Good Teacher Magazine 2017, Term 4 by Good Teacher Magazine

Term Four 2017

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

Page 18 MOTAT

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Index

Your Soapbox 4 Learner agency in innovative learning environments Dianne Smardon & Jennifer Charteris 5 Te Kura teacher wins Australasian Teaching Award AADES 9 The leavers speech John Hellner 10 Spotlight on education in New Zealand... revisited Ann Puntis 12 Lessons from Matilda Wormwood, the Teacher. Elaine Le Sueur 14 Introducing the MOTAT STE^M Cells MOTAT 18 Will Singapore Continue to Lead in 2030? C M Rubin & Pak Tee Ng 20 Stating the bleeding obvious Laurie Loper 24 Increasing equity through educational technology Elise Chen 28 Should I… can I teach abroad? Ten questions to ask yourself Gemma McSweeney 30 Ban on high sugar, fat and salt foods ahead for school meals plan Paul Cullen 35 Coaching Versus Teaching Michelle LaBrosse 36 A Non-Family Friendly Review of the Polar Express Stephanie Jankowski 38 School of Dance Celebration 42 As They Like It SGCNZ 47 ‘Women computers’ often couldn’t use Harvard’s telescope... Cristela Guerra 48 How reading and writing with your child boost more than just literacy Kim Eckart 52 What Curriculum is Relevant For Today’s World? C M Rubin 54 Commonwealth youth work education consortium launches Commonwealth Consortium 56 What The First Day Of School Looks Like Around The World Caroline Bologna 58 The sociologist and feminist researching the challenges facing India’s aspiring young women Cambridge Life Series 62 Little Truff and the Whales Book Review 66 Teach Peers to give feedback Starr Sackstein 67 By engaging parents, principal hopes to boost student success Kendal Blust 68 Group project? Taking turns, working with friends may improve gradesKim Eckart 70 Crystalline Artworks Grow from Cracks in Urban Walls by Paige Smith Kate Sierzputowski 72 Teachers’ Top Tips for Designing Meaningful PD Programs C.M. Rubin 80 New typhoid vaccine offers hope of protection for children Oxford University Research 83 Changing behaviors may be easier...Stanford research finds Milenko Martinovich 84 Giant Straw Animals Invade Japanese Fields Stella/Bored Panda 86 Fair Trade Roger’s Rant 94 Front Cover: Back Cover:

Eastern end of Pauanui Beach North Island New Zealand Adelaide Zoo... Meditating meercat

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... however this is not always successful... most were collated from a wide range of internet sources.

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Your Soapbox!

“

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Learner agency in innovative learning environments: Navigating new generation spaces Dianne Smardon and Dr Jennifer Charteris Agency is currently a hot topic in schools, particularly as we see schools around Aotearoa modifying single cell spaces, funding rebuilds, and reaping the benefits of purpose built designs. Agency in innovative learning environments (ILE) is more than just ‘having control’, ‘having ownership’, ‘having choice’, or ‘being self regulated or self managing’. Agency involves having the social cultural resources to know what to do when you don’t know. It is built up relationally over a protracted period of time and involves a cocktail of relational trust, high expectations for teacher professional learning and student achievement, pedagogical scaffolds, and cultural relevance and integrity. It is well established that relational trust is important – we know that learning happens through partnerships between students, teachers and with communities.

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Teacher Responsibility Focused Instruction

‘I do it’

Guided Instruction

‘We do it’

Collaborative Independent

‘We do it together’ ‘You do it alone’

Student Responsibility Figure 1. Gradual Release of Responsibility Model (Fisher & Frey, 2013, p. 3)

To say that agency is purely learner ‘choice’ or ‘ownership’ throws back the responsibility for failure directly on the child. This individualised 21st century child who is primed and ‘responsibilised’ to meet the needs of the economy is a powerful image, but one that should be challenged when it is touted uncritically through school policy. There is an important interface between the social and cultural context and the individual. Success is not just about individual motivation. Linking agency to just wanting to succeed is a dangerous meritocratic idea. There are not the social and technical supports in place (for instance, Assessment for Learning) to really scaffold agency. For instance, there may be the deliberate and systematic use of the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model (Fisher & Frey, 2013) (See Figure 1). In innovative learning environments (ILE) agency is an important notion. Classroom management becomes ‘surveillance by distance’ with many teachers and students able to opt into various relationships with teachers, peers, and classroom spaces. In some instances, children can work with the teacher they build the best relationship 6 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

with. With collegial support, one teacher can be freed up to spend a protracted period of time with the new child, with colleagues working in groups. The affordances of different relationships are possible due to the range of spatial designs: ‘general learning areas’, ‘learning commons’, ‘learning streets’, ‘open learning areas’, ‘lounges’, ‘collaborative learning areas’, ‘studios’, ‘meeting spaces’, ‘activity area’ and ‘breakouts’ (Dovey & Fisher, 2014). What pedagogic spaces are there in ILE and what does this mean for approaches to learning? There are a correspondingly diverse range of possible types of groupings for students (See the continuum in Table 1.). In the continuum below, Dovey and Fisher (2014) illustrate links between types of pedagogical activity and group sizes. There are large group presentations and four kinds of interactive activity types for smaller groups, through to individualised reflective activity. What do we want students to know, do and be in these environments if they are to be able to navigate these various spaces?

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Continuum of group size

Type of pedagogical activity

PRESENTATION 25-150 students

Students or teachers present to a largely passive group. Group size may vary from one class cohort to a full form or year. Such activities facilitate efficient communication of information.

LARGE INTERACTIVE 25-75 students

Activities that move seamlessly from large to small group and back; often organized in sub-groups of four to six that can be subdivided again into twos or threes. Facilitates peer-to-peer learning and team teaching.

MEDIUM INTERACTIVE 10-25 students

Activities with a similar flow of movement to the above, but with a smaller group size and generally one teacher.

CREATIVE INTERACTIVE 10-25 students

Interactive activities but with an emphasis on hands-on learning in addition to pens and keyboards, plus access to a range of resources that may include art materials, wet areas, laboratory or outdoors.

SMALL INTERACTIVE 2-5 students

This is the ‘breakout’ model of problem-based and peer-to-peer learning with small autonomous groups that may disperse and take Responsibility for their learning.

REFLECTION 1 student

Singular activities that include reading, writing or hands-on research to meet learning objectives.

Table 1: A Typology of Pedagogies (Dovey & Fisher, 2014, p. 3) We have heard stories of ILEs where students have got lost or their unique learning needs have not been met. This is where a systematic approach to ‘learner agency’ comes to the fore. Learner agency involves students making decisions about how they use space for learning. To be supported to do this, there are a range of agency related factors to consider -assessment capability, student voice and of course the capacity built through ‘slow release’. Assessment capability is where students are active decision-makers who have a range of information about their own learning and are assisted by their teachers to discern where they are in their progressions of learning and define their next steps. This agency is exemplified in the way students can engage in dialogue about their assessment data (as aspect of student voice). Urban primary Principal, Kim (pseudonym), told us how students in her school can determine whether they need further information on their progress and can articulate what they need to address a particular aspect of curriculum. They know what their next learning steps are and have the power to actually influence in dialogue

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– saying, actually, I think I need a running record. I think I found these books these are looking okay for me. I think I might need to be pushed to green, you know, even at year one level. A number of Principals we have spoken with about ILEs described how students opted into workshops to address self-diagnosed gaps in their learning. Pedagogically, processes that support this involve clear learning goals, criteria used dialogically for peer assessment, cyclic opportunities for self assessment, and real opportunities for decision making that may at time challenge the comfort zones of teachers. These aspects of assessment for learning take place in different group sizes in the different classroom spaces (See Table 1). Kim describes pedagogical uses for student voice as an in class, in the moment process and the use of formal questionnaires where the focus is to enhance ongoing learning. Student voice can be gathered through drawing and observation. It can be actual video recording of student voice. It can be children giving feedback in a more formal scenario in their student questionnaire. It might include questions about ‘how agentic I am in terms of my learning’ Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 7

and ‘being able to set my next learning goals’. So, it could include a multiple variety of things. A key consideration is whether there are authentic power sharing opportunities or whether agency is located as the tokenistic (and rather glib) ‘choice and voice’. Is agency really just about the freedom to make the decisions permitted by the teacher? If we want agency in schooling that transcend a focus on just compliance with teacher and curriculum demands, these reflective questions may be useful. •

Are students able to make decisions about which spaces best support them pedagogically?

•

Do students access and interpret their own assessment data?

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Do students understand where their learning fits in a progression so they can set goals?

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Can students opt in to learning when they have a self diagnosed gap?

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Do students see the actions taken and change associated with voice consultation?

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Does the voice work undertaken by students enhance their status in the school?

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Do students have a say about what matters not just a consultation role about what things mean?

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Is there scope for student resistance- what happens when they disagree with adults?

It is our concern that, with the impetus for schooling redesign and spatialised pedagogy, agency might be framed with ‘old thinking’. As an insightful teacher once told us “agency is not just following the recipe – not just doing what the teacher wants.” Furthermore, ‘responsibilisation’, without social support and scaffolding, can be damaging to students. So, when contemplating your classroom and how your students enact agency, you may like to consider both the supports in place and the power relations underpinning your approach. Is there scope for authentic decision making or is it akin to the agency espoused by Henry Ford where customers could have a car of “any color so long as it is black”? Reference Dovey, K., & Fisher, K. (2014). Designing for adaptation: the school as socio spatial assemblage. The Journal of Architecture, 19(1), 43-63. DOI:10.1080/13602365.2014.88 2376 Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2013). Better learning through structured teaching: A framework for the gradual release of responsibility. Alexandria, VA. ASCD.

Invitation to Contribute to Research If you would like to discuss Innovative Learning Environments with the authors, with a view to contributing to ongoing research in the area, please contact Jennifer Charteris. Email: jcharte5@une.edu.au

This project has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of New England (Approval No HE15-282, Valid to 01 November, 2018.) 8 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

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Te Kura teacher wins Australasian Teaching Award Jan Bolton has won the Teaching Excellence Award from the Australasian Association of Distance Education Schools (AADES) for her outstanding work in online education with Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura). The award citation describes Jan’s “Outstanding innovation and approach to teaching and learning” and says, “Jan has pioneered the way for others to work in authentic learning contexts.” Te Kura Chief Executive Mike Hollings says, “As New Zealand’s only state distance education provider Te Kura has much to learn from and share with the larger Australasian distance learning community and it’s great to have a Te Kura teacher recognised for her incredible leadership and talent.” One of the projects Jan was the visionary behind, as Te Kura’s Kaihautū Mātauranga Curriculum Leader of the Performing and Visual Arts was Collaborate to Create. This encouraged students to collaborate online in Te Kura’s Online Teaching and Learning Environment. This collaboration produced the song and music video Echoes of the Sun, written, composed, performed and recorded by students. This project involved 56 Te Kura students of all ages from around the world. This year, the Echoes of the Sun audio track won the music prize in the Create1World competition. Jan says she was keen to challenge some of the perceptions around distance education and show what is possible, she says, “The end result is something that could never have been achieved by just one or two people alone, and which reflects the unique character of Te Kura and its students”.

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Mike Hollings says, “This project illustrates the way Te Kura is now working more and more. Every school in New Zealand and, in fact, around the world is grappling with the challenge of connecting with students, engaging them in learning, making it authentic and relevant. We also need to make sure our young people are skilled in the use of technology and there is no better way of doing that than making it an integral part of their learning.” Jan says a key part of these projects is that they are in the hands of the learners and by teachers having high expectations, mentoring and facilitating, young people can have fun and learn deeply, picking up necessary qualifications along the way. Jan was presented her award by Hon. Susan Close, Minister of Education South Australia, at the AADES conference in Adelaide. You can listen to the song and view the video for ‘Echoes of the Sun’ on Te Kura’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/tekuranz

Hon. Susan Close Minister of Education South Australia, Te Kura CE Mike Hollings and recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award, Te Kura Kaihautū Mātauranga Jan Bolton.

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The leavers speech They asked me to make the farewell speech to the school leavers. Prescriptions for being successful, or being happy, or following dreams, or being inspired to great heights. Put my wisdom up for grabs. I wrote the beginning: “Board members, administrators, teachers, parents and relatives, students and school leavers.” I needed a theme. Something to inspire. Something memorable. I looked back for inspiration.

I remembered an old high school speech I had heard: “You have good parents. You have had good teachers. Remember what you already know. What your parents have taught you. What your teachers have taught you. Use those lessons as your rule book for whatever you do next.” I didn’t do too good paying attention to that advice in my day. Maybe not so true for everyone anymore, if it ever was. I thought of a student essay I once marked. The student wrote, “In my wood tech class, the teacher told us over and over how to be safe when we used the power saw. He showed us and he explained again and showed us again. There were signs everywhere warning us to be careful. But, I never learned until I cut a tiny little bit off the end of my finger.” Not bad I thought. Experiential learning. No advice from me will guide your life, you will have to make your own mistakes and learn from them. “Cheap lesson,” as my mother told me when Ricky Blake beat me up several decades ago, after I had wrecked his tree hut. I learned quick about whose tree fort to wreck and whose fort not to wreck. Funny story. The set piece classic: “I want to share with you today my pathway to my success. From a young age, I worked hard, accepted responsibility for my actions, trusted my family and friends, avoided excess, treated everyone equally and justly...”. All good rules – usually. Set piece classic II: “To be happy, all you need to remember is to keep life simple. Don’t worry about what you can’t control. Don’t compare yourself to others and don’t judge others. Never let others define you. Live each day to the fullest...”. Pretty true, most of the time, in the ideal world.

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John Hellner

Things young people need to hear. From an alumni of all girl high school to another graduating class: “As a 21 year old, the best advice I can give you is to take as many bikini photos as you can while your body is hot.” I’m a bloke, but point unforgettably made with a bit of room for my interpretation. Or, maybe use some famous quotes, like this one from a “Mad Max: Fury Road” doco: “All you young people need to succeed in the future is a reliable source of fuel and a fanatical cadre of psychopathic motorcycle killers.” Just fun and puts us all at ease. Heard a university dean offer his suggestions for happiness and success. He said always to ask five essential questions: •

“Wait. What?” to make sure you understand.

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“I wonder...Why? I wonder...if?” as the basis of curiosity and pathway to improvement.

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“Couldn’t we at least...?” to allow for a beginning when the way forward seems unclear.

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“How can I help?” a cornerstone of all relationships, which acknowledges the other person knows best what they may need.

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“What truly matters to me?” forcing us to consider the heart of our beliefs.

Not sure which way to go. Wish I could put it all together in one package, but not likely. Maybe I do do it all, but piecemeal, bit by bit, during the course of the teaching year. Do students remember that, more than just one shot at the end of year prizegiving ceremony? Piecemeal beats the grand theme. Live it, don’t talk it. Maybe that’s the advice. Piecemeal? Best advice? Don’t give advice. Tell a story. Keep it short. Make it funny. They’ll get the idea. So much for me not giving advice. I wrote the ending of my speech: “Enjoy your holiday, look forward to whatever comes next, be safe.”

