com

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L

ABCDEFGHIJKLMN KAREN BOYES

A to Z of effective teaching A by-the-letter guide Lighting

Learner Centred

Language

This is perhaps a controversial area in education. Rita and Kenneth Dunn’s research states that up to 70% of students in classrooms are negatively affected by bright light. They recommend low lighting is best for the majority of students under the age of 25.

Being a learner centred teacher means being responsive to the needs of your students and centring lessons and learning around the students rather than just the content. Good lesson plans ensure that you can modify and change what is planned to meet the needs, abilities and experiences of your students.

Language and thought are intertwined as they coexist. If you hear fuzzy language it is an indication of fuzzy thought.

When students say, “It is kinda that weird stuff” they are being very vague and thinking is not clear. Intelligent people strive to communicate accurately in both written and oral forms. As a teacher, strive to be specific when giving instructions; “On the sink bench” rather than “over there.” When using the work think, strive to be more accurate, which type of thinking are you requiring students to do? Compare, contrast, create, analyse, give reason etc. Avoid over-generalisations, deletions and distortions. Instead insist on explanations, comparisons, quantification and evidence.

Teachers Matter

What scientists do agree on is that natural lighting is the best.

Avoid fluorescent lighting as it flickers at a different rate to the brain, interrupting brain processing. Full spectrum lighting is recommended as a replacement for fluorescent tubes.

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L

ABCDEFGHIJKLMN

l

NOPQRSTUVWXYZ Learning Styles

Limbic System

A learning style is a preferred way of thinking, processing and understanding information.

There are many learning styles models which, while are not exactly the way the brain learns, are a great way to start to understand individual differences in people. A popular learning styles model was developed

by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Their model shows 5 clear pathways for lear ning: visual, auditor y, kinesthetic, olfactor y and gustator y. The Dunn and Dunn model shows a more comprehensive picture of personal preferences that help students concentrate, take in new and difficult information, remain focused and understand and remember important information and ideas. Some variables may be biologically wired or learned they include; environment, sociological, emotional, physiological and psychological.

The Limbic system refers to the mid brain area between the neocortex and the reptilian brain. It is commonly referred to as the ‘feeling brain’. This mid brain is made up of the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus and hypothalamus. This part of the brain is devoted to functions such as social bonding, feelings o f s e x u a l i t y, e m o t i o n s b o t h positive and negative, truth and the need to validate what we feel strongly about. It also houses contextual memories, immediate expressiveness and long term memor y. A quote from brain researcher Eric Jensen states; “Emotions are more important and powerful to the brain than higher order thinking skills… learning and meaning is driven by feelings; the brain is virtually a “box of emotions.”

NOPQRSTUV

KAREN BOYES

“ Emotions are more important and powerful to the brain than higher order thinking skills… learning and meaning is driven by feelings; the brain is virtually a 'box of emotions'.”

-Eric Jensen

Karen is an expert in effective teaching and learning, study skills, motivation and positive thinking. She was awarded the NSANZ Educator of the Year 2014 award and works in schools throughout Australasia teaching students how to Study Smart and teachers how to raise achievement.

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KATE SOUTHCOMBE

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PHOTO: ALISTAIR COTTON

Teachers Matter

“ If we are to truly reflect our community’s faiths we need to treat the subject as a formal curriculum area that is planned and taught by teachers.”

KATE SOUTHCOMBE

One teacher’s experience of teaching Religious Education Why RE needs to be a rounded education and awareness of the many faiths in our community

“O

ur lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Martin Luther King

I recently commented on a Facebook post about the Bible in Schools programme that appears to count as religious education here in New Zealand. The post was by a parent concerned about religion being taught in school, believing it should not be a part of the school curriculum. I normally steer clear of Facebook in a professional capacity, certainly not leaving comments, however I felt strongly enough in this case primarily because of my experience dealing with the role of religious education in schools. I decided that being silent was not the answer, and I decided to further explore the topic.

As a fairly new teacher, I was the Religious Education coordinator for a private girls’ school in Northwood, London. I was excited about the opportunity to lead this curriculum area because I am passionate about acceptance and understanding of how other people practice their faith. Historically the subject of religion in the British education system was originally Religious Instruction, RI. The instruction focused on how to be a Christian and followed the Christian faith – parents could and often did withdraw their children from these classes, and rightly so if they practiced another faith. The change in name and content to Religious Education was an attempt to provide ‘education about’ rather than ‘instruction in’ but these key changes failed to be fully appreciated by parents and possibly teachers too. Religious Education was just that – educating children about all faiths, allowing them to gain an appreciation for how others behave and above all to expose them to lesser known but recognised religions.

The UK curriculum statement at the time I was coordinator specified its key aim – to foster a sense of awe and wonder in children of the natural world around them – surely a worthwhile and admiral ideal – and yet interestingly parents could still withdraw their children from these classes. I found this both disturbing and unexplainable and

surely a sign that people misunderstand the true meaning of the term education. Who wouldn’t want their children to appreciate the world around them and to learn about other cultures’ beliefs and practices? My own experience of religion in education involved teaching classes in religious education, working with multiple faiths in schools and working alongside colleagues with very different cultural and religious beliefs. I was amazed at how asking questions and showing an interest in others’ beliefs and practices seemed to break down communication difficulties and create some great camaraderie.

I gained a wealth of information about some of the key world faiths and came away from the British education system with a greater understanding of the impact religion has on many of us, both for good and not so good.

Unfortunately the word ‘religion’ sparks fear and trepidation into the hearts of most of us, especially in relation to education. Suddenly we feel our rights are impinged and we fight to protect our children from ‘religion’. This fear may well be justified in the case of Bible in Schools. My major concern with the inclusion of religion in New Zealand schools is its singularity in approach. As its name implies, Bible in Schools appears to represent only Christianity, relying on church community volunteers to deliver the material. This was certainly the case in my local area. The lack of structure and possible reliance on non-professionals lays itself wide open to a path of instruction rather than a rounded education and awareness of the many faiths in our community.

What we say to our children, our body language our interactions with fellow staff all speaks volumes. Our children take note of what we do and say and this is probably the most unnerving aspect of teaching - how much influence we have over our children outside of the curriculum. Yet we are trained professionals with a job to do a calling to encourage, inspire and guide our children according to the curriculum and school philosophy. Although I have no doubt that volunteers are more than capable of supporting teachers within the classroom,

their role in teaching a curriculum subject such as religion should be a cause for concern.

If we are to truly reflect our community’s faiths we need to treat the subject as a formal curriculum area that is planned and taught by teachers.

The desire to remove Bible in Schools seems to be based on the premise that religion has no place in school. Perhaps we should be looking at faith inclusiveness rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It’s not so much about who does what as it is what is the ‘what’ we are teaching! Our religious content is not representative of the world we live in.

As staff and parents we must once again take the lead and demonstrate to our children the very characteristics and values that we wish them to possess. Acknowledging our own fears and prejudices with regards to other faiths may take courage and humility as well as recognition of our own limitations. Our children will inherit this earth (please excuse the religious reference!), therefore we need to start young if we are to break the current cycle of religious intolerance.

Interestingly, the word tolerance suggests putting up with something even when you don’t like it and I guess that is something we need to consider. We may not like how other people practice their faiths we may find it distasteful, uncomfortable and even immoral. The greater our tolerance however, the greater our chances are of building bridges, communicating and growing in our understanding so that tolerance can be replaced with acceptance.

Having an appreciation for our differences, accepting that we are all different and assisting our children to value difference is surely part of our role as teachers.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Mahatma Gandhii

Kate provides individually tailored professional development for Early C h i l d h o o d C e n t re s a n d s ch o o l s on evidence-based behaviour management. She also consults for parents of children with specific behaviour concerns. kate@eprtraining.co.nz

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PHOTO: SHAO-CHUN WANG

Teachers Matter MICHAEL GRINDER & MARY YENIK

MICHAEL GRINDER & MARY YENIK

Effective eye contact and how to use it Lessening the blow of bad news

O

ne evening, a friend of mine came to me after a grueling week at work. She had to give some negative feedback to one of her employees and was upset with how personally he took the news. She said to me, “I just talked to him about some things that needed to change, but he really doesn’t take criticism very well.” While that could be the case, it is likely that the problem was actually in the delivery.

You can be as tactful as possible with what you say verbally, but if you’re not using the correct nonverbal communication, there’s a high likelihood that it will encourage high emotions in the other person, and they will take the negative m e s s a g e p e r s o n a l l y.

