Good Teacher Magazine 2016, Term 1 by Good Teacher Magazine

Term One 2016

“The best teachers don’t give you the answers... They just point the way ... and let you make your own choices.”

ATTENTION TEACHERS O-I New Zealand Environmental Fund

Expressions of interest to make application for a grant from the O-I New Zealand Environmental Fund are invited. Up to $25,000 will be available in total for suitable environmental projects. For application forms and guidelines see our website www.recycleglass.co.nz or contact:

O-I New Zealand Environmental Fund: PO Box 12345 Penrose, Auckland 1642 Phone. 09 976 7127 Fax. 09 976 7119

Deadline for expression of interest is 31 March 2016 27719-O-I-NZ Environ Fund Press Ads-2015.indd 2

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Index 3 Your Soapbox

15 Characteristics of a ‘21st-Century Teacher’

Tsisana Palmer

Taking the Lead in Mauritius

Anne Keeling

Universal Design for Learning at MOTAT

Julie Baddiley

Germany’s response to the refugee crisis: Hire thousands of new teachers

Book Review:Sexual cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand education

Paul Flanagan

Telling another teacher how to teach? It’s a sin, says leading academic Adi Bloom One person can make a DIFFERENCE

Elaine Le Sueur & Margaret Mooney 22

Exploring How We See The World At MOTAT

Let’s Make Differentiation The Norm

Elaine Le Sueur

Super-Realistic Works Pit Primal Forces Against Each Other

Ryan Ford for Drawing Pencil

Introducing Chatterboxes talk cards

IPL University of Waikato

Change-averse cultures and educational change

Laurie Loper

Take the fear out of learning

John Baldoni

Thank you, Mr Taylor

M. Rogers

Computer hacking game aimed at schools

Andrew Spence

Kigali Reading Center shares ‘joy of reading’ in Rwanda

Román Castellanos-Monfil

The Secret Teacher

Yale senior wins the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship

Román Castellanos-Monfil

New Year’s Resolutions: Are Your New Goals the Right Goals for You? Michelle LaBrosse

Expansive New Geometric Drawings Trampled in Snow and Sand

Christopher Jobson

Can I Be an Effective Teacher and an Effective Leader?

Liz Prather

Targeted new support will ensure new vaccines reach children

Reflecting on Yourself as a Leader

Elena Aguilar

Secret Teacher: we all feel like a failure sometimes, but we must have hope

The Rise and Rise of ‘Colouring In”

Book Review: Lost Ocean An Inky Adventure & Colouring Book

I’m so looking forward to the March Equinox Holiday

Roger

Front Cover:

A gate slightly open.... leading to... possibilities, adventure, the future?

Back Cover:

Coloured in picture.. 4 felt pens and a white corrector. (The Harmony of Colour Series Book Two Indian and Oriental)

Good Teacher Magazine would like to acknowledge the unknown designers and craftspeople internationally for the some of the images and art in the magazine, every care has been taken to identify and acknowledge artists/photographers but this is not always successful... most were collated from a wide range of internet sources.

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is produced in the first week of each school term and uploaded to http://www.goodteacher.co.nz The magazine is freely available both in New Zealand and Internationally. Please keep a duplicate of text and illustrative materials submitted for publication. ed-media accepts no responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted for publication NOTE: The opinions expressed in Teacher Magazine are not necessarily those of ed-media or the editorial team. Goo

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Your Soapbox!

“ ”

If you want to have YOUR SAY please email your offering to: soapbox@goodteacher.co.nz

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15 Characteristics of a ‘21st-Century Teacher’ Tsisana Palmer

Recent technological advances have affected many areas of our lives: the way we communicate, collaborate, learn, and, of course, teach. Along with that, those advances necessitated an expansion of our vocabulary, producing definitions such as digital natives, digital immigrants, and, the topic of this post -- “21st-century teacher.” As I am writing this post, I am trying to recall if I ever had heard phrases such as “20th-century teacher” or “19th-century teacher.” A quick Google search reassures me that there is no such word combination. Changing the “20th” to “21st” brings different results: a 21st-century school, 21st-century education, 21st-century teacher, 21st-century skills -- all there! I then searched for Twitter hashtags and Amazon books, and the results were just the same; nothing for the “20th-century teacher” while a lot for the “21st”: #teacher21, #21stcenturyskills, #21stCTeaching and no books with titles #containing “20th century” while quite a few on the 21st-century teaching and learning. Obviously, teaching in the 21-century is an altogether different phenomenon; never before could learning be happening the way it is now -everywhere, all the time, on any possible topic, supporting any possible learning style or preference. But what does being a 21st-century teacher really mean? What follows are 15 characteristics of a 21st-century teacher:

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1. Learner-Centered Classroom and Personalized Instructions As students have access to any information possible, there certainly is no need to “spoon-feed” the knowledge or teach “one-size fits all” content. As students have different personalities, goals, and needs, offering personalized instructions is not just possible but also desirable. When students are allowed to make their own choices, they own their learning, increase intrinsic motivation, and put in more effort -- an ideal recipe for better learning outcomes! 2. Students as Producers Today’s students have the latest and greatest tools, yet, the usage in many cases barely goes beyond communicating with family and friends via chat, text, or calls. Even though students are now viewed as digital natives, many are far from producing any digital content. While they do own expensive devices with capabilities to produce blogs, infographics, books, how-to videos, and tutorials, just to name a few, in many classes, they are still asked to turn those devices off and work with handouts and worksheets. Sadly, often times these papers are simply thrown away once graded. Many students don’t even want to do them, let alone keep or return them later. When given a chance, students can produce beautiful and creative blogs, movies, or digital stories that they feel proud of and share with others.

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3. Learn New Technologies In order to be able to offer students choices, having one’s own hands-on experience and expertise will be useful. Since technology keeps developing, learning a tool once and for all is not a option. The good news is that new technologies are new for the novice and and experienced teachers alike, so everyone can jump in at any time! I used a short-term subscription to lynda. com, which has many resources for learning new technologies. 4. Go Global Today’s tools make it possible to learn about other countries and people first hand. Of course, textbooks are still sufficient, yet, there is nothing like learning languages, cultures, and communication skills from actually talking to people from other parts of the world. It’s a shame that with all the tools available, we still learn about other cultures, people, and events from the media. Teaching students how to use the tools in their hands to “visit” any corner of this planet will hopefully make us more knowledgable and sympathetic. 5. Be Smart and Use Smart Phones Once again -- when students are encouraged to view their devices as valuable tools that support knowledge

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(rather than distractions), they start using them as such. I remember my first years of teaching when I would not allow cell phones in class and I’d try to explain every new vocabulary word or answer any question myself -- something I would not even think of doing today! I have learned that different students have different needs when it comes to help with new vocabulary or questions; therefore, there is no need to waste time and explain something that perhaps only one or two students would benefit from. Instead, teaching students to be independent and know how to find answers they need makes the class a different environment! I have seen positive changes ever since I started viewing students’ devices as useful aid. In fact, sometimes I even respond by saying “I don’t know -use Google and tell us all!” What a difference in their reactions and outcomes! 6. Blog I have written on the importance of both student and teacher blogging. Even my beginners of English could see the value of writing for real audience and establishing their digital presence. To blog or not to blog should not be a question any more! 7. Go Digital Another important attribute is to go paperless -- organizing teaching resources and activities on one’s own website and integrating technology bring students learning experience to a different level. Sharing links and offering digital discussions as opposed to a constant paper flow allows students to access and share class resources in a more organized fashion. 8. Collaborate Technology allows collaboration between teachers & students. Creating digital resources, presentations, and projects together with other educators and students will make classroom activities resemble the real world. Collaboration should go beyond sharing documents via e-mail or creating PowerPoint presentations. Many great ideas never go beyond a conversation or paper copy, which is a great loss! Collaboration globally can change our entire experience! 9. Use Twitter Chat Participating in Twitter chat is the cheapest and most efficient way to organize one’s own PD, share research and ideas, and stay current with issues and updates in the field. We can grow professionally and expand our knowledge as there is a great conversation happening every day, and going to conferences is no longer the only way to meet others and build professional learning networks. 10. Connect Connect with like-minded individuals. Again, today’s tools allow us to connect anyone, anywhere, anytime. Have a question for an expert or colleague? Simply connect via social media: follow, join, ask, or tell!

11. Project-Based Learning As today’s students have an access to authentic resources on the web, experts anywhere in the world, and peers learning the same subject somewhere else, teaching with textbooks is very “20th-century” (when the previously listed option were not available). Today’s students should develop their own driving questions, conduct their research, contact experts, and create final projects to share all using devices already in their hands. All they need from their teacher is guidance! 12. Build Your Positive Digital Footprint It might sound obvious, but it is for today’s teachers to model how to appropriately use social media, how to produce and publish valuable content, and how to create sharable resources. Even though it’s true that teachers are people, and they want to use social media and post their pictures and thoughts, we cannot ask our students not to do inappropriate things online if we ourselves do it. Maintaining professional behavior both in class and online will help build positive digital footprint and model appropriate actions for students. 13. Code While this one might sound complicated, coding is nothing but today’s literacy. As a pencil or pen were “the tools” of the 20th-century, making it impossible to picture a teacher not capable to operate with it, today’s teacher must be able to operate with today’s pen and pencil, i.e., computers. Coding is very interesting to learn -- the feeling of writing a page with HTML is amazing! Even though I have ways to go, just like in every other field, a step at a time can take go a long way. Again, lynda.com is a great resource to start with! 14. Innovate I invite you to expand your teaching toolbox and try new ways you have not tried before, such as teaching with social media or replacing textbooks with web resources. Not for the sake of tools but for the sake of students! Ever since I started using TED talks and my own activities based on those videos, my students have been giving a very different feedback. They love it! They love using Facebook for class discussions and announcements. They appreciate novelty -- not the new tools, but the new, more productive and interesting ways of using them. 15. Keep Learning As new ways and new technology keep emerging, learning and adapting is essential. The good news is: it’s fun, and even 20 min a day will take you a long way! As always, please share your vision in the comment area! Happy 21st-century teaching!

Tsisana Palmer ESL Instructor/Intensive English Program

Taking the Lead in Mauritius Teaching at an international school can be an experience thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s memorable and valuable, both professionally and personally. It provides a unique opportunity to work with different curricula, experience new ways of learning and to become immersed in another culture. Reaping the benefits of such an opportunity is New Zealand Headteacher Bruce Ashton who recently moved with his family to one of the most beautiful places in the world, Mauritius.

Typical life in Mauritius!

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s Anne Keeling

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 9

Bruce Ashton

Bruce was appointed Head of School for the International Preparatory School (IPS) at the beginning of this academic year. Here Bruce tells Good Teacher Magazine about his experience of living in the ‘Pearl of the Indian Ocean’ and leading an international school:

Discovering Mauritius “I was really surprised by what I saw when I first arrived in Mauritius. It’s modern and progressive in so many ways, but there are also many reminders of the past. There are lots of museums which tell the stories of how indentured workers first came to Mauritius to work on the sugar cane plantations. You can still see the buildings where the sugar cane was processed. Mauritius is known as the pearl of the Indian Ocean. There are lots of tourists, but once you get off the main highways you gain a better appreciation of what everyday life is like. In the North of the island beautiful beaches abound while in the South the former volcanic cones provide a rich tropical forest in which

to hike and explore. It’s similar to my home country, New Zealand, in many ways. Both are small islands, members of the British Commonwealth, and are isolated in the middle of very expansive oceans. Mauritius definitely has the upper hand weather wise! Most days have been very sunny and warm. Adjusting to living here has been fairly easy as the population is well versed in English. English is actually the national language, although French and Creole are probably more commonly spoken. The first thing I wanted to know when arriving was where the supermarket is located! I was surprised to find that our local supermarkets carry everything you would

Notra Dame Auxiliatrice at Cap Malheureux on the northern coast of Mauritius

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Children at the International Preparatory School, Mauritius

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My son Ethan enjoying the sea at Mont Choisy Beach in the North East of the Island

find in a North American or UK supermarket. Another concern of mine was whether there would be good internet connection at my accommodation – I’m sure other international teachers can relate to this concern! I was pleased to find that our home came with a fibre optic wireless internet set up that keeps everyone very happy. My best experience so far, has been my family arriving after a month of us being apart. I’m so pleased that they have fallen in love with the country and its people!” My role as Head of School “The International Preparatory School (IPS) in Mauritius differs from previous schools I’ve recently worked at, as there’s more of an international community here. Many of the staff are local, but have studied and worked in France or the UK. They’ve returned to Mauritius to be closer to family and working at IPS provides them with the best of both worlds – they can be at home and teach at an international school. We also have a wide and varied student population. Students come from Canada, UK, France, Spain, India, Poland and South Africa to mention a few. 12 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

The school is forward thinking and I’ll be challenged in my role as Head of School at IPS. For a start, I’m working with a different curriculum. Previously I worked with, and administered, the IBPYP (International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme) curriculum but here we use a curriculum which is inquiry based. I seek to be a service style leader who works with faculty to help improve student learning. Our school strategy plan aims to increase teacher understanding of better instruction and to increase student achievement, both of which go hand in hand. It will be a challenge in that I will need to move the paradigm of some staff to gain a better understanding of how students learn best through an inquiry approach. I’m looking forward to the rest of this year. I’ve been well supported by the staff at the school - both the Board and senior staff I work with have been exceedingly helpful in orienting me to the new position and country. I hope that this experience will help me to become a better Head of School, to learn how to work effectively with the Board, and to learn how best to manage a CIS (Council of International Schools) accreditation.”

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Advice for those considering teaching internationally Bruce offers some advice for others considering an international school job: “Do your homework – ask as many questions as you can to be sure you’re making the right move for everyone in your family. And trust your gut instinct. If the school doesn’t feel like it’s the right fit, it’s probably not going to be – don’t be afraid to look for something else!”

schools worldwide, there is extensive choice for qualified, experienced teachers and leaders wishing to work overseas. Teachers International Consultancy provides a free service to leaders and teachers considering a career in international education. For more information visit www.ticrecruitment.com

Bruce found his job at IPS with the help of Teachers International Consultancy (TIC) which specialises in helping teachers and leaders find the right jobs in the best international schools. “Many teachers benefit from the experience of teaching internationally; young teachers at the beginning of their careers, and those more experienced and established in their profession,” says TIC Managing Director Andrew Wigford. “Bruce is developing new leadership skills, learning to lead an international community of staff, students and parents, and is overseeing a very different curriculum and pedagogy. In addition he is giving his family an experience they will never forget!” With over 8,200 English-speaking international

My wife Heidi on Grande Baie beach on Mauritius

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 13

Universal Design for Learning at MOTAT has been providing learning experiences outside of the classroom (LEOTC) to schools and early childhood centres in the greater Auckland area for over 10 years. Our Educators enjoy having the opportunity to share the Museum’s extensive collection of resources with over 25,000 students every year – that’s a quarter of a million students who have shared our ‘Hands on, Minds on’ activities in the last decade!