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Spotlight on education in New Zeal The following article by Ann Puntis, Chief Executive of our exam board Cambridge International Examinations, appeared in SecEd - the UK’s only weekly publication that is dedicated exclusively to secondary education - on 22 March 2012. Teachers concerned about the impact of a fragmented curriculum with the focus on ‘modules’ rather than subjects. Students playing the system by opting for easier modules to boost their scores. Universities reporting that their first year students haven’t been effectively prepared for higher education, lacking a sound platform of subject knowledge and struggling to form links across subject disciplines. Does all this sound rather familiar? No, it’s not the UK education system being discussed here but that of New Zealand since the adoption of Curriculum Standards in 2004.

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Certainly the New Zealand system was up for reform before the introduction of Curriculum Standards. The previous norm-referenced qualification system had continued for a good twenty years longer than in the UK. But the change to Curriculum Standards was radical, rapid and resisted, at least in some quarters. Its introduction in Sir Humphrey-speak could definitely be regarded as ‘courageous’. The jury is still out in terms of its success. There is certainly much to applaud. The system is learner-centric and plays to the development of a personalised curriculum. Teachers play a major part in assessing performance and are able to achieve the holy grail of assessment - a neat segue from formative to summative assessment. The infrastructure provided by the New Zealand Qualification Authority (NZQA) gives support in task-design and evaluation. A system review in 2007 ironed out some of the most contentious weaknesses in terms of the inconsistency in outcomes of students’ achievement - both between subjects and across years. And yet the debate continues. The New Zealand Standards Curriculum culminates in the award of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) at three levels taken in the final three years of school - equivalent to our Years 11, 12 and 13. It’s a credit based award with a credit representing about 10 hours of study - very similar to that envisaged in our own National Qualifications Framework. Credits can be internally assessed and externally moderated, or externally assessed. Some are obligatory within a subject but there is considerable student choice - and consequent strategising. Of course, the system allows students to tailor courses to their interests - but those students become pretty savvy at weighing up which courses are most likely to optimise their credit-rating.

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land... revisited Ann Puntis

Standards indicators are defined at a high-level and leave room for significant differences in interpretation. Level 7 Science (targeted at Year 12 students), for example, requires students to “explore the diverse ways in which animals and plants carry out the life processes” and, at Level 8 (targeted at Year 13) to “understand the relationship between organisms and their environments”. Exam boards may sometimes be accused of being too prescriptive but there is obviously a happy medium to be struck here. If Science standards are open to interpretation, those in English face a different challenge and may be considered to lack progression in line with student maturity. In Year 12, students are required to “select and read text for enjoyment and personal fulfilment” and to “think critically about a text with understanding and confidence” and the same applies in Year 13.

examination system rather than one designed for home students.

Students who meet the standards early have little left to achieve. University entrance is expressed in terms of the NCEA and reaching these requirements early leads some to leave school after Year 12 or even mid way through Year 13. A taxi driver taking me to the office of the NZQA put it neatly: “This system is costing me a packet. I have to keep offering - first the smart phone, then the 2 weeks on the Gold Coast. Anything to keep him motivated and at school once he’s got his standards’.

And the New Zealand context pushed Cambridge to develop its own curriculum in response to students’ requirements. Syllabuses were amended to include papers in New Zealand History, and to extend the range of New Zealand authors in Literature (not just Katherine Mansfield!). A new take on the History of Art was introduced and, unsurprisingly, given that this is New Zealand, we asked for a Sports Science curriculum. We also had to open up our processes - students’ access to their scripts was a New Zealand requirement long before adopted as policy in the UK.

Some educationalists made their concerns about the new system vocal and in the run up to the introduction of the NCEA, a number of New Zealand schools turned to international qualifications rather than the national system. This paralleled a trend that was also emerging in the UK at this time, with schools turning principally to Cambridge IGCSE, and International AS/A Level and also to the International Baccalaureate instead of adopting the national system. This move away from the state system certainly fuelled the flames of an already fiery debate in New Zealand. There was sensitivity about what might be lost in an international

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There was concern about the establishment of a two tier system in which high ability students were channelled into Cambridge qualifications and those of a lesser ability steered towards the national system. There were gender generalisations - girls would favour the continuing assessment model of the national system while boys would favour the ‘sudden death’ of summative examinations. Politicians located themselves in opposite corners - either wholly for international qualifications or wholly against. Certainly the introduction of Cambridge IGCSE and International AS/A Levels threw up some rather unwelcome surprises, with indications in the first years that the New Zealand system had drifted with no international benchmark to anchor performance.

Eight years down the line the intensity of the debate has subsided and the national system and Cambridge qualifications co-exist. Around sixty schools in New Zealand teach Cambridge qualifications alongside the national system. This co-existence owes much to the vision and commitment of the early champions of the Cambridge system in New Zealand, particular school leaders who were determined to show that international qualifications should have a place in the national context if students were to be effectively prepared for a globalised higher education. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 13

LESSONS FROM MATILDA WORM 1. The world belongs to those who read. Roald Dahl knew that keeping the questioning spirit alive is an important key to success in life, and his book characters reflect the magic that is all around us in the world if we take the time to look. Matilda shows us that it is never too late to learn about the world though the magic of stories. Matilda notices that although there are people all around her and they are talking, she doesn’t hear their words when she is engrossed in a book.

It is quiet and I am warm. Like I’ve sailed into the eye of a storm From Matilda, the musical.

Did you know that there are more than 300 public libraries in New Zealand? And that more than 100,000 people visit a public library every day? Did you use your local library card during the school holidays? Are you aware which of the students in your class have library cards? Have you encouraged those who haven’t yet, to join up?

‘A library card is the start of a lifelong adventure.’ Lilian Jackson Braun.

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MWOOD, THE TEACHER. Musings by Elaine Le Sueur

The need for access to knowledge is as essential for us today as it was for Roald Dahl’s Matilda, but access is not evenly distributed in society and our school libraries are in danger of being seen as a poor relation when it comes to funding when forced to compete with technology. Matilda reminds us that the physical space a library occupies is needed as learning transitions from analogue to digital, from institutions of collectors and keepers of the knowledge to institutions that share and preserve society through digital archiving. We have a duty to support our local library spaces to ensure that the gap between the haves and the have- nots in our society does not become progressively wider and more divisive.

Matilda’s booklist can be found at https://www. goodreads.com/list/show/94837. Matilda_Wormwood_Reading_List Check them out. They are great classics to share with a class.

The Wormwood family is exclusively hooked on television. Matilda teaches us that reading can give us ways to understand and to be understood by those we are in contact with, thus expanding our knowledge of the world we live in. It all adds up. If you read for just 15 minutes every day then in a year you will have read more than a million words. To precis the words of Roald Dahl… All the words you have read will give you a view of the world that non-readers don’t have. And there is the added advantage of no commercials to have to suffer first!

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1. Questions are really important. ‘Did you know,’ said Matilda suddenly, ’that the heart of a mouse beats at the rate of six hundred and fifty times a second?’ ‘I did not,’ said Miss Honey, smiling. ‘How absolutely fascinating. Where did you read that?’ ‘In a book from the library,’ Matilda said. ‘And it means that it goes so fast you can’t even hear the separate beats. It must sound like a buzz.’ ‘It must,’ Miss Honey said.

From the book ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl. Children are constantly attempting to make sense of their place in the world and the world around them and good books are invaluable. ‘The greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.’ Roald Dahl. One way that teachers can build on the issues raised in books is to ask questions that are open to enquiry and lead to further questioning and are not easily answered. Questions about meaning, truth, value, knowledge and reality. Thinking about and making distinctions between concepts helps students develop verbal reasoning. Good questions are ones that are difficult to answer. Here’s a couple to be going on with… Of all the things that you are learning, what do you think will be the most useful to you when you are an adult? Why do you think that? What’s the difference between pretending and lying? Is there a difference between wanting and needing? For a list of questions for juniors with a free printable: http://www.crayonfreckles.com/2014/01/50questions-to-ask-kids-plus-free.html For older students there is a great online portal https://www.bigquestionsonline.com/ The more opportunities that students have to discuss why things are as they are and to think 16 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

about possible choices and consequences, the better prepared they are when they meet with difficulties and challenges. To stimulate a philosophical discussion from a book that you are reading to the class… Read part of the story then ask is there anything strange or interesting or puzzling to you? (Have one or two big questions of your own ready to contribute just in case it takes a while to get going) Collect the questions that the students ask and use them as a focus for in depth discussion. Sophisticated picture books are great to use as a basis for this. Three to get you started… The Red Tree by Sean Tan ISBN 9780734411372 How to live forever by Colin Thompson ISBN 9780099461814 Little Mouse’s big book of Fears by Emily Gravett ISBN9780330503976

2. Be confident and have faith in yourself.

Don’t be afraid to highlight your strengths. None of the main characters in Dahl’s books fit in with the crowd, and have to take matters into their own hands in order to find happiness. Matilda reminds us that we need to be able to take responsibility for our own outcomes and we can

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‘Just because you find that life’s not fair, it doesn’t mean that you have to grin and bear it. If you always take it on the chin and wear it, nothing will change. Even if you’re little you can do a lot. You mustn’t let a little thing like ‘little’ stop you. Matilda, the musical. Lyrics by Tim Minchkin use our brain power to triumph over stupidity. Mistakes are valuable as long as you learn from them. We all respect inspirational teachers. What are your strengths? If you are not sure what you are good at then ask the students! They will know!

3. Age is irrelevant. Have you read ‘The Ripple Effect’ by Tony Ryan? It is a powerful proponent of the idea that anyone can make a difference with their everyday actions. We all have the power within ourselves to create change or to inspire others to make a difference, but ideas only work if they are translated into action. Tony Ryan’s book is full of ideas just waiting for the reader to start a ripple. Or as Matilda would put it… Even if you are little, you can do a lot. Believe in your personal power and be the change that you would like to see in the world around you. Who knows where they might end? And a final thought from me about Matilda,

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motivated by an article by Dr Susan Rennie, chief editor of the Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary who discusses Roald Dahl’s use of creative language. The names that Dahl uses hint at the nature of his characters. Matilda’s school, Crunchem Hall suggests what is in store for the students faced with Miss Trunchbull, who would like to ‘crunch them.’ I feel sure that he must have been aware that the name Matilda is of German origin and means ‘mighty in battle.’ How appropriate! The full article can be found at https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/ what-do-we-learn-roald-dahls-creative-uselanguage Elaine’s Blog: MADE2share.blogspot.com Looking for a classroom Christmas activity with a difference this year? Try the new mystery for upper juniors/ middle school students… ‘Who stole Rudolph’s nose?’ https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ Who-Stole-Rudolphs-Nose-3424117 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 17

Introducing the MOT The promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) within education over the past few years has come about because the teaching fraternity has recognised that students need to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to solve tough problems, gather and evaluate evidence, and make sense of the glut of information available to them at the tap of a screen or keyboard. Equally, as the demand for scholars to be innovative thinkers and problem-solvers grows, so does the need for initiatives which support teachers to develop these competencies in their students. This is why the team at MOTAT has developed the new mobile STEAM Cells programme (the ‘A’ is in there for Arts).

A STEAM Cell is a trailer containing specialised equipment, teaching resources and collection items. These resources are taken by a MOTAT educator beyond the walls of the museum to sites around Auckland. This means: • Schools don’t have to pay for buses, • Teachers don’t have to organise adult helpers for an EOTC visit • Valuable learning time is saved by removing the need to travel to and from MOTAT. MOTAT has deliberately kept things as flexible as possible, so we can collaborate with schools to identify how a STEAM cell can best work with their teaching programme – the content, the

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TAT STE^M Cells

length of time, and the number of students can all be changed to suit individual needs. Teachers could book a STEAM Cell for a day and have a smaller group of students participating in a deep learning experience, or they might book it for a week and have the whole school sharing the STEM experience. MOTAT has STEAM Cells developing the following competencies:

Design thinking â&#x20AC;&#x201C; keeping the focus on

innovation and invention, this STEAM Cell takes students through a design thinking process involving problem solving, ideation, designing and prototyping.

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Computational thinking â&#x20AC;&#x201C; students use their

computational thinking skills to develop, test and perfect a 2D arcade game which can be released onto the global arcade for everyone to play.

Collaborative thinking - students use their leadership and collaboration skills to solve challenges which help their class beat the Victorian Escape room challenge. This is a great end-of-year activity for teambuilding. For more information: www.motat.org.nz/learn/ steam-cells/ or call our Bookings team (09) 815 5808

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The Global Search for Education: W “We are putting in more efforts to emphasize values inculcation, lifelong learning, holistic education and 21st centuryskills. We hope to encourage joyful learning and help our students develop resilience and an entrepreneurial spirit.” — Pak Tee Ng

Singapore has been well publicized as one of the most highly regarded education systems in the world. But does that acclaim exist mainly because of the country’s consistent high placement in international league tables such as the OECD’s Pisa or is there more to this system’s story? How did Singapore transform its once struggling education system into an effective one? In an age of technological disruption, uncertainty and dramatic change, what’s being done to emphasize lifelong learning, holistic education and 21st century skills today, and even more importantly, in the future? Learning from Singapore: The Power of Paradoxes, is a new book by Pak Tee Ng, which tells the inside story of the country’s continuous journey to achieve excellence in learning. The Global Search for Education is pleased to welcome Pak Tee Ng to talk about the past, present and future of learning in Singapore schools. Pak Tee Ng is Associate Dean, Leadership Learning, Office of Graduate Studies and Professional Learning, and Head and Associate 20 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

Professor, Policy and Leadership Studies Academic Group, at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Republic of Singapore. “Our approach is to pursue timely change, policies based on long-term consideration of Singapore’s future, while preserving timeless constants – values that provide navigation beacons in the turbulence of change.” — Pak Tee Ng

Welcome Pak Tee. Singapore has been hailed as a global success in education. Why is there still reform? How has global context impacted education in Singapore? The world is experiencing global uncertainties, technological disruptions, and contestations of values, all at an increasing rate of change. Although Singapore has a robust education system, it is changing to ensure that students have what it takes to meet the challenges of such a context and future. We change when we are strong rather than to wait until we are desperate. Then we can change in a more mindful and reflective manner. Work has begun much earlier but we are putting in more efforts to emphasize values inculcation, lifelong learning, holistic education and 21st century skills. We hope to

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Will Singapore Continue to Lead in 2030? C. M. Rubin and Pak Tee Ng encourage joyful learning and help our students develop resilience and an entrepreneurial spirit. We would like our young people to become morally upright, economically productive, and rooted to the country.

What additional work is there to be done in improving schools? Let me give you a few examples of the things we are currently doing. Singapore schools are generally well organized for efficient and effective learning. But we are now much more mindful and intentional about making the learning process a joyful one, so that students develop an intrinsic desire for lifelong learning. Then, they will be better prepared to deal with future complex challenges. This requires teachers to examine their teaching methods to engage their students better. We are also making content more relevant to real life and giving students opportunities to apply knowledge and skills learned in school in authentic work settings. We help students develop their character and people skills through experiential learning in many areas, such as sports, outdoor adventures, uniformed groups, and art. We would like to broaden the definition of success and develop more educational pathways for students. We would like young Singaporeans to become well-rounded and productive citizens.

