Teachers Matter Magazine issue 23

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

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NZ$15 / AU$15

Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 23

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Energetic. Practical. Fun. Passionate. Inspirational

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

Parents:

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

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

- Mark Ellis, Principal

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

Entrepreneurs:

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

“

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

- Lesley Johnson, Director: Read think Learn

”

To book Karen to speak at your next Professional Development Day, Conference or Function 2013 Speaker of the Year

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

NATIONAL SPEAKERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND

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CONTENTS

In this issue On Cover: Superstar Karen Boyes won the 2013 New Zealand Speaker of the Year Award from the National Speakers Association of NZ. Teachers Matter is so proud of her accomplishment!

MAKE ME FEEL I MATTER

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Editor’s letter

Get the pedagogy right then find the digital device to enhance it

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Teachers Matter

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A successful technique for a challenging youngster

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Tips for parents on career guidance with your teenagers

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ASPIRE

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11 Exam tips for success

ALAN COOPER

Are they listening?

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A matter of choice

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Well-being within education

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Is it a playground or a battleground?

Making it safe to play

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Babies and bath water

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SAIL in the 21st Century

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Slow down – time wisdom in a crazy world (Feeling Groovy)

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Learning Talk: develop the art of inquiry

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A to Z of effective teaching: Letter G

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Managing your own brain

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Defining moments in a ‘not uncommon’ learning journey!

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Why do I feel so bad?

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The culture of homework

SARAH LINEHAN

ANDREW FIU

Lessons from the counselling room COLIN HUGHES

Giving feedback that works HEATH HENWOOD

Leadership – tell me what you want...

Creating a safe place for today’s adolescents

KATE SOUTHCOMBE

MAGGIE DENT

Quote

WILL SMITH

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DR. MARVIN MARSHALL MOSGIEL CENTRAL KINDERGARTEN PAUL RAMSAY

THERESE HOYLE

ANGELA STENSNESS

JOAN DALTON

BETTE BLANCE

CAMILLA WATSON

The flipped classroom JENNY BARRETT

BRIAN NOBLE

KAREN BOYES

DEBORAH BARCLAY

PAT BUONCRISTIANI

GLENN CAPELLI

KAREN BOYES

JAN BIBBY

ANGIE WILCOCK

Subscribe today

MAGAZINE CONTACTS

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

Teachers Matter Magazine Team Publisher, Sales and Advertising Karen Boyes Editor Sarah Linehan Art Director Mary Hester / 2ndFloorDesign Printer Spectrum Print, Christchurch

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

Teachers Matter magazine is registered with the National Library: ISSN 1178-6825 © Spectrum Education 2013 All rights reserved.

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A letter to teachers on the use of stoplights in the classroom

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JEN BRADLEY

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Linking motivation and praise

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JOHN SHACKLETON

Color as a communication tool

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Enhancing teacher relationships and effectiveness through the practice of gratitude

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Are people fat because of you?

Raising a smart child who loves to learn

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KERRY HOWELLS

DR LAURA MARKHAM

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ROWENA SZESZRAN-MCEVOY

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Is it good for you?

- Your environment, I mean?

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Grandparents - friends or foes?

Spectrum Education Ltd Street Address: 19 Rondane Place, Lower Hutt, New Zealand Postal Address: PO Box 30818, Lower Hutt, New Zealand Phone: (NZ) +64 4 528 9969 Fax: (NZ) +64 4 528 0969

Happy sticks

www.spectrumeducation.com

Difficult parent conference

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Jokes

Lemon meringue cupcakes

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The Last Word: Get moving!

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Quote

MAGGIE HOS-MCGRANE MICHAEL GRINDER MONICA WILLIMAS

Flying the dream NGAHI BIDOIS

ROBYN PEARCE

All Enquiries

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THELMA VAN DER WERFF

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

magazine@spectrumeducation.com

What do students do when they don’t know what to do?