Being teachers we endeavour to keep up to date with developments in the wider education landscape. Educational transformations made possible by the advent of digital technologies, enhancements in teaching and learning theory, and the re-invention of learning environments are all developments we keep on our radar. Through MOTAT’s affiliation with education professionals such as Cognition Education, and our engagement with the education community, we are aware of the growing body of teachers doing amazing, transformative work in their classrooms. This awareness leads us to examine our own practice to ensure that our offering remains relevant and valuable to schools. We aim to provide experiences which reflect innovative learning practice, and support the efforts of teachers to facilitate future-oriented learning. With this in mind, MOTAT is seeking to incorporate elements of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into all our educational programmes going forward. Universal Design for Learning is an approach to curriculum design that seeks to address unintentional barriers to learning raised by a one-size-fits-all approach. A curriculum developed utilising UDL principles meets highly individualised learning needs. In UDL three primary brain networks come into play: Recognition networks (the

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t MOTAT Julie Baddiley – Education Manager

‘what of learning) are supported by multiple means of representation, Strategic networks (the ‘how’ of learning) are supported by multiple means of expression and Affective networks (the ‘why’ of learning) are supported by multiple means of engagement. Principle 1: Multiple Means of Representation is based on the understanding that learners perceive and comprehend information differently. Addressing barriers to perception and comprehension optimises the potential for learners to recognise what they are learning. A simple example of multiple means of representation is to present the same content verbally, graphically and aurally. Principle 2: Multiple Means of Expression is based on the understanding that learners differ in the ways they express, and act on, what they know. Providing the option of verbal, written and physical means of expression and action allows learners to choose how they learn and express their learning. Principle 3: Multiple Means of Engagement addresses the fact that learners can be motivated and engaged with learning in different ways. Spontaneity vs routine, individual vs collaborative are both examples of variables which can influence learners’ thoughts around why they are learning. UDL@MOTAT Once MOTAT had undertaken to adopt a UDL approach we quickly realised that this was a potentially Herculean task.

addressing multiple means of representation, we still had to consider multiple means of expression and engagement for that particular activity. There are obvious changes which can be made in the physical learning environment to address the three principles, and the resulting impact on the budget from investment infrastructure has to be considered. Just three examples from a long list of ways in which MOTAT would like to implement UDL in our education programmes are: the purchase of furniture, such as height-adjustable tables, to help lessen physical barriers for students (Principle 2); investment in sets of MP3 audio systems to allow auditory representation of content (Principle 1); increasing the number of interactive touchscreens available for students use (Principle 1). Like all worthwhile purposes this takes time and money, obviously MOTAT is not going to achieve this overnight but we will go forward with the clear intention to introduce elements of UDL throughout our education programmes because we believe it will enrich the learning of the next quarter of a million students who visit us. If you would like to find out more about MOTAT education programmes, or make a booking please call us on (09) 815 5808 or visit the website http:// www.motat.org.nz.

Whereas before we might have had one resource to support an activity, under UDL we needed to have three or four. As a simple example: previously we might have used a paragraph of text to explain the purpose of an object, now we need to find (or create) an image, a video and an infographic which offers the same information. And this is just More information at http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 15

Germany’s response to the refugee c Germany has recruited 8,500 new teachers to teach German to the 196,000 refugees who have entered its education system this year. More than 1 million refugees entered the country in 2015.

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More than 8,000 special classes have been set up in schools to help the new pupils with learning German, according to a survey of all of the country’s 16 federal states, Die Welt reported this weekend (link in German). The new hire numbers suggest a ratio of about one German language teacher for every 23 refugee students; that compares to Germany’s national average of one teacher for every 12 students, 1:14 in the United States, and 1:18 in the United Kingdom.

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crisis: Hire thousands of new teachers A total of 325,000 school-aged children from Syria, Afghanistan, and African countries have arrived in Germany this year, and according to Heinz-Peter Meidinger, head of a teacher’s union, the country will need up to 20,000 new teachers to fill the gap in teaching personnel. But the challenge is far larger than simply teaching the foreign students a new language. Many of refugee children have lost years of education (2.6 million Syrian children are not in school), some of them

don’t know a single written language. One in five of the children arriving in Germany as refugees have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and half have experienced significant trauma, the Guardian reports. While Germany has received praise for its willingness to take in refugees, xenophobic sentiments are also on the rise within the country. Attacks on shelters housing migrants increased more than four-fold in 2015, according to German authorities, and continued through Christmas week.

8,264 special classes have been set up for refugee children. (Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach)

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ATTENTION TEACHERS O-I New Zealand Environmental Fund

O-I New Zealand Environmental Fund: PO Box 12345 Penrose, Auckland 1642 Phone. 09 976 7127 Fax. 09 976 7119

Deadline for expression of interest is 31 March 2016 27719-O-I-NZ Environ Fund Press Ads-2015.indd 2

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Teaching the thoughtful child….. The child who notices, who wonders, who questions. The child who reflects, who searches for answers, who goes beyond the obvious…. Whether our students are six or sixteen, the thoughtful, questioning and creative ones pose special problems for us in class. How can we ever find enough time to answer all the questions they ask which occur to noone else? How can we create lessons that satisfy their demand for challenging material far beyond what other students need? How can we help them learn to cope with peers who simply don’t share their passions and perceptions? What should we do when they question authority? REACH Education has the answers to these difficult questions:

The Certificate of Effective Practice in Gifted Education A course which offers: Online access wherever you are Individual tutor support throughout from highly experienced practitioners A focus on practical, high-interest strategies achievable in any classroom A wealth of resources to support you in implementing what you learn An affordable fee! Enrolments are now open for 2016. Delivery begins March, ends September. For a detailed downloadable prospectus & enrolment form visit us at www.giftedreach.org.nz or email us at reacheducation@xtra.co.nz.

to go beyond the known… gifted children

…  reaching for a better world….

Reach Education Consultancy Specialists in professional development in gifted education 2/100 Grand Vue Rd, Kawaha Point, Rotorua, New Zealand 3010 Ph. +64 (0)7 347 2135 email reacheducation@xtra.co.nz web www.giftedreach.org.nz

REACH – for the very best in gifted education

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Book Review:

Sexual cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand education Description Inclusive education Author

Edited by Alexandra C. Gunn and Lee A. Smith

Publisher

Otago University Press

RRP $45 Reviewer

Paul Flanagan

Paul Flanagan is a senior lecturer in counsellor education at the University of Waikato. His PhD research is examining adult constructions of sexuality in primary school aged children.

Abstract: Sexual cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand education examines how dominant notions of normative gender, specifically heterosexuality, has discriminatory effects for all involved in education, from early childhood through to tertiary contexts. Through the writing of nineteen authors/co-authors, Sexual Cultures draws the reader into questioning reflexively one’s own gendered practices, including in everyday language.

that heteronormative culture is homophobic, and insidiously acts to the detriment of inclusiveness and safety for children and young people. In the Foreword, Kerry Robinson comments: The contributors make the critical point that heteronormativity does not just negatively impact children and young people who are sexuality and gender diverse, it also and narrows the options of all children and young people (and adults) in terms of how they can safely and supportively explore and express their gender and sexual identities and desires. (p. 7). Sexual cultures has fourteen chapters. There are numerous examples in the book of discriminatory and heteronormative practice that the authors identify. Following the Introduction (Chapter 1), these chapters cover the territories of early childhood (Chapter 2), children’s picture books

KEYWORDS Book review, education, gender, sexuality, heteronormativity, queer the Sexual cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand education is aptly and succinctly titled. Anyone involved in education within Aotearoa New Zealand will find something relevant in this 256 page book. The editors, Alexandra Gunn and Lee Smith, have carefully crafted a useful collection of chapters that report on research and analyse the current environment of sexual cultures within the broader education context. Picking up on Lonely Planet’s 2014 rating that New Zealand was “the second most ‘gay friendly’ country in the world” (p. 9), Gunn and Smith note the contrast between legislation that protects the rights of people in terms of gender and sexuality, and research that “New Zealand’s relatively ‘inclusive’ social climate is not always reflected in our educational settings” (p. 9). What is glaringly apparent for readers, and is really no surprise, is the dominance of a heteronormative sexual culture – that is, the view that normalises sexuality as hetero(male/female)sexual relationships, and children are raised to understand this through families and education. What might surprise some readers, especially for those who consider they are supporting difference and diversity, is the way

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Telling another teacher how to teach? It’s a sin, says leading academic Adi Bloom

(Chapter 3), texts from popular culture (Chapter 4), high school males’ understandings of masculinity (Chapter 5), school policies on taking same-sex partners to school dances/formals (Chapter 6), photo-analysis of sexuality in high school spaces (Chapter 7), sexuality education (Chapter 8), the work of a high school Queer-Straight Alliance (Chapter 9), a dialogue between trans* and gender diverse communities (Chapter 10), inclusivity for teenage mothers (Chapter 11), a queer lens on initial teacher education (Chapter 12), exposing and challenging heteronormativity in teacher education (Chapter 13), and concluding with challenging the pervasiveness of heteronormativity (Chapter 14). Within these chapters, contributors engage with policy (e.g. Te Whāriki, The New Zealand Curriculum, school policies) and richly draw on and engage with a range of theoretical approaches they apply to their research. In particular, queer theory is utilised to understand, deconstruct and “practise beyond the (hetero)norm” (p. 27). Gunn refers to queer theory as “[A]n approach to research that questions normativity” (p. 27) and Louisa Allen writes, “I employ Warner’s (1993) proposition that ‘“queer” defines itself against the normal rather than the heterosexual’” (p. 102). I approached reading Sexual cultures with a range of lenses. As a partner in a heterosexual relationship, and father to three sons, I am cognisant of how I am easily drawn into ways of thinking and acting that can support the ‘norm’ around gender. As a counsellor, and now counsellor educator, I frequently hear stories of discrimination and potential/real harm in people’s lives, because of their sexual and gender diversity. As a researcher into adults’ understandings of children’s sex/gender/sexuality, I know that parents’, teachers’ and counsellors’ perspectives are shaped by historical and cultural discourses, dominated by various ideas of what is supposedly ‘natural’ or ‘normal’. Heteronormativity sustains a political agenda that continues to uphold discrimination in our society: against women, against people who claim sexual/ gender diverse identities, and against children and young people as they grow and learn about themselves and others. Resistance to difference and reaction to diversity is often associated with the unknown and fear. The potential for moral panics sustain an environment that might opt for the status quo. Sexual cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand education disrupts the status quo, has challenged me in each position from which I read, and has contributed to my critical thinking of text and language - as partner, father, teacher and researcher. Back to index

It is a sin to observe other teachers’ lessons simply to tell them how to teach, according to one of education’s most influential researchers. Professor John Hattie, director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute and one of the world’s most widely quoted education academics, told a conference today: “I think it’s a sin to go into a classroom and tell another teacher how to teach. Because all you do is tell them how to teach like you.” He went on to say that 80 per cent of what happens in the classroom remains unseen and unheard by teachers – only the pupils are aware of it. “So why would I give a damn about reflective teaching?” he said. “I don’t want to think about the 20 per cent we see. I want to think about the 80 per cent that goes on that we don’t see.” This, he says, is where testing comes in. The role of testing, he believes, is not to test pupils’ knowledge: it is to test whether teaching is effective. “I should be learning something about what impact I had, who I had an impact on,” Professor Hattie said. “What I’ve taught well and what I haven’t taught well. “Because tests don’t tell kids about how much they’ve learnt. Kids are very, very good at predicting how well they’ll do in a test.” Professor Hattie was addressing hundreds of headteachers and academics at a conference in London today held to discuss his seminal work, Visible Learning. During his keynote address, Professor Hattie insisted that, rather than telling one another how to teach, teachers needed to listen to each other. Just as pupils flourish in a culture where they are allowed to learn through mistakes, so do teachers. “Foster that interdependence between staff, so it’s OK to say, ‘I’m struggling with these kids – can you help me?’” Professor Hattie said. “But I see staff sitting at the same table in the staffroom, working alone. “It really is this notion of how you build this trust, both in the classroom and in the staffroom.” https://www.tes.com Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 21

An Invitation: from Elaine Le Sueur & Margaret Mooney

We are in the process of putting together a non-fiction biographical book to show our smart school age students that they can learn from each other as well as famous people in the community. If you are (or you know of/ can recommend) a student who has made or is attempting to make a positive difference to the lives of others through a project that they are engaged in (and would like to participate) then we would love to hear from you. Someone else can write the article but it needs to be a true story with how the student dealt with any issues that arose as they went along. If the biography is included in the book then he/she will get a free copy when it is published. Any profits made from sales of the book will be donated to the Starship Foundation. If you have any queries you can contact us at: justelaine@xtra.co.nz (Elaine Le Sueur) or margaretmooney@xtra.co.nz (Margaret) with the words gifted bio in the subject line.

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All biographical articles must be completed by the end of Term 1, 2016 to be considered. Every student entry (whether published or not) will go into the draw for a class set of Monster Bookmarks. Each one is different. (See step by step instructions for making your own, at the end of this article). Winner will be drawn in the Easter holidays, and the result published in Good Teacher, Term 2, 2016. ARTICLE OUTLINE The following suggestions for the student might help to provide a framework for the biographical article. •

What did you want to achieve?

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What was your motivation? (What made you decide on this action?)

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What did you do?

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What did you need to get started?

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If you needed guidance or help, where did you go to get it?

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What difficulties did you meet (encounter) along the way?

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How did you solve them?

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How long did it take?

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What have you learned along the way about yourself and/or others?

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What is important for you to share about the experience that would help others thinking about a Making a Difference project of their own?

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Did you achieve your aim?

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What next for you?

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Do you have any suggestions for other kids for making a difference?

NOTE : The reason that others will read these stories is to find out how to solve their own problems and make decisions. Have you included enough information for the readers to know how you arrived at the choices you have made? Articles and supporting material such as photos, newspaper clips etc will not be returned so please send copies.

PERMISSION : The permission slip must be included on the bottom of your article. (Copy and paste) The student’s parent/ guardian needs to give signed permission for your biography to be used if it is selected: E-mail your completed article (with supporting material/ photographs attachments if desired) to: Elaine Le Sueur, Gifted Education Consultant at justelaine@xtra.co.nz Or Margaret Mooney at margaretmooney@xtra.co.nz

ABOUT US: Elaine Le Sueur is a writer who has worked in the gifted field as a teacher and gifted education consultant for more than thirty years. She is a regular article writer for Good Teacher and has published several books for teachers. Elaine believes in the value of having gifted students learning from each other as well as from biographies of adults who have made a difference to the lives of others, and that is her motivation for this enterprise. Margaret Mooney is a teacher, author, editor, and international literacy consultant. She received an Order of New Zealand Merit for her work in literacy development. Margaret has written some sixty books and has edited several series, including some for gifted readers and writers. Biographies are her favourite genre both for reading and writing and she is currently helping some people write reviews of their life.