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“Singapore is able to draw strength from paradoxes because its education fraternity is united in its purpose to shape the future of the nation.” — Pak Tee Ng

What has Singapore learned from other countries’ systems and how has this impacted the decisions made for Singapore’s education system? Learning from other countries’ education systems helps us to rethink our education paradigm and challenge our mindset. We discover that there are different ways in which equity among learners may be promoted. We become more acutely aware of the need for improvement in other sectors of education, especially in early childhood and special needs education. We also learn how an apprentice system of learning works in practice. The experiences of other systems also show us the possible side-effects of certain reforms. For example, having too many graduates in the country can be problematic because of their unmet employment expectations. We are therefore mindful to implement change in a calibrated manner. We learn from others, but we cannot blindly copy practices. We have to find our own way forward.

What are the some of the competing philosophies of education coming out of Singapore?

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 21

Secondly, should Singapore’s education system be more centralized or decentralized? With more become well-rounded and productive citizens. “Singapore is able to draw strength from paradoxes because its education fraternity is united in its purpose to shape the future of the nation.” — Pak Tee Ng

reforms. For example, having too many graduates in the country can be problematic because of their unmet employment expectations. We are therefore mindful to implement change in a calibrated manner. We learn from others, but we cannot blindly copy practices. We have to find our own way forward.

What are the some of the competing philosophies of education coming out of Singapore? In my book, I explain that some competing philosophies, expressed as paradoxes, include the co-existence of timely change and timeless constants; centralisation and decentralisation; meritocracy and compassion; and teaching less and learning more. Let me give you a couple of examples. Firstly, should we change when we seem to have been successful? If we do, we are changing something that is working. If we don’t, we will soon be left behind. Therefore, our approach is to pursue timely change – policies based on long-term consideration of Singapore’s future, while preserving timeless constants – values that provide navigation beacons in the turbulence of change. Secondly, should Singapore’s education system be more centralized or decentralized? With more centralization, we decrease local customization and professional agency. With more decentralization, we reduce system level synergy. There, our approach is a paradoxical centralised decentralization, which emphasizes strategic alignment with tactical empowerment. System level synergy is derived through alignment with national level strategies. Professional agency is exercised through empowering educators to interpret policies for implementation based on local situations. In this way, Singapore maintains

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(Photos are courtesy of Madam Jessie Koh Yusof Ishak Secondary School)

In my book, I explain that some competing philosophies, expressed as paradoxes, include the co-existence of timely change and timeless constants; centralisation and decentralisation; meritocracy and compassion; and teaching less and learning more. Let me give you a couple of examples. Firstly, should we change when we seem to have been successful? If we do, we are changing something that is working. If we don’t, we will soon be left behind. Therefore, our approach is to pursue timely change – policies based on long-term consideration of Singapore’s future, while preserving timeless constants – values that provide navigation beacons in the turbulence of change.

system coherence while supporting school leaders and teachers to make local level decisions. “Singapore’s experience shows that if an educational change is a mission for the benefit of the next generation, people will rally together and bite the bullet to see through the change.” — Pak Tee Ng

What is the power of embracing paradoxes? How can paradoxes be put to good use? Embracing paradoxes is powerful because it drives positive movements in the system. Paradoxes are powerful because the tensions embedded in them demand for change. Therefore, paradoxes can be a source of strength for the system if they are positively embraced and well managed. But they can also bring conflicts if managed badly. Singapore is able to draw strength from paradoxes because its education fraternity is united in its purpose to shape the future of the nation. That is why paradoxes in Singapore are creative tensions rather than destructive ones, and result in positive rather than negative developments. Because Singapore policy-makers and educators accept paradoxes and constantly navigate them, the system is never in stagnation. Instead, it exhibits positive movements amid reflective contestations, rather than paralysis amid protracted discussions.

Finally Pak Tee, what do you think are the most important lessons Singapore can teach the rest of the world? I would not call Singapore a model education system per se. But the world may be able to learn some important lessons from its reform journey. Firstly, the experience shows the importance of “system-ness”– education reform takes place in an integrated, coherent and sustainable manner

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at the system, school, classroom, and individual levels. Singapore aims to be an excellent system of schools for all, not a system with a few excellent schools for some. Secondly, the experience also shows the importance of national commitment to educational excellence – resource investment, long-term planning, judicious implementation, continuous professional development and teacher empowerment. In the book, I offer a few ‘what if’ reflective questions for another education system, based on Singapore’s experience: •

What if the country sees education as an investment rather than an expenditure?

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What if teachers are seen as nation builders and that the country is committed to recruit and develop good teachers and school leaders?

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What if education can become an uplifting, rather than negative, narrative in the country?

Singapore’s experience shows that if an educational change is a mission for the benefit of the next generation, people will rally together and bite the bullet to see through the change. The Singapore experience raises the most fundamental question about any education reform: is it real? Or is it merely a slogan?

C. M. Rubin and Pak Tee Ng Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 23

Stating the bleeding obvious If it looks like a pig, grunts like a pig, and wallows in mud, there is a high probability it is a pig. No matter how we might characterise our education system, and no matter what animal it you might care to compare it with, it’s odds on it won’t be doing anybody much good, especially not those who are its teachers or those who are being taught. Why? Because no one cares a toss about efficacy. Knowledge about the efficacy of teaching has advanced to the point where there’s no excuse anymore for continuing to teach the way teaching has always been done (let’s call this business-as-usual or bau teaching). Though we’ve known about this efficacy information for some three decades now, teaching practices have stubbornly not kept pace with such advances. The beliefs and practices around teaching have pretty much remained static.

I have written often about this phenomenon so rather than repeat, I will be content just to say the culture which surrounds teaching is stubbornly averse to change. Where teaching is concerned, anyone who embarks upon something that is perceived as likely to threaten the status quo better be prepared for the fight of their lives. The way state of learning comparisons are made seems to further hinder progress in getting bau practice to embrace progress more in keeping with efficacy research. But bau practice is a tough nut to crack. It has been elevated over time to the status of a cultural icon. Young children in their play mimic it to perfection. Exposed to it throughout the entirety of their academic lives, older students contemplating a teaching career don’t need to be taught how to teach, they like every other graduating student already know how. Helping teachers to break with bau teaching is turning out to be the greatest tasks facing education, one with which education must successfully accomplish if the continual drive coming from sources outside the profession is to be satisfied. Keeping up that pressure, international achievement comparisons keep reminding governments of how their education’s system’s place is faring relative to other countries. Speaking specifically about the New Zealand situation, all this seems to do is to intensify pressure on teachers and students to produce

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Laurie Loper Psychologist

better results but still trying to do this relying solely on the use of bau teaching. Better results remain elusive because bau teaching has no capacity to increase its effectiveness beyond a fixed point. As far as I can see all this quest for better results does is increase pressure on schools, it does nothing to trigger a search for different solutions to raise achievement. This view is bolstered by a strong belief that there is nothing wrong with bau teaching. Things have obviously reached an impasse. Then, almost out of the blue, along comes a programme that recognises and successfully counters the shortcomings of bau teaching. It has its origins strongly based on evidence, evidence that in some instances has cost people their health as they have fought for their ideas against a wall of opposition erected mainly by those who can see nothing wrong with bau teaching. It would not be fair to gloss over the efforts of these few pioneers and what their achievements have been but society owes them a big debt of gratitude even if it is one that might never get paid. What has become glaringly obvious (but mostly overlooked by education to this day) is that a largely preventable cause of the underachievement suffered by particularly Maori students (but also by others suffering to varying degrees because of resultant ineffectiveness) in our schools is being caused by the way teachers understand how learning works in classrooms. The efficacy research of the late Professor Graham Nuthall, was the tipping point for me. Nuthall and his team of Canterbury

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University researchers reported research that upsets the entire education applecart. This is revealed in an article he published in 2002 entitled “The Cultural Myths and the Realities of Teaching and Learning”. In this evidence-based article he concludes that our education system “operates on cultural myths and falsehoods” as one commentator puts it. The other major finding of his team is that the capacity to learn is “remarkably similar” across the entire student population, which begs the question why is achievement not as even? Long before the Nuthall research was reported I had suspected something like this was happening to all students in our schools. It led me to become active in learning about what teachers and others understand about learning as a process. What I learnt I began to tell others. With the advent of the Bobbie Maths programme and the startling research it was generating my interest in what I was attempting went up a few notches. The news that some previously failing young Maori students were making as much as a 4 - 5 years gain in Maths in one school year really got me going. That’s why in 2016 I was led to fund the introductory year of the Bobbie Maths programme at Shirley Primary School in Christchurch. To do this I set up a bequest mechanism in my late brother Jim’s name, using money that came to me as a result of him dying intestate. The Ministry of Education insisted that this arrangement be covered by a legal Deed of Partnership which saw it, Massey University, Ngai Tahu and myself all sign up. During this setting up period, a video went

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 25

round the world in which I’m quoted as saying, “Education is not serving social justice and we have got to change that”. In plain terms what I am saying is this. Through no fault of anyone, and largely because of teaching’s almost inseparable attachment to bau learning, the learning diet our children are being fed at school isn’t fit for purpose. However, the attachment that teaching has for bau learning makes it nigh impossible to imagine that persons who adhere to that view could be quickly and easily persuaded to think and act differently. In fact, this is a problem met with in the training for teachers converting to the approach used in Bobbie Maths. It takes three years of supportive mentoring for each teacher to make the transition. Largely based on what the Bobbie Maths research is revealing, it is going to take a complete revamp of our understanding of how learning works in classrooms before we can expect dramatic improvements in Maori student achievement. I am by no means alone in holding such views. In fact, I’d go so far to say that view is rapidly becoming mainstream. It is certainly a view that is finding favour with such august organisations as the Teachers Council, the Educational Review Office (ERO), as well as with Treasury. While it’s comforting to be on the side of the angels for a change, what I really want is to up the ante and get some more rapid forward movement happening. “Working through the usual channels” cannot be relied upon because bau teaching and the thinking that supports it are extremely hard to break away from. Obviously, leadership will be required to ensure something better is found to replace it. In this instance I don’t see schools as having the muscle necessary to bring about the changes needed. So I have taken an initiative that, if

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successful, will involve Ngai Tahu setting up and funding a high status, totally independent commission of education. The commission would investigate and report on a raft of educational issues affecting Ngai Tahu students (appended please find notes about the sort of person who might best head this initiative). I see no valid reason why an iwi shouldn’t set up such a commission, governments do it all the time. Itsjob would be to investigate and report on a raft of educational issues affecting Ngai Tahu students. Included would be issues like the importance of catering for culture in teaching (especially its effect on student well being); the development of a set of universal learning principles, applicable to all subjects (that is, making the most of the skills that the Bobbie Maths programme uses across all subject areas); conducting an examination of the part efficacy research plays in the formation of education policy; providing advice on how a total reinvention of teaching might be carried out; and further, providing advice on what changes to teacher training need to occur. The reason I’m advocating for such a commission is that the research that Bobbie Maths has thrown up along with a lot of other evidence indicates it will be a very long time, if ever, that especially Maori and Pasifika students will reach educational parity with the students who currently are successful. Knowing what I now know I cannot sit idly by and do nothing about it, especially as I know there are now quicker and better ways of achieving the same ends. (Note: If you are unfamiliar with what this amazing New Zealand programme Bobbie Maths can do and what the research it has generated has already shown it is capable of achieving especially for failing young Maori and Pasifika students, indeed for all students, do a Google

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search. This programme has ignited interest globally. Especially check out the several “evidence in action” videos.) The use of a commission would have several advantages over “working through the usual channels”. It would go a long way towards ensuring a much quicker and a more improved academic performance of Maori students (and indeed all students). It would not compromise Ngai Tahu’s policy of the iwi not paying for anything educational that the Government ought to be funding. It would show Government the areas where Ngai Tahu’s needs were not being met. It would remind Government that Ngai Tahu has its own ideas of what it is going to take to fix Maori achievement across the board. It would be a somewhat show-stopping way of getting Government to focus attention on to

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dealing to Ngai Tahu’s particular issues. It would raise the status of Maori education in the eyes of the rest of education in New Zealand. It would give a lead to other iwi on how to deal to their educational issues. I have taken advice on the idea and am pleased to report the feedback has been positive. It remains to be seen how persuasive my argument has been.

For anyone seeking further information on Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities, otherwise known as Bobbie Maths, less commonly Pasifika Maths – the 15 video feature with the analysis of ‘evidence in action’ and supporting references provide great background. http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/topics/BES/ developing-mathematical-inquiry/introduction

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 27

Increasing equity through educatio

Assistant Professor Justin Reich looks to transform educational settings by equipping teachers with the technology tools they need to best serve all students.

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Justin Reich was ready to observe a teacher integrating technology into her lesson plan at a school in rural New Hampshire. Her school had bought the laptops, Reich says. She had reserved them. They were charged. All of the kids were logged in. The power was on in the building. The wireless network was working. The projector bulb was working. The screen was working. But when the teacher went to plug the projector into the wall, the electrical socket fell behind the drywall, foiling her attempted lesson plan. “New technologies have tremendous potential to improve student learning,” Reich says, “but many pieces in a complex system need to be working seamlessly to make this happen.”

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onal technology Elise Chen

Reich, an assistant professor in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing Program (CMS/W), has remained excited about the possibilities that constantly evolving technologies have brought to the learning process over the last few decades. But while many believe that the free and low-cost learning tools becoming available have huge potential to lift up students from low-income families, he’s found that, in truth, this educational technology still benefits the affluent the most. “I think people underestimate barriers,” Reich says. “Many educators get into the work because they want to create a more equitable world. But educational settings often end up reproducing social inequalities and social hierarchies.”

Reich has also created learning tools for teachers through two online courses, Launching Innovation in Schools, done in collaboration with Peter Senge of the Sloan School of Management; and Design Thinking for Leading and Learning. Both courses were funded by Microsoft with a $650,000 grant. In CMS/W, he looks to explore the field of learning science and the role that media plays in expanding human capacity, particularly in a civic sense. “We investigate the complex technology-rich classrooms of the future and the systems that we need to help educators thrive in those settings,” he says.

Through his work as executive director at the MIT Teaching Systems Lab, which now straddles CMS/W and the Office of Digital Learning, Reich works toward finding educational models that incorporate technology in ways that actually will increase quality of education and equity for students. “All over the world, people are looking to see a shift in classroom teaching practice to more active, engaged, inquiry-based collaborative learning,” he says. “And the only way that will happen is if we can dramatically increase the quantity and quality of teacher learning that’s available.” Having started off as a wilderness medicine instructor, Reich comes from a hands-on teaching background. Now, he makes sure he and his projects are constantly engaging with real classroom settings. He co-founded EdTechTeacher, a professional learning consultancy which focuses on finding thoughtful ways to use technology in teaching and learning. He also keeps conversations going with classroom instructors through his Education Week-hosted blog, EdTechResearcher.