So what can you do to ensure that the listener is able to tackle negative news with less emotion and that you’re able to evoke positive emotion when it helps your message? The secret is all in the eye contact.

Three-point Communication Since the students follow the teacher’s eyes, once she has the class’ attention, the class will look where she directs her eyes. If the teacher looks at the board, the class will follow her lead and look at the board also. Since the two parties, namely the teacher and the students, are looking at a third point, the communication is referred to as a three-point communication. Three-point communication is not as personal as two-point communication. Threepoint communication is less emotional than two-point communication because the focus is on the issue level of the communication instead of the relationship level.

“When a teacher is communicating, those students who are listening will most likely look where the teacher is looking.”

Two-point Communication When a teacher is communicating, those students who are listening will most likely look where the teacher is looking. When the communication involves eye contact, the pupils are looking at the teacher because she is looking at the class. Eye contact is referred to as two-point communication because there are two parties involved in the communication: the teacher and the students.

Two-point communication is interpersonal in that the relationship between the parties is accessed.

Two-point communication increases the emotions inside the parties who are looking at each other.

This is true whether the emotions are positive or negative and whether the teacher is doing management or teaching.

As teachers, we have been over trained in direct eye contact (two points). It’s time to branch out and become a master of three-point communication as well! If the interaction you’re having is positive, it’s okay to make eye contact; if it’s negative, it’s better to employ a third point. So the next time you have to deliver negative news or talk about an issue that’s occurring, try using three-point communication. You’ll be surprised at how receptive your listeners becomes and relieved at the lack of defensiveness that is fostered by this handy trick!

Michael is the United Sates national director of NLP in Education. He has pioneered the practice of using nonverbals to manage classrooms and create a safe learning environment based on influence instead of power.

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MICHAEL GROSE

Building strong family-teacher relationships An essential teacher’s guide

D

uring the month of Februar y, through a mixture of oneon-one meetings and whole group forums with parents, teachers need to communicate and gather the following information from parents: 1. Create awareness of the immense benefits for children’s learning when parents support the school and also their children as learning. Don’t assume parents know this. Outline the benefits their involvement and interest has on their child’s learning.

2. Establish parents’ obligations to their child’s learning and to their school. Great relationships are built on reciprocity so spell out for parents how you expect them to support their child and your class at home. Expect them to read every night for ten minutes? Want them to go over a child’s home tasks before they attempt them? Then spell these expectations out.

Teachers Matter

3. Outline the opportunities that you will provide for parents to assist in the life of your class, whether its hearing kids read, helping out with electives or being a class tutor for some subjects. Be clear and specific about how they can assist you.

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4. Find out parents’ goals for their child for the coming year. “What’s one thing you’d like your child to achieve this year?” is a question that every parent needs to be asked. Help them articulate their thoughts by asking good questions.

5. Outline your goals for the year as a teacher over and above what your school is trying to achieve. It may be that you’ll have a real focus on social skills this year. If so, tell parents this and then let them know how they can

help you achieve your goals at home.

6. Introduce parents to the physical layout of their child’s classroom. In primary school in particular, familiarity with their child’s classroom and what

“ Strong parentteacher partnerships help you to become more effective as a teacher”

happens within it helps parents have good learning conversations at home.

A weekly class blog containing news and photos can have a similar effect for parents who can’t make classroom visits.

7. Begin gathering family knowledge including details of who lives at home; each child’s birth order and other relevant family facts. Record this information in a Families Book with a page for each child, adding information to the book as you learn more about each family.

Building strong family-teacher partnerships in these ways will help you become more effective as a teacher and will also make your teaching life so much easier.

MICHAEL GROSE

Michael has an education background,and holds a Master of Educational Studies with research into what makes healthy families tick.

PHOTO: RACORN

Michael is the author of 8 parenting books, including his new release Thriving! and the best-selling Why First Bor ns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change it. His popular parenting columns appear in newspapers and magazines across Australia. He appears regularly on television including Channel 10’s The Circle, and is a popular & entertaining speaker. He also has a regular fortnightly half hour parenting segment on ABC radio Victoria.

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KAREN BOYES

Study Skills

6 Tips for managing exam stress

W

hy stress is good…

Experiencing stress before exams is a good thing! Stress causes your adrenaline to pump and allows you to work longer hours and stay on task more. A 2013 study from Daniela Kaufer and Elizabeth Kirby at the University of California found that small doses of stress can propel you forward and enable you to meet a challenge. As a time frame gets closer so the stress rises. This is natural and normal and managing it is important.

Too much stress can have a negative effect on your memory. Of course memory is essential in an exam – ultimately you are required to remember what you have learned and how to apply your knowledge to answer the questions.

Teachers

What to do in the next 4 weeks…

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Make a plan for the next few weeks – do not leave it to chance. Draw up a timetable and stick to it. Place in the important features of your next weeks, meal times, sports practice, church etc and add your study around these. If you can, you may wish to lessen your out of school activities for the next few weeks and then you can devote your time to them after the exams.

Learn what you don’t know - Of all the tips the most important in the last few weeks is to concentrate on learning the information you don’t know. Going over what you know is a waste of time – it might make you feel good however learning is learning what you don’t know. Pull out your old tests, assignments, practice exam papers and learn the questions you got wrong. This can be hard yet is the MOST IMPORTANT tip. Ask your teachers to help clarify confusions, Google other teachers’ lessons or search for study notes online to help.

“ If you get stressed before exam time – this is great news.”

Study in small segments - The best tip is to study for 20 minutes and take a 5 minute break. This is especially useful if motivation is lacking or the content is difficult. During the 5 minute break, ensure you leave the room so your brain knows you are on a break. You might choose to stretch, get some fresh air, do a few star jumps, eat some brain food, drink a glass of water or quickly check your social networking sites. To help keep you on track download the iStudyAlarm which is available for all smart phones.

KAREN BOYES

Eat well – just as an athlete prepares for the big game or race, eating well in the weeks before your exams is imperative.

Ensure you eat breakfast each day, as this will help minimise the bad stress. Eat smaller meals throughout the day rather than big meals (that take a huge amount of energy to digest). Decrease your sugar and caffeine intake and increase your water consumption. Research shows eating an apple gives longer sustained focus than a cup of coffee.

Relax– to manage high stress levels ensure you do something each day to relax. It may be as simple as 10 long slow breaths 2-3 times a day, some slow stretching, gentle swimming or jogging, mediation, yoga any activity that helps you unwind and relax. Avoid screen time when relaxing as the changing images on the screen often cause your brain to go into a fight/flight state of high alert.

Focus on the goal - Four weeks is such a short time in your life so focus on the big picture – the reason you are sitting the exams; to get yourself ahead in life, to get into the course you want to attend next year or whatever your goal is. A helpful activity is to visualise yourself being successful in your exams.

STUDY SMART & PASS… For your FREE 27 Study Tips Poster, please email karen@spectrumeducation. com

Karen is an expert in effective teaching and learning, study skills, motivation and positive thinking. She was awarded the NSANZ Educator of the Year 2014 award and works in schools throughout Australasia teaching students how to Study Smart and teachers how to raise achievement.

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DEBORAH BARCLAY

Why you need to master the art of filing Key points to cleaning your clutter

D

o you search through the clutter on your desk for a document you need?

Can you retrieve information easily and quickly?

Imagine how great it would be to immediately find a document you were looking for?

Despite computers and emailing, we do still have to deal with paper on a daily basis. Whether it’s at home and you’re dealing with mail, insurance documents, forms that need to be filled in…or you are at work and you are handling reports, articles and other important documents, the fact remains that they have to be put somewhere, ideally for quick retrieval.

Here are some key points to remember when deciding to clean up your paperwork; 1. Purchase the right kind of storage for your paper. Effective filing comes down to how you store your paper. Consider magazine files, vertical files, file boxes etc… There are so many varieties available – it is about what works best for you and your environment. If you have a small office space, you may want to have upright magazine files that look neat and tidy on a shelf and save space. If you have cupboards you may prefer to have file boxes that have a large amount of space within them and can be stacked and

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ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHE BOISSON

Teachers Matter

When you constantly look at a pile of paper that you know you need to sort through, it tends to sap your energy. While it may take time initially to decide on an effective filing system and to get your paper sorted, it can save you plenty of time in the long run.

DEBORAH BARCLAY

stored. Make sure you have got your storage boxes or files empty in front of you when you start sorting your paper. Also have label stickers and a pen handy!