PERMISSION SLIP Name/s of parent/guardian giving permission (please print clearly)

I/We certify that this is work is by __________________________ (name of student) Age at the time of the project _______ I/We give approval for the attached biography to be published, should it be selected for inclusion. We understand that there is no payment other than a free copy of the publication if it is used in the book, and that any profit made from sales of the book will be donated to the Starship Foundation. Signed

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Date

Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 23

Exploring How We See The Eyetrackers, an exhibition exploring how we look at art, will be open at MOTAT from Saturday 20 February. The exhibition investigates the fascinating borderland between art and visual neuroscience. Art works and state-of-the art eye-tracking technologies are brought together to address the question that has intrigued scientists and artists alike: “How do we see the world?”

MOTAT Education Manager, Julie Baddiley says that the Museum is delighted to be collaborating on this exhibition with experts from the University of Auckland. “Educators, artists and scientists have come to recognise the importance of blending the arts and sciences for the enrichment of student learning. This supports MOTAT’s aim to incorporate elements of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) into all the experiences we offer. The Eyetrackers exhibition fits this objective perfectly,” said Ms Baddiley. Video presentations recreate the shifting gaze patterns of individual viewers as they look at works of art. Installations enable visitors to interact directly with eye tracker technology to monitor patterns of looking behaviour as they engage with different images. Each piece looks at different phenomena, for example gender perception (the differences between the way a male and a female experience art), change blindness and pupil dilation. For most people, ‘seeing’ is an ever-present and central feature of our consciousness from the moment we open our eyes in the morning until we lapse back into sleep again. Naturally and reflexively, we take the evidence of our own eyes for granted – ‘seeing is believing’ - well, not necessarily! Vision is a paradox. It presents us with self-evident truths about the world in front of our eyes, but at the same time, it remains profoundly mysterious. How do patterns of light entering the eyes give rise to visual experiences? This is where the interests and concerns of visual art and visual science intersect – it’s the territory explored by Eyetrackers.

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There will be an education component to the exhibition consisting of: •

A programme which is aligned with the NZ curriculum utilising the educational opportunities offered by the Eyetrackers installation. These will be individually negotiated with interested school groups and focused on learning experiences suitable for students aged 13+.

•

‘Scientist-in-residence’ talks hosted by University of Auckland staff will be available for booked education groups of up to one-hour duration, during scheduled weekdays, for the period of the installation.

Eyetrackers is curated by: Tony Lambert (School of Psychology, University of Auckland) Greg Minissale (Department of Art History, University of Auckland) Gerald Weber (Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland) Christof Lutteroth (Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland) The exhibition is supported by the University of Auckland’s Centre for Brain Research, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Arts. Entry to the Eyetrackers exhibition is included in the normal MOTAT general admission fee. No booking is required for the general public but school groups will need to book for the education sessions. Open from 10am – 4pm daily.

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World At MOTAT

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 25

Let’s Make Differentiation Differentiation is becoming a natural part of a teacher’s work because technology is forcing us to personalise learning for the students in our care.

Let’s start with a little revision to remind ourselves. Students learn•

when they are in a positive motional state and are able to focus on the task at hand

We need to be able to draw on a range of strategies and methods and to adapt them as needed to help able students to harness the learning power of their brains.

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when they are actively involved in the learning

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when the learning is important to them

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when they have the necessary skill strategies for dealing with the intellectual challenge

Knowing about the way that the brain controls what information it takes in helps us to find effective ways to help all students to learn.

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when the teacher understands and supports high order thinking processes

Teachers are more effective if the learning is coconstructed and current findings from neuroscience are helping us to understand how building a knowledge of how the brain works helps teachers and students to become more effective.

Neuroscience findings Learning depends on understanding. Before you can understand a concept or a fact you have to remember it. Sensory information enters the brain through the sensory nerves… eyes, ears, mouth, skin, muscles, feelings and emotions. These nerve endings meet at the top of the brain stem at the back of the brain and like a spam filter, the information is transmitted via emotions to either the thinking prefrontal cortex where it is stored as working memory and understood, or consigned to the reactive automatic brain, concerned with survival, and filtered out. Just like computers, some brains have more RAM space available than others because the mental inbox is not cluttered with junk mail (irrelevant information). What is happening in the learner’s life has an impact on how new information is dealt with. (Missing breakfast and being hungry/ arriving late and disorganised/ having a deadline to deal with and so on may well result in the information being filtered and re-routed). You have to understand new information before you can apply it. The hippocampus in the brain links the new information to the knowledge that is already stored in the long term memory (any prior knowledge that you may have relating to the information) and sends the new links to the prefrontal cortex so that higher order thinking processes can occur. Once you have applied it then you are in a position to analyse and evaluate. When the learning process is enjoyable then the message travels from neuron to neuron as electrical currents via the chemical process of dopamine, creating new links between the gaps in the neurons, helping the brain to process the new information. If this all sounds vaguely familiar, then that’s because 26 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

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The Norm it IS. Each layer of Bloom’s taxonomy builds on the previous level. The creative process incorporates these elements naturally, and that’s the way our brain works. Based on this understanding of how the brain learns new information, there are two aspects that I would like to address. Firstly…techniques for teaching at a rate that is suited to the rapid pace of many students within the strictures of the regular classroom, and secondly… looking for ways to support authenticity and relevance.

Do you know what your students wonder about? Consider creating a wonder wall of questions on cards with velcro spots or bluetac to attach them. Visit these on a regular basis and talk about the question types that are there and discuss ways that they might be grouped and categorised. Your students will be able to think of lots of ways to address this. Initially there will be a large number of lower order questions and I have found it useful to have a couple of ‘what if’ questions to add to move student thinking up a notch. A favourite of ours is ‘able to be googled’ and ‘not able to be googled’ for the answer. We discuss fat questions with a range of possible answers as opposed to skinny questions with single responses too. Students quickly catch on to the idea that higher order thinking questions are difficult to google for answers and enjoy adding these to the wonder wall. If you are teaching juniors then teach the difference between a statement and a question, and become used to rephrasing student statements into questions for them to think about. A good game to play in pairs is where one person picks up an object and shares a fact about it from observation or experience. The other asks a question about it. Next time, swap roles. Daily practice at this will help students to see the differences and encourage them to ask more searching questions.

Do you know what your students are interested in? If you create opportunities for students to ask questions about the things that they wonder about then it is easier to notice things that they are interested in and to tie this interest into your key earning focus. You can use the wonder wall to identify themes that the students are interested in, or you can start with a theme and work backwards to identify the student questions that relate to it.

Elaine Le Sueur

Wonderings Ask the students to come up with some interesting questions that they might have about the topic. Students work in small groups to come up with as many questions as they can think of without editing as they go. The goal is quantity. Write each question on a sheet of paper. Remind the students that they are not expected to know the answer. At a given signal, pass all papers to the left. Next person reads the questions written there by the neighbour and adds more of their own BUT they can’t repeat any they have already used. Repeat several times. List the questions asked. Share the information. Ask students to identify what they don’t know already and want to find out. Have one or two ‘big’ questions of your own to offer if necessary. E.g. How does … affect… and what could you do about it?

Snowballing Students spend time individually reflecting on the topic then pair up and share reflections. Pairs then form into quartets, Quartets into octets and so on and so on. This is an alternative way to move from small group to whole class discussion.

Conversation Doughnuts Students are numbered off. One or two. All the number ones make a circle. All number twos go to stand behind a number one. If the number of students is uneven then the teacher joins in as a number two. Inner circle turns to face the outer circle and talks about what they know already about the topic. At a signal the outer circle moves two places to the left and starts a new conversation. (Two places are better than one because it lessens the chance that next door neighbours were listening to each other’s conversations instead of focussing on their partners)

Conversation moves for group work Have a set of cards with conversation prompts on them for each group. Participants choose one of the cards at random. The conversation continues based on the comment card that the group members hold. Examples of specific comment moves: •

Make a statement about the topic to open the discussion

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Ask a question that shows you are interested in someone else’s comments

How can you find out what the students know about the topic already?

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Underscore a link between two previous contributions

Brainstorming, KWL charts and Pre- tests are three traditional ways, but let’s deviate from the same old, same old for a change.

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Build on something someone else has said

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Summarise what has been said already

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 27

•

Disagree with someone in a respectful way

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Give some evidence to back up something that has been said

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Give your opinion about something that has been said

suggestions as the week progresses so that we can see progress from simple links to more complicated ones). Try this one for size. I chose them initially because they all relate in some way to the need for water. How many other ways can you link the pictures?

Picture concept links Display a collection or group of pictures and ask… In what ways might these pictures/ objects all link up to each other? How might all these things link to the concept of … (the proposed topic ) How many different ways can you find to link these pictures together? The only rule is that ALL the items/ pictures have to fit within your category. (An ‘odd one out’ is not acceptable). It can be as simple as all the group begins with the same letter of the alphabet, or a more complicated link such as all the items relate to a particular culture / theme etc. It is up to the student to be able to justify how the things ‘fit’ within the category selected. The more links the better so don’t strive for a ‘correct’ answer. You may be surprised at the links that your able students make that you hadn’t even thought of if you allow time for this to happen.. If you give in to the temptation of sharing the link that you devised in the first place, then it will stop the hunt for new links. (I generally give students a week for this exercise before debriefing, and list the student

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Negotiating student product If …… was the answer, what are the three interesting questions you can think of? It is the student’s job to select a question that •

sparks their interest

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will increase their understanding about the topic

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leads to other questions to pursue

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provides an opportunity to observe, experiment, analyse, create and reflect

BUT I believe it is the teacher’s job to help the student to find interesting ways to do this and to ensure that he/she has the necessary skills so that there is choice and challenge in the task and the student is able to maximise the learning.

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Shaping student thinking

What if the kids are stuck?

Assessing Product

Neuroscience findings support an increase in learning when there is a feeling of personal accomplishment. Creativity will be increased if the students are able to use their personal strengths, but giving gifted students the opportunity to follow their own passions and interests can result in the need to be build a network of experts to go to when faced with a problem that is beyond the ability of the teacher. Universities may be able to help with questions relating to specific disciplines as they publish guides of their faculty members (online or hard copy) for those connected with the media to be able to contact for comment when necessary. This can be worth making an approach.

Encourage able students to create learning maps. These reflections on the personal learning journey recorded as a road map or a treasure map are useful as a regular reflection on progress towards a learning goal. Experts in their field are often able to identify the obstacles and barriers that they have encountered and think about how these have contributed to where they are now.

Failing that…

Ask…How would a person working in this field view this work? Where to from here? A teacher touches the future. Teach your students how to organise their thinking and expand your influence beyond your lifetime. What a great new year’s resolution!

What do others think? Could the question be approached from another perspective/ point of view? Could it be reworded? How would an expert in … approach this? Do we have the necessary skills/ equipment/ resources to pursue this further? Could we use social networking to help with this question? Do we need more opportunity to observe, experiment, analyse, and create or is it time to reflect on the learning that has taken place and move on?

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 29

This Artist’s Super-Realistic Works P Award-winning artist Joel Rea hails from Australia. He works primarily in oil on canvas, creating superrealistic images and placing them in surreal situations.

Art challenges us even as it reflects our lives — that, in fact, is how art works. It holds up a mirror to show us all the forces battling within us, the duality of our natures, and the drama we might otherwise miss when we’re caught up living life.

Works such as The Promised Land show Joels tendency to pit forces against each other - man vs. animal, man vs. nature, nature vs. animal. It’s a theme he has played with throughout his career — and it’s quite an accomplished career even though he’s only 32 years old. “My paintings reveal to me what I’m personally obsessed with and a recurring theme is this duality within nature,” he says. “As nature myself, I’m rife with the same kind of duality, whether it be the inner forces that drive my mental behavior or just the

The great painters can achieve such lofty feats with images that comfort us and draw us in before revealing their secrets. Some might see that as trickery, and it is a trick of sorts; it’s an illusion, but an illusion with a purpose, not an illusion for its own sake. And it’s what’s waiting within the painting — what you find after meeting its challenge — that makes artwork great.

by Ryan Ford for Drawing Pencil 30 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

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Pit Primal Forces Against Each Other physical experience of witnessing the natural world. It’s that combination of the savage and the beautiful that really motivates me to make this work.” In See Me, a man barely keeps his head above water. Nature is threatening to kill him even as the sun pokes through the clouds. We don’t need to see sharks swimming in the water; he’s already surrounded by peril. Even when the subjects of his paintings seem to be on top, as with the wave-rider in The Precision of Luck, danger remains ever-present. That could represent Joel’s own way of sorting through his life. “I’ve always felt like my paintings have been a place of sanctuary for me,” he says, “where I can deal with

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the experiences I’ve had in my life and the way that I’ve felt through those passages of time.” “I can invest that into a creative process and in turn feel some kind of cathartic release and a way of moving forward with my life.” For his meticulous creations, Joel uses brushes as thin as just a few hairs to achieve the level of detail he desires. And it takes hours of planning to build the drama-laden images he’s known for. Joel’s work has been featured in exhibitions at galleries across Australia, and his most recent, Beasts of Arcadia, which includesClash, took over the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York in the fall of 2015.

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All images via Facebook / Joel Rea

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 39

Introducing Chatterboxes talk cards - be Language is the foundation of education Over recent years, teachers of new entrant classes have constantly commented on the diminishing ability of 5 year olds to hold a conversation about the common, everyday things in their world. The teachers say that many new entrants have a limited vocabulary and cannot easily converse about daily life, family and the world in which they live and play. Many are unable to speak in sentences, lacking the early knowledge of language and how it works. This seriously impacts on their ability to begin the learning, the reading, writing and mathematics that make up education in New Zealand. However, it is simply and cheaply remedied. Families are children’s first teachers. They provide the early learning about the home, the environment, the culture, the religion and all of the important things that make up a child’s early knowledge. This important time for a child sets them up with beliefs and values that they will carry on as they grow and go to school. The time spent talking to children about any and everything creates a knowledge of their world and gives them vocabulary with which to talk about their experiences themselves. This sets them up for success in education. Talking can happen anywhere, in the car, at the shops, watching TV, making a meal, doing the housework, and at the countless other times that parents and children are together. Talking about family stories, special events and special people in their lives provides children with the experiences of language and life that they need for school learning. Talking to children is one of the most important things a parent can do, takes little extra time and is the least expensive!

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Literacy facilitators at the University of Waikato, with this in mind, and being very aware that the child’s first teachers, the parents are often very busy supporting their family, decided to create a series of “talking cards” with ideas for conversations. The aim of this resource is to suggest prompts for parent-child conversations around the ordinary aspects of life that build vocabulary and experience in children in their early years. Parents have a wealth of experiences, knowledge and cultural information to share with their children. Parents who have ongoing conversations with their children provide them with a bank of knowledge with which to inform their learning. These experiences, and their associated vocabulary, are those that form the basis of early reading and writing.