Assistant Professor Justin Reich

MIT

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 29

Should I… can I teach abroad? Ten Are you thinking about teaching overseas but wonder whether it’s the right choice for you? 18 months ago, David Atkinson, a primary teacher from Great Britain was asking the same question. He is now living in Luxembourg with his wife Katy, and their young daughter Maisie, and teaching at St. George’s International School, an English-medium international school there. Read how David feels after living and teaching overseas with his family for a year. Then, if you’re still interested, ask yourself ten questions to help you make a decision:

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n questions to ask yourself By Gemma McSweeney

Taking my family to live overseas “My life has changed in an exciting way!” says David. “I have so many more opportunities to explore by experiencing a new culture and teaching in a new environment. The experience has been, and continues to be invaluable, both professionally, personally and as a family. “Teaching in St. George’s International School (in Luxembourg City) is how I’d hoped teaching in the UK would be, and how I believe it should be. I have much better resources to teach with, including great ICT and digital resources, better staffing for cover, and access to more equipment and musical instruments.

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 31

My facilities are also markedly improved. We have a great new auditorium for shows and performances – it’s amazing! I also have smaller class sizes with just 17 children in my class this year. “I now have a much better work/life balance. There’s space in my daily timetable when specialist teachers come in and take over the class. This means I can mark and plan during the working day, and not at home.

“It does take time to settle in, especially if one parent is not working. The expat community is, however, very supportive. My wife Katy goes to parent and toddler groups with our daughter Maisie, and we all go to an Anglican church. My work colleagues are also very open and welcoming to us as a family and we often go to one of the many fantastic parks in the city to socialise. “If I could go back in time and give myself some advice, it would be to do more research regarding renting property, and look at the areas around the school more closely. I would also have taken the contact details of the staff I met during my interview. That way I could have asked them questions before we were due to move. “My plan is to stay in the international teaching sector for the foreseeable future. We’re eager to explore the opportunities for travel while still being able to develop my career.” David is one of thousands of fully qualified teachers now working overseas in international schools. If teaching internationally sounds of interest for you, then ask yourself the following questions to help you make a decision:

Why do I want to teach overseas? Can the reality live up to my expectations? Moving to teach overseas is a big decision. Ask yourself why you want to do it. Are the reasons positive? If you’re choosing to work overseas to develop your career, work alongside experienced teachers from other countries, gain skills, or see the world, then this will be a valuable opportunity for you. If you’re escaping a broken relationship, expecting easy work, no pressures and lots of time on the beach, it might be a good idea to think harder before making the move. Sean Clancy is a teacher from England currently teaching at an English-medium international school in Mexico: “I came to Mexico City because I was looking for a challenge,” he says. “I wanted to live and experience somewhere totally different 32 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

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from the UK. I didn’t want to step out of England into another culture that was exactly the same. Living and working in Mexico City has been an amazing experience! In England, I was stuck in a box, stuck in a routine. Here I feel like I’m on a learning curve.”

As a qualified teacher, what are the best options for me? Many people think that TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) is the obvious solution for teaching overseas. But for fully qualified teachers, especially those originating from English-first-language countries such as Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, US, Ireland and South Africa, the best options; with career enhancement and possible advancement, and good salaries too, are the English-medium international schools which can now be found in virtually every country of the world. These are schools for children aged between 3 and 18, that teach all subjects to children in the language of English, and are mostly located in non-English-speaking countries. English-medium international schools include British and American Schools Overseas, International Baccalaureate World Schools and schools teaching in the language of English and offering an international curriculum.

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Do I have the necessary qualifications and experience to teach in an international school? A standard teaching qualification and two or three years of teaching experience is important and required by most English-medium international schools. Ideally, experience of teaching the National Curriculum of England, an American style curriculum, or the International Baccalaureate (IB) are preferred. So, if you are a teacher from Australia or New Zealand wishing to teach and travel abroad, you may want to consider teaching in the UK for one or two years first, as this will open up many more opportunities for you in future years. However, most international schools agree that attitude is as vital as experience. Enthusiasm, flexibility, resilience and patience are seen as just as important teaching qualifications. Teachers who can lead extra-curricular activities and show true commitment to the school and to the children outside the classroom are highly valued.

How do I feel about leaving family and friends behind? Skype, Facetime, WhatsApp and email all make communicating with loved ones easy, cheap or even free. But there will still be times when you miss your friends and family so consider how you feel about leaving them behind. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 33

Many international schools recognise the importance of being able to fly back and see family, and so include annual flights home with a salary and benefits package. If you’re teaching somewhere exciting, you may become a popular holiday destination and end up seeing family and friends more than you do now!

Who can help me find a position teaching overseas? Finding a respected recruitment company that will support you through the entire process of applying for teaching jobs overseas is important. Research possible agencies in depth. Look for those that share helpful advice, work with you to find the right school for your preference and needs, communicate well through the process, and make you feel like an individual. Some agencies will charge you fees, but reputable ones do not.

Am I open-minded about living overseas? To be a good international teacher, you need to view the world as one; where no culture, country or people are any more or less significant. This means you need to appreciate, accept and be sensitive to the expectations and approaches of people from other countries and cultures. If you have that embracing approach to international mindedness, then you’ll be a great international teacher.

Am I prepared to work with teachers from different countries, backgrounds, and with different learning and teaching skills? If you teach at an international school, you will be working alongside people from across the world, with cultures and learning approaches different to your own. Almost all teachers who have worked internationally say that this helps their own professional development as they are acquiring best practice from teachers from all over the world. The best international teachers are willing and eager to embrace new circumstances and unexpected challenges. Brian Murphy is a teacher from Northern Ireland. He has taught in Chile and is now teaching at an international school in Hong Kong. “In Chile and Hong Kong I’ve had the opportunity to mix with a wide range of teachers who have taught at 34 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

various levels in different schools all over the world,” he says. “I’ve come into contact with teaching methods and ideas that I wouldn’t have encountered, had I remained in the UK.”

Will I need to be able to speak the local language? You don’t have to be fluent or even competent in another language when teaching in an Englishmedium international school. Most international schools around the world are English-medium but it is worth checking before you commit.

Will working abroad benefit my career? Teaching at an international school is a great way to develop your career. There are many opportunities for promotion as international school teachers often move from one country to another every few years, so jobs become vacant more frequently than in a state school back home. Teaching in an international environment also gives you the opportunity to learn new curricula, develop the experience of working with students for who English is their second or third language, and learn new skills from your colleagues. Today, international school experience is looked upon favourably by most national schools when you return home.

Will teaching abroad give me the chance to travel and really experience different cultures or will I be working all the time? Most teachers who work internationally travel extensively during weekends and holidays; it’s part of the international school culture to take advantage of the location that you’re in. Most international schools also have longer holidays than state schools. Richard Downs is from the UK. He is now teaching at an international school in Thailand: “I have a family of four and I have been on more holidays and mini-breaks in the last ten months than I had in ten years in the UK. We have worldclass holiday resorts just ‘down the road’, and money to be able to enjoy them.” Gemma McSweeney is a senior recruitment manager at TIC Recruitment which specialises in recruiting teachers and leaders for international schools. To find out more about teaching overseas, visit TIC at www.ticrecruitment.com

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Ban on high sugar, fat and salt foods ahead for school meals plan Paul Cullen

Schools will not get funding for less healthy foods, according to new nutrition standards

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Daily fruit and vegetables and a ban on foods high in sugar, fat and salt are on the menu for 250,000 children under changes to the school meals programme announced in September.

High-fat, high-sugar and high-salt food, which were already at the top “shelf” of the pyramid, have been split from the lower shelves to emphasise that they should not be eaten more than once or twice a week.

Schools should not offer meals containing foods and drinks high in fat, salt and sugar and will not receive funding for these if they do, according to the new nutrition standards. The standards, launched by four Government Ministers, outline healthy and balanced choices for each meal and snack provided for children under the scheme. They take account of revisions to the food pyramid last year that emphasise the role of salads, fruit and vegetables in a healthy diet and accord less prominence to cereals, breads, potatoes, pasta and rice. •

One in five children going to school hungry, charity says

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Most teachers believe number of children coming to school hungry has increased

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School meals scheme requires ‘open, transparent tendering’

Under the changes, only healthy food choices that meet the standards will be funded for breakfast clubs, school lunches and snacks, afterschool clubs and school dinners.

Best drinks The standards also emphasise that milk and water are the best drinks to serve children. At present, typical school meals include cereals or toast for breakfast, and filled sandwiches, or soup and a roll, or a salad plate for lunch. Suggested dinner options include meat, potatoes and vegetables, or chicken curry, or spaghetti Bolognese. The school meals programme has a budget of almost €50 million a year, with priority being given to disadvantaged schools in the DEIS programme. Minister for Health Simon Harris, Minister for Education Richard Bruton, Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty and Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for Health Promotion, Catherine Byrne, launched the standards, developed as part of the Healthy Ireland initiative, in Dublin at the end of September.

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Coaching Versus Teaching: Why Management Education A wonderful thing about humanity: most people love to learn. Think about how much fun it is when you have a question and you are able to succeed in finding the answer, through your own efforts researching online or in a library. You are intrinsically motivated to learn and feel good about having success with your own investigative efforts. This, at it’s very fundamental level, is considered “learning.” Satisfying an emerging curiosity on a topic by researching an initial question is the the first level of learning – Awareness. But to truly achieve Mastery (the highest level of learning) on any topic, you have to move through four levels of learning:

Many Project Management education programs teach the basics of PM knowledge: the PMBOK® Guide Knowledge Areas, Process Groups, Project Management Framework, and so forth. This brings students through the first two levels of learning, Awareness and Knowledge. And while many folks are passionate about becoming better Project Managers, few are genuinely excited about the details of this PM knowledge - so learning about them can become a real chore. For students to really engage with their learning and to reach the highest level of learning, Mastery, they shouldn’t simply be taught - they should be coached. In a “teaching” model, Project Management classes deliver PM knowledge to students, whose role is to memorize information and (if they’re lucky) think about its application to real projects. “Teaching” is often one-way communication that focuses on the teacher’s point of view: teachers share wisdom from their own experiences in order to offer students a model for how they might navigate their own situations. In contrast, a “coaching” model is grounded in an ongoing, back-and-forth communication between coach and student. It emphasizes the student’s point of view and the application of PM knowledge to developing students’ real-life skills. The coach’s role is not to tell students what to do using abstract examples, but to help guide them in figuring out the best course of action for their particular situation. When students can experience the immediate relevance of what they’re learning about to their careers or personal lives, they will be intrinsically motivated to learn more. For example, in Cheetah Learning s four-day Cheetah Exam Prep® for the PMP® exam course,

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y the Difference Matters in Project By Michelle LaBrosse,CCPM, PMP®, PMI-ACP, RYT,

Cheetah coaches help students quickly absorb and assimilate a large quantity of information in a short amount of time. And rather than teaching students about the PMP® exam, Cheetah coaches guide students through a proven process to quickly master the skills required to pass the PMP exam. This difference between teaching and coaching is critically important when preparing to pass the rigorous Project Management Professional (PMP®) exam. Having a seasoned coach guiding you through the most efficient way to pass the PMP exam means, for many people, the difference between easily and comfortably passing the PMP exam, as opposed to struggling and not achieving desired results from selfdirected PMP study efforts.

Passing the PMP exam is a significant personal career goal. The more important the goal, the more important it is you get effective coaching to better assure your chances of success. Learn more at www.cheetahlearning.com.

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

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Project Management and 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 MyersBriggs 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 4 2017 37

A Non-Family Friendly Review of the Pola I bought the tickets in July–I booked the hotel room so early I actually forgot where we were staying and had to call every hotel in the Dennison, Ohio area to confirm our reservation. I get dumb when I’m excited. Finally, the day was upon us. Dressed in Christmas PJs, we headed to the

38 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

Polar Express (with a confirmed hotel reservation thankyouverymuch). The experience did not disappoint. There was magic and excitement and more adorableness than you can shake a candy cane at. But... The cynic in me couldn’t help but

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ar Express make note of all the not so magical elements as well. And I’m sharing them here because ’tis the season to be snarky. Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!!! Before we embark on our journey to the Polar Express, we make a last minute decision to stop by my husband’s golf club’s annual Breakfast with Santa. Our three kids eat their weight in donuts then sit on Santa’s lap and request an X-box, Christmas doll, and a pony with hay, respectively. Once on the road, our five-year-old asks: “How is Santa here and at the Polar Express?” I mumble something about teamwork and turn up the Christmas carols. NOW IT’S A PARTY! She persists, so I offer: “Not every Santa you see is the real one. Sometimes he sends his helpers because he’s so busy.” She is horrified. I am stellar at this parenting thing. We arrive at the hotel early which is worth mentioning because early is not how this family rolls. Taking stock of the empty indoor pool, the kids jump in and my husband and I marvel at the fact that no one else is around. It’s like a ghost town and WE LOVE IT. We plan to attend 5pm Mass at a local Catholic Church Husband found on Google before boarding the train, and because I am the epitome of efficient,

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Stephanie Jankowski

I decide the kids will wear the same outfit to church and the PE: bright Christmas pajamas. Traipsing in like the outsiders we are, too young to notice the stark contrast between them and the three-piece-suit-clad parishioners, the kids take their seats in a back pew and our two-year-old promptly passes out like a liquored up drunk: on her back across my lap with her adorable baby gut hanging out, arms outstretched over her head. She gives not one eff and I’m certain Jesus doesn’t either. Into the cute town of Dennison we go. We’re ready to board the train, but the train is not ready for us. So we wait in a long ass line in the 20 degree frigid air, breathing in locomotive fumes among hundreds of irritable parents and squirmy kids. I get a couple cute pictures before my kids become one with the squirmy and I with the irritable. The whole setting is quite impressive, though. Everyone who works on the Polar Express is a volunteer and I can’t quite fathom that much kindness in one place, but here we are. The conductor, the creepy guy in the newsboy hat that lives on top of the train with a roaring fire and coffee– seriously, how whacked out is this movie?! Anyway, they’re all here and it really is pretty awesome. Finally, we’re escorted onto our double-decker car which the kids Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 39

think is the coolest thing EVER (Mom and Dad pop their collars), whereupon a passenger above us tosses his cookies. I’m not talking about the complimentary cookies from the elves, which are delicious by the way; I’m talking about barf-orama and the smells that accompany it in a small space. Generally speaking, I don’t care for other people’s kids, but my heart hurts for this mom and her son–the cookie tosser; I offer wet wipes so he doesn’t have to keep scraping his pukey face with those awful brown sandpaper towels. Off topic and perhaps the wrong time to mention, but the hot chocolate? Also delicious. So we listen as the story is read to us (pro tip: bring your own copy of the book to follow along–little kids in confinement are NOT quiet); we sing carols; we participate in Christmas trivia. Then it’s time. Time to drive through the North Pole. All the kids storm the right side of the train; the conductor turns out the car lights. And there it is. Right outside our window, the lights, the people, the waving, a child’s sweet, sweet thrill of being THISCLOSE to Santa Claus!! There he is, in his workshop!!! He’s making toys!!!!!!!!!! I’m verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves. We ride through the North Pole again on our way back to the station, but someone is missing. WHO IS MISSING?! IT’S SANTA! I KNOW HIM! I WATCH TOO MANY WILL 40 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