2. Consider how you are going to label your files. For example if you are wanting to file a Board Report on Written Language, would you file it in a folder labelled ‘Reports to the Board’ or in the ‘Written Language’ folder?

There is of course, no right answer, it all depends on what works best for you. (This one goes for naming your documents/folders on your computer too!) You may want to think about dividing folders into sub folders.

This avoids over filling folders. For example, within a Special Needs folder you may have subfolders for IEP’s, Agencies, Referrals, Anecdotal Notes, etc…

3. Have a rubbish bin/recycle bin ready when you decide to get organised! You will be moving lots of paper!

4. If you are doing this for the first time and you are facing a mountain of paper, get someone on board to help you. They’ll be more ruthless than you and less likely to hoard unnecessary paper.

Once your filing system is up and running, here are some tips to keep you on top of your paper game!

“ Imagine how great it would be to immediately find a document you were looking for? “

DON’T GET HOOKED! (unless you have oodles of time) I often get really interesting magazines in my mail folder at work, with articles I know I’ll enjoy or may use as a professional reading for a staff meeting. Rather than getting hooked into reading through it at the time, taking me away from my priority tasks, I scan it, fold down pages of articles I’ll read later, and slip it into my ‘Professional Reading’ folder, that I take home and read in the weekend. If I know I am going to be waiting at an upcoming appointment or sitting at the hairdressers for two hours I slip it into my handbag to read.

OPEN IT, READ IT then… Keep The Article Not The FILE IT or BIN IT Magazine!

Deal with paper as you receive it, as opposed to putting it in a pile that you think you’ll get to later (as you watch it pile up during the week). Ideally you only want to touch paper once or twice. When I open mail at school, I do it next to my recycling bin so I am culling as I go. I glance over it, and either file it or bin it.

If you do find a great article, and think you’ll need it for future reference either photocopy and file the article or scan and save in a folder on your computer. I have a folder at work called ‘Professional Readings’. If it’s a hard copy I try to write what magazine I have taken it from with the date for future reference. Magazines can be heavy and bulky and take up so much room to store. (except TeachersMatter of course!)

If it is a small piece of writing – take a photo of it with your mobile device, that way you have easy access to it whenever you need it. Educational magazines are best shared.

Think twice before you shelve it away in a folder or file. The staffroom is a great place to put reading material.

Have A 2 Stage Throw Out System If you are someone who worries each time you throw paper out that you may need it again, then the 2 stage throw out system is for you! Have a box (stage 1) preferably out of sight, fill it with paper rubbish and keep it in there for a month or two. If you haven’t needed anything from it for at least two months, then it is safe to say “sayonara” once and for all! Stage 2 is actually getting rid of it for good.

Have A Today Or Current Week Folder Keep any documentation you are currently working on in its own folder – that way you can access it quickly. And keep it close by for quick retrieval. At the end of the week if you have anything left in the folder move it into its appropriate place.

So... go buy your filing boxes or files and get started!! If the thought of sorting through your paper is over whelming, block out half an hour once or twice a week to chip away at it. Action creates momentum and before you know it your effective filing system and the success you’ll be having with it, will motivate you to complete it.

For any system to be useful and effective, it needs to work for you. You will be amazed at how great you feel with a streamlined filing system. Piled up paper becomes clutter and clutter can erode energy and creativity!

Deborah has been a primary school teacher for 16 years and a deputy principal in an Auckland school for the past five years. Deborah has a special interest in behaviour management and delving into the deeper issues underlying children’s behaviour.

5151

NGAHI BIDOIS

The value of education Why we should all continue to learn

T

hroughout my life I have seen a link between education and opportunities.

As a young fella I was often asked what I wanted to do when I grew up. My answers varied from fighter pilot to Bruce Lee the 2nd, but when I arrived in Form 5 (Year 11), I realised that it was time to get more serious about what I wanted to do. When I was offered a trainee position on a Maori carpenter trade training school back in the seventies I remember thinking, “Wow! If I am offered this now, then what will happen if I go back to school?” So with the support of my parents, I went back to school the following year and during Year 12 I was offered a surveyors training apprenticeship as well as a Sanford’s commercial fisherman trainee position.

I didn’t achieve well enough to get into Year 13, so the next year I went back to Year 12. I often tell people that the best two years of my schooling both occurred in Year 12!

During that year I considered becoming an officer in the Army and attended a Regular Army Selection course but decided it just wasn’t for me, despite my father and grandfather serving overseas. The following year I was in Year 13 and I was offered a place on the Woolworths management training programme. I was also fortunate to be selected to attend Massey University on the first Tu Tangata programme where I completed a Business Studies degree in Marketing.

Teachers Matter

After I completed my Business degree my first full time position was not as a carpenter, surveyor, commercial fisherman, army officer, Woolworths manager, fighter pilot or a movie star, but with the multinational oil company Mobil Oil.

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My education however, did not stop there because I changed career paths from the corporate world to education and completed a Diploma of Teaching (secondary) to become a secondary school teacher. Later on I completed a Masters Degree in Education which opened doors to the tertiary profession where I became a lecturer, academic adviser and later a senior manager at a Polytechnic.

More recently I have completed accreditation

“ Ko te manu e kai I te miro, nona te ngahere.

Ko te manu e kai I te matauranga, nona te ao.”

The bird that eats of the miro berry replenishes the forest, but the bird that eats of knowledge replenishes the world. - Maori proverb

training to become a Professional speaker which has enabled me to travel the world being paid to speak and help people, which is something I thoroughly enjoy. The Institute of Directors Certificate in Company Direction I completed last year is opening Governance positions and opportunities.

My educational pathway has been an interesting one - and it isn’t over yet. I am sure there will be more intellectual challenges ahead than the Euchre game I find myself playing on my phone! I have not written all of this to boast but to let you know that somewhere in all the opportunities I was given and the decisions I made was a person like you. Someone who sowed the seeds of education and helped them grow. Someone like you, who made a positive difference in my life. On behalf of the many you have

helped can I say a big huge THANK YOU! Furthermore, my life to date is testimony to that old Maori proverb that says “Ko te manu e kai I te miro, nona te ngahere. Ko te manu e kai I te matauranga, nona te ao.” The bird that eats of the miro berry replenishes the forest, but the bird that eats of knowledge replenishes the world. Please continue to sow your education seeds of hope because education is worth chewing over.

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

le e l b b a lial ls!! i a a v va oools a w ho w o NoN frosrcshc fo Access LIVE Study Smarter tutorials in these 45-minute interactive presentations.

International presenter Karen Boyes from Spectrum Education will share many simple and practical ideas.

NGAHI BIDOIS

Study Smarter Te c h n i q u e s f o r s t u d y i n g S M A R T E R . . . n o t H A R D E R

WEBINARS Study Smarter Webinars can be held in the comfort of your classroom; they are an easy and effective way to help your students study smarter and pass exams.

Webinar 2 Study Smarter: Understanding Your Learning Styles

Webinar 1 Introduction to Study Smarter: Memory Webinar 4 Strategies Study Smarter: Goal Setting for Success

Webinar 3 Study Smarter: Setting Up an Effective Study Environment Webinar 5 Study Smarter: Preparing for Tests & Exam Techniques

Call to book your school today! 0800 37 33 77 or email us at info@spectrumeducation.com www.spectrumeducation.com

Education is the key to the future.... studying smarter, not harder, is the key to success.

53

DR LAURA MARKHAM

Responding to fear from a place of calm Don’t believe everything you think

“M

ore often than not, fear doesn’t emerge as nail-biting, cold-feet terror, but surfaces instead as anger, perfectionism, pessimism, low-level anxiety, depression, and feelings of isolation. In these many disguises, fear can permeate life, leaving room for little else. It morphs from one pseudoemotion to another, rarely declaring itself, poisoning each moment it touches.” -- Dan Baker, Ph.D.

Notice how often fearful thoughts cause unhappy emotions: “If he doesn’t start using the potty, he’ll never be able to start school…I just know she won’t stay in bed tonight and I’ll end up screaming at her again…How will she ever make it in college if I’m having to check up on her homework so much?...If I don’t do something drastic to stop this behaviour right now my kid will grow up to be a criminal…”

“ Without conscious management on our parts, fear can permeate our thoughts - and poison our lives.”

2. Challenge the negative thoughts.

Notice each and every negative thought and stomp it like bug. Yes, even if it’s “true.” There is ALWAYS another, more empowering way to see the situation.