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ecause… n

These cards cover a variety of common situations and give ideas for conversations. The packaging also has additional prompts and ideas to consider when with family. They are aimed at pre-school and new entrant learners and their families.

At present the card sets are available in English, bilingually in Māori and English and completely in Te Reo (Māori). They are available from the Learning4 Stores (www.educationresources.co.nz) for $6 each. Only $5 for 10 or more. (Plus postage)

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 41

Change-averse cultures and ed I grew up in an era when it was accepted that education was one of those things that didn’t change. Becoming a teacher involved doing an apprenticeship, or that’s what it seemed like to me. In those days it appeared there was a sufficient consensus around what constituted the trade of teaching for all trainees to accept without question the rather uninspiring and dull apprenticeship that was made available in Dunedin Teachers Training College back then in those early post WW2 days. The skills required were sufficiently well known for anyone who had attended school anywhere to be able to number them off. That meant there was no need to waste time teaching them at training college. Getting away out on section in schools to see actual teaching going on provided some relief from the dull college fare, but those in-class placements were a lottery, so much depended on the teacher you were placed with. The teacher in I had in one placement had taught me for two years in a rural primary, she hadn’t changed a bit and I learnt nothing from her. That and some of my other placements were nothing short of wasted opportunities. All of value I was ever to learn about teaching during my two years in Teacher’s Training College happened by accident. The teacher I was supposed to be on section with, had to take the principal’s class due to that worthy falling seriously ill the day before I was due to start. That left me having a class all on my own for a whole 4 weeks, being guided by the children’s own teacher and I loved every minute of it.

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Folklore views about teaching abounded though back then hardly anyone understood this was what underpinned teaching or realised how much folklore drove teaching. By the same token, nobody thought to challenge the things that made education a system. I’m not at all sure that those involved back then even thought of education as being a system. Nevertheless, by rubbing up against it day after day, teachers and principals became only too aware of education’s systemic nature and what that meant when it became necessary to get repairs and other things done. But the public perfectly understood the way education functioned as a system and fashioned its expectations accordingly, knowing that change was something unlikely to happen. Thus the no-change persona education systems have taken on over time continues to haunt and frustrate reformers to this day. While not discounting the possibility that being change-averse is a DNA attribute common to all systems, effecting a change in education becomes much like what’s involved in turning around one of those huge modern oil tankers. It requires a lot of fore planning and a firm and shared conviction by all parties involved as to which direction to go. Additionally, bringing about significant change at the classroom level involves convincing each and every teacher individually of the worthwhileness and necessity for change. Moreover, if the changes that are being required of teachers are not, in their eyes, sufficiently resourced, change is unlikely anyway. With the recent announcement that the last 80 or so interventions made in New Zealand schools throughout the past two decades or so have failed to even up student achievement across the board, especially failing to significantly reduce the achievement gap, obviously those changes weren’t successful. I don’t see this situation altering much unless there is a consensus about what needs to be changed and what it’s going to take to effect that change. Neither do I see success coming from any approach that’s wanting to tie change to any particular philosophy, or ideological/political agenda or whatever. Lobby-like groups professing to be acting

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ducational change Laurie Loper Psychologist in the interests of students, like parents, teacher groups, administrators, policymakers and so on, sharing as they do such similar understandings of the learning process, by that very circumstance alone, can’t be said to have much of value to add to solving the equity issue. What we are confronted with, then, is the no-change persona of education. It is the elephant in the room in all discussions about educational change. Manifested in so many ways, this no-change persona seems to have robbed us of our ability to notice it any more, this disappearance from our everyday consciousness meaning it, too, has become a culture in its own right. So shot through is education with this culture that we can virtually say education itself has become its own no-change culture. The latest example of this I’ve come across was when listening to Kim Hill interviewing a university lecturer who had recently been given an innovation award for his lecturing (Saturdays with Kim Hill , RNZ National, 14 Nov last). He was saying how he believed lecturers still had a place in the digital age because students needed to interact with a human in the university setting. He’s of course right about that but in the same breathe this so-called learning innovator demonstrated not only that he has no understanding that lecturing is one of the least effective means of learning there are, he was hell bent in passing on his unsubstantiated belief about learning. Those who adjudicated the award surely were, of course, just as ignorant as he.

To be able to hold teachers to account in this way, children will need to be inducted into learning about learning by their parents at the earliest age possible and be taught things like the rules of talk and how to apply Nuthall’s three times at two day intervals rule when learning a new topic/idea/concept as well as a goodly number of the more important of the around 400 learning-to-learn micro skills I discovered are involved. This won’t be easy as the ubiquitous nature of education culture means even parents are going to be just as affected by it as are teachers, Early Childhood Education ones included. But just as efficacy breakthroughs have been achieved in respect of teaching practice (due to programmes like Bobbie Maths), discovering ways of skilling each and every parent in such matters needs to become a research focus. The experience I have had in working with parents in this arena suggests that not only is this likely to be successful, parental hunger for this is huge. As with most endeavours of this kind, success is determined by how you go about it and by the tools you choose to use. Now, if you believe in differing abilities in regard to learning, I imagine that placing every student into the top learner

There is only one strategy I have seen that has any chance of changing things such that every student has a chance of maximising what Nuthall termed their “remarkably similar capacity to learn”. The most important part of this strategy was making sure students know how to use the best learning skills that effectiveness research has been able to unearth. Were that to happen right across the board, students will likely have much more control over curriculum, simply by complaining and/or voting with their feet whenever lessons or courses fail to use appropriate learning approaches.

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 43

category isn’t something you’d find easy to do. It would be going against your natural inclination, so to speak. But take comfort in the fact that, as Nuthall discovered some two decades ago, most all of us inherit a talent for learning that’s pretty much equal in measure to everyone else. At least in theory anyway, that removes a major barrier to the possibility of more or less equal achievement for almost every student. It also virtually guarantees it’ll be possible to transmit any pedagogy based on that knowledge throughout all schools. Alas, the main barrier to anything like that happening is education culture itself. Fortunately, there have been a few dedicated workers who have nurtured the hope that there would be a way found of ensuring that diverse (all) students could improve their capacity to benefit from schooling. Now that a programme of that nature, called Bobbie Maths, has emerged, the aim is to learn how it can be spread for the benefit of all. With the results of the programme being spectacular enough to raise interest wherever it has been implemented, there is no lack of genuine interest amongst schools wishing to take it on. However, the strength of education culture is such that a precautionary approach is being employed so effort is being put into learning more of what it takes to successfully run it such that the best returns possible are gained from the initiative. This tactic could well be the initiatives’ saving grace. Research of some 97 educational programmes, some very big and some quite small, has shown that few have had effect sizes large enough to warrant their use. That hasn’t stopped those that were found effective from being discontinued for various reasons after a certain period of time. Such is the promise of Bobbie Maths that it’s a no brainer not to keep monitoring how its implementation is travelling whilst it is being used and to learn as much as possible about how its implementation might be improved. This Bobbie Maths initiative has reached the point where those involved are not only stressed from their implementation endeavours, they are in danger of loosing control of the potential of it. That’s partly because the funding required is substantial so the pressure will no doubt be on to simplify everything in the name of saving money. But there are some things that can’t be compromised and the care that needs to be accorded the development of the programme strikes me as being the main one. That means

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constantly reviewing of everything that’s done and a constant collection of evidence. Not only that but new forms of evidence need to be accepted like video and evidence from children and parents. Quality is also in danger of being compromised because the implementation on any substantial scale is going to be heavily dependent on how well prepared schools will be beforehand in taking it on and also on how well trained teachers will be in implementing it. Current evidence is that this preparation is crucial to teacher buy in and the period involved here might be as long as two terms of a school year. A heavy emphasis on preparation is called for, the simple reason being that Bobbie Maths is breaking new ground, pedagogically speaking. All teachers so far involved say the same; Bobbie Maths is just so different from everything they previously thought they knew about teaching and learning. They have had to throw out old practices like ability grouping and accept that all students can learn much on a par with each other. They’ve needed to learn that children with special needs can also learn as well as every other student. They have had to realise that Bobbie Maths ensures engagement of those who previously were the disengaged, that students know more and can do more difficult work than teacher’s previously thought was their capability. They have had to learn that students can teach each other problem solving strategies just as well, if not better, than teachers can, along with much more besides. Anybody who thinks teachers can take on board such new knowledge and new practices overnight is out of their tiny mind. In fact, anyone who thinks teachers newly introduced to the way of learning that Bobbie Maths exemplifies can flick a switch and take all of it on board has no idea whatsoever of the transformation that’s involved and certainly has no inkling of the power of education culture. So any observer ought not be astounded to learn that changeovers of this nature take all of three years to effect. Evidence to that is already to hand. Unless that level and length of support is provided, the best of what Bobbie Maths is capable of producing will not materialise. It needs to be realised that the Bobbie Maths approach has yet to display its full value. Given that its influence is already shown to be across all subject areas, I’m holding my breathe at the

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prospect of subject-specific versions of Bobbie Maths being developed. Another real danger I see is that should those who have initiated this programme become separated from it and/or lose control of its development, for any reason, it would be a tragedy of epic proportions. One needs to understand the full importance of what’s involved here. Make no bones about it, Bobbie Maths and the philosophy that underpins Developing Mathematical Inclusive Communities (DMIC) that has nurtured it; and the world-ranking Best Evidence Synthesis (BES) philosophy that has provided for that nurturing, is dealing with one of the world’s greatest injustices, depriving children of their full capacity to learn, some totally. My take on this situation is that education systems in developed countries have effectively morphed into giant sorting machines that have advantaged some students at the expense of others. As a result of doing that, every single child gets robbed of at least some of their learning potential, certain demographic groups faring by far the worst. It’s a situation that’s been hidden till now by an opaque education culture, but the fact that there are massive unintended consequences involved here is of little comfort to a world crying out for equity and social justice. Now we know different about learning, we should be hell bent on doing learning differently. Before we seek to further ameliorate the lot of those worst afflicted, let’s short cut things by first removing the cause of their affliction.

Take the fear out of learning By John Baldoni One of the big reasons change initiatives fail is because people do not like to be pushed out of their comfort zones. That is only the surface emotion; a deeper reason is that people are uncomfortable with learning. It will mean absorbing new information, processing it and acting upon it. Learning is intrinsic to change, and here is where leaders can exert their influence. Embrace the process. The top leaders need to do it before everyone else and serve as the role models. Teach what you know. Share your knowledge. Be humble. Be open to new ideas and new learnings. None of these techniques are new. In fact they are modeled after action-learning principles used in education in schools and professions worldwide. The operative word for leaders is to engage; get involved in the learning process as student and teacher, and watch good things happen.

John Baldoni is chair of leadership development at N2Growth, is an internationally recognized leadership educator and executive coach. In 2014, Trust Across America named him to its list of top 100 most trustworthy business experts. Also in 2014, Inc.com named Baldoni to its list of top 100 leadership experts, and Global Gurus ranked him No. 11 on its list of global leadership experts. Baldoni is the author of more than a dozen books, including his newest, “MOXIE: The Secret to Bold and Gutsy Leadership.”

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 45

Thank you, Mr Taylor

He was one of the few of my secondary teachers who could actually impart knowledge and inspire me. He duly replied and thanked me. Last week, I woke up in the middle of the night, knowing I needed to do the same with one of my primary teachers. I didn’t. Two days later, I heard that he, William Taylor, had died in Taumarunui. Coincidentally, I was in that town for the first time in years on that day.

The Bill Taylor I knew in 1960, when I was in Standard 4, was a 21-year-old, second year teacher. In his first year he was given a class of thirty children. After his inspection, this was raised to fifty. We were in a large suburban school, Trentham, which was full of babyboomers. Our classroom was one of those awful prefabs-no room for anything except desks and kids and a young teacher. Bill Taylor had established a reputation in his first year as a probationary assistant in 1959. My friend Graeme had been in his class. He regaled me with tales of music, drama, softball and class trips. I had endured a standard three year with something like seven teachers who, for minor reasons like marriage or breakdowns, had not wanted to stay with us for long. Teaching was patchy. Our only EOTC excursion had been cancelled by the Headmaster, Mr Quigley (great name for a Dicken’s novel). From memory, our class had been waiting with great expectations by the school gate for the latest of those seven teachers, a very pleasant lady, to arrive and take us to Wellington Zoo. In our excitement, we must have impeded the passage of a parent, who had complained, as they do. All I can remember of that day was a steaming Quigley berating us-and I guess, our hapless, latearriving teacher. I was used to such rants from on high but that day we were convinced that our behaviour had brought total disgrace upon the school and our already isolated classroom would be henceforth treated as a leper colony. I was surprised that there was no mass-strapping. Perhaps it was because our kindly teacher’s daughter was in the class. Instead, we were all given twenty pages of sums from the soul-less red text book, followed by spelling and then reading comprehension. No privileges! This regimen would be repeated ‘for the rest of the year.’ Punishment by the 3-Rs! I was overjoyed when, on day one of the 1960 school year, my name had been called out at assembly for Mr Taylor’s class. No more disappearing teachers for me. I anticipated a year of excitement with only one person holding the reins. I was not disappointed. When I heard of William Taylor’s death, I did some online research and discovered that he had written an autobiography a few years ago. I tried several used book outlets and found there was one copy left in the country. I bought it. I hoped there would be a chapter on his first years of teaching. Once again, I was not disappointed. I found it fascinating to read about the school from the perspective of a young teacher. There

46 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

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Photos originally displayed on stuff.co.nz

A couple of years ago I wrote to a former teacher, telling him how much I’d appreciated being in his class.

Most people will be aware of William Taylor, the author. When he left teaching, he wrote prolifically; the recipient of many awards and the approbation of readers and fellow writers. He was certainly a force in young persons’ literature.

was even a class photo. I perused it several times in the hope I would be amongst the tiers of ten-yearolds. I knew I had missed by one year. There was Graeme and several other identifiables but no me. Taylor had several of those pupils for four years. Reading between the lines, it was apparent that he bonded with many and remembered them fondly. One or two he mentioned I did not bond with but that’s neither here nor there. Bill Taylor admits in his autobiography that he didn’t have too many ideas about teaching at the beginning. Of course, that wasn’t evident to a ten-year-old who had been taught to respect all teachers. From the perspective of over five decades, mostly involved in education, it is obvious to me that he had natural talent. A brilliant actor, he was an eminent and exciting presence. He took risks and got away with them. I can remember more episodes from his classroom than from all my other student years combined. Even those times when I was not one of the favoured: ‘Does anyone know who the Normans were?’ I knew. ‘When we were on holiday in Hamilton sir, we went past their temple..’ ‘That’s Mormons...fool!’