FERRELL MOVIES! Santa left his spot at the workshop to board the train and hand out silver bells to the kids. I mean, come on. Does it get any more magical?! He signs the kids’ autograph books and asks what they want to find under their trees on Christmas morning. Again, we hear: X-box, Christmas doll, pony with hay. I notice my fiveyear-old is really studying St. Nick’s face; I pray she doesn’t tug his obviously false white beard like Buddy the Elf: “you smell like beef and cheese.” Santa leaves unscathed. However, a running analysis about him continues until we’re back at our hotel: 5yo: I don’t think that was the real Santa because his cheeks weren’t wrinkly enough. His beard was too white. Were his eyes even blue? 2yo, lip quivering: Where my pony? Pony at home? I say to Santa, “Pony, peeze!” but I have no pony! 7yo: I’m hungry. Husband and I drown out their questions with cheap Rudolph cups from Denny’s where the handles are also headbands and the Christmas lies continue uninterrupted. Yippee!! Back at the hotel, we’re finally able to stretch our legs. Please note, I’m barely 5’1 but even my little nubs were feeling the pain of a cramped train car. Let it be known the Polar Express is probably not for the claustrophobic. Or anyone with legs. Every parent knows the 10th circle of

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hell is sharing a tiny hotel room with their children. It’s not because we can’t control the passion brought on by hotel bedding–though that stuff is exquisite and you know it; it’s because kids never stop moving or speaking even in their sleep, which means zero shut-eye for Mom and Dad. I can’t even count how many times my two-year-old stared me awake this weekend. Her little curly head appeared from her portable pack-and-play like a groundhog from its hole and she would just…watch. Anyway, the next morning–at a festive 5:30am–we’re all awake and ready for breakfast with Santa. If you’re keeping track, that’s the third Santa in two days. The five-year-old decides she will not be telling this third Santa about her Christmas doll; she worries she’ll be receiving duplicate gifts. My seven-year-old son is A-OK with receiving three X-boxes so his dreams will effectively be shattered on December 25th. The groundhog child is still pissed she is pony-less.1 After breakfast, our grand plans to hit up the hotel pool are ruined by a contamination issue. A lovely lady at the front desk informs me a child done shat in the pool and it will remained closed for the duration. (Please refer to my previous statement about other people’s kids.) I think about asking her to break the news to my children, but see that she

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is already traumatized enough by the pool pooper. We get lucky on our two and a half hour drive home; the seven-year-old uses written directions to navigate from the back seat (our evil ploy to get him reading, muahahahahahaha!) and the girls sleep the whole way because Christmas miracles do exist. Thanks to the Polar Express, we are $400 poorer, in the market for a pony, and have to get more creative with our lies about the existence of jolly old St. Nick. Would we do it again? Hell yes. Why? Because

Hey there, I’m Steph! English teacher by trade, smack-talker by nature, and mother of three who lives by the mantra: Life is too short, laugh! I hope you’ll stick around and check out my stuff. And by stuff I mean my writing. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 41

School of Dance Celebration New Zealand School of Dance celebrates 50 years of dance training in New Zealand. Five photos reflect the five decades since the school first opened in 1967. These reflections over the decades are only small snippets of a wider and richer history of the School.

New Zealand School of Dance students - 1972. Choreography by Philip Chatfield / Rowena Jackson. Costumes Nancy Seaton

42 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

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New Zealand School of Dance contemporary dance students - 1983 (Bk, L-R) Elizabeth Clouston, Tim Woon, Shona McCullagh, Warren Douglas, Marise Creagh, Mark White & Yang Khairuman, (Fr L-R) Willie Thompson, Catherine Chappell, Katie McDermott & Taiaroa Royal

1967-1977

1978-1987

New Zealand School of Dance first opened its doors and one of its aims was to teach classical ballet, character, national ballet, repertoire, mime, historical dance, modern dance and history.

Anne Rowse was appointed Director and oversaw a period of change in location of the School moving from Victoria Street Studios to a building on Cable Street.

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In 1982, the School changed its name to the New Zealand School of Dance, reflecting the expansion of the curriculum to embrace contemporary dance training.

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 43

New Zealand School of Dance student – 1995, Nadia Sellier

1988-1997

1998-2007

The School held its first reunion which offered a chance to celebrate 21 years of success. A “Birthday offering” was performed on the 24 September at the State Opera House.

New Zealand School of Dance moved to its new (and current) home Te Whaea at the end of April 1998. Guests were invited to a dawn service Tuesday 28 April to bless the building. A new decade marked a new direction for the School with Garry Trinder’s Directorship beginning late 1997 through to present day.

44 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

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New Zealand School of Dance students - 2006 Sonny Magana Ingrid Gow & William Pratt. Photographed by Stephen A’Court

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 45

2008-2017 In 2017 we acknowledge the School’s 50th Anniversary and celebrate the launch of the New Zealand School of Dance’s book written by graduate and current tutor Turid Revfeim.

New Zealand School of Dance student 2017 Emma-Rose Barrowclough. Photographed by Stephen Back toA’Court index

46 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

As They Like It

Primary-age students from Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, Karori West Normal School, Clifton Terrace School and WHEN (Wellington Home Educators Network) Will be putting their fresh slant on SGCNZ’s Primarily Playing with Shakespear 2017 (PPWS) production of As You Like it. Co-Director/Mentor Sarah Burton commented, “It has been an absolute pleasure working with the groups over the past weeks prior to the holidays. I look forward to further contact in the lead up to the production.” Each group rehearses their scenes in their own school or space, with Sarah making a few visits as and if required to mentor the teacher. Key characters are identified in the scenes, which are performed sequentially, by a costume garment of the same colour across all groups. Ideally suited for the very young, As You Like It moves from the family feud over the rulership of the court of the recently deceased Sir Rowland de Bois into the Forest of Arden, where Rosalind, daughter of the banished Duke Senior and Celia, daughter of reigning Duke Frederick, flee with Touchstone, the court jester. To ensure their safety, Rosalind dresses as a young man and takes the name Ganymede, while Celia dresses as a common shepherdess and calls herself Aliena. Orlando, younger son of Sir Rowland returns home to the court from a wrestling match, only to have his faithful servants, Alice and Adam, warn him about his older brother, Oliver’s plot against his life. Orlando also decides to leave for the safety of the Forest of Arden. Confused relationships ensue. Ideal for children, parents, grandparents and general public keen to foster creativity and presentation skills from an early age this rendition of As You Like It will include other elements of the arts with a smattering of music and dance as well as committed acting exhibited throughout. Venue:

Samuel Marsden Collegiate Shool, Karori Wellington

Date:

Tuesday 7 November, 12.30 - 1.30pm

Tickets: Children $2.50, Adults $12, SGCNZ Friends $11 Bookings: www.eventbrite.co.nz (booking fee will apply)

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 47

‘Women computers’ often couldn’t use Harvard’s telescope...

They changed astronomy anyway!

CRAIG F. WALKER/GLOBE STAFF

Cristela Guerra

Photos of “women computers” Williamina Fleming (top left) and Henrietta Swan Leavitt.

In the 1800s, it was unseemly for women to search the night sky with male astronomers. Instead, they worked in the Harvard College Observatory as assistants. Between 1875 and 1927, more than 80 women were employed at the observatory as so-called “women computers,” that is, women who performed scientific and mathematical calculations by hand. For 25 to 30 cents an hour, their task was the meticulous study and care of black and white astronomical photographs of the night skies. In most images, the stars were tiny black dots on a white background. 48 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

Day in and day out, the women explored the cosmos without looking through a telescope. It was painstaking work. Using a simple magnifying glass, they studied the stars, work that eventually led to discovering their composition. Staring at these stellar clusters, chemically captured on glass plates, helped them gauge immense distances in space and measure the brightness of stars. Like the African-American women of the US space program depicted in “Hidden Figures,” they remained behind the scenes, holding stars in their hands.

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Glass plates helped “women computers” gauge immense distances in space and measure the brightness of stars.

“Not only did these glass plates change the study of science in general,” said Lindsay Smith Zrull, curator of astronomical photographs at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, “they changed who could do science.” Inside the archive, center staffers have been digitizing the collection of more than 500,000 stellar glass plates. There are three floors of metal closets that contain stacks of these images, spanning more than a century of sky gazing. But in the past year, the curator also unearthed 118 boxes of notes from the women computers. Most of these boxes sat untouched in a depository for decades.

in Astronomy. Phaedra is a character in Greek mythology. Her name was derived from the Greek word phaidros, which meant “bright,” said Daina Bouquin, head librarian at the John G. Wolbach Library in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

“It’s really important to bring to light what these women did,” said Katie Frey, assistant head and Now, in partnership with the Smithsonian Transcription Center, volunteers around the world digital technologies development librarian at the are transcribing scribbled logbooks and research Wolbach Library. “They made groundbreaking discoveries in astronomy. They really changed notes from the women computers as quickly as the course of astronomy.” they’re scanned and uploaded.

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Photos of women computers at Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

PHOTOS:CRAIG F. WALKER/GLOBE STAFF

The effort is called Project Phaedra, which stands for Preserving Harvard’s Early Data and Research

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 49

‘Not only did these glass plates change the study of science in general, they changed who could do science.’ Newspaper articles from the time considered the women a novelty at best with headlines such as: “Brainy Boston Women Learn Sky’s Profoundest Secrets.” But Edward Pickering, the director of the Harvard College Observatory in the late 1800s, knew better. It was his mission to hire an entire corps of women computers to conduct scientific work. “Much of the funding [for the original glass plate work] came from women, most of the work was done by women,” Smith Zrull said. “Which made it a very unusual collection, unusual workplace back in the late 1800s, early 1900s.” One of the earliest women computers, Annie Jump Cannon, kept detailed letters and scrapbooks of the time with prolific annotations. She classified hundreds of thousands of stars. And of that first generation of women, she was the only one allowed to use Harvard’s Great Refractor telescope. Williamina Fleming emigrated to the United States with her husband from Scotland in December 1878. He abandoned her when she was pregnant. She began working as a housemaid under Pickering. In Scotland, she’d been a school teacher and had a talent for numbers. Fleming soon became the head of the “computers.” She discovered the Horsehead Nebula, a dark nebula in the constellation Orion, in 1888. “In 1899, [Fleming] was the first curator of astronomical photographs,” said Maria McEachern, a reference librarian at the Wolbach Library. “And the first woman at Harvard to attain a professional position.” Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered how to measure stellar distances by focusing on variable stars (that is, stars whose brightness fluctuates) in the large and small Magellanic Clouds, two 50 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

A 1934 glass galaxy count plate negative at Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. dwarf galaxies. She discovered about 2,400 of them, plotting how light from the same star changed over time. “How do you find a variable star?” Smith Zrull said. “What you have to do is look at every single plate in the same region of the sky and compare each and every single one of them from different dates.” Perhaps the best known woman in the field was Cecilia Payne, a scholar from England and a woman computer who discovered the composition of the stars, according to Dava Sobel, author of “The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars.” The University of Cambridge would not accept a female PhD student. She later came to the Harvard College Observatory and, in 1925, earned a PhD in astronomy for her work. In the 1960s, Otto Struve, at one point the director of Yerkes Observatory in Chicago, called her dissertation on stellar atmospheres “undoubtedly the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy.” “Regardless of whether or not these women made discoveries, research is research,” said Bouquin. “You shouldn’t just forget about it because it got old. This was cutting-edge science at one point.” In photographs the women computers sit together in long dresses, posing for the cameras

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A group of women computers, directed by Williamina Fleming, back center standing.

or holding hands outside the observatory where many of them spent much of their lives.

Ed-media Consulting...

Fleming was known to get weekly massages for the shoulder pain she developed from leaning over the glass plates for hours at a time. In 1900, she wrote about it in a diary she kept that ended up in a time capsule that was buried to mark the century. In her diary, she also complained about her pay and wrote of her responsibilities as a single mother.

Specialising in:

Somewhere along the line, the women computers’ notes on glass plates, logbooks, and achievements disappeared into obscurity. Until now. “I am not an astronomer,” Smith Zrull said. “I am just very much inspired by women — especially women who overcame all sorts of obstacles to make a place in their field or in the world. What makes me most passionate about this is that we’re giving them the credit they always deserved.”

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Educators CV’s and the Employment Process All aspects of Communication Mentoring Change Management Issues and Crisis Management If you think we might be able to confidentially assist you please email info@ed-media.co.nz for more information www.ed-media.co.nz

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 51

How reading and writing with your chil Reading with your child can boost not only literacy, but also study skills later in school, a University of Washington study finds. Children who read and write at home — whether for assignments or just for fun — are building long-term study and executive function skills, according to a paper from the University of Washington. And while home literacy activities have already been associated with higher test scores, the new study shows these activities also provide students with tools for lifetime success. “People who are good students tend to become good employees by being on time and putting forward their best work. All of the things that make you a good student also make you a good employee,” said Nicole Alston-Abel, a Federal Way Public Schools psychologist who conducted the study while pursuing her doctorate at the UW. “If you make sure your child is academically engaged at home through third grade, kids go on autopilot — they know how to ‘do’ school after that.” Alston-Abel analyzed data collected by coauthor Virginia Berninger, UW emeritus professor of education, who conducted a fiveyear longitudinal study of academic performance in grades one through seven. As part of that study, Berninger sent home questionnaires asking parents if, and how, they helped their children with reading and writing; Alston-Abel, a former primary teacher, then compared the responses with students’ academic performance. The study published online in May in the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation. To collect a range of ages and school experiences, the study followed two groups of students in public elementary schools near the UW campus — one cohort of students from first to fifth grade, the other from third to seventh 52 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

grade. In all, 241 families participated over five years, completing annual questionnaires about how their child felt about reading and writing, what kinds of activities they engaged in at home, and what kind of help parents provided. The demographics of both cohorts reflected neighborhoods around the university: About 85 percent of students were white or Asian American, and nearly three-fourths of parents had a bachelor’s or advanced degree. A more diverse pool, Alston-Abel said, would be illuminating from a research perspective, but the basic message would remain the same: “The takeaway is still the importance of having a parent involved in developing the habits and models a child needs to be successful. It doesn’t matter what socioeconomic status you come from.” Among the study’s findings: •

Students spent significantly more time at home reading than writing.

•

Without a specific assignment, children were more likely to choose reading as an activity than writing.

•

Parents provided more help with writing than with reading.

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Starting at the intermediate grades (four and up), writing assignments increased, while parent help for writing declined more gradually than for reading.

•

About three-fourths of the fifth- and seventh-grade students used a computer for writing assignments.

•

Parents of those older students described their children as “fluent” in using a computer for writing homework for 19 percent of the fifth-graders, and 53 percent of the seventh-graders.