3. Reframe the thought: child will not grow up to be a He’s acting like a kid because he All kids sleep through the night later…No high school kid is in

Yo u ’ l l f i n d t h a t y o u c a n r e s p o n d better to any situation from a place of calm than from your mind’s panic.

PHOTO: SCOTT GRIESSEL

Teachers Matter

You may think your moods just come out of nowhere. But scientists now believe that moods are mostly a response to what we think, usually without even noticing. So those bad moods and cranky days are often created by our own inner critics.

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We can’t get rid of our inner critics – they’re hard wired. That’s how human minds are designed. They work hard to keep us safe. But every human mind generates fear much of the time. Without conscious management on our parts, fear can permeate our thoughts - and poison our lives.

“No, my criminal.

IS a kid… sooner or diapers.”

When you find yourself manufacturing negative scenarios, reprogramme your unconscious mind by suggesting a happier ending: “Wouldn’t it be nice if this evening everything went smoothly at bedtime?

Wouldn’t it be nice if tonight I stayed calm and cheerful and knew just what to do?”

Fear is what pulls us off the high road and onto the low road of parenting. Fear is what makes us hard on ourselves and our children.

Fear is what makes us anxious and angry.

That’s why fear has to be consciously confronted. How? 1. Notice your thoughts. Stop. Take a breath. Notice all that chatter in your mind.

Is any of it negative? Don’t let it get you down. Becoming aware of these thoughts is the first step toward changing them. Once we notice, we stop automatically believing and acting on these thoughts. We have a choice.

Yo u ’ l l b e s u r p r i s e d h o w h a p p y y o u r unconscious mind is to oblige.

L a u r a i s t h e f o u n d e r o f w w w.

AhaParenting.com and author of Peaceful parent, happy Kids: How to stop yelling and start connecting. Laura trained as a psychologist, but she’s also a Mum, so she translates proven science into practical solutions.

The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love, which includes not only others but ourselves as well.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

55

JENNY BARRETT

Bring play into your classroom through the use of technology Perform anything, anywhere

P

Teachers TeachersMatter Matter

lay is a key part of a child’s education; encouraging creativity and allowing students to use their imaginative and innovative powers. Play is a biological drive that supports lear ning: social, physical, mental, the works. Technology is a wonderful medium to bring play into the classroom space and gaming and robotics are increasingly becoming the norm in many schools.

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Another technological vehicle to support play and creativity across every curriculum area is video green screening. The green screen effect is a type of chroma key technique used in video production or photography to replace a portion of an image with a new image. As the name suggests green screening uses a green screen behind the object (for example a news reader), and then replaces the green screen with another image or video clip (for example a scene from Christchurch if you are reading the local Christchurch news). Editing software is used to replace the green screen, with you the editor telling the software which colour to make transparent and which image or clip to use to create the new background image.

Why would you video green screen?

Creativity: it offers a risk-free environment to engage in make-believe, allowing students to develop or broaden their internal

imagery, stimulate curiosity and encourage experimentation. They can try different genres, change roles and developing different endings.

For older students that make-believe world can be applied to what otherwise may be very dry topics to some students. Those that supposedly despise Shakespeare or Pythagoras Theorem could be turned around by a strategically chosen green screening project.

someone else – the shy child playing a world leader, the serious child pretending to be a penguin in a scene from Antarctica.

The learning possibilities using Green Screen technology are endless. Here are some ideas: • Explore anything – pop You Tube clips behind the students and they can describe habitats, countries, coastlines, the water cycle, microbes travelling through the body…

• Be anyone – again use You Tube and become Nelson Mandela with the story of his life running in the background or Shakespeare dissecting one of his plays • Stimulate writing – you or your students can make some cool story starters with an appropriate video running in the background.

Social skills: students will use all manner of social skills to work towards the final product. They will be practicing all those verbal and non-verbal communication skills as they negotiate roles (quite literally in this case) and manage the project to its destination. Green screening projects are fantastic vehicles to develop the ability to work in a team as students listen to other’s points of view, work through conflicts and share responsibilities.

• Create book reviews with large shots of the illustrations or video excerpts of the book running in the background as the students discuss the book – add QR codes onto your library books that link to the book reviews

Emotional development: a carefully chosen theme for your green screening project can be used to let students express emotions that otherwise might be difficult to deal with, whilst in role or whilst covering a topic such as bullying, grief etc. Teachers talk about how even when the topic is totally unrelated to something that a child is going through, they can still use the role they are playing to somehow process what might be going on elsewhere in their lives or just to try to be

• R e a d y o u r p o e t r y w i t h a v i d e o o f appropriate images running in the background

• N e w s p r o g r a m m e s – s c h o o l n e w s , community news, world news • Weather programmes, again local, national, world…

• Analyse your own sporting performance or provide your own sporting commentary • Walk around any objects and describe them • Record a process and your student is the talking head explaining it • Make a welcome video for your school,

JENNY BARRETT with a video of the school running in the background • Record your worlds in Minecraft and have a tour guide point out the features • Raise and deal with topical issues such as bullying, substance abuse etc. by producing infomercials And how to do it?

Key to the whole process are two things.

Firstly, the object in the foreground (i.e. your news reader) cannot be wearing the same green as your green screen or it will be edited out. Secondly, the colour and lighting of your green screen needs to be as even as possible.

Any light or dark patches will render that area a different colour and they won’t be “chopped” out by your editing software.

Begin by thinking about your physical space, or spaces. The green screen “studio” could potentially be mobile, a resource that moves around the school or it could be fixed and different groups could be timetabled in to use it. If money is no object it could be something built into every learning space, and this is starting to happen in some of the new modern learning environments with a green wall being factored in. Your physical space needs to be wide enough to get all of your actors in front of the green screen, so think about how many students you will want in shot at any one time, for example two news readers or one student lying down pretending to fly. You will also need enough space for lighting and the camera “crew”!

The larger the space the better.

Now think about your green screen. You can use a painted wall or a wall covered in material or fabric. The key is that the

material is not too reflective or else it will create lighter spots, and that it does not wrinkle, as this can create darker patches.

If it is a mobile solution you can hang it using a frame or off some screws or use thumb tacks. Also think about how you are going to pack and store it (those wrinkles in mind again!). The latest green screens are pull-down PVC pelmet screens with very non-reflective surfaces making life very easy.

Moving onto lighting; the aim is to light the whole screen consistently. You will need two lights, possibly more and accompanying stands. Encourage your students to experiment with different combinations to get the most even lighting, making sure that there is no shadow being cast from the object in the foreground. Also think about

health and safety and the amount of heat given off by some lights.

Next consider a camera and your audio.

Your camera choice will come down to budget. You can do green screening with an iPad and a USB mic (with a camera connection kit to use it with your iPad).

You can use a webcam linked to your PC. However both for quality and for an introduction to the media world, a school should aim to have at least one mid-range camcorder. Try and find a camera that enables you to plug your mic in directly that makes for greater ease of use. The camera wants to be on a tripod and it is worth checking that the tripod moves smoothly.

The editing software – the world is your oyster. For IPads, the app Green Screen

by Do Ink is highly recommended, as is FX Studio. For Macs, iMovie has

green screening capabilities and for all platforms including Windows there is Open Broadcaster Software, a free download which is my favourite. This allows you to record to file to edit later in your usual movie editing software, such as Movie Maker Live, or alternatively you can stream live to YouTube or to a streaming box which would allow you to send the live feed around the school! All the professional video editing software packages of course include green screen capabilities too. If you are working with older children task them to watch the many You Tube videos that explain how to use whichever software you choose. Let them work on a project or two, and then these older students can cascade it to the younger ones, thereby providing more valuable learning opportunities.

Enjoy going anywhere and being anything.

Thanks to Jacira de Hoog from Cambridge Middle School for pictures of her students engaged in green screening.

Jenny is the CEO for Breathe Technology. Her enthusiasm for technology came when thrown in the deep end whist teaching in Taiwan. She has supported classroom teachers to use educational technology in the UK and NZ. www.breathtechnology.co.nz

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JOHN SHACKLETON

Teachers Matter

Let teachers teach

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I

don’t pick my kids up from school very often – usually I’m not around at that time of day. On the occasions I do collect them though, I am always astounded at the line of parents queuing up to quiz the class teachers on what little Johnny has done that

PHOTO: WAVEBREAK MEDIA LTD

Appreciation doesn’t cost anything, but it’s priceless

JOHN SHACKLETON

day, and tell them what they think he should be doing/achieving/receiving for homework/ class work etc.