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Most of the time he encouraged me. ‘You should be a teacher. You have shown more ability than I have at getting kids to learn how to add…’ He held a prepared-speech competition. The topic was famous people.. I won and he gave me a book. I treasured it...still have it. To get to the finals, I had to defeat several opponents. In the knockout rounds, where two at a time would have to battle it out, the winner was decided by public acclaim. I had quite an interest in history, so chose people who would appeal to ten year-olds. I regaled them with tales of murder, kidnap and torture. When it came down to the final four, Mr. Taylor wouldn’t allow me to have a choice, where I would have spoken about someone like Attila the Hun or Rasputin. He gave me the topic of Napoleon, of whom I knew nothing.. My parents helped me write the speech, which had no mention of carnage at all. It was pretty stolid stuff but I learned it by heart and as everyone else read theirs’ and teachers were the judges, I guess I won by default. By the way, my prize dealt with the siege of Famagusta, with Venetians and Ottoman Turks killing each other in rather nasty fashion, on virtually every page. We had a production that year, the first of many for Bill, who was a keen comedic actor and regularly performed at The Little Theatre in Lower Hutt. I can’t remember the name of the production but I was

Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 47

chosen to be the King. Raptures! Soon after that role was taken off me. I was informed that I would be far more suited to another part. Only much later I realised that my thespian skills were non-existent. Nethertheless, I was proud...a wonderful con-job on Bill’s part. I did stuff up a bit on performance night though. Bill had devised a spectacular entrance for my persona, which was some sort of wizard. I had a black cape, a pointy hat and of course, a wand. He told me to stick a sparkler on the end the wand, light it just before my cue and burst on stage, lights dimmed, to a chorus of oohs and ahs from the audience. Backstage was basically a closet-sized room, stage-left. I think there was a gym horse and some old crash pads in it. About half the class were crammed in it, all waiting for their grand entrance. About twenty seconds before my cue, one of the five Brians in the class was to light a match and ignite the sparkler. We had not rehearsed this-I think Mr Taylor told us about it on performance day. Brian managed to ignite the match but not the sparkler. He tried a second time. No luck. Third time, same result. I wrenched off the reluctant firework and threw it on the floor and made my anti-climactic entrance. I don’t think that sort of prop would be used these days… We loved that production. We learned new words to old tunes, painted the scenery and rehearsed our lines. It was a tour-de-force for the school. Only one or two lines remain in memory, a Taylor-made ballad to the tune of the Song of the Volga Boatmen: ‘Poor Sam died, took cyanide…’ I suspect there were several lines penned for an adult audience. The only other that comes to mind is one that surfaced from some dark and dusty recess of my brain after a week of trying to remember. I am pretty sure that there was one line which went: ‘...you sound like Aunt Daisy having a bath…’ Now Aunt Daisy was an icon of 1950s’ morning radio. Dearly-loved, she dispensed recipes and talked about topical events and recommended commercial products. All in the best possible taste, although her (possibly apocryphal) ‘Good morning, good morning, good morning. It’s such a beautiful Wellington morning. The sun is shining right up my back passage…’ lives in legend. One day, the line in the production was changed to: ‘ ....you sound like a dead duck…’ Nowhere near as punchy and actually quite illogical. Why the change? It may be irrelevant but I can vaguely recall my mother telling me that Aunt Daisy had reviewed a play, recently performed by The Valley Players in The Little Theatre in Lower Hutt, and she had gone into raptures about a very talented young actor. One of the best times of the day for me was after arithmetic, just after playtime. I usually finished first, probably the result of slogging daily through twenty pages of sums the year before. I was the regular courier for my teacher, assigned to purchase and 48 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

deliver his lunch. This meant cycling along Fergusson Drive to The Little Dairy to purchase sandwiches and cake. The first time, the shop keeper added a sherbert sucker, complete with a licorice straw, to the order. I suspected that this was not part of the lunch but dutifully delivered it. Mr Taylor looked at it, shrugged and gave it to me. After that, I regularly sucked on sherbert, or devoured a threepenny, marshmallow ice cream, as I wobbled and swerved along the main road on my bike. Nice shop ladies, nice teacher and half an hour off school. In 1961, I was removed from Mr Taylor’s class. I was very disappointed, as was my mother. Like the mother of a young William Taylor, (as I learned from his autobiography) she approached the school on her son’s behalf. She asked for me to be reinstated-to no avail. From memory, William’s mother removed him. That didn’t happen to me. My final few years in primary school were OK. I vicariously shared Bill Taylor’s teaching via Graeme. Class trips, productions, softball, pearls of wisdom… all were shared with me. As we approached adolescence, Graeme became fascinated with pop music. ‘Do you know that Mr Taylor is the spitting image of Hank Marvin from The Shadows?’ That sealed his legendary status for us. We borrowed a bass guitar from Kevin, the nineteen year-old next door and drove my father outside for a couple of hours. Looking back, I can see some of William Taylor in myself. I taught primary children for two decades. I wrote and produced the odd musical production and saw the delight on the faces of those who participated. Like William, I had my share of tough classes in the 70s but had the energy to cope with them, however, nowhere near the energy he had to be a solo father, principal and mayor of a rural town at the same time. His book gave me an insight into another William Taylor. He was a man of many parts and teaching had just been one. A cliche I know, but he pulled no punches and was unafraid to express an opinion: ‘You learn something when you see a need to learn it. You learn even better through actually doing it rather than being told about it. Build upon what the child can do, rather than forever harping away at what they can’t do. Yes, competition is OK, but so is cooperation! And this one is so old-fashioned and well and truly gone from favour in this present day and age: testing isn’t teaching! I will repeat it: testing isn’t teaching! Even if I were thirty or forty years younger, I guess I would never score a job in teaching these days. Let’s face it, I wouldn’t even know the jargon. (Telling tales A Life in Writing, William Taylor, 2010) William Taylor was one of those talented people who know how to inspire children, a magnetic, shining light in the drabness of the fifties. Thank you, Mr Taylor.

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Computer hacking game aimed at schools

Andrew Spence

A version of a PC game that has players fill the shoes of a computer hacker is being developed for use as a training tool in schools and workplaces. Hacknet was released in August 2015 and has already achieved more than 100,000 downloads on internet-based distribution platform Steam. Its creator Matt Trobbiani, a 25-year-old University of Adelaide computer science graduate, said he did not focus on Hacknet’s educational benefits when developing the game. “It turns out that US Pacific Command’s cyber warfare division already buys Hacknet and runs all their new recruits through it – it’s a big deal and I originally had no idea that this was something really very valuable at all,” Trobbiani said. “It’s got a really good base for putting it into high schools or training courses for businesses and military programs, it just teaches this baseline technical competence and confidence. “Everyone who’s gone through the game is less scared of computers and much more prepared to deal with technical problems in a sensible way – they know how to use a terminal, they know the basics of computer security, they know fundamental skills that I think if everyone knew then the world would be a much safer place, especially online. “I was teaching a lot of this stuff just by accident and the teaching side of this is becoming a bigger deal so I’m working on a special version geared towards schools and universities.” The immersive terminal-based hacking simulator, which is also being translated into Simple Chinese, follows the trail of a famed hacker, Bit, who has recently died. Trobbiani said the award-winning game was not breeding a new generation of hackers and actually taught more skills about how to increase online security and protect users from hacking. “It’s much more useful as a defensive tool than as an aggressive one,” he said. “You leave Hacknet after being from the perspective of the aggressor the entire game but you’ll know a lot about how to be much more safe online and you’ll know next to nothing about how to actually do any damage.” “It definitely says that there is a place for what we call ‘white hat hackers’ in the world, being a hacker isn’t just a bad thing, there’s a lot of hackers out there who do a lot of great work, who are really helping companies and who are very transparent about everything that they do. “I think this negative notion of hackers is really cool but it’s not necessarily how the world works.”

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Distribution or licensing arrangements are yet to be determined for the education version but Trobbiani said it will be a workplace training tool. “Ideally it would be split up into lesson-sized chunks that are designed to be teacher and other student assisted so the students work together and the teacher works with anyone who is struggling to smooth over the first couple of weeks to hopefully bring everyone up to a certain level of confidence and competence so no one gets overwhelmed by the material, which is a really big problem in computer science courses especially.” “While I was never really taking the education side of it seriously, I would be really foolish not to pursue it.” University of South Australia cybercrime expert Associate Professor Raymond Choo said turning Hacknet into an educational tool was a timely initiative. “Malicious cyber activities are no longer a matter of if but of when, and they are a rapidly expanding form of criminality that knows no borders,” Dr Choo said. “Games could be a useful way of engaging our younger generation in cyber security training, and allowing them to learn, practice and hone their skills in a relatively risk-free virtual environment.” Matt Trobbiani’s Top 5 tips for staying safe online 1. Think before you download Never download anything that you don’t trust – if you don’t know what it is, don’t get it! 2. Click in the right place Make sure you’re clicking the button you’re meant to, not an ad. If you’re unsure, check the URL that comes up mousing over it. 3. Check before getting personal When giving out any personal information, check the URL at the top of the page and make sure you’re on the right site – phishing schemes use very similar or exact copies of regular sites with slightly different or typo’d names to steal data 4 Choose your browser carefully Use a secure browser – preferably Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. They’re much safer than Internet Explorer – especially old versions of it. 5. If you don’t need it, don’t get it Don’t install toolbars, add-ons or any other software that you don’t *really* need – they can be dangerous, and are almost always more annoying than helpful. Key Contacts: Matt Trobbiani matt@hacknet-os.com

Matt Trobbiani

Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 49

Kigali Reading Center shares ‘ Parfait Gasana, weekend manager of the Yale Visitor Center, came to the United States in May 2005 without knowing a word of English. “I was frustrated. No one could understand what I was saying; I was voiceless,” he recalls. For a few months, Gasana, then 23, lived as best he could until he met Christine Alexander, founder of the literacy program New Haven Reads. She encouraged him to attend New Haven Reads meetings, and he quickly learned English by reading picture books with the children. Ten years later, he is returning the favor. An immigrant from Rwanda, Gasana decided he wanted to create a similar program for Rwandan children and founded the Kigali Reading Center in 2014. Now in its second year, the center serves approximately 100 children every week, with a second center scheduled to open by the end of the year.

Gasana credits the late Alexander and New Haven Reads for his success. After learning English, he graduated from Gateway Community College and earned his B.A. in political science from the University of Connecticut, with a minor in human rights. Gasana also earned an M.A. in international relations from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Seeing the impact education had on his life, Gasana decided to return to Rwanda. “I thought, ‘What can I do to actually contribute to a sustainable Rwanda, where the devastation of the genocide not only destroyed lives but also human capital?’ Two decades after [the genocide], education is now a priority, but in the years following the genocide it was not, as other issues, such as the delivery of justice, were much more pressing,” he explained. The Rwandan genocide occurred over a 100-day period during the spring and summer of 1994, when the Hutu majority killed thousands of Tutsi and moderate Hutu. Gasana was born in 1982 as a refugee in Burundi, as his parents had fled Rwanda a few years earlier. However, his family moved back to Rwanda when Gasana was 11 — a few months before the genocide ended as the pressure for them to leave Burundi mounted.

Gasana reading to children at the Kigali Reading Center in Rwanda. (Photo courtesy of Parfait Gasana) 50 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

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‘joy of reading’ in Rwanda Román Castellanos-Monfil Yale University

Gasana distributing books at the center during his last visit. (Photo courtesy of Parfait Gasana)

Gasana said the instability and political strife made education difficult for many Rwandans, including himself. While the country is still recovering from the genocide, Gasana thinks Rwanda has stabilized and allows for the kind of work he and the center are now doing. The center’s mission is to promote English literacy for pre-elementary and elementary schoolchildren through storytelling, a lending library, and one-on-one tutoring. While the center also serves older teenagers and adults, Gasana said the focus is on younger children between the ages of 4 and 13 “to prepare them for school.” With only three full-time paid staff members, the center relies on volunteers to help read to children. “Any time that is given to us really is appreciated,” he said. “Some people give 30 minutes a week and others stop by for an hour before they leave the country. All of that is important to continuing the work we do.” Although finding volunteers is a challenge for the center, Gasana said the biggest hurdle is raising money to support the especially for Discovering lots ofcenter cool and thinngs shipping costs. The center currently has over 6,000 books in Rwanda, mostly donations, with hundreds more here in the United States. Gasana and his

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friends pack suitcases full of books every time they visit Rwanda, he said, but he hopes to shift to a more sustainable model in the future. The children also send letters back to donors thanking them for the books; most write that the book they received is the first book they have ever owned. The center also allows children to check out books on an honor system. “We tell the children, ‘If you take this book and read it, and then you bring it back, we’ll give you another one.’ The moment we mention that there will be another book given, some kids will go and bring it back within an hour so they can get another one,” Gasana said, laughing. Seeing the smiles on the children’s faces when they read a new book makes his work for the Kigali Reading Center so rewarding, said Gasana. “You can see there is hope in the eyes of the children just because someone cares,” he said. “I am where I am today because someone cared and helped me realize that I am worth something. These kids are seeing this as well, and they are enjoying it. The center has become like a home for them.” To learn more about the center, visit the center’s website. http://kigalireads.org/ Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 51

The Secret Teacher

Rather than disclose their borderline personality disorder, this week’s Secret Teacher hides behind stress. You know me, you’ve seen me at parents’ evenings. I’m the teacher at the next desk – the popular one, the one you all want to teach your children because the progress made in my class is phenomenal. I’m a damn good teacher and everyone knows it. What you don’t know is that I have a mental health problem. I was abused as a child and for years I endured appalling assaults – physical, mental and sexual – at the hands of several adults in my life. In these post-Savile days, you might wonder what happens to abused children. Well, we grow up – damaged and scarred, concealing our tragic backgrounds. I have a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, a condition that can be linked to difficult childhood experiences. Thanks to people like Catherine Zeta Jones and Stephen Fry, we all know of bipolar disorder; borderline personality disorder (or emotional dysregulation disorder) is its lesser known cousin. You might not have heard of it, few have. On the rare occasions it’s discussed – in TV dramas, for example – we are presented as unsympathetic, desperate, out of control, suicidal and violent. The message given is 52 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

that we are a danger to ourselves or others: avoid us – we are volatile and unpredictable. But that’s not how it is. As with bipolar disorder, I have mood swings, but they are rapid. In the space of 15 minutes I can go from crying on the train because I see no point to my life, to entertaining large groups of trainee teachers with amusing anecdotes about the profession. My behaviour can be impulsive too; I spend thousands on my credit cards. Reckless, I suppose, but not dangerous, surely? And none of these have any impact whatsoever on my ability to teach. But still, I do not dare tell anyone the truth at work. My psychiatrist warned me that the stigma associated with my condition is huge. It’s true. Even the name – borderline personality disorder – implies that there is something wrong with one’s identity, one’s personality. It is much easier to hide under the “stress and anxiety” umbrella. Every teacher knows what that feels like. The problem there, of course, is that no one really believes I have different needs from others so I am not getting the right support. “Huh! We’re all stressed!” a colleague recently grumbled. And in such a highly demanding profession, where you’re constantly exhausted and yet having to perform at all times, the functioning “normal” part of Finding bugs for birds eat. me gets smaller andthe smaller as to term progresses. Near the end, it is hardly there at all. And that’s when the symptoms break through. It becomes harder to conceal the illness and I can no longer find the energy

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and enthusiasm to pretend. I am loath to ask for any more help as doing that would reveal more about my condition and I am terrified that colleagues, students and parents might find out and hound me out of my job. So I struggle on alone.