•

Parent ratings of their student’s “selfregulation,” or ability to stay on task and exhibit other study skills, were associated

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ld boost more than just literacy Kim Eckart

with academic performance, especially in reading comprehension and written expression. The authors point out that there is no direct causal link between the responses on the questionnaires and student achievement, but that some patterns do exist. For example, among students whose parents described their lack of focus or unwillingness to help set modest goals, academic achievement was generally lower than among students who stayed on task or learned to prioritize. The study speaks to the need for a collaborative effort between parents and teachers, AlstonAbel said, especially among marginalized populations, and at a time when kindergarteners, according to Common Core State Standards, are expected to demonstrate basic reading and writing skills. “Some kids come to kindergarten reading basic ‘sight words,’ and others don’t know their letters. Add up the disadvantages and the demands of the curriculum, and it becomes very apparent that if you don’t have a collaborative effort, for these same kids, that gap is always going to be there,” Alston-Abel said.

added, are introducing study skills like time management and impulse control. The paper provides other tips for parents and teachers on how to work together to develop literacy and study skills. One way is to engage a child in writing at home through journals, a story to a family member, even an email or thank-you note. Another is to look for specific skills to help develop, such as spelling or reading comprehension, but pull back when the child appears able to accomplish more independently. And encourage any opportunity to read or write for fun. “Academic success is an all-hands-on-deck enterprise,” Alston-Abel said. “Teacher, parent and student all have a part to play. Fostering home-school partnerships that enhance and extend the experience of the learner can lead to life-long habits that foster success.” The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Teachers can start by asking parents about how they support their child’s learning at home – like with the kinds of questionnaires used in the study. The responses to open-ended questions about what kinds of reading and writing a child does at home, why, and for how long each week, can then inform instruction. Meanwhile, parents who work with their children, Alston-Abel

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 53

What Curriculum is Relevant For To Some Top Global Teachers Weigh In

Humans are living longer; the traditional professions disappear while new ones are created; international mobility is drastically increasing population diversity; terrorism, environmental threats and inequality need our collective attention; and robots and gene editing are coming, requiring us to re-examine the very core of what it means to be human. According to the Center for Curriculum Redesign (CCR), “We must deeply redesign curriculum to be relevant to the knowledge, skills, character qualities, and meta-learning students will need in their lives.” The Global Teacher Bloggers are pioneers and innovators in fields such as technology integration, mathematics coaching, special needs education, science instruction, and gender equity. They have founded schools, written curricula, and led classrooms in 16 different countries that stretch across every populated continent on earth. This month we asked them to weigh in on this important question: Do you believe curriculum needs to be more relevant for a 21st century world? If you had the power to change the school curriculum, what would you change? “Yes, the world is changing. I would say shrinking day by day,” writes Rashmi Kathuria (@rashkath) in India. With the advent of technology, new tools of teaching and learning, the entire education system needs revamping. We need to develop a generation of critical thinkers, collaborators, communicators, environmentalists and ethical IT users.” 54 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

“The answer is to focus on timeless skills rather than cherry-picking based on predictions of employers’ needs,” writes Adam Steiner (@ steineredtech). “School should not be all about spreadsheets, word processing, and keyboarding even if we address these basic technical skills. Even programming can be framed as job preparation to the detriment of creativity and flexibility.” “My curriculum would be based on passion projects, aimed at gaining knowledge and abilities, but also at discovering whatever fires a student’s heart,” writes Elisa Guerra Cruz (@ ElisaGuerraCruz,) in Mexico. “Enlightening the mind would be hand in hand with caressing the spirit. Each child or teenager would have the liberty and responsibility of choosing his or her own educational path.” “We need to put more emphasis on life-long learning skills than on curriculum content,” writes Craig Kemp (@mrkempnz) in Singapore. “We need to teach our students HOW to learn and HOW to adapt to change. We need to teach them how to be empathetic in a world that is often negative and judgmental. So many real-life skills that as teachers we just don’t have time for.” “The New Zealand curriculum is focused on developing capabilities in young people rather than particular content and topics,” writes Richard Wells (@EduWells). “It is a short document of just 40 pages that acts as a general framework and asks each school to develop it’s own ‘local curriculum’ that best meets the needs of it’s specific learners. It also encourages schools to involve the learners in negotiating curriculum based on their own needs and interests.” Maarit Rossi (@pathstomath) from Finland wonders if all classrooms might need a common global curriculum? “This generation will live in global village – we need to know the best education politics, latest knowledge of learning

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(All Photos are Courtesy of CMRubinWorld)

Employers complain that graduates are not ready for work. Stanford University studies indicate students are overloaded and underprepared. So exactly what should we teach young people in an age where Dr. Google has an answer for everything?

oday’s World? n

and learning practices to prepare them ready for the future!”

relevance” as he reflects on what ingredients actually make a 21st century curriculum relevant.

“The content of the news in the last few months, and indeed years, provide clear and loud evidence for the fact that our education system is failing,” writes Miriam Mason-Sesay (@ EducAidSL). Division, hatred and bigoted fearfulness are fostered seemingly unchallenged, and our education system has not prepared our youngsters to evaluate the veracity of so many claims. We need to focus on developing the values of integrity, resilience, a good work ethic and most importantly kindness in order to truly prepare our students for life ahead.”

“If we were starting the American school system from scratch today, knowing what skills our students will need, we could change the subjects and not base them on what big-time publishers want us to focus on with our students,” writes Carl Hooker (@mrhooker). “Building on some of the great work from FutureReady.org, the ISTE NETS for Students,” Carl proposes the development of 7 courses for every student.

“In previous centuries, students had to build their own Google. In other words, they learned and built their own knowledge base,” writes Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher). “To expand their knowledge, they had to assemble a library and know how to find books in it. The focus was on learning. Now, it seems to be on finding. But it shouldn’t be. We need to teach people how to think.” “How relevant is the Philippine basic education curriculum now, given the fact that, with all honesty, the Philippine education system has been lagging behind the more progressive nations for years?” writes Jim Tuscano (@ jimtuscano), who takes us on a “quest for

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“We must close the gaps that exist between our classrooms and the boardroom,” writes Nadia Lopez (@TheLopezEffect). “If our teachers don’t know what is required in a 21st century world beyond their classroom, how can they effectively prepare our scholars beyond their own limitations? It’s not just about having a school with the latest technology, but teaching children to solve problems, being adaptive, innovative, and accountable for their personal learning.” The Top Global Teacher Bloggers is a monthly series where educators across the globe offer experienced yet unique takes on today’s most important topics. CMRubinWorld utilizes the platform to propagate the voices of the most indispensable people of our learning institutions – teachers. C. M. Rubin Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 55

Commonwealth youth work education c Leading universities around the world are joining a Commonwealth initiative aimed to improve access to certified courses in youth work.

development work. It is established by four partners: the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth of Learning, the University of West Indies in Jamaica and YMCA George Williams College in the UK.

The Commonwealth Consortium of Higher Education Institutions for Youth Work will help aspiring or untrained youth workers to obtain a professional qualification.

The consortium was formally launched by the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, at the opening ceremony of the 9th Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting, in Kampala, Uganda on 1 August 2017.

The initiative will support 16 universities from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Europe to offer a low-cost, internationally recognised Commonwealth bachelor degree in youth

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said she was delighted to launch the consortium as she acknowledged and commended each of the partners. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This

56 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

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consortium launches with 16 universities education initiative will help to build a new cadre of highly skilled and educated youth workers in Commonwealth countries, contributing to the growing professionalisation of the youth work sector globally,” she said. The Commonwealth Bachelor Degree in Youth Development Work builds on a longstanding diploma-level qualification offered through the University of West Indies, which was first introduced in partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat two decades ago. Denise Richards, Programme Coordinator at the University of West Indies, predicted the consortium will attract students in communities

that do not have access to quality tertiary level training and education programmes: “This has the potential to create and sustain an educated workforce and lifelong learning opportunities for advancement that would not be possible if individual institutions attempt to develop and offer all of the education and training programmes that are most needed in their country.” The agreement to establish the consortium was first made at the 19th Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers in the Bahamas in June 2015. At the Commonwealth Youth Work Conference in March 2016, the consortium partners delivered a consultation which led to the 16 universities joining as members. The sixteen initial participating universities are:

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Bangladesh - Bangladesh Open University

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Botswana - Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning

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Guyana - University of Guyana (Turkeyen Campus)

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India - Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development

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Jamaica - University of West Indies

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Kenya - University of Maseno

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Kenya - University of Nairobi

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Malawi - University of Malawi

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Malta - University of Malta

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Namibia - Namibia College of Open Learning -

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Pakistan - Allama Iqbal Open University

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Sierra Leone - University of Sierra Leone

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South Africa - University of Venda, South Africa

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Sri Lanka - Open University of Sri Lanka

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Uganda - Makerere University

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United Kingdom - YMCA George Williams College

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 57

What The First Day Of School L Though different countries have different calendars and traditions, the excitement of going back to school is universal.

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Turov, Belarus

It’s back-to-school season in the U.S. and many other parts of the world, as teachers, students and administrators are ushering in a new year of learning. Though schools around the globe have different start dates, calendars and traditions, the first day of a new term is an exciting time filled with the prospects of gaining more knowledge, making new friends and building community. In honor of this occasion, here are 14 firstday-of-school photos from around the world.

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Mumbai, India

Hindustan Times via Getty Images Children enjoy the first day of school at Mahila Sangh School, Vile Parle in Mumbai, India.

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Viktor Drachev via Getty Images Schoolchildren attend their first lesson on Knowledge Day in the town of Turov, Zhytkavichy District. Knowledge Day marks the beginning of a new school year in Belarus and is celebrated on Sept. 1. •

Fukushima, Japan

Carlos Barria / Reuters Children attend a ceremony on their first day of school at Shimizu elementary school in Fukushima, Japan.

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Looks Like Around The World •

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

HECTOR RETAMAL via Getty Images Students prepare for the first day of school at the Lycee du Cent Cinquantatenaire, in Port-auPrince. •

Quimper, France

• Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip

Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters Palestinian schoolchildren play on the first day of a new school year, at a United Nations-run school in Deir al-Balah refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

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FRED TANNEAU via Getty Images Pupils enter their classroom in a primary school on the first day of the new school year on Sept. 4, 2017, in Quimper, Western France. •

Hanoi, Vietnam

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 59

Reuters Photographer / Reuters

Young Vietnamese children are dressed up and ready to perform for parents and local officials on the first day of the school year at the private Minh Hai Nursery School in Hanoi. •

Ashburn, Virginia, USA

The Washington Post via Getty Images Teacher Margaret Upp and the rest of the teaching staff greet students on the first day of classes at the newly opened Brambleton Middle

School in Ashburn, Virginia.

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Anadolu Agency via Getty Images First grade students of Finetown Primary School are seen during the first day of the school year in Johannesburg. •

Ain Issa, Syria

DELIL SOULEIMAN via Getty Images A displaced child from the Islamic State group’s Syrian stronghold of Raqa walks to attend the first day of the new school year at a camp for internally displaced people in Ain Issa. •

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Johannesburg, South Africa

Glenalmond, Scotland

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Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images

Schoolgirls arrive at Glenalmond College for the first day of term. The independent boarding school founded by William Gladstone and James Hope Scott is based on the architecture of Oxford University. •

Kiev, Ukraine

Pierre Crom via Getty Images Music students sing the Ukrainian national anthem at the Special Music School Lysenko of Kiev as the first of September traditionally marks the start of the school year, in Kiev, Ukraine.

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Marta Iwanek via Getty Images Caroline Mogomela hugs Yesenia Villada on her first day of school at St. Patrick Secondary School in Toronto. •

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

AFP via Getty Images A teacher guides her pupils to the classroom on the first day of classes in Honduras, at the John F. Kennedy School in Tegucigalpa on Feb. 8.

Caroline Bologna

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 61

The sociologist and feminist re facing India’s aspiring young w She was raised as an atheist in a predominantly Muslim town and went to a Catholic school. Asiya Islam’s experience of India’s complex society gives her a strong foundation for research into the lives of young urban women whose ambitions are constrained by societal expectations.

I like to say I was born a feminist. But it was in college that I learnt to articulate myself as a feminist. I went to Women’s College, Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh. As a student there I got the opportunity to fight restrictions based on gender. This friction and women’s studies classes led me to decide to specialise in gender studies. My research explores gender and class in urban India through a study of women’s work. More specifically, as a sociologist, I’m interested in lower-middle-class women’s employment and the implications these jobs have for changing gender

Asiya Islam in a New Delhi rickshaw 62 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

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esearching the challenges women and class relations, which I argue are corelated, among India’s urban populations. I’m spending the second year of my PhD in New Delhi carrying out fieldwork. It’s important to be immersed in the environment I’m studying, mainly because academic work in the area of gender, family and employment has so far been driven by statistics and surveys, which don’t capture the complexities of women’s own narratives and experiences. My respondents are young women working in cafes, malls and offices.They come from low income neighbourhoods of South Delhi. Typically, their parents are or were in working class jobs but this generation of women have gained skills — in basic computing, English language or retailing — that enable them to be in more ‘respectable’ professions. Khanpur — one of the sites of Asiya Islam’s research

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 63

Aisya Islam in Maidangarhi

A lot of my time is spent with these young women in their own spaces — their onebedroom homes, their workplaces, and their leisure spaces, mostly shopping malls and parks. Their narratives have challenged my presumptions and pushed me to examine my own privilege. Their life stories are unique, multi-layered and insightful.

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My respondents’ career progression is often limited. Despite the promises made by privatisation of the Indian economy, opportunities are limited, exploitative and restricting. Although the jobs these women hold would be categorised as ‘regular employment’ in surveys, the reality is very different with women frequently becoming unemployed and struggling to find new employment.

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everything under the sun. As a result, I became one of the people that the economist Amartya Sen describes as ‘The Argumentative Indian’, true to India’s long tradition of public debate. I was brought up as an atheist, a challenge in a Muslimdominated town. It instilled in me the spirit to question and challenge. At my convent school we were taught in English. The school was one of many set up in India as missionary educational institutions during and soon after the colonial era. It ran classes in Hindi in the evenings for those who couldn’t afford the tuition fees for education in English. Very early on, this made me aware of how life chances are determined by the family you’re born into. I spent my spare time reading. I read comics, all the Enid Blyton series, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, the Harry Potter books, and then moved on to volumes I found in my grandfather’s bookshelves — Kafka, Camus, Tolstoy, and many others. More recently, I’ve enjoyed reading Orhan Pamuk, Margaret Atwood and Alice Evans. It might sound like a cliché but this reading opened up a world for me beyond the immediate. I went on to do a Master’s in Gender, Media and Culture at the London School of Economics (LSE). At the LSE, I met people from all over the world. I learnt as much from them as I did from my coursework. Once I’d completed the course, I joined LSE’s equality and diversity team, and worked on policies and communications for five years. I fell in love with London. With time, I realised that that my heart lies in research. I applied to take a PhD at Cambridge and once I found out that I’d been selected as a Gates Cambridge scholar, I had no second thoughts about quitting my job. I’m as happy about this decision almost two years into the PhD as I was on day one.