I say I am astounded because, to the best of my knowledge, none of these parents are teachers. And yet they feel they need to go and tell their child’s teacher how to do their job. My work entails flying around New Zealand a fair bit and I have to say, to date, I have never felt the need to go and see the pilot when I get on or off a plane to tell him how he should fly the plane. I’m sure the other passengers are thankful for this, as I don’t have the first idea how to. I crash the simulator on the computer so I’m guessing any landing I was in charge of would be pretty disastrous! And yet these parents, who have no qualifications, think that they should dictate what their child does at school.

Ours is a decile 10 school and this is perhaps a high decile problem. I talked to a teacher who had moved from a low decile school to a high decile school once, and said that I thought she must find life much easier now. What she said surprised me – she told me that in fact it wasn’t, that at the low decile school the parents were grateful for the effort she put into their children who, maybe, didn’t have much at home but had a chance to flourish through school. And, now she was involved with parents who were more affluent, she found she received much less appreciation. She still gave 100% to her pupils but the parents wanted 110% from her. Whatever she did, it just wasn’t enough and it was demoralising to say the least.

It seems to me that in these times of political correctness and child centred parent focus that we have reached a point where a parent simply can’t accept that their little cherub is anything less than the next Einstein. They don’t think there is any possibility their offspring might be average, and heaven forbid they could actually be BELOW average, or struggling to achieve.

And if testing shows that they aren’t at the

“ Wouldn’t the world be a nicer place if people were as quick to praise as they are to whinge? ”

good old national standard, then the fault must rest squarely with the teacher. It’s not possible to let the child be or accept that they simply aren’t academic, instead they must be piled with homework and, as well as having to administer testing, the teacher has to prepare homework, class work, marking, reports – a never ending list of paperwork, all of which take their time and focus away from actual teaching.

How would it be if schools set out a charter for parents along with the rules that they have for students? Write down the expectations that they have of parents, in terms of supporting the people who have the job of taking care of their offspring for six hours every day, and educating them?

Gently point out that you won’t tell them how to do their job and that they should refrain from telling you how to do yours. Yes, they can support their child’s learning but making them do hours of additional work is more likely to turn them against education than make them a genius. And, if they can’t adhere to these guidelines then point out that there are other schools in the area, and they are able to vote with their feet if they don’t agree with the policies of the school.

Let the teachers get on with teaching instead of having to justify themselves to parents on a daily basis.

And for you teachers who have to put up with this – DON’T. Meet with your principal and your board and get their backing to stand up to bullying parents, because this is bullying and you should not have to put up with it. You spent years training for this job and you know how to do it, and do it well.

Don’t let the dictates of parents divert you or add to your workload.

It is difficult not to let the negativity grind you down so I suggest you make yourself a file or scrapbook of all the compliments, cards and crafts that your pupils have made for you so you can have a flick through to boost yourself on bad days.

Know that you are doing a great job to the best of your ability and that turning out happy, well-rounded kids into the big wide world will be of much more benefit to society than sending them out drilled in their 268 times table, able to recite the collected works of Shakespeare backwards. And remember also, that for every person that complains there are twenty who are very happy with everything you do for their child but just don’t think to tell you – wouldn’t the world be a nicer place if people were as quick to praise as they are to whinge?

Back to the usual topics I cover next time but in the meanwhile as we used to say in my Latin classes, ne carborundum. Chin up, head down, you’re doing a great job.

With a sports psychology and sports coaching background, John now shows international business audiences techniques that exercise the biggest, most powerful muscle in the body – the brain. www.JohnShack.com

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LINDA GUIREY

Challenge your assumptions and improve communication Also reduce conflict and uncertainty

W

hat is an assumption? The dictionary definition is - a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.

Teachers Matter

The emphasis here needs to be on the words ‘without proof’. Assumptions are the bridge that we create in our minds, to span the gap of knowledge, when we have no information to fill that gap. We make assumptions often because we are afraid to seek clarification. There are details missing, so we make assumptions.

Then we believe those assumptions and we defend those assumptions - as if they were fact. It is amazing how many of us believe in our assumptions as the absolute truth. But not all assumptions are bad. For example if you are in traffic and you see a truck pulling out, it is good and safe to assume that he hasn’t seen you, and you in turn slow down. The problem is, many of our assumptions are negative and we let them rule us.

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Imagine you are in the mall and you see someone across the way, someone you haven’t seen for a long, long time. You call their name and wave. They look up; see you, smile and wave back. So you head in their direction, excited to catch up. They see you coming; they turn around and walk in the opposite direction. You will make assumptions at that point. You will believe you know what went through their head, you will believe that assumption and you will allow that assumption to affect you emotionally.

But that is crazy. You cannot know what was happening in the other person’s mind, or in their world. They could have been late for an appointment, received some bad news on the phone, perhaps they are even embarrassed to meet you because they think they have either aged badly, put on weight or will be judged in some other way - by you.

We often believe we know what others are thinking. Take some of these statements - do any resonate with you, have you heard yourself thinking these things?

“You don’t really mean that” “You’re only saying that” “Deep down I know she doesn’t like me” “He ignored me on purpose” “He did that, just to get at me” “They are trying to get rid of me” There are so many statements that we use, that are full of assumptions, not facts. The problem is, we allow those assumptions, those details that we have in fact made up, and we allow them to affect us. We feel aggrieved, angry, hurt, sad, depressed, and annoyed - all because we have filled in the gaps, we have built a bridge of assumption and we turn that assumption into fact, in our own heads.

Assumptions can actually stop us and get in the way of us achieving our goals creating a self limiting belief.

Our thinking, our mind, who we are, comes from all our experiences, values, beliefs and life learnings along the way, and everybody thinks differently.

It’s like an iceberg. You can only see the tip of the iceberg, and there is so much more under the water. The same for people. We only ever see the tip of iceberg, because we don’t know what that person’s experiences, values, beliefs and lifelong learnings are - we just think we do. If we often make assumptions about what other people are thinking, we are more likely to come into a conversation or relationship, on the defensive - ready to attack, prepared for battle.

Imagine a teenage girl texts her boyfriend “can you come round tonight?” The boyfriend replies, “Sorry, I’m busy”.

You can be assured that she will create assumptions about that response. In fact, she probably will create an entire fantasy about that conversation - out of fear. She is afraid to seek clarification in case her boyfriend gets annoyed, she’s afraid that he might think she doesn’t trust him, she is afraid of getting hurt - so she fills the gap of knowledge with her home-made bridge of assumption. The problem is, she will then talk to her friends about what ‘he’ did, what ‘he’ is most likely up to and that assumption becomes a major obstacle in their relationship.

LINDA GUIREY

What we can do is become aware of our assumptions that we are making and question them and challenge them. Is what I am thinking, based on fact? How do I know? Becoming intentional with your thinking takes practice, takes effort and is harder than just defaulting to our assumptions and judgements. What you will find though, is when you can become intentional with your thinking - life becomes a whole lot easier. You reduce the amount of assumptions you make, therefore you reduce possible communication problems, conflict and uncertainty. Develop the habit of constantly questioning what you believe is true.

PHOTO: ALEXANDER TRINITATOV

If you don’t know - clarify. If you are afraid to clarify, then stop worrying and thinking about what you don’t know.

So it’s time to see and hear things as they are. Not as you perceive them to be.

Assumptions create expectations - both good and bad. If you expect and believe you are going to succeed, you are more likely to achieve success. If, on the other hand, you expect and believe you will fail - well guess what? Chances are, you will.

Assumptions can easily create suspicion and frustration. Imagine a workplace is going through change, but the reason for the change, the process of change, hasn’t been communicated to staff. So some staff fill in

the gaps with assumptions and share those with others, who believe those assumptions as facts. Can you see where this will end up?

So how can we avoid making too many assumptions? All change starts with opening our eyes and our mind so that assumptions don’t become etched in our belief system. In truth we can never eliminate assumptions - it is our mind quickly filling the gaps and it is part of our decision making process.