Photograph: Alamy

If colleagues don’t notice, my students are more perceptive. They are with me for longer, proportionally, and they notice little variations. “Is it ‘cause you are doing too much work, Miss?” they ask. When I smile wryly they interpret that as an affirmative. They know what it is like to struggle with heavy workloads and they do what they can to make things easier – running errands, handing out materials and even ticking each other off for poor behaviour until I am back to my usual self. They tell their parents that they think the school is overworking me and the parents are sympathetic. I know that would change were they to know the truth. The real injustice is that my personality disorder is what makes me a great teacher. My idiosyncratic personality means that my classroom is full of fun, life, activity and industry. I put on a good show and motivate my students. They want to be in my lessons. One of my pupils told me I had made them love school and helped them go from nobody to somebody. From nobody to somebody. It doesn’t get better than that.

The teaching is wonderful, but I can no longer keep up with the 70 hour weeks. It would be difficult enough for someone without a mental health problem, but for me, it is nigh on impossible. I’d rather not quit – teaching really is the best job in the world, and the irony is that despite – and in some ways because of – my condition, I am an excellent teacher. I just need a little more support, more help and much more compassion. But that’s not forthcoming at the moment. Don’t write me off – I have a lot to give my students – but without more awareness and understanding of borderline personality disorder, I am not sure I can continue.

All names have been changed in this piece. Follow us on Twitter via @GuardianTeach. http://www.theguardian.com/teachernetwork/2015/dec/05secret-teacher-i-dare-not-tellanyone-personality-disorder?CMP=ema1693&CMP=

My changeable personality means I also have a very wide range of interests and in my lessons we discuss geography, history, literature, philosophy, science and politics. I teach my students what I know about the world, not just my subject. “Miss – you’re not a teacher, you’re an encyclopedia!” one of them gasped recently. And I show them the care I never had as a child. I am there, day after day, year after year – dependable, caring and always ready to listen. I care for demoralised students in front of me like the pupil whose parents take drugs, beaten by life before it’s barely begun. I don’t want any of them to suffer as I have. When Marlon failed his GCSE the first time, I took him through the retake course step by step. A year later, Marlon got an A – four whole grades higher than before. I’m the teacher who turns up for work immaculately dressed, with perfect hair and nails, books marked and lessons prepared – the person that gives the impression that all is well in my world. It isn’t, of course. I can get very sad and feel lonely all the time. When I am not in the classroom, I spend much of my time being reminded of my abusive childhood. The memories surface frequently and I am in emotional pain most of the time. I am extremely sensitive and very self-critical. I am very good at hiding the difficulties, but it gets harder when I am tired. So, sadly I know that my days in teaching, to which I’ve given two decades, are probably numbered.

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 53

Yale senior wins the Individual W The stage was set for Emtithal “Emi” Mahmoud ’16 at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship (iWPS). Entering the final round of the competition, she had drawn the last slot for the last bout. Despite the high-pressure situation, she performed a piece she had finished only hours before. And she won. “I was dazed,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Wait, what? That just happened?’” The Yale senior was crowned the iWPS champion on Oct. 10. The event boasted an initial field of 96 poets, the largest yet in competition history. The annual four-day competition is organized by Beltway Poetry Slam and Poetry Slam Inc. (PSi), and attracts some of the world’s best poets. In addition to the main competition, the championship includes workshops, open mics, and events for all ages. YaleNews spoke with Mahmoud about her journey to the top. Becoming a poet: Despite being born into a family of writers, Mahmoud says she didn’t know what spoken word (performance-based poetry) was until coming to Yale for Bulldog Days. She had written rhyming couplets as a child but never knew this was something she wanted to pursue. Originally from Darfur, Sudan, her parents worked to raise awareness of the genocide that has afflicted the country. While they initially tried to shield Mahmoud and her siblings from their work, she eventually learned about the conflict. “They wanted to protect us from what was actually happening,” she said. “When I insisted they tell me, they did. I just picked up a pen and started writing and going on speaking tours with them.” Her family escaped Sudan to Yemen when she was a 54 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

toddler before coming to the United States in 1998. During Bulldog Days, she saw a spoken word performance by Sean Beckett ’13 and immediately wanted to learn more about the genre. However, she was told her freshman year that she would need to audition before she could join Teeth Slam Poets or WORD: Performance Poetry, two of Yale’s spoken-word teams. “Of course I didn’t get in. It was the first time I ever tried,” she said. She soon discovered ¡Oyé!, spoken word group affiliated with the Latino Cultural Center that does not require auditions. Its name means “hey” or “listen” in Spanish. “I needed a space where I could grow my art and write for the sake of writing and for the sake of community. I found that in Oyé,” said Mahmoud. Honing her talents: A few months after joining Oyé, she made the Yale Slam Team, which competes on the collegiate national level. Mahmoud said working under the group’s coach, Alysia Harris, a Ph.D. candidate in linguistics, was a transformative experience. Eventually Mahmoud became co-artistic director of Oyé with David Rico ’16. She also co-coached the Slam Team with Harris. “It was pretty much an apprentice role; Alysia did all the heavy lifting. I was there to learn, and grow, and do paperwork,” she said with a laugh. She traveled with the Slam Team and competed at the 2014 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational at the University of Colorado–Boulder, helping Yale to a 9th-place finish in a field of 52 universities around the country. Creative recalibration: Mahmoud hit a writer’s block her junior year, failing to make the Slam Team that year. “I was going through a very rough time so I wasn’t very focused on my art,” she said. “I thought I could just come in, and I thought, ‘I’ll be fine. I’ve been doing this for a while.’ It was an important lesson because it made me realize that if you’re not paying attention to the things you care about, you will lose out. There will be consequences.” She continued to work with Harris, however, and was awarded the Davenport Class of 1956 Fellowship to write and teach poetry to youth that summer. This was a “turning point” in her development, Mahmoud said, because it reminded her of the significance of poetry to her life.

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World Poetry Slam Championship Román Castellanos-Monfil Yale University

“Poetry was so important to me when I was younger. It really helped me learn the importance of my voice and the fact that we all have a right to use our voice. I wanted to teach that to kids,” she said. Reinvigorated, she began looking at the national poetry slam circuit and joined a team from New Jersey called Loser Slam. Through the venue, she was able to secure a spot on the iWPS team at the end of the summer. “I was so surprised! I worked hard, but I was baffled. You don’t expect to suddenly become one of the top poets in the world,” she said. Unexpected setback: On Wednesday, Oct. 7, she began her journey to Washington D.C. to register for the poetry slam. Instead of traveling directly there, however, she went home to Philadelphia. Her grandmother had been diagnosed with lung cancer earlier in the year, and Mahmoud’s mother was traveling to Sudan to help transport her to a hospital in Egypt that could provide the necessary treatment.

(Photo by Román Castellanos-Monfil)

The next morning, Mahmoud was heading to the train station with her dad when they got a phone call telling them that Mahmoud’s grandmother had passed away.

Immediately, Mahmoud asked her dad to turn the car around so she could be with her mom. “It all happened so fast,” she recalled. “It’s really hard to focus on academics when you’re worried about your family, the war, everything. So spoken word has always been an outlet for me to get it out there and then go back to my psets [problem sets].” She decided not to go to the competition, choosing to console her family and help her parents with some of the logistical issues. Eventually, her parents sat her down and told her she needed to go to the competition because her grandmother would have wanted her to be there. “My grandma never learned how to read or write. They didn’t teach women how to do that back then in my country,” said the Yale senior. “Even when she was staying with us here, she was always over my shoulder: ‘Do your thing. Read, read, write.’” After calling her venue leader and explaining what had happened, Mahmoud was able to get an extension for her registration and traveled to D.C. to compete.

Yale senior Emi Mahmoud poses with the iWPS trophy.

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Competition and healing begin: Mahmoud needed to gather her bearings quickly, as the preliminary rounds began that night. She would need to perform two poems both Thursday and Friday nights. The top 12 poets would advance to the final round on Saturday. Still feeling distressed, Mahmoud used the stage to confront those emotions and didn’t worry about the competition format. “I was just there to expel some of the emotion in poetry so I wouldn’t be there moping and feeling sad,” she noted. In the two poems she performed Friday, “People Like Us” and “Bullets,” she talks about her memories of a war-torn Darfur. In the former, she notes that “Flesh was never meant to dance with silver bullets,” and she has seen “16 ways to stop a heart.” In the latter, she writes about feeling “guilty” for having refuge in America and for having an escape while others don’t, noting that her “body should be lined with bullets: one for each of my brothers and sisters who stopped a bullet for me.” Both poems received perfect scores. Only three other artists had achieved a perfect score in the preliminary round, and none received two. Mahmoud’s excited coach called her later that night to tell Mahmoud she had made it to final stage. A tribute: There was only one slight problem, said Mahmoud: She had used her best poems in the preliminaries. It was already midnight when she found out about moving to the finals, but her coach told her not to worry — that she would be fine. “I looked at the list of poets who were going to be there, and it was some of the most well-known spoken word artists in the world: Rudy Francisco; Porsha O, last year’s winner — just a lot of people who were very high caliber,” she said. Despite considering herself a “dark horse,” Mahmoud wanted to do well in the finals for her grandmother. The next day, she wrote a poem about her grandmother and finished a half-written poem about her mother. Already pressed for time, Mahmoud had only three hours to memorize them before she needed to perform them. The final round was divided into three bouts with the four lowest-scoring poets being eliminated after each bout. Mahmoud advanced to the final bout after finishing fourth and third in the previous two bouts. She had decided to save her poem about her mother for last and ended up drawing the last slot for the final round. Midway through her poem, the audience began giving her a standing ovation. “It was the craziest thing. People were so receptive; you could lose yourself on stage and everyone was there to hold you,” she said. Mahmoud received another perfect score for her poem and won the competition by one-tenth of a point. Amazed by her accomplishment and overwhelmed by the support she received from the

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audience, she thanked them for “being the community that they are” and dedicated her victory to her grandmother. Therapeutic poetry: Her whole experience with iWPS underscores the therapeutic benefits of poetry, according to Mahmoud: “I came away from it feeling much better than when I went in and feeling like I did something for [her grandmother],” she said, “But at the same time, I’m left in this very bittersweet state because of the genocide and the war. This is the first death in eight years in my family of natural age and natural causes.” She said her grandmother’s death felt “weird” because her grandmother had “survived everything,” adding that she would not have been able to win the competition without the support of the community around her. “Things get hard and, without the communities and environments that allow us to thrive, we would fall every single time,” she explained. “If I didn’t have the kind of support I have here, in the spoken word community, and everywhere else every time something like this happened, it would take everything out of me.” Acknowledging how hard painful experiences can be, Mahmoud said she thinks it’s necessary to confront those emotions instead of allowing them to “become a part of you” and take control. The reward, she says, is having a greater inner peace with everything that happens. She said she hopes her win will give her a platform to inspire others to pursue poetry and make it accessible for everyone. In addition to being crowned the iWPS champion, Mahmoud will travel on behalf of PSi to teach poetry. She is currently working on a book filled with poetry from the classes she teaches through a Creative and Performing Arts award, and the iWPS position will also allow her to publish a book of her own poetry. Mahmoud advises aspiring poets to continually read, write, and listen to poetry. She said she is happy that Oyé will remain audition-free because she thinks everyone deserves to have a safe space where they can grow as an artist. “The most important thing is understanding the mic and what it is all about,” said Mahmoud. “It sounds like a big, abstract concept, and I’m not trying to romanticize it, but when you go up there on the stage, you have a right to be there. Anything you say is worth listening to; your exercise of human expression is important. And I think that’s the most important thing to remember.” To read more of Mahmoud’s poetry, follow her Facebook page. Her final poem, “Mama,” is reproduced here.

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Mama I was walking down the street when a man stopped me and said, Hey yo sistah, you from the motherland? Because my skin is a shade too deep not to have come from foreign soil Because this garment on my head screams Africa Because my body is a beacon calling everybody to come flock to the motherland I said, I’m Sudanese, why? He says, ‘cause you got a little bit of flavor in you, I’m just admiring what your mama gave you Let me tell you something about my mama She can reduce a man to tattered flesh without so much as blinking Her words fester beneath your skin and the whole time, You won’t be able to stop cradling her eyes. My mama is a woman, flawless and formidable in the same step. Woman walks into a warzone and has warriors cowering at her feet My mama carries all of us in her body, on her face, in her blood and Blood is no good once you let it loose So she always holds us close. When I was 7, she cradled bullets in the billows of her robes. That same night, she taught me how to get gunpowder out of cotton with a bar of soap. Years later when the soldiers held her at gunpoint and asked her who she was She said, I am a daughter of Adam, I am a woman, who the hell are you? The last time we went home, we watched our village burn, Soldiers pouring blood from civilian skulls As if they too could turn water into wine. They stole the ground beneath our feet. The woman who raised me turned and said, don’t be scared I’m your mother, I’m here, I won’t let them through. My mama gave me conviction. Women like her Inherit tired eyes, Bruised wrists and titanium plated spines. The daughters of widows wearing the wings of amputees Carry countries between their shoulder blades. I’m not saying dating is a first world problem, but these trifling moterfuckers seem to be. The kind who’ll quote Rumi, but not know what he sacrificed for war. Who’ll fawn over Lupita, but turn their racial filters on. Who’ll take their politics with a latte when I take mine with tear gas. Every guy I meet wants to be my introduction to the dark side, Wants me to open up this obsidian skin and let them read every tearful page, Because what survivor hasn’t had her struggle made spectacle? Don’t talk about the motherland unless you know that being from Africa means waking up an afterthought in this country. Don’t talk about my flavor unless you know that My flavor is insurrection, it is rebellion, resistance my flavor is mutiny It is burden, it is grit and it is compromise And you don’t know compromise until you’ve rebuilt your home for the third time Without bricks, without mortar, without any other option I turned to the man and said, My mother and I can’t walk the streets alone back home any more. Back home, there are no streets to walk any more.