When young women are earning an income, most of it is used for family expenses although sometimes they manage to save a small portion for ‘luxuries’ that their parents wouldn’t approve of. However, simply by being in work, these young women are carving out a space for themselves. I grew up in Aligarh, a small university town, in a family of academics. My parents and grandparents engaged in long debates on almost

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My PhD is a step in the direction of building an academic career and allows me to spend an extended period of time in India after seven years in the UK. During this fieldwork, I have been enjoying exploring the city of New Delhi, where I’ve never lived before, as well as warmer weather. Cambridge put me on course to be an effective researcher and my rich experiences in India are informing my work. This profile is part of the This Cambridge Life series. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 65

Little Truff and the Whales By: Ann Russell Illustrated: Lara Frizzell Distributor South Pacific Books 32 Pages

The back of the book has comprehensive information on: • The New Zealand Large Whale Disentanglement Team,

ASBN 9780473367756

• How DOC (Department of Conservation) saves an entangled whale,

RRP: NZD $21.00

• Project Jonah,

Ann Russell’s 5th book in the Truff series is intended for all animal lovers and with a strong conservation message throughout, this delightful childrens book has also been endorsed by the NZ Department of Conservation.

• Why whales and dolphins might strand,

Ann’s story is told through the eyes of an adorably cute and appealing Cavalier King Charles Spaniel inspired by her own very special rescue dog.

• Followed by a good glossary at the very back.

The conservation message of both saving a whale and the process involved is illustrated perfectly both with Ann’s words and Lara Frizzell’s watercolour illustrations.

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• What you can do, •

Some of the inventions now in use to save the whales,

Anne will have a selection of worksheets on her website for the book before the end of October. All her conservation books are good resources on their own but also have her supportive back up worksheets, puzzles and games to be found on her website... they all work well in an inquiry learning environment.www.annrussllwriter.com

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Teach Peers to give feedback Feedback is essential for learning. It is the necessary dialogue that informs what we know and what we can do better to improve. Traditionally, teachers have been responsible for being the sole providers of this learning goal, but they shouldn’t be working in isolation. As students grow toward empowered learning environments, we need to teach them how to provide excellent feedback to each other in meaningful ways. This exchange does not only help the person receiving the feedback, but also the person providing it. If we hope to have a class where students can be the experts, we must first model the feedback we want them to be able to provide. Showing them what actionable feedback looks like, and then allowing them to practice giving and receiving feedback, increases their ability to both identify strengths and challenges, and provide strategies for increasing the strengths. As we work our way through new learning, teachers will be helping to fill student feedback toolboxes with direct instruction through minilessons to help provide better strategies for actionable feedback.

8 Tips for Teachers to Increase the Learning: 1. Model what feedback looks like and how it should be given. Regardless of the age or subject you teach, we must show students that feedback stretches way beyond “this is good” or “this is wrong.” 2. Have students track the feedback teachers provide, so they have a list of strategies and language to help provide better feedback. 3. Create expert groups in class that allow students to get excel at one skill you are working on. Groups can be selected by strength or challenge. It is useful for students to be in mixed groups. These groups shouldn’t be larger than four. 4. Use expert groups to help workshop learning and provide ongoing feedback throughout a unit.

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5. Make sure to continue providing feedback that students are giving each other. Checkin with expert groups and with students to ensure that the groups know what they are looking for, what strategies to provide, and how to use the language of the standards. Check-in with the individual students to ensure that they are getting the help they need. 6. Work with expert groups to continue growth in the area of focus, adding additional strategies where needed. 7. Provide reflection time in class so that students can consider the feedback they have been given and to review the growth and continued areas of need. 8. Switch groups periodically to make sure students in the expert groups are still deepening their knowledge and students receiving the feedback are still getting fresh perspectives. Offering feedback is a nuanced process that when done correctly can really improve student learning. Imagine the power of putting “feedback” into the hands of our students. Teachers must consider allowing students to have this control. There will be a need for continued vigilance as some students may not pull their weight fully. Take the opportunity to shift groups and work with students differently if this occurs. Who gives the feedback in your classroom and how can you involve students more in the process? Please share. Starr Sackstein is the author of Peer Feedback in the Classroom: Empowering Students to be the Experts with ASCD. She blogs for Education Week Teacher on “Work in Progress” where she discusses all aspects of being a teacher. Sackstein co-moderates #ecet2 and #sunchat and contributes to #NYedChat. In speaking engagements, Sackstein speaks about blogging, throwing out grades and homework reform, BYOD helping people see technology doesn’t have to be feared. Follow her @MsSackstein on Twitter. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 67

By engaging parents, principal hopes “How can I help my child with math without confusing him?” asked one mother. “What should the learning focus be for kindergarteners?” queried another. With topics ranging from which books students should be reading to the best ways to contact teachers, parents and guardians showered A.J. Mitchell Elementary School Principal Michelle Shuman with questions about their children’s education on Friday morning during an hour-long meeting in the school cafeteria. And that was the point. Called “Chat with the Principal,” Shuman implemented the informal monthly gathering this year to encourage more parent involvement at the school, she said, noting that when parents show up on campus it leads to better results for their students. “We know that students whose parents are involved in some way at school tend to do better,” she said. “So we’re always looking for ways to work with parents, to get them engaged, to have more of a partnership with them.” One of six elementary schools in the Nogales Unified School District, Mitchell has struggled in recent years to keep up with its peers on measures including standardized testing scores. In 2011, the low scores were at least partially to blame for the removal of then-principal Michael Young shortly after the start of the school year. Governing board members told Young he needed to do “drastically different than what you have been doing,” the NI reported at the time. When Shuman took the helm in 2015, the school was still struggling with instability, frequent changes in principal and poor academic performance. And while test scores have shown improvements in recent years, Mitchell students are still scoring below their peers in the district and across the state. Boosting student success is an important goal for 68 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

everyone at the school, Shuman said, with teachers and staff working to better use student data and implement changes across the curriculum to improve learning outcomes. And while getting parents to the school isn’t her strategy for raising test scores, she said, it certainly can’t hurt. “The more involved we can get parents, that will help. But it’s not our strategy to improve our school. That alone is not going to get it there. There’s some changes that we have to work on internally, which of course we are,” she said. “But it can do nothing but help us. If we don’t have parents help, it’s not going to be the reason why the school doesn’t do well … It’s only a value-added factor.” That added value stems from parents feeling more confident to help their children succeed in school, she said. From teacher conferences and open houses to parents trainings and other activities, outreach to parents is about giving them as much information as possible about what their children are doing at school and how they can support academic success. Having those connections also fosters buy-in, helping parents see the value of making sure their kids aren’t missing class, are doing their homework and taking tests seriously. Recent workshops and meetings have focused on helping parents interpret and use test results, and Shuman has particularly been targeting parents of children with frequent absences, she said, because in elementary school, getting to class is in the parent or guardian’s hands.

Finding out Despite the benefits of visiting their child’s school, whether it be to volunteer or just to drop in to talk to the principal about a concern, it can be intimidating for some parents, Shuman said. That was the impetus behind adding the monthly principal’s chat, giving parents a forum to lead the discussion with the principal, as well as other parents, about issues they care about. At the September meeting last Friday, Shuman gave a short talk in English and Spanish about how teachers work together to create lesson

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s to boost student success plans that match the needs of the students in their classrooms as well as required standards. She then gave the floor to parents to ask about the curriculum or any other aspect of their children’s school experience. At first the audience seemed hesitant, but slowly more and more parents spoke up to ask questions or express concerns about the school. Daniel Navarro, whose son is in kindergarten, mentioned that he had been having trouble reaching the front office and wanted to know if there was a better way to get information to his son’s teacher. Shuman said parents can send notes in the students’ planners, or use an online system to send emails. Another parent mentioned a mobile app her child’s teacher uses to communicate with parents. The feedback was helpful, Navarro said, noting that he tries to attend all of the school meetings whether he has a specific concern or not, because it helps him stay updated with what’s happening with his son and the school. “For me it helps a lot,” added Monica Cocoa, whose third-grade daughter is new to the school.

By Kendal Blust

“I came because I want to find out about the school.” Irma Barassa, who has two children at Mitchell, added that she didn’t have any particular questions, but appreciates hearing from other parents and knowing that Shuman is available to address questions and concerns that come up. “There’s always activities going on here for the kids and parents, and I think it helps,” she said. “It gives us a chance to communicate, and it gives us the tools to help our kids at home.” Though some parents worry that they have been out of school for too long or that they won’t be able to help their students if they don’t speak English, Shuman said she hopes these meetings give parents confidence, skills and motivation to stay involved in their child’s education. “Because every parent can help their child at home. Every parent can support school in their own way. There’s not one way to help your child,” she said. “(Chat with the Principal) is just another way to spread the word and help parents so they can help their students.” ASCD Leadership Brief

A.J. Mitchell Principal Michelle Shuman speaks to parents and guardians during the monthly “Chat with the Principal” program on Friday, Sept. 29. Photo by Kendal Blust

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 69

Group project? Taking turns, workin A University of Washington study has found that social dynamics affect student performance on group projects. It has become an almost essential element of academic life, from college lecture halls to elementary classrooms: the group assignment. Dreaded by some, loved by others, group projects typically aim to build teamwork and accountability while students learn about a topic. But depending on the assignment and the structure of the groups, a project can turn out to be a source of great frustration — for instructor and students alike — or the highlight of the school year. Now a University of Washington-led study of college students has found that the social dynamics of a group, such as whether one person dominates the conversation or whether students work with a friend, affect academic performance. Put simply, the more comfortable students are, the better they do, which yields benefits beyond the classroom. “They learn more,” explained Elli Theobald, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology and the lead author on the study, published July 20 in PLOS ONE. “Employers are rating group work as the most important attribute in new recruits and new hires. If students are able to demonstrate that they have worked successfully in groups, it would seem that they should be more likely to land the job.” Theobald is part of the UW’s Biology Education Research Group lab, formed by several faculty members in the Department of Biology about a decade ago to research how to most effectively teach biology to undergraduates. A separate study by the BERG lab on group work, published in the July issue of Active Learning in Higher Education, finds that college students, 70 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

when given a choice of whom to sit and work with in a large classroom setting, gravitate toward those who appear most like them — whether by gender, race and ethnicity, or academic skills. Over the years, research spanning K-12 through post-secondary education has pointed to the value of group work in fostering collaborative skills and in cementing learning through interaction. In the sciences, labs are a common, though not the only, form of group work, Theobald said. As with many disciplines, STEM fields lend themselves to readings, worksheets and other activities that can be completed by multiple people working together. For this study, researchers compared survey responses and test scores stemming from two different project styles — single-group and “jigsaw” — with three assignments each during two sections of an introductory biology class at the UW. Each of the 770 students enrolled in one of the two sections of the course experienced each project style at least once. In a single-group activity, student groups completed a worksheet together, relying on their notes and textbooks. In a jigsaw, student groups were assigned specific sections of the worksheet; students then were shuffled to new groups in which each person in the group had completed a different section of the worksheet and could teach their new groupmates what they had learned. Students took an eight-question test after each assignment. The study found that students who reported a “dominator” in the group fared worse on the tests than those who didn’t express that concern. It also found that students who said they were comfortable in their group performed better than those who said they were less comfortable. The jigsaw activity appeared to result in more collaboration: Students were 67 percent less likely to report a dominator in jigsaws than in single-group activities. “This suggests that jigsaw

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ng with friends may improve grades Kim Eckart activities with intentional structure more effectively promote equity than group activities with less intentional structure,” researchers wrote. The nearly 770 students who completed all the assignments, tests and surveys had formed two- and three-person groups with those who sat near them in class. (Jigsaw assignments later shuffled initial groups.) Two-thirds of participants were female; people of color, including students who identify as Asian, Under-Represented Minority, and International, made up more than half of respondents. While the gender and racial and ethnic makeup of the participants informed the study, Theobald said, researchers don’t have details on who worked with whom so as to extrapolate from the composition of groups. For instance, were the experiences of women who worked with men different from those of women who worked in all-female groups? If a group contained only one person of color, what was that person’s experience compared to the rest of the group? That kind of information is ripe for further research, Theobald said. However, one noticeable data point emerged: International and Asian American students were six times as likely to report a dominator than white American students. “Not all students experience group work the same way,” researchers wrote in the study. “If one student dominates a conversation, it can be particularly jarring to students from cultural backgrounds that place more emphasis on introspection and thinking on one’s own as opposed to a direct relationship between talking as a way to work through ideas.”

translate to other settings, Theobald said. She pointed to a study Google conducted to determine what made groups successful — establishing group routines and expectations (“norms”) and adding a brief window at the beginning of work time for casual talk. Such findings, along with those of the UW study, can inform employers as well as K-12 teachers about productive group work, she said. The younger the students, the more structure a teacher is likely to have to establish, Theobald added. But when teachers make an assignment sufficiently interesting and complex, and manage student behavior, there is a potential for students to work together happily and productively. “If we can get our groups to be more comfortable, students should learn better and work better,” Theobald said. The National Science Foundation funded the study. Co-authors on the paper were Alison Crowe, principal lecturer in biology, and Benjamin Wiggins, faculty coordinator for biology instruction, both at the UW; Sarah Eddy of Florida International University; and Daniel Grunspan of Arizona State University.

Though the data was collected from college students, the findings

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 71

Crystalline Artworks Grow from Cra Artist Paige Smith A.K.A. A Common Name has been filling the gaps, cracks, and corners of LA with hand folded paper crystals since 2012. Her Urban Geodes are painted in bright purple, pink, and other jewel tones. They are most commonly inserted into areas that are crumbling or could use a bit more care, allowing Smith to patch holes with art instead of a monotone spackle. “Geodes are formations made and found in nature and my process of using manmade materials and placing them in major cities concurrently signals the tension between nature and industry and celebrates the beauty of urban space,” says Smith in an artist statement about the project. “My work is infused with a magical realism that encourages us to pause, to discover, to be present and to find beauty in the mundane.” Similar to the Atlanta-based project Tiny Doors ATL, each of Smith’s installations are mapped on her website for easy finding. In addition to LA, Smith has also installed works in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dubai, Madrid, Bali, and Istanbul. You can see more of her crystalline interventions on her Instagram.

Kate Sierzputowski 72 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

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acks in Urban Walls by Paige Smith

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 73

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More info: Andy Seliverstoff | Instagram | Facebook 76 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

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boredpanda.com

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boredpanda.com 78 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

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More info: Andy Seliverstoff | Instagram | Facebook Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 79

Global Search for Education: Teachers’ Top

In a 21st century world where we are learning, unlearning and relearning all the time, how can teachers keep up? The presence of technology in schools is increasing as are the opportunities to integrate tech into practice. However, the moment teachers master one new piece of tech, there may be something newer they need to learn. Educators are living with the new tech challenges all over the world, so if they were calling the shots, how would they approach the development of meaningful professional development programs for their communities?

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The Global Teacher Bloggers are pioneers and innovators in fields such as technology integration, mathematics coaching, special needs education, science instruction, and gender equity. They have founded schools, written curricula, and led classrooms in 16 different countries that stretch across every populated continent on earth. This month they weigh in on tech and teacher PD. “As the world rapidly stampedes into the future,” writes Richard Wells (@EduWells), “there can be no waiting for the large-scale organizations, founded in the 19th and 20th centuries, to form committees to discuss how all might cope with the change. The only way one can adapt in this new world is to realize that we will not be served as a collective by institutionally planned programs, but are now served by joining networks as participating, collaborative individuals.”