Linda is a speaker, coach, trainer and author who speaks about creating positive change in your life through understanding your thoughts, beliefs and choices. Linda calls herself a CEO - Consciousness Engineer with Optimism. Linda was voted Best Speaker in New Zealand for 2012, in the Corporate Events People’s Choice Awards. Linda is also an artist and uses her artwork in her presentations as they reflect the messages she shares. www.lindaguirey.co.nz

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MICK WALSH

How bringing out the best in others helps you to grow too Life’s alphabet

W

e are all sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and certainly grandchildren. To enjoy a happy life and to become what we wish to become, we need to get the person right first by building trusting relationships. When we focus on bringing out the best in others, the effect is that we grow as people also. This article is about little things you can do every day to do this.

Recently in a group of 30 business people, each person was given a “silent buddy”, who they were to perform two or three acts of kindness each week for a month. The “silent buddy” didn’t know who was going to do this for them. The acts of kindness didn’t have to be big things; it could be just saying hello every morning with a smile and asking what they were up to. At the end of the month, the group was surveyed and the results were amazing. Every single person reported that they got far more out of giving acts of kindness than receiving them. There’s a message there; live by giving.

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When talking with someone else there are three little words you can use over and over to build relationships. They are, tell me more.

Encouraging the other person to share more and more shows that you are interested in them.

You can also do this to yourself by regularly reflecting on your greatest achievements at work, at home and in the community and how they made you feel at the time; there is a fair chance that you will feel proud, fulfilled, joyful and contented with yourself. Good stuff.

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There is another simple, but powerful way to build your sense of wellbeing to get the person right. Every night reflect on your day to hunt the good stuff to come up with three good things that happened. They don’t have to be big, just positive things that happened and made you feel good. This is also a fantastic relationship building exercise to do with your family and friends.

How often do you hear others say, “It is as simple as ABC”? Well, let’s use the alphabet to reflect on what we say, do and think from A to Z. It is called Life’s Alphabet.

Reflect on, and rate yourself on each of Life’s Alphabet using Usually Sometimes Not Yet

A lways positive in action and thought Usually Sometimes Not Yet

B elieve in yourself to make what you want to, happen Usually Sometimes Not Yet C ontrol what you can control; yourself Usually Sometimes Not Yet D elight in celebrating your successes Usually Sometimes Not Yet E xcite in the successes of others Usually Sometimes Not Yet

F ocus regularly on your dreams Usually Sometimes Not Yet G ather good friends throughout your life Usually Sometimes Not Yet H elp others to make their best better to shine Usually Sometimes Not Yet I magine what you will become through effort Usually Sometimes Not Yet

J og your mind nightly to hunt the good stuff Usually Sometimes Not Yet K eep up the can do and want to attitudes Usually Sometimes Not Yet L ove the life you live Usually Sometimes Not Yet

MICK WALSH M aster something in life Usually Sometimes Not Yet N eed to feel you make a difference to others Usually Sometimes Not Yet O wn and take responsibility for everything you say and do Usually Sometimes Not Yet P ush through when things get tough Usually Sometimes Not Yet

Q uit looking on the negative side of life Usually Sometimes Not Yet

“ Live the life you love and love the life you live.”

- Bob Marley

R ecognise what is good about things Usually Sometimes Not Yet S tart every day with a smile and positive attitude Usually Sometimes Not Yet

T hank others for their interest in you Usually Sometimes Not Yet U se all of your talents and abilities to make your best better Usually Sometimes Not Yet V iew every challenge as an opportunity to grow yourself Usually Sometimes Not Yet

W onder how good it will feel when you’ve achieved your goals Usually Sometimes Not Yet X cel in everything you do and enjoy it Usually Sometimes Not Yet Y earn to repeat your greatest achievements Usually Sometimes Not Yet

Z one in with everything you have and then some more Usually Sometimes Not Yet Revisit the alphabet often to keep your positive attitudes happening.

Think of two things you will do to make each of the following happen.

Mick is the creator and author of the Learning Curve Living, Learning, Thinking Program. He has conducted numerous Student, Leadership and Principal teams in seminars and workshops throughout Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. www.learningcurveplanner.com.au

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PHOTO: MAREK ULIASZ

ROBYN PEARCE

Managing change positively Change is a shape shifter

Teachers Matter

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ave you ever noticed that change is a shape shifter?

Think back to the last time you had to learn a new skill, develop a new process or even move to a new environment. How hard does it seem when you begin? Every step has to be thought about – and it all seems to take a disproportionate amount of time.

I remember when I first got serious about ecommerce on my website some years ago. When I looked at all the things I needed to do and learn it seemed like a

huge mountain in the way. Even whilst I battled with new ways of doing things, setting a day aside here and there, squeezing new learning in around all the other ‘stuff’, sneaking early-morning sessions into already busy schedules, it still seemed like an almost insurmountable obstacle. Everything seemed complicated, everything seemed hard and everything seemed to take AGES! Trouble was, I was trying to get my head around about four different major new technologies. Feeling overwhelmed was the result. If I allowed myself to feel

frustrated I wasted even more time. When I accepted that it would take time, and that it was ok to feel confused, it wasn’t as bad and each time it got easier.

Eventually came a day when the work was done. New information and new habits became second nature. And suddenly the mountain of tasks and new knowledge that had seemed so overwhelming at the beginning of the journey had become a very small foothill – once I reached the top. It felt as though the task had shifted shape. Or was it my mind, attitude and expectations that had shifted shape?

ROBYN PEARCE

“ When I accepted that it would take time, and that it was ok to feel confused, it wasn’t as bad and each time it got easier.”

What events, what new learnings, are you confronting right now? What seems like a mountain in your world?

Here are some of the strategies I use in such situations; some may be helpful for you.

Keep focused on the main target – when you doubt yourself, when the journey seems too hard, step back and remember the reason you’re doing it.

Do something long-term on the chosen project every day if possible, and at the time of day when you have the greatest energy.

If you’ve already got a too-full commitment list it might be necessary to get up earlier to include something extra.

What can you reduce or eliminate from your current task list? Drop off anything you can that’s not absolutely critical.

What routine tasks can wait, be delegated or just ignored until you’ve conquered your new habits or mastered your new knowledge?

Chunk down your activities to the core issues: don’t get bogged down on unimportant peripherals that try to divert you into dead ends.

Put yourself into a position where you have to push through, even if you don’t want to. Make a commitment to someone else – it’s usually a good tool to overcome potential procrastination! It then becomes like having a baby – there’s only one way out!

To avoid discouragement, keep a daily focus on what you have achieved, rather than what’s yet to be done.

Mindset – new things are hard to do until they’re easy, and then you wonder what all the fuss was about. Expect that.

Pressure will freeze your brain – for a while.

Don’t try to learn something new when you haven’t got time to experiment. Don’t try to implement something new when you’re rushing out the door – Murphy’s Law WILL prevail, and unnecessary stress is the result.

Find supportive people to help when you get stuck. Be prepared to pay them – they’ve invested their time in learning what you need to know. They can save you hours of time and frustration.

Take time at the end to savour your success.

Robyn is known around the world as the Time Queen, helping people discover new angles on time. Her website, www.gettingagrip.com, offers many resources. She is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional)

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Promoting picture books

BARBARA GRIFFITH & TRICIA KENYON

A Beam of Bright Light Author Illustrator Publisher ISBN

T

Ali Foster Viv Walker Waiart Press 978-0-473-23045-6

his book was published in February 2013 to help commemorate the centennial of the Castlepoint Lighthouse, situated on the Wairarapa Coast, New Zealand.

The story follows the journey of the lighthouse from construction of the individual parts in Wellington city to its erection on the limestone rocks at Castlepoint. It came into service on 12 January 1913 with its first keepers and continues to shine today, but is fully automated from a control room in Wellington.

It provides two different ways to view the journey of the lighthouse. The first page is written as a factual report. The storyline provides the basic facts written in a more creative, descriptive style.

The amazing illustrations present accurate historical information and the creative use of a variety of visual perspectives, e.g. bird’s eye, looking upwards, add to the storyline as a whole.

1. The journey of the lighthouse Using both sets of information, complete the following.

Why

Why was a lighthouse needed?

Where

Where was it built and why?

Where was it finally erected and why?

When

When was it built?

When did it first come into service?

What

What type of lighthouse was it?

What was it used for?

How

How were the parts constructed?

How were they moved to the Castlepoint location?

How was the lighthouse assembled?

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2. Illustrations

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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 a position as a Resource Teacher: Literacy, which she held for the last 16 years.

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.

The realistic mixed-media illustrations allow us to look at the following aspects.

A.Text layout Explore how the text has been integrated into shapes within the illustrations.