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Emi Mahmoud

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New Year’s Resolutions: Are Your N For many people, January is the most common time of the year to pursue new goals. As the years go on, this yearly goal-setting becomes routine; even though you have new goals you’re passionate about pursuing each year, your faith in your ability to accomplish them or your awareness about why you’re setting goals in the first place may diminish. For example, you might set yourself the goal of eating healthier each year, even though after the first year you didn’t give much thought to what is driving you to pursue this goal and whether or not it’s worth it for you. This January, we here at Cheetah Learning encourage you to take a new approach to goal-setting this year. Before you jot down a list of “New Year’s Resolutions,” take some time to reflect on what goals are really worth pursuing based on how you want to

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see yourself and what will help you increase your happiness. What goals make you feel enthusiastically engaged and present in your pursuit of them? What projects bring you deep happiness, contentment, or even bliss? The chart below illustrates different types of goals you may be pursuing that don’t quite align with your true purpose. Ideally, you should strive to set goals that fit in the top right corner: Transcendent Goals. These are the goals to which you devote the highest quality of attention and which give you the most happiness. If the pursuit of your goals does not fall into this “Transcendent” category, you may have goals that are too challenging, not challenging enough, or mismatched with your purpose.

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New Goals the Right Goals for You? By Michelle LaBrosse,CCPM, PMP®, PMI-ACP, and Founder of Cheetah Learning

Mismatched Goals

“Station of Life” Goals

n the bottom left corner of the chart are the goals that are a poor match for both your talents and your interests. These are goals that are challenging for you to achieve - but not in a good way. Rather than making you feel inspired and engaged, these goals require you to perform tasks that you dread and which do not feel particularly rewarding. Often, the tasks required to achieve this goal will be things you have never done before and are not knowledgeable about. If you’ve never done a goal before, it makes sense to research what it would take to pursue that goal to see if you really have the “oomph” to go for it and if there is a payoff for you to do so.

In the middle of the chart are what we call “station of life goals.” These are the goals based on what you think you need to be doing based on “norms” for where you are in your life. As you transition from your 20s to your 30s, for example, you may feel the need to set goals for buying a home, getting married, and starting a family. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with these goals. Too often, though, the reason we set these goals is based more on what we think “society” expects of us than the kind of life we truly want to live.

Distractions from your Goals

Rather than settling for “station of life” goals, push yourself to identify goals that align with how you want to see yourself and with your true purpose. These are goals that both align well with your interests and talents, AND push you to expand your current abilities at times. Some of the tasks required to accomplish this goal will be easy for you, while others will be challenging - the key is to have a balance between these types of tasks. We like to call these HARD goals: High Altitude, Rewarding, and Driven (as in, you’ll feel intrinsically driven to achieve these goals). They may or may not align with what others expect of you - and it’s just fine if they don’t. What matters is that these are goals that bring your existence into alignment with who YOU want to be and with your highest good.

In the chart, as in your life, these are secondary goals that are “all over the place” that distract you from achieving the goals that really matter. These are goals that you may feel really excited about doing in theory, but when you sit down to do them, your enthusiasm quickly fades. These could also be goals that you feel pressured to accomplish, but which cause you a lot of frustration and discouragement because you don’t currently have the skills and/or knowledge to achieve them. For example, you may find yourself caught up in other people’s “drama” and set goals that are more aligned with other people’s interests than your own. You may also have the opposite problem: pursuing a goal that brings you happiness, but which is so familiar and easy for you that you no longer need to be fully engaged in its pursuit. All of these types of goals need to be recognized for what they are: distractions from your pursuit of the transcendent goals that will bring you lasting fulfillment aligned with your purpose.

About the Author: Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, is an entrepreneurial powerhouse with a penchant for making success easy, fun, and fast. She is the founder of Cheetah Learning, the author of the Cheetah Success Series, and a prolific blogger whose mission is to bring Project Management to the masses. Cheetah Learning is a virtual company with 100 employees, contractors, and licensees worldwide. To date, more than 50,000 people have become “Cheetahs” using Cheetah Learning’s innovative Project Management and

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Transcendent Goals

To learn more about moving from setting “station of life” goals to identifying the “transcendent” goals that will bring you into alignment with your true purpose, contact Cheetah Learning at info@cheetahlearning. com

accelerated learning techniques. Honored by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), Cheetah Learning was named Professional Development Provider of the Year at the 2008 PMI® Global Congress. A dynamic keynote speaker and industry thought leader, Michelle is recognized by PMI as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Project Management in the world. Michelle also developed the Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) program based on Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality profiling to help students master how to use their unique strengths for learn is recognized by PMI as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Project Management in the world. Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 59

Expansive New Geometric Draw and Sand by Simon Beckby

Driven by super-human forces and undaunted by the powers of nature, artist Simon Beck trudges across sand or through knee-high snow to create massive geometric drawings left behind in his footprints. From sandy expanses on the shore of New Zealand to frigid outlooks in the Swiss Alps, any pristine surface that stretches for hundreds of meters can work as a suitable canvas for Beck’s designs.

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Each site-specific piece is planned well in advance on a computer and carefully mapped out on-site before the artist begins his grueling expedition. After walking for entire days, the painstaking details of enormous fractals, snowflakes, dragons, and undulating geometric forms are left in his wake—often with barely enough sunlight to snap a few quick photos. Seen here are a number of pieces by Beck from the last year or so. You can learn about the fine details of his process in this FAQ and see additional photos over on Facebook. He also published a book of his work titled Simon Beck: Snow Art.

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wings Trampled in Snow Christopher Jobson

www.thisiscolossal.com

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Can I Be an Effective Teacher an When I first started teaching in the early 90s, I knew if I wanted to advance my career or increase my income, I would have to leave the classroom and move into administration. However, within the last decade, administrative roles within many schools have been restructured to provide teachers with leadership roles that bear the professional authority of a principal or department chair. These newly formed hybrid roles are known as teacher-leaders. These roles allow teachers to continue to teach full or part time, while also occupying a leadership role which may allow them to acquire new skills, hold a governance position, or provide increased income from other professional opportunities.

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With this shift, many teacher leaders have been faced with the question: Can I be an effective teacher and an effective leader at the same time? CTQ blogger Justin Minkel posed a similar question in Does Teacher Leadership Hurt Your Teaching regarding the hybrid role of being a teacher and a leader. One common concern about teacher leaders is that once a teacher becomes a leader, he or she ceases to be teacher. As the argument goes, a teacher’s energy, attention, and time are consumed by the demands of leadership. That same energy, attention, and time is no longer spent on students and the ever-growing demands of the classroom. There is a perception that teacher leaders lose their focus and are “out of the building” more than they should be. However, as many teacher leaders will tell you, their professional leadership roles have buoyed and energized their life as a teacher, instead of depleting or detracting from it. Being a teacher leader does come with professional demands, such as presenting at conferences or attending professional development sessions that may occur during the school day. But the benefits of professional growth far outweigh the costs in time and energy. In a very informal and unscientific poll, I emailed twelve teacher leaders in four different Kentucky districts. These were full-time classroom teachers, who also hold positions in district, regional, state, and national professional organizations. All but one of them responded, and of those who responded, all but one of them reported being out of school for more than five days in the past school year. However, the part of the poll that resonated with me most was the passionate way in which each of these teacher-leaders talked about their work. Sherri McPherson, a teacher-leader in the Fayette County school district, was recently showcased on a special one-hour broadcast, Think It Up. This national education initiative highlighted her work with the Gates Foundation’s Literacy Design Collaborative. She has been a teacher leader for five years, and on the average she has been out of her classroom only four-six days during each academic year for professional obligations. She says, “As a Literacy Design Collaborative implementer, my leave was focused on learning how to create reading and writing experiences that were rich and worthy of my students’ time. The time to collaborate with my colleagues across the United States, who also teach tenth grade English, helped me widen my instructional tools and strategies. My LDC work provided my students the Back to index

nd an Effective Leader? Liz Prather

added benefit of being on national television, an experience that probably wouldn’t have happened without my leaving the class for training.” Taking time off from their role in the classroom to present at national and regional conferences helps these leaders become better teachers. McPherson said, “I’m able to share with my students the very real skills I learn as a presenter: how to write a proposal, how to blog, how to handle nerves when you present, and how to collaborate using technology. All of these skills help me attain credibility with my students. They know I am doing the same things I am asking them to do in class. I talk the talk and walk the walk.” Vicki Moriarity, who teaches for the Bath County school district and is a program coordinator for the National Writing Project, said, “When I serve in a leadership role outside of my district, I receive so many terrific ideas from other teacher leaders I can bring right back to my classroom and use with my students. Additionally, it allows me to be a change

agent in curriculum for my school and district. I see a much bigger picture of where education is going and take an active voice in policy making that effects what I am doing in my classroom.” All of the teachers I spoke with indicated that in addition to the training they receive from being a part of professional organizations, they are also part of a larger network of like-minded professional partners around the United States from whom they can ask for advice or assistance when acquiring resources, materials, or programming. And, like all good teachers, the bottom line in becoming a leader was how their role as a leader underscored and supported their role as a teacher. McPherson says, “Several of my students were able to participate in the Stand With Students rally last year because, as a teacher voice advocate, I am also a student voice advocate. How can I ask my students to stand up for themselves, when I am not engaging in that professional work myself?”

Fayette County Public Schools teacher Sherri McPherson works the red carpet at Think It Up!

http://www.teachingquality.org/content/blogs/liz-prather/ can-i-be-effective-teacher-and-effective-leader

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Targeted new support will ensure new vaccines reach children The Government of India and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, have today announced a partnership that will help save the lives of millions of Indian children through increased access to vaccines. India is due to begin transitioning away from Gavi support from 2017 and is expected to begin fully self-financing all its vaccine programmes by 2021. Under the partnership strategy, Gavi will provide up to US$ 500 million between 2016 and 2021 to support India’s immunisation programme, after which India will completely transition out of Gavi support. The new partnership will accelerate the introduction of modern, highlyefficacious vaccines in India, protecting children against the leading causes of disease, including pneumonia and severe diarrhoea, which combined claim the lives of more than 200,000 Indian children under the age of five every year. Support will also be made available for the measlesrubella combined vaccine. This vaccine protects children against measles, a highly infectious disease that kills almost 30,000 children in India every year, as well as congenital rubella syndrome, which causes severe deformities and disabilities through the spread of the virus from pregnant women to their babies. Gavi will also provide future assistance for India to

introduce the human papillomavirus vaccine, should the Government approve its introduction. This vaccine protects women against the leading cause of cervical cancer, a disease that kills 70,000 Indian women every year. Through this new partnership Gavi-supported vaccines administered between 2016 and 2021 are expected to prevent several hundred thousand deaths. By helping to establish these vaccines in India’s routine immunisation schedule and by strengthening existing immunisation and health systems to extend coverage and improve access, millions of children will benefit from the work being undertaken now for generations to come. The Government of India already has a priority of reaching every child with vaccines, as is evidenced by its new Mission Indradhanush initiative, which aims to reduce the number of children who get sick or die from preventable diseases by ensuring that the number of infants receiving all vaccines included within the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) exceeds 90% within the next five years. Through the modernisation and strengthening of health systems under this new partnership, Gavi support will also help towards this goal and help engage with a broader community of stakeholders within India. “One sixth of humanity resides in India, equivalent to 30 or 40 other poor countries. Therefore, preventing disease in India will have a truly global impact,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He went on to say that Indian innovation can make a difference not only in India but across the globe. “Together with WHO and UNICEF, Gavi’s support will help India to turbo-charge its immunisation programmes, protecting more children more quickly,” said Gavi CEO, Dr Seth Berkley. “I applaud the Government of India, in particular the leadership of the Prime Minister and the Health Minister, for taking such a bold position on immunisation and for recognising the role it has to play in protecting India’s children, and I am pleased with the part the Vaccine Alliance is playing as a partner in this important work.” Despite India’s recent successes in eliminating polio and neonatal tetanus, the country is home to 4 million under-immunised children, about a fifth of the total among Gavi-supported countries. Gavi and its partners will provide targeted support to help India’s immunisation system identify and reach children who are not receiving vaccines, including exploring how India’s vast number of polio workers can support uptake of other routine vaccines, such as the 5-in1 pentavalent vaccine and these new vaccines.

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Reflecting on Yourself as a Leader

Formal and Informal Leadership

Informal leadership is present and essential in all organizations, and informal leadership can be conducive to a school’s health and effectiveness, or destructive. Think about your school: Whose thoughts and opinions are most respected and listened to amongst staff? In addition to those in positional leadership roles (the administrators), who else influences staff? Who has a loud voice? Who is respected? Who is feared? Now think about yourself as a leader. Does the suggestion that you are a leader excite you or scare you? What does it mean to you to be a leader? What might be possible if you thought of yourself as a leader? I’d like to suggest that in order to transform our schools, we’ll need many, many more leaders. We’ll need the leaders who don’t yet think they are leaders and those of us who are apprehensive about embracing the roles and responsibilities of leadership, and we’ll need to have reflected deeply on what we mean by leadership and on who we are as leaders. Towards that end, I’d like to offer you some prompts.

Transformation Starts with Self-Awareness

In my new book, The Art of Coaching Teams, I suggest that to develop healthy teams of educators who can do the hard work of transforming schools, we must start with ourselves as team leaders. We can’t tackle unhealthy team dynamics or unfocused meetings until we know who we are as leaders and until we’ve explored our beliefs around power. The first area for us to reflect on is around models of leadership in our society. Here are some questions from my book that can support this reflection:

Who is a leader you admire? • • • • •

Who are the leaders in your community, city, and country? What kind of leadership do they demonstrate? How did they come to be leaders? Can you relate to them? What do you think makes a good leader? What kind of leader do you aspire to be?

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Elena Aguilar Very few societies have shared agreements about what constitutes good leadership. Depending on your beliefs and values, a good leader might listen to all voices and take them into account when making a decision; or a good leader might consult with a few trusted advisors and then make a decision; or a good leader might make a decision alone based on his or her expert knowledge and experience. Team leaders can benefit from exploring the big philosophical questions that surround the definition of good leadership. When we are aware of our core values, beliefs, dispositions, preferences, and histories, we can make conscious choices about our leadership stance.

What’s Your Leadership Style?

Who you are as a leader is the next big area to explore. Here are some of the questions I offer to guide in this exploration: • Who held power in your family when you were growing up? What kind of power was that? What was it based on? • What were you taught about authority in your childhood home? What granted someone authority? • Why do you lead in the way you do? • What assumptions are you acting on as a leader about yourself, your team, and the work to be done? • How does the system in which you are operating impact who you are as a leader? • How do you negotiate power dynamics as a leader? Where do you notice power playing a role in your leadership? • What kind of leader do you aspire to be? How do you want others to see you? • What kind of leader does your team need you to be? • What kind of leader does the community you serve need you to be? Leadership is complex and contextual. Our circumstances heavily influence who we are and can be as leaders. In order to understand the complexity, we will all benefit from spending some reflective time considering our backgrounds, beliefs, and actions. This reflection can help us embrace ourselves as leaders, refine our skill set, and create the change we hope to see in our schools. A Transformational Leadership Coach from Oakland, California. Elena Aguilar has been a teacher, coach, and leader in education for over twenty years. She is the author of The Art of Coaching (Jossey-Bass) and of the forthcoming The Art of Coaching Teams. Website: http://www.elenaaguilar.com Blog: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coaching_ teachers/

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http://www.edutopia.org/blog/reflecting-yourself-leader-elena-aguilar

It took me a long, long time to accept the notion that as a teacher, I was also a leader; that as a department chair, I was also a leader; and that as a coach, I was also a leader. This was because I was operating within traditional definitions of leadership: I didn’t have a formal leadership title -- like principal -- nor did I have any kind of certificate or degree granting me the role and responsibilities.... But I was a leader -- for my students and for my colleagues -- because leadership has much more to do with how we think about what we do and why than it does about formal titles and degrees. And I imagine that many of you are also leaders whether you’re aware of it or not.