BARBARA GRIFFITH & TRICIA KENYON

YVONNE GODFREY

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Remember the November book review

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

REBECCA JANE FLANAGAN

KAREN BOYES SUDIE BACK

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

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Hello!

I lear nt many valuable lessons in Issue 23 and have a couple of apologies to make before I go any further. Firstly, to Matt Atkinson for giving his article a completely nonsensical quote – hopefully you figured out this was an error and not poor writing on his part. The second is to Ngahi Bidois; the image with his article implies that he is a crazy driver who passes wildly on yellow lines, and of course, he is not! And so again, my apologies.

Teachers Matter

This issue is full of a myriad of marvellous ideas to support teachers both professionally and personally.

Close to my heart is an article by Alan Cooper who discusses how digital devices should be used to augment your teaching. I cannot count how many times I have seen technology used as an add-on in classrooms without prior thought as to how it might enhance learning.

This poor use of technology often results in disappointing outcomes, which can then lead to the user believing that its usage is a waste of time. Jenny Barrett’s article describes just how various forms of technology can be used effectively in the flipped

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classroom to provide students with improved access to lesson content. I would love to see a flipped class in action – the process fascinates me.

A couple of new voices to be heard in TeachersMatter are those of the ECE and school counsellor sectors.

Mosgiel Central Kindergarten takes us through their centre philosophy, ASPIRE, which supports pre-schoolers and staff in many areas including t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g t o g e t h e r, encouraging community involvement and valuing the environment. ‘Lessons from the counselling room’ gives an intriguing insider’s view of how the key competencies emerge in a counselling session. Both articles give inspiring insights into different aspects of education.

These are but a few of the fantastic contributions we have in this, the last issue for 2013. If I had more space, I would go on as I have been truely inspired by ideas of gratitude, special learning journeys, dreaming, raising smart children and so much more.

Luckily for you I don’t, and so I urge you to read every page and find some inspiration for yourself!

On a final note, students and teachers will be interested in the study tips and effective feedback articles which will be invaluable in the preparation for the up-coming exam and test season.

I wish I had had Karen’s 11 Exam Tips when I was at High School! Karen is the founder and CEO of Spectrum Education and she has educated thousands of people of all ages through her dynamic presentations. We here at Spectrum Education are very proud to announce that Karen has won the NZNSA’s Speaker of the Year 2013 award.

I hope you all have a successful end of year and enjoy a relaxing summer break!

Live, laugh, play & learn,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To order please contact Spectrum Education www.spectrumeducation.com

CONTRIBUTORS

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

Andrew Fiu Is the author of Purple Heart (Random House 2006) a memoir studied in colleges and universities throughout New Zealand. He is also part of the Writers In Schools programme. Since 2008, he has spoken to over 20,000 New Zealand students and their teachers, encouraging students to develop their imagination and bolstering the belief they can achieve what they dream, if they continue to learn. Andrew is also a motivational speaker for big business. www.lifeafter6.com

Angela Stensness As the Specialist Classroom Teacher at Papamoa College, Angela’s portfolio focuses on the pedagogical development of teachers and provision of resources to enhance teacher practice. She has co-authored a chapter in “Teaching Primary School Mathematics and Statistics: Evidence-based Practice.” www.highhopes.com.au

Angie Wilcock Angie Wilcock is a highly regarded Australian expert and speaker on transitions in education.

She is a published author with a strong background in teaching who works with teachers, parents and students in the area of transition to secondary school. She recently published The Transition Tightrope. www.highhopes.com.au

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

Teachers Matter

Bette Blance

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

Brian Noble Brian Noble is CEO and founder of Achievement Discoveries, New Zealand’s most experienced Aptitude Assessment Company. He has an extensive and diverse background ranging from Television Engineering and Technical Operations to Top Sales performance, General

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

Camilla Watson With a background as a Corporate Trainer, and with a Diploma in Social Services, Camilla is an experienced trainer, counsellor and life coach.