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Tips for Designing Meaningful PD Programs C. M. Rubin

Nadia Lopez (@TheLopezEffect) explains she’s learned “as an educational leader” that to “best develop teachers professionally, in our tech driven society,” one must be committed to many things including assessing which faculty members are “able and willing to learn” and what “makes sense for the instructional practices in your school.” In Sierra Leone, “while technology may be one means of raising standards, it is unlikely to be the latest technologies that make the most difference,” writes Miriam Mason Sesay (@ EducAidSL) who tries to ensure her teachers are “improving their subject knowledge as much as improving their pedagogical skills….” Craig Kemp’s (@mrkempnz) 4 ways to improve teacher professional learning include encouraging social media use for anytime, anywhere learning, establishing a “coaching pedagogy” and making learning “fun and personalized.” Joe Fatheree (@josephfatheree) writes that while he believes “districts have a moral and ethical responsibility to provide meaningful professional development,” it is “critical that teachers become vested partners in the process.” Joe notes that “his professional learning community is over 7 billion strong. Interested in joining?” “How can each teacher be given flexibility in HOW they learn while insuring that there is consistency in WHAT they learn?” Adam Steiner (@steineredtech) says it’s about “good LMS like itslearning that is providing “a menu of options in terms of learning activities while also offering a structure that insures that every participant gains the skills and concepts that are needed.” What are Adam’s top tips for districts “implementing a personalized learning experience for teachers?” Shaelynn Fransworth’s (@shfarnsworth) “6 Keys to Planning and Delivering Effective Professional

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Learning” include “inquiry-based professional learning,” “openers vs. ice-breakers,” and “starting with the why!” “As adult learners, teachers find satisfaction and purpose if what they are learning is relevant to their context,” writes Jim Tuscano (@ jimtuscano). Jim’s six tips for “Designing Meaningful Ed Tech Professional Learning” include “getting pre-workshop data from the teachers” and involving “the resident experts in the school.” Warren Sparrow (@wsparrowsa) was head of ICT for his school in South Africa. “There is no overnight success,” he writes. “One of the most important things is that the professional development must happen all the time, not only on a Friday afternoon when there is an allocated timetabled slot for this to happen.” Listen up educators! Because “It’s time for change!” writes Carl Hooker (@mrhooker) who declares “10 demands for summer learning… failure to meet these demands will result in the wide-spread lack of professional growth and lack of improvement in pedagogical practice by your staff.” “A 2014 Gates Foundation study shows only 29% of teachers satisfied with current teacher PD. Another 2015 study shows that only 30% of teachers improve substantially with PD. So, what we have doesn’t seem to be working?” asks Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher). We “need to make sure that teachers have time to learn,” are committed to learning and have a major role in “determining how they’ll learn.” If Pauline Hawkins (@PaulineDHawkins) were calling the shots, she would make sure “professional development was relevant and appropriate for the grade level and subject matter.” For professional development to truly improve teachers, they need experienced “master teachers,” and PD time “should include time to apply the new concept/skill/strategy to the classroom.” Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 81

If Maarit Rossi (@pathstomath) had the chance to influence ongoing professional development for teachers in her community, she would make sure that all courses were focused on “pedagogy first”! Among her recommendations: teachers should “set their own goals for professional development,” be trained in “co-operation with other schools,” and would not be allowed to do PD courses “after the school day when teachers have already done their work and may be tired.”

The Top Global Teacher Bloggers is a monthly series where educators across the globe offer experienced yet unique takes on today’s most important topics.

I am dreaming, writes Rashmi Kathuria (@ rashkath), of the day “when a teacher gets a chance to connect, collaborate, discuss and share with teachers all across the globe.” While the Internet is a huge resource, there is “lack of awareness, lack of grit, lack of time/planning to make effective use of such a resource and opportunity.” She writes that we “need to empower teachers to own the responsibility of their self professional development.”

Top Row L to R: Adam Steiner, Shaelynn Fransworth, Pauline Hawkins, Kazuya Takahashi

CMRubinWorld utilizes the platform to propagate the voices of the most indispensable people of our learning institutions – teachers.

2nd Row L to R: Elisa Guerra, Jasper Rijpma , C.M. Rubin, Carl Hooker, Warren Sparrow 3rd Row L to R: Nadia Lopez, Joe Fatheree, Craig Kemp, Rashmi Kathuria, Maarit Rossi

(All Photos are Courtesy of CMRubinWorld)

Bottom Row L to R: Jim Tuscano, Richard Wells, Abeer Qunaibi, Vicki Davis, Miriam Mason-Sesay

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New typhoid vaccine offers hope of protection for children

Oxford University Research

A new, next-generation conjugate vaccine against typhoid has been proven at Oxford University to be safe and effective in preventing the disease, and can be used to protect both adults and children. A study published in The Lancet is the first clinical trial to show that immunisation with a new typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) is safe, well tolerated and will have significant impact on disease incidence in typhoid-endemic areas that introduce the vaccine.The vaccine, called TypbarTCVR,has been submitted by Bharat Biotech International Limited to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for prequalification. This determines that the vaccine is safe and effective and can be procured by UNICEF for use in lowresource settings. Typhoid is caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi, and is responsible for around 20 million new infections and 200,000 deaths each year, mainly in South and South-East Asia and Africa. The disease is associated with inadequate sanitation and contaminated drinking water, and common symptoms include fever, stomach pain, headache and constipation or diarrhea. Children are especially susceptible, but the currently licensed vaccines do not confer lasting immunity in children. The trial was led by Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, Professor Andrew Pollard and funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. ‘This new vaccine could be a real game changer in tackling a disease that disproportionately affects both poor people and children,’ Prof Pollard said. ‘For the first time, we will be able to offer protection to children under two years of age, which will enable us to stem the tide of the disease in the countries where it claims the most lives. If we are going to make serious headway in tackling typhoid, we need to dramatically reduce the number of people suffering from and carrying the disease globally, which will in turn lead to fewer people being at

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risk of encountering the infection.This is a disease that only affects humans, and I believe that it will be possible for us to eradicate one day. However, we’re currently losing ground as overuse of antibiotics is leading to the emergence of new resistant strains, which are spreading rapidly.’ The researchers tested the vaccine at Oxford University using a controlled human infection model, which involved asking around 100 participants, to consume a drink containing the bacteria. Human infection models have been used for hundreds of years to test vaccines, and are particularly useful in studying diseases for which no suitable animal model exists. Dr Charlie Weller, Head of Vaccines at Wellcome, said: ‘Human infection models enable researchers to gather rich information about how a disease behaves in the body in a way that is not always possible from conducting animal studies. As this study shows, they can also give us an indication that a vaccine is safe and effective far more quickly than would be possible through large-scale population trials.’ Dr. Anita Zaidi, Director of the Enteric and Diarrheal Diseases team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said: ‘Many people think typhoid is a disease of the past, yet it still sickens millions of people annually, particularly children. This is a stain on global health progress when advances have been made against many other diseases. ‘These new results from Oxford University’s typhoid vaccine study provide exciting evidence that we may soon be able to protect children against typhoid with an effective vaccine. This vaccine would be a critical tool, alongside water and sanitation efforts, to help make real headway against this deadly disease and consign it to the history books where it belongs.’ Although typhoid as a disease is amenable to antibiotics treatment, increasing frequencies of multi-drug resistance among the invasive isolates are posing a threatening problem and limiting the effectiveness of such treatments. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 83

Changing behaviors may be easier when peopl In a study, people ate less meat and conserved more water when they thought those behaviors reflected how society is changing. The findings could point to new ways of encouraging other behavior changes. Whether it be for the environment, one’s health or other important causes, convincing people to adopt new or uncommon behaviors can be difficult. One reason is that societal norms powerfully reinforce the status quo.

Stanford researchers found that people are twice as likely to order a meatless meal when the cafeteria sign notes that people are changing their habits and eating less meat.Stanford researchers suggest a subtle shift in messaging can help. In new research that appeared Sept. 29 in Psychological Science, they find that focusing on how norms are changing can help people alter their behaviors. “One question we’re interested in from a psychological standpoint,” said Gregg Sparkman, a doctoral student in psychology at Stanford and the paper’s lead author, “is how social change happens. What leads people to overturn a status quo?”

Image credit: kzenon / Getty Images

He points out that although change usually happens slowly, it does happen, and perhaps more frequently than we notice. For example, seat belt use was once a nuisance, but now it’s standard practice. Smoking in restaurants and other public places was once commonplace, but

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le see norms changing, Stanford research finds Milenko Martinovich has declined. The question for the researchers is what factors influence people to make those changes.

Dynamic vs. static norms Past research on how social norms influence behavior has focused on seemingly static views of how most people behave, according to Greg Walton, associate professor of psychology and the study’s senior author. Sparkman and Walton’s research, however, tests how people behave when they think the norm is changing. “Showing how norms are changing can give people a model of how they can change too, and lead to a circumstance where many people change,” said Walton. The researchers conducted four experiments relating to meat consumption, a norm Sparkman described as “well-rooted, highly visible and something you do every day in the presence of others.” It’s also a norm that has a huge negative impact on the environment, as livestock consume large volumes of water and emit greenhouse gases. In one experiment, participants from across the United States read two statements about eating less meat. One statement (static) described how some Americans are currently trying to eat less meat, while the other statement (dynamic) described how some Americans are changing and now eat less meat. The participants who read the dynamic statement reported more interest in reducing their meat consumption than those who read the static one. Those participants reported anticipating that this change would continue into the future – leading them to conform to that future norm. Another experiment tested people’s likelihood to order a meat-based lunch. People standing in line at a Stanford campus café read statements describing how some people “limit how much meat they eat” (static) or “are starting to limit

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how much meat they eat” (dynamic). Lunch goers who read the dynamic statement were twice as likely to order a meatless meal than those in the static group (34 percent compared to 17 percent).

Less is sometimes more An important aspect of these studies, the researchers said, is that participants were never asked to change their behavior, or even told the benefits of doing so. “We didn’t ask people to not eat meat or eat less meat,” Walton said. “They’re just given information about change.” The researchers also conducted an experiment involving conserving water during the recent California drought. They posted signs in laundry facilities at high-rise residences of Stanford graduate students with static messages (“Most Stanford Residents Use Full Loads/Help Stanford Conserve Water”) or dynamic messages (“Stanford Residents Are Changing: Now Most Use Full Loads/Help Stanford Conserve Water). While the number of laundry loads were unaffected in buildings with no signs over the next three weeks, there was a 10 percent reduction among those who saw the static message, and nearly a 30 percent reduction for those who saw the dynamic message. The next question, Sparkman said, is to see whether it is possible to apply this method to other sustainability initiatives like curbing electricity usage and promoting policy support for new laws, such as those to reduce the gender gap in wages. “Dynamic norms may play a large role in social change,” Sparkman said. “Just learning that other people are changing can instigate all these psychological processes that motivate further change. People can begin to think that change is possible, that change is important and that in the future, the norms will be different. And then, if they become persuaded and decide to change, it starts to become a reality.” Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017 85

Giant Straw Animals Invade Japanese Fi Absolutely Badass Fall is a season of harvesting, and festivals to celebrate it are currently taking place all over the world. In Northern Japan, the Wara Art Festival recently rang in the September-October rice season, and it’s a wildly inventive and fun way to repurpose rice straw left over from the harvest. Wara Art Festival has been taking place in Niigata City since 2008, where it began as a creative collaboration between the city’s tourism division and the Musashino Art University. Rice straw was once widely used in Japan to produce various goods, such as tatami mats, but has now been replaced by wood and plastic in most instances. The students of Musashino worked together to fill the fields of Niigata with giant animal sculptures made of bound rice straw, and they’ve been doing it every year since then. Check out the best displays from the 2017 festival, and definitely put a trip to Japan on your fall to-do list for next year.

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ields After Rice Harvest And They Are Stella

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Fair Trade Tradesmen hate our place. I could count on the fingers of Homer Simpson’s hand the number of times a sparky, plumber or builder has actually done the job, or even started. It’s like there’s a big sign on the gate along the lines of ‘here be monsters’, or ‘abandon hope, all ye who enter here’. We’ve always paid our bills on time and we lock up the rabid chihuahua, so I am at a loss to work out why the reluctance to paint, plumb, saw or wire. It’s not that we’re too far out in the country and the road is generally navigable. When we first tried to obtain assistance, we used word of mouth. Our neighbour named a couple of locals who would ‘get the job done’. This was singularly unsuccessful as it seemed everyone knew who was capable and reliable and there was a waiting list of several years. It was a case of, ‘sorry mate, I’m building a motel at the moment and the missus has been on at me to replace the piles on our house and she’ll have my guts for garters if I put that off again.’ 94 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017

So we went to the classified ads. A typical advertisement in the local two minute’s silence would indicate a tradesman’s willingness to undertake employment and no job could be too small. Once contacted (not always an easy feat), said advertiser would arrange to visit, inspect and provide a quote. On the agreed-upon day, or week, a van would wind its way up the drive and dislodge a reasonably cheerful individual who would proceed to measure up, make notes, comment eruditely on requirements and after a cup of coffee would depart, with a promise to provide an estimate for the job, with an intention to commence work within the month, weather permitting. They would then drive off-out of our lives forever. Phone calls would elicit empty promises or messages would go unanswered. Occasionally a tradie would return and take further measurements, or even do an hour’s work, often accompanied by a large dog, which would demolish a flower bed, or try to kill the cat. After the hour,

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another job beckoning, he would depart, leaving the roof partially demolished, or an empty space where once there was a window. Never to return. Sometimes tools were left behind. I wonder if there is a black hole located near our property. I know about black holes because I watched ‘Interstellar’ and understand that these celestial tomos can have a profound effect on time. What, for us are a few days or weeks, could be years in tradie time. So, in a decade or so, we could expect to be inundated with plumbers and woodies, intent upon starting, or continuing a job. One of the few who stayed to job completion charged for several hours more than he actually worked, so that backs up this hypothesis. A while back, a friend moved into the neighbourhood, bright tailed and bushy eyed and asked for some recommendations for tradies to undertake renovations to her house. We stalled, not wishing to

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disillusion her and so she contacted a number of people who advertised their services in the local paper. Within a week she had interviewed several and was most impressed with their professionalism and was looking forward to their estimates. We were dismayed. Why should she be treated differently? Perhaps our caffeine-free coffee and coconut milk had put people off? Or were we too demanding? Should we have sacrificed the cat, or a couple of chickens to the tradie’s Labrador? Our fears would prove to be groundless. Our friend is still waiting. Must be a big black hole. Every cloud has a lining, not necessarily a silver one. Instead of lining a tradie’s pockets, we’ve learned to do a lot of things ourselves. We nurture those wonderful artisans who have turned up-and stayed, appreciating a work ethic that seems to be a rarity in these times. But it’s amazing what can be achieved by oneself with a bit of help from YouTube.

Roger

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“The best teachers don’t give you the answers... They just point the way ... and let you make your own choices.” 96 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2017