Secret Teacher: we all feel like a must have hope ‘It is in our despair that we can find our greatest teaching strength – the fact we care.’ Secret Teacher offers light at the end of the tunnel for those in the teaching slump. My first year of teaching is a bit of a blur. I remember the long days, my principal telling me to “go home, it’s dinner time”. I remember thinking that if only I worked harder this would be easier. The answers would come and I would not feel like such a fraud. When I reached for past experience, there was so little to grab that I worked every single day to fill the seemingly empty reservoir of knowledge, all to afford my students the chance of a great year. I remember the first time I cried after a bad day. A lesson had not worked, and clearly this meant I was not cut out for the job. After all, the students were certainly not learning as much as their peers who had veteran teachers – they had it all figured out, they knew how to teach. I did not. I remember wishing for my first year to be behind me so that I would have the answers, so my students would leave every day having had the best possible learning experience, and I would never cry again.

But, that is not how it works. I have taught for eight years now and I still cry at times. There are still days where my best laid plans disintegrate and nothing seems to work; where my students stare at me as if I am from outer space, not even speaking their language. Those days come out of the blue; every little thing seems to pile up until you face the realisation that perhaps you are not as good a teacher as you were starting to think. One day last December, I sat on my couch and cried, overwhelmed with the feeling of failure after an OK day at school. Nothing huge had happened, I just did not feel that I would ever be able to pull off being a 7th-grade teacher, no matter how many hours I spent planning and preparing. I needed to let all my frustration out to move forward. I blogged about it and watched as the education community told me that I was not alone, that there would be better days, and that I was making a difference even if it did not feel that way. As the days passed, I slowly came around, restoring confidence in myself. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies, lacking the faith in our abilities that others see. But it is normal, even if it is hard. It is normal, even if you feel completely alone. So for all of us who have felt the slump, who have felt like we are not good enough and our students would be better off with someone else – have hope. It is in our despair that we find our greatest teaching strength – the fact we care. We care enough to know that sometimes we are not at our best, no matter our intentions. We care enough to know that there will be good and bad days. What matters is what we do with those bad days. We embrace them as a means to reflect – what could have gone better? What could be changed to teach better? I have learned is that this is not all on you, that when we teach we enter into a partnership with our students and we must discuss what they will be putting into the classroom too. They may have bad days as well, but they also need to use those bad days to reflect. The best teaching is one where students and teachers come together – not just sit back and wait for the teacher to put on a show.

I have learned in my years of teaching that I am not perfect. I will never be the perfect teacher, I will never have all of the answers and I will never be able to In Afghanistan, many girls are forbidden to ride bicycles plan enough to avoid bad days. But I have also The Skateistan organization empowers girls through skateboarding learned that the bad days are not quite as bad as they 72 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

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a failure sometimes, but we e used to be. The reservoir of knowledge that we build up over the years teaches us that this too shall pass. Every teacher seems to hit a slump at least once a year, if not more. We all question whether we should be in the profession, but it is within that questioning that we strengthen our resolve to make a difference and grow from it, rather than let it drown us in a pool of despair.

Don’t despair – it’s what you do with the bad days that really counts

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network

Photograph: Alamy

There are no teachers who have perfect lessons every day, never doubting themselves. We teach children, after all, and children are not perfect human beings. So reach out to others, realise that you are not alone and that most teachers who seem like they have it all together probably have off days as well. Bad days do not define us, they are an opportunity to grow. We feel our bads so innately because we take pride in what we do – that is the mark of a great teacher who is making a difference. Even if it does not feel like it that day.

Every teacher has moments when we question whether we’re cut out for the job.

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 73

The Rise and Rise of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Colouring When the topic of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;colouring inâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; came up it was decided to create a small article about how it was growing as an interest which adults were embracing in increasing numbers. However since that decision was made the phenomenon of Adult Colouring has become just that... a phenomenon...the most popular of the multitude of books (some of which have been rushed onto the market with little thought on what the colourists require) feature regularly on the top ten best selling book lists in increasing numbers throughout the world. The internet is awash with youtube videos covering a huge variety of topics ranging from techniques for shading, using watercolour pencils, blending, to the use of colour wheels and innumerable videos of pictures being coloured to a standard most can only dream of reaching.... That said the beauty of colouring in is that the decisions are those of the colourer... to shade or the have flat blocks of colour? To use pencils or gel pens or perhaps to use a combination of both?... the choices are endless and offer some measure of individual creativity.

books by specific artists and compilations, monthly magazines and free (or purchasable downloads) on the internet. There is an element, as with many creative ventures, of theft, and illegal copying and reproduction. There is also an increasing facebook presence of specific coulourist groups, both closed and open and all appear to be genuinely encouraging of the work of others and increasingly acknowledging the source of their completed pictures. these groups appear non-judgemental and willing to share where to buy the most reasonably priced supplies and to warn of things they see which they perceive to be unethical or illegal. So not only is the phenomena growing as a possible means of stress relief and enjoyment in the use of colour but it is also developing communities of people, some of whom are housebound or have medical issues which preclude them from having a normal functioning relationship wth others. What follows are some examples of completed pictures (many thanks to Julie Smith for generously sharing some of her lovely pictures) and a couple of articles which should add to the understanding of what colouring in is and how it affects, in a beneficial way, a large number of people world wide.,

Similarly the amount written about the transformation of previous embroiderers, knitters and television addicts into fully fledged colourists is increasing. It ranges from straight articles on techniques through to most erudite and scholarly articles on the deeper phychological benefits to being a colourist. It has been acknowledged for some years that art journaling, painting, in fact any form of artistic expression is beneficial to wellbeing. With colouring now being attractive to a wider range of people they are turning to it in increasing numbers as a method of relieving stress, taking themselves away from the world and concentrating on a measure of creativity without having to also create an illustration. The pictures suitable for colouring are created by illustrators and as with many things there are both 74 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

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Inâ&#x20AC;?

Illustrations from Millie Marottaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Animal Kingdom

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 75

Colouring If only we had realized when we were kids that those days were the best days. Chances are the last time you spent an afternoon colouring you weren’t worried about what you should make for dinner or why he hasn’t texted you back yet. Sometimes just trying to ~adult~ on a regular bases can be a reaaal struggle. Which is why reviving this childhood hobby and indulging in some adult colouring is the perfect remedy. These magical pieces of fresh ink have been linked to help reduce stress and anxiety while promoting creativity and relaxation. Neuropsychologist and author of his own colouring books, Dr. Stan Rodski says, “colouring elicits a relaxing mindset, similar to what you would achieve through meditation. Like meditation, colouring allows us to switch off our brains from other thoughts and focus on the moment.” Basically like a bubble bath but with paper and pencil crayons. If you want to get started with this artsy and relaxing trend, scroll through for a list of some of our fave colouring books!

Unicorns are Jerks by Theo Nicole Lorenz Secret Garden by Johanna Basford The 1990s Coloring Book by James Grange Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta Color Me Drunk by Potter Style Color Me Swoooon By Mel Elliot

Posted by Lydia Reabel- Pinheiro in Lifestyle 76 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 77

Why adults are going back to colouring books Crayons at the ready - colouring books are not just for kids, you know…

Colouring in may well be something you remember fondly from your childhood – or indeed something your own children enjoy now. But this simple activity has been making headlines lately, especially in France, where colouring books for grown-ups are selling faster than cook books, according to trade publication Livres Hebodo.

Psychologies

With mindfulness the buzz word of the moment, colouring in is an easy way to calm the mind and occupy the hands. Speaking at a mental health workshop in 2009, author, speaker and communication expert Mark Robert Waldman explained that active meditation focuses attention on simple tasks that require repetitive motion. Concentrating this way replaces negative thoughts and creates a state of peace, and many people who have a difficult time with concentrative meditation can find this easier. This gentle activity where you choose the colours to create your picture and the repetitive action of colouring it in focuses the brain on the present, blocking out any intrusive thoughts. Meanwhile, a recent study from San Francisco State University has shown that people who partake in creative activities outside of work not only deal with stress better but their performance at work improves, too. You need only look at the massive explosion of interest in crafts such as knitting and dressmaking in recent years to see how many people are choosing to occupy themselves in such creative activities. The UK may not have embraced colouring in to the same degree as the French yet, but 2013 saw the launch of The Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt & Colouring Book by Johanna Basford. Now Art At Home and The Little Book Of Mindfulness author, Tiddy Rowan, has produced Colour Yourself Calm: A Mindfulness Colouring Book, which contains 30 colour ‹mandalas› (from the Sanskrit word for ‹circle›) with identical copies for you to colour in - mandalas are an ancient form of

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meditative art that draw your eye towards their centre and it›s believed that colouring them in relaxes the mind, body and spirit while also allowing you to explore your creative side. Pass the colouring pencils… Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom: A Colouring Book Adventure features beautiful illustrations of fish, birds, mammals, trees, plants and flowers from the West Wales-based freelance illustrator. It also comes in postcard size illustrations boxed for sale. Pretty Patterns: Creative Colouring For Grown-Ups is the latest offering from the publisher of Vintage Patterns, and offers 128 pages of flowers, birds and butterflies, along with geometric patterns, while the first half of the Creative Therapy Colouring Book has magnificent pictures for colouring, and the second has a doodling section for a more free-style approach where you can let your own creativity take over!

Photograph: plainpicture/Maskot

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 79

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 81

Lost Ocean An Inky Adventure & Colouring Book Creator:

Johanna Basford

Published:

Virgin Books

Random House New Zealand

RRP:

$25.99 Paperback

the concern of it bleeding thwrough to the other side (this however is not guaranteed for the heavy Distributed: Penguin handed!).

Yet another gorgeous book from the creator of Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest, Lost Ocean An Inky Adventure & Colouring Book promises to be at least as popular as its predecessors. An extremely accomplished illustrator before the rise of ‘adult colouring in’ Basford’s style lends itself perfectly to this genre and it is easy to see why her books have developed such a following throughout the world. they are playful yet challenging and offer the possibility of being accessible and suited to both beginners and accomplished colourists depending on which illustration they choose to approach. The book is printed on a good weight paper and as such enables the colourist to choose between pencils or pens or (frequently) a combination of both without 82 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

Johannas parents are both marine biologists and that background from her childhood which has developed into an adult interest, along with her occasionally slightly quirky approach to illustration ensures that the colourist has a wide choice of appealing images to chose from. There are a number of Youtube videos of colourists at work showing a multitude of techniques and the skill of some of those has been commented on favourable by Basford herself on a colouring facebook group she is a member of. Johanna Basford herself is not averse to uploading videos of her technique and her website is a great complement to her books. Basford lives in the country and all her works have been nature inspired. An original book can develop as in Secret Garden which now also has an Artists Edition for those who wasnt to complete pictures and subsequently frame them. For those interested in the craft of colouring this is one book I’d thoroughly recommend!

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Picture from Johannaabasford.com

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016 83

I’m so looking forward to the Ma Hail Inclusiveness! Praise be to those who know best how to make new immigrants feel at home by changing our language and denying our culture. Recently I read that an Auckland immigration service has decided to delete the word ‘Christmas’ in order to make its clients feel better, substituting ‘festive season’. The Race Relations Commissioner endorsed this decision. I marveled at the subsequent on-line correspondence, which, to my imperfect memory, was all pretty-well derisive and condemnatory. I am bemused at the ‘thinking’ behind such a

decision. I try to imagine what it would be like if I were a migrant in a new country. If there were an organisation devoted to my well-being, I’d like to think it would not patronise me by assuming what part of my new country could offend me. I’d like to be aware of and have the opportunity take part in its cultural activities. Some cultures do like to integrate. One correspondent, for examplem slammed the decision, saying her Indian community group celebrated Christmas and even had a Santa visit. When in Rome… Several atheists (God bless them) were vehement in their right to enjoy Christmas which they rightly said had become more of a cultural event than a religious one. Research has shown that many nonChristian countries

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arch Equinox Holiday acknowledge Christmas in some way, even if some are somewhat confused as to its nature. I remember an acquaintance telling me he had seen (many years ago) a Santa Claus on a cross in a Tokyo department store window. Is it racist (a much devalued word these days) to suggest new Kiwis should have the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not to accept our customs and language? Should we, in our struggle not to offend, deny our own culture? Does inclusiveness include things European in the scheme of things? Could it be that this languagecleansing be racist? Is it unreasonable to assume that there are at least some Christians amongst the immigrants? Should their beliefs be acknowledged? Or perhaps the service and the RRC are only considering non-Christians. Taking the language-culling further, what other words should be excised? Easter, of course. Good Friday would be on death-row. Down the rabbit hole for the Easter Bunny. How about ‘Happy March Equinox’ as a greeting? Other cultures’ events would need to be renamed or adjusted, in the name of fairness. Matariki, New Year and Chinese New Year times could be ‘averaged out’ and rescheduled around the end of February and named ‘festive beginnings’. Any suggestions for Passover and Ramadan?

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Recently, I inserted my bank card into an ATM. The screen flashed ‘Happy Diwali’. I did not feel insulted, certainly not excluded. Of course, to be consistent, if Christmas is for the chop, then the self-appointed language police would need to see the light with this festival’s name. Isn’t changing labels a bit like babytalk? Why call a train a ‘choo choo’, a dog a ‘bow-wow’? If an infant can say those words, she can readily use correct vocabulary. If a meal is held on December the 25th, calling it a seasonal festive dinner is basically a euphemism. The elephant is still in the room, or perhaps it’s a camel? Is it offensive to expose an immigrant to a Christmas meal? Isn’t it offensive not to give them the opportunity to be exposed to the concept of Christmas which is a prominent event in New Zealand? Give them the choice, perhaps? I attend many a meal with friends where ‘grace’ is said. I sit quietly and acknowledge the situation. It’s my decision to be theremy disbelief in the concept of religion is understood and tolerated by my hosts, just as I am tolerant of their beliefs. It’s a relatively little thing to expunge a word. However, behind that word is a whole system of beliefs and way of life. Is that way of life threatened?

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“The best teachers don’t give you the answers... They just point the way ... 86 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2016

and let you make your own choices.”