BARBARA GRIFFITH & TRICIA KENYON

3. Vocabulary A. Identify examples of Similes e.g. ‘...they hung like monkeys…’

Metaphors e.g. ‘… enormous waves pounded their fists…’

Alliteration e.g. tall tapering tower.

B. Make a list some of the strong adjectives and adverbs used in the story.

Eg treacherous, tempestuous.

4. The technology timeline Eg. foundry page has text within lighthouse shape.

B. Insets Identify the insets and discuss why each has been used at that point in the story.

Eg.earthquake page, inset shows detail of mercury bath spilling.

Identify and discuss changes in the use of technology over the years.

E.g.’s in grey

Date 1913

kerosene was pumped to light, wound weights to turn light, mercury bath rotation system, wicks to trim, keeper oiled wheels and cogs, keeper adjusted gears

1942

Rotation system changed to rollers,

1954 1961 1970 1988

5. Research Early types of boats were identified early in the story. Using any resources, find out the differences between each type.

Type

Size/shape

Masts and sails

Use

Schooner Brig Barque Sloop C. Perspective This book offers a variety of illustrations created from different perspectives.

Identify three different perspectives used in the illustrations and discuss why the illustrator may have used that perspective. e.g. bird’s eye view of the reef.

Cutter Ketch Scow Challenge Create a pictorial poster showing the differences between the ships.

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IRMA COOKE

Brilliant brioche This has to be my favourite recipe ever - so many flavours can work - sweet and savoury. Perfect for your end-of-year morning tea or your Christmas Day breakfast.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Brioch Ingredients 250g butter 5 C plain flour Pinch of salt Combine flour and salt, and then rub in the softened butter.

3T yeast 3T sugar 1.5 C milk warmed (40 sec microwave) Add the yeast and sugar into the milk and stir briefly.

4 eggs – whisk Berries White chocolate buttons Extra plain flour for bench Method Preheat oven 190’C.

Some other tasty fillings to try are: Savoury * Olive, parmesan, rosemary and feta. * Sundried tomato, parmesan, feta and thyme. * Roast pumpkin, cream cheese and dukkah.

Sweet * Dark chocolate & mixed berry. * Roast pear and cinnamon These ingredients can be mixed and matched to taste. The dough could easily be manipulated to create a scroll, a change to the money bag design shown in the picture.

Stand the milk and yeast mixture for ten minutes, then add to the flour mixture bowl. Add eggs and work in with hands. If too wet, add more flour to make a dough (not dry like bread dough, it is supposed to be a little wet).

Stand in a warm place if possible, or wait longer to prove on the kitchen bench (approx 40 minutes).

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Work dough on bench with a little flour (try not to add too much flour and make the dough dry).

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Portion the dough into 12 balls and press each ball flat into a circle.

One each circle place the white chocolate buttons and raspberries.

Close each brioche by twisting the top of the circle and then place in greased large muffin tins x 12.

Finally, egg wash and sprinkle raw sugar on each then bake for 20 minutes.

Irma Cooke, a former Chef and now puts to good use her skills and passion for food as the Food Technology teacher for Berkley Normal Middle School.

When she isn’t judging Waikato’s restaurants or working with students teachers for Waikato University, she’s having fun planning her next project for her middle school students at Berkley Normal Middle School.

IRMA COOKE

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YVONNE GODFREY

Get a vision for your young adult Ideas for creating a realistic wish list!

L

ove stokes the furnace of dreams.

Parents dream of turning out wonderful children who are excited about life, and who become super successful and happy adults. Most parents are well intentioned, but how many have ever actually defined what sort of life they would like for their young adults? Having the ‘end in mind’ or a picture of how your kids will turn out helps to focus your parenting.

For some parents, seeing their kids gain a university education is a top priority.

For others, it’s important that their child marries the right person and has a happy family. For some, it is seeing their children developing their talents and excelling, and for others it is that their children will continue and develop their religious faith.

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Whatever is important to you, remember that the dreams and wishes you have for your children are not goals to be achieved, because you are not in control of your children’s decisions – nor should you be. You are, however, responsible to influence them and to equip them with the right skills and mindsets for adulthood.

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In the Bible, Proverbs 22:6 says, ‘Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is older he will not depart from it.’ This proverb can be taken two ways. One infers that the person doing the training is in control of the direction.

The other leans towards the idea that the child is unique and has a unique path, so each child is trained differently. I see merit in both interpretations. The wise parent teaches values, principles and skills to their children. But, that same parent also recognises that each child has a different personality, different natural talents, and different desires in life, and all this has to be considered in the parenting process.

Parents face an interesting dichotomy.

Having realistic expectations for our kids means separating the ideal from the real

but we still dream big dreams. Below are some ideas for a realistic wish list for your yadult. This one is fairly generic. I encourage you to make your own list – what is important to you? Score each item on a scale of one (least important) to ten (most important) to show which are your highest priorities.

Ideas for your realistic wish list!

They like themselves and enjoy their own company.

They are comfortable in their own skin, not wishing to be someone else. They like spending time alone too, because if they can’t accept themselves, they will find it hard to accept others.

To find what they are good at and enjoy so they are fulfilled in their career choice. To earn enough money to live without worry.

By trial and error, and through some research, your yadult will find out what he or she enjoys the most and is naturally good at. This will guide them in choosing and establishing their career path. Bringing their best contribution to the world has rewards on multiple levels, including a good financial return, job satisfaction, personal fulfilment and opportunities to advance.

It is frustrating to go down a career path that ends up being a dead end. Too many people get trapped in a job or an industry that pays the bills but never really brings any joy to their lives. Conversely, many pursue a career they love but which doesn’t pay the bills. This can cause them to eventually resent the career they once loved.

“ Whatever is important to you, remember that the dreams and wishes you have for your children are not goals to be achieved, because you are not in control of y o u r c h i l d r e n ’s decisions – nor should you be. ”

They become responsible upstanding citizens (good men and women), bringing more to life than they take from it.

Whilst all of us have a conscience embedded in our DNA, it requires stimulating to keep it sharp. Good parents instil values such as honesty, work ethic and contribution – ensuring that their yadults bring value wherever they are.

They develop great relationships that support them through their adult lives.

Having people around them from a number of social circles, and of a wide age range, ensures that our young adults maintain a positive and balanced perspective on life.

It’s not ideal to stick with one small group.

Maintain or regain intimacy between you and your yadult.

Your relationship with your young adult can be a roller coaster ride. If you are currently in a bit of an emotional trough, I encourage you that ‘this too shall pass’. Hold onto the hope and vision that you will all come out the other side as better individuals and that your relationship will regain the intimacy

I want to play sports

I want to be a musician

I want to be a dancer

I want to be a teacher

I want to raise 5 kids

I want to be an artist

PHOTO: SOLOVIOVA LIUDMYLA

I want to be a lawyer

that may be missing at the moment. If we have parented properly, by the time our kids become adults, we can enjoy great friendships with them.

See them as adults – not your little boy or girl.

This is a process, but at some stage you have to drop the ‘child’ image of your yadult. There are numerous ways we can keep our yadults as children. It may be your expectations of them or the things you still do for them. Things may need to change, and this shouldn’t be seen as a loss of affection, but rather as a way to give both parties a chance to redefine the identity of the yadult.

They take responsibility for their decisions.

Look forward to your yadult making well thought out decisions. This doesn’t mean you always agree, but you are willing to allow them to be responsible for their decisions and you won’t bail them out if they make a wrong call.

Allow them to believe differently to you.

This is a big ask if your yadult believes differently to you after you have spent 20 or so years instilling your values and beliefs into them. I have been challenged on this one – it was confusing and it hurt. But, I also know that we all go through seasons of beliefs. What we hold fast to today may not be what defines us in the future. Releasing your yadult into his or her own beliefs is part of loving unconditionally.

To let them see you as you really are.

When our children were young, I tended to present myself as a rather pristine model of super ‘intactness’. Talking with other parents and professional counsellors has confirmed to me that this is a natural and common tendency – our desire is to give our children a sense of security so that they can believe that they are ‘in the right hands’.

But as our girls matured, they were able to handle more of the real me. You have to be careful not to disclose information that your kids may find overwhelming, but certainly by the time they reach adulthood, the relationship should be much more transparent. It’s important that they know you for your hopes and dreams as well as

your fears. They already know your quirks and foibles!

To release them and to reallocate energy into a new life for you.