She is a stress management specialist and mind/ body therapist. She has received awards for Outstanding Adult Educator for her courses and is also licensed by Hay House Programmes as a ‘Heal Your Life®’ coach. She has worked in the classroom as a support person for children with emotional difficulties and also provides the ‘Understanding Emotional Processing’ workshops for teaching staff to aid them in the classroom.

Colin Hughes Colin Hughes has 37 years experience as a school Counsellor, most of those at trident Highschool as Head of Guidance leading a team of counsellors and deans. He spent four years as an advisor to counsellors in schools for the Dept of Education, was Coordinator for the Waikato Bay of Plenty Regional Ethics team and a member of the NZAC National Ethics Committee. hughescg@gmail.com

Deborah Barclay Deborah Barclay works as a DP in an Auckland School. She has recently embarked on an exciting journey, as a Certified Coach, to work with Women in Education - inspiring them to take care of themselves and to live a purposeful life! inspire.success@me.com

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

She has taught at every level of the education system and is a registered piano teacher. Jan loves being with her family, reading, writing, being outdoors, composing music and creating things. Jan teaches literacy, ESOL and Special Needs at Katikati Primary School.

Jen Bradley Jen Bradley, Ph.D. is the author of the Germantown Avenue Parents blog. As a classroom teacher, she taught Head Start and first grade children in urban classrooms. She now teaches in several universities in the Philadelphia area where her work with preservice and in-service teachers brings her in to many wonderful classrooms each year. blog URL: germantownavenueparents.com

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

Joan Dalton Internationally respected Australian teacher and educator. She is acknowledged for her expertise in learning and teaching, as well as leadership and facilitation. She has worked by invitation with schools and educational organisations in more than 10 different countries. Joan has authored several internationally successful books. Her current passion and writing is focused on the kinds of skillful language and powerful conversations that move learning forward. www.plotpd.com

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

Heath Henwood

Kate Southcombe

Heath Henwood is a teacher and coach in Queensland. He has extensive experience working in private and government schools as a Teacher, Principal and Coach. Heath has studied widely, with a Masters in Leadership, and PostGraduate qualifications in Science, Education, and ICTs. He sits on several boards and consults on Strategic Leadership, Educational Practices, Curriculum Development and Personal Development. He is married with two teenage children. He is available for contact at Heath.Henwood@bigpond.com

Kate provides individually tailored professional development for Early Childhood Centres and schools on evidence-based behaviour management. Her key points of difference are that she is a fully qualified teacher who has lectured in Early Childhood, and she provides essential theory which is frequently missing in trendy packaged material. Kate also consults for parents of children with specific behaviour concerns. kate@eprtraining.co.nz

Jan Bibby Jan is passionate about helping people succeed.

She has published ‘Jan Bibbys Kids Language Kit’ (www.kidslanguagekit.co.nz) and written a life skills programme called ‘Grow Your Future’.

Karen Boyes Karen Boyes is a leading authority on effective learning and teaching in Australasia and is founder and CEO of Spectrum Education. A highly skilled, enthusiastic and dynamic presenter with over 18 years experience in the education

profession, she works with teachers, parents, students and corporate clients internationally, unleashing their peak performance. www.spectrumeducation.com

Kerry Howells Dr Kerry Howells is a teacher educator in the UTAS Faculty of Education, teaching in the areas of educational philosophy, professional studies and practitioner research. Over the past fifteen years she has demonstrated that traditional teaching and learning practices are enhanced by greater attention to practices of gratitude, and that students’ gratitude is more fully realised when teachers and school leaders first attend to their practice of gratitude. Teachers at all levels of education will find her book Gratitude in education (2012) practical and inspiring.

Dr. Laura Markham D r. L a u r a M a r k h a m i s t h e f o u n d e r o f AhaParenting.com and author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting. Laura trained as a Clinical Psychologist, but she’s also a mum, so she translates proven science into the practical solutions you need for the family life you want.