Starting with the end in mind means that one day you will release your yadult into his or her future and you will pursue the second half of your life. By the time the last child is making it on their own, you should be ready to rock-n-roll with projects and pursuits that don’t involve your kids.

Yvonne has worked with hundreds of yadults (young adults) equipping them with confidence, clarity and competence to seek their path in life. Yvonne’s book ‘Parenting Ya d u l t s ’ b r i n g s p a r e n t s a n d educators tools to transition their young adults into the ‘real world’.

027 249 5444 / 09 413 9777 yvonne@miomo.co.nz Parenting Yadults is available from www.parentingyadults.com

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In a gentle way, you can shake the world.

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Mahatma Gandhi

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THINGS TO MAKE YOU SMILE

Christmas Crackers Q. Why did Santa's helper see the doctor?

A. Because he had a low "elf" esteem!

S E K JO

Q. What happened to the man who stole an Advent Calendar?

A. He got 25 days!

Q. What kind of motorbike does Santa ride?

A. A Holly Davidson!

Q. What do you call Santa's little helpers?

A. Subordinate clauses!

Q. What do you get if you cross Santa with a duck?

A. A Christmas Quacker!

Teachers Matter

Q. What is the best Christmas present in the world?

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A. A broken drum, you just can't beat it!

S E L D D RI

Q. Who delivers presents to baby sharks at Christmas?

A. Santa Jaws Q. What says Oh Oh Oh? A. Santa walking backwards!

Q. Who is Santa's favorite singer?

A. Elf-is Presley!

Q. What did Santa say to the smoker?

A. Please don't smoke, it's bad for my elf!

Q. What do you get if Santa goes down the chimney when a fire is lit?

A. Krisp Kringle!

Q. Why are Christmas trees so bad at sewing?

A. They always drop their needles!

THINGS TO MAKE YOU SMILE

G

RO

A

F N

ER

S E I N N U

S

Q. Did Rudolph go to school?

A. No. He was Elf-taught!

Q. Why did the turkey join the band?

A. Because it had the drumsticks!

Q. What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?

A. Frostbite!

Q. What song do you sing at a snowman's birthday party?

A. Freeze a jolly good fellow!

Q. What do snowmen wear on their heads?

A. Ice caps!

Q. How does Good King Wenceslas like his pizzas?

A. One that's deep pan, crisp and even!

Q. How do snowmen get around?

A. They ride an icicle!

Q. Who hides in the bakery at Christmas?

A. A mince spy!

Q. What do you call a cat in the desert?

A. Sandy Claws!

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THE LAST WORD: KAREN BOYES

Why is learning so scary?

F

or many people, choosing a new phone may be an exciting task, however when I took my Dad to get a new phone recently, he said, “I don’t want a smart phone, I just want one like the one I have – so I don’t have to learn anything new.” This is not the first time I have heard this phrase, however it is one that scares me. “I don’t want to learn.” Five words that not only send shivers up my spine; they also make me feel that the education system has failed that person.

Now I realise that the education system my Dad grew up in was different to today, but I do not see this as a generational phrase as I hear it from all ages. Whether people are buying a new phone, changing jobs or buying a new brand of toothpaste, change can be scary.

The older I get, the more comfortable I feel with my choices and decisions and yet I know that true growth means being uncomfortable and working through the hard to get to the easy.

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I see this comfort turn to complacency in so many ways, in so many lives. In senior classrooms I often hear students asking, “Do I need to write this down?”, “Should I underline this?” or “What colour should I use?” These questions indicate to me that these students have not been empowered to be learners and they are still wanting to please the teacher and not be wrong.

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Teachers also demonstrate this complacency to learning. It still amazes me how many teachers turn up to a PD session without any note-taking materials. In fact, when I pointed this out to a group of teachers recently, one told me that he expected to be given the notes. Translation – I want to be a passive learner. The challenge is learning is not a passive event.

So what is learning? Wikipedia says: Learning is the act of acquiring n e w, o r m o d i f y i n g a n d r e i n f o r c i n g , existing knowledge, behaviours, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesising different types of information.

This is my attempt: Learning is acquiring ‘new’ – something that was not known before. It is about changing your perspective, adding more and combining to come up with something different or new.

(I’m not sure I have encapsulated this fully – I’d love to know your ideas – perhaps a discussion for the next staff meeting) So why is this learning business so scary?

The words failure, uncomfy, and vulnerable also come to mind. To learn you have to risk being wrong, risk not knowing and it is uncomfortable. You may even risk looking foolish in front of your peers.

Learning means being able to be comfortable about the unknown and the different. The fear of the unknown is well documented – here is one of my favourite examples…

“ Learning means being able to be comfortable about the unknown and the different.”

An Arab chief tells the story of a spy captured and sentenced to death by a General in the Persian Army. This General had the strange custom of giving condemned criminals a choice between the firing squad and “the big, black door.”

The moment for execution drew near, and guards brought the spy to the Persian General.

“What will it be?” asked the general. “The firing squad or ‘the big, black door?’”

The spy hesitated for a long time. Finally he chose the firing squad.

A few minutes later, hearing the shots ring out confirming the spy’s execution, the General turned to his aide and said, “They always prefer the known to the unknown. People fear what they don’t know. Yet, we gave him a choice.”

“What lies beyond the big door?” asked the aide.

“Freedom,” replied the General. “I’ve known only a few brave enough to take that door.”

Don McCullough, Solana Beach, California, quoted in Leadership, Winter Quarter, 1992, p. 57.

KAREN BOYES

I have been pondering these questions.

• Do great learners develop a familiarity to feeling uncomfy?

• Do they rise above the fear of failure (or even success) to learn?

• Do they embrace the unknown and move forward anyway?

• What sets our successful learners apart?

• In what ways can teachers set up an environment for best learning?

While researching this article, I came across a blog on MindShift about creating classrooms with inquiry learning. Of the 8 ideas offered, number six rings true for me.

it in other things, but not when it comes to school. Kids are not coming in as perfect little products or machines — they’re human beings in the process of becoming.”

In the engineering industry, for example, there are “failure festivals” and “failure reports” during which engineers discuss the processes they’ve tried that didn’t work. “We need to have kids do that with their own learning,” she said.

“Be self-aware enough to do something with that information.”

The bigger part of education is that sometimes what our students need to learn has nothing to do with the content being taught. As we are preparing them to be lifelong learners, this must include students being fully aware of the learning process and the feelings associated with it. It’s a process… and needs to be made explicit to students so they know it is OK to fail and be wrong. I love the idea of having a failure festival – celebrating the mistakes and knowing it is all part of the process.

Showing students the progressions and steps in their learning is also paramount. Simply knowing your next steps and the bigger picture of what you are expected to achieve can assist the learning process immensely.

One of my concerns is many students are not being stretched and are not often at the edge of their comfort zone - especially those labelled gifted and talented. Life and learning are often easy and they rarely, if ever, get the chance to fail and feel uncomfy.

I would love to see more classrooms having open conversations about learning, failure and responsible risk taking. Talking about what it means to be a continual learner. I recently observed a teacher taking a small group lesson and a student commented, “This is hard.” It is supposed to be – it means you are at your comfy edge and are now stretching, and it might take several goes, some practice, asking questions and a bit of expert coaching or feedback. However if you persist you will learn and enlarge your comfort zone.

In what ways might you shed light onto the learning process this week and term to ensure your students are learning at capacity - so that they know learning does not have to be a scary process? How might you prepare students to be life-long learners, willing to take responsible risks, give new ideas a go and understand that failure is an integral part of the learning process?

6. EMBRACE FAILURE. Diana Laufenberg made a point of defining the difference between “blameworthy” and “praiseworthy” failure. Blameworthy failure is when the student just decided not to participate in a project. But praiseworthy failure is quite different: kids take risks and experiments knowing that they might not get it right the first time.

“No one talks about cancer research as blameworthy failure,” she said. “We don’t expect a five-year-old to be able to shoot freethrows immediately. It’s a process, and we value

Learned helplessness often comes from the fact that people have not been able to make their own mistakes, with helicopter parents, older siblings and teachers frequently ‘doing it for them because it is quicker or easier.’ This poster hangs in my kitchen as a reminder for all my family to allow others to learn from their own mistakes and efforts.

Karen is an expert in effective teaching and learning, study skills, motivation and positive thinking. She was awarded the NSANZ Educator of the Year 2014 award and works in schools throughout Australasia teaching students how to Study Smart and teachers how to raise achievement.

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