Maggie Dent Maggie Dent is an author, educator, speaker, and parenting and resilience expert with a special interest in the early years and adolescence. She is a passionate advocate for the healthy, commonsense raising of children in order to strengthen families and communities. Maggie has a broad perspective and range of experience that shapes her work, a slightly irreverent sense of humour and a depth of knowledge that she shares passionately in a commonsense way. Her finest achievements are her four adult sons, deep human connectedness and her five books. www.maggiedent.com

Maggie Hos-McGrane Maggie Hos-McGrane has been teaching for 30 years, 24 of these in international schools.

Originally from the UK, Maggie is currently the Elementary Tech Coordinator at the American School of Bombay and is a member of ASB’s Research and Development Core Team. Maggie is a Google Certified Teacher and has presented at conferences in Europe, Asia, North and South America. www.maggiehosmcgrane.com/

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

Michael Grinder Michael Grinder is the United States national director of NLP in Education. After teaching for

17 years on three education levels, he holds the record of having visited over 6,000 classrooms.

Michael has pioneered the practice of using non-verbals to manage classrooms and create a safe learning environment based on influence instead of power.

Monica Williams Monica is the owner and creator of the Delissimon blog, a baking and photography blog that started in 2008. She is a wife, mother to 3 children, baker, photographer, lover of chocolate and partial to a good wine. Based in the Bay of Plenty she is passionate about good food, happy children and all the fresh air you can get!

Mosgiel Central Kindergarten This article was written by Paula Reynolds who is the Head Teacher at Mosgiel Central Kindergarten. She has been an early childhood teacher for the past 18 years and is passionate about children’s learning in the 21st Century.

Paula is an advocate for children, their families and my teaching colleagues and view learners as whole people. The kindergarten has a supportive teaching team and working together is a value underpins their teaching and learning. Her colleagues have had much input into this article.

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

Pat Buoncristiani

Pat has been a classroom teacher, a teachers college lecturer and a school principal. She has extensive experience training educators in early literacy development, behaviour management and the development of thinking based curricula. She is a certified Habits of Mind trainer and a consultant with McREL Australia. Pat has written Developing Mindful Students, Skilful Thinkers, Thoughtful Schools. You can learn more at www.ThinkingandLearningInConcert.org or follow her blog at www.ThinkingInTheDeepEnd. wordpress.com

Paul Ramsay Paul Ramsey is the principal of Waipu Primary School, a small school located in the North Island at Bream Bay. The school’s motto is “Quality is what we do around here” and this is reflected through the school. When not at school, Paul can be found on his tractor, at the rugby grounds or playing tennis.

Rebecca Jane Flanagan Rebecca Jane Flanagan is a passionate early childhood teacher, talented storyteller and trained opera singer. She is an advocate for play based learning, connecting children with the nature and the importance of music and the creative arts. Her specialised programme includes enchanting performances and workshops for children, and engaging professional development training for

CONTRIBUTORS early childhood staff. www.facebook.com/ MusicalExperiencesForChildren

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

Rowena Szeszeran-McEvoy Rowena Szeszeran-McEvoy is the founder of The Max, a group of private, prestigious and exclusive international fitness businesses colleges in Australia and New Zealand. She is an internationally-requested speaker; is on the board of trustees of a not-for-profit medical College in New Zealand; has written 13 books, and is the editor of the MAXimum RESULTS health & fitness magazine. She ran her 14th marathon in 2012.

Thelma van der Werff Thelma van der Werff is a chartered colour therapist who has developed a fascinating new concept called “Colour Coaching. Colour Coaching uses the psychology of colour to determine someone’s talents and stumbling blocks and is a simple tool for practitioners and therapists in assessing and supporting their clients. Thelma has written two books:Why are you wearing those colours? and Dress to Impress. Thelma teaches her Colour Comfort method in New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands, and Germany.

Therese Hoyle Therese Hoyle is bestselling author of 101 Playground Games and 101 Wet Playtime Games and Activities. She runs Positive Playtime and whole school social, emotional and behavioural skills programmes nationally and internationally.If you wish to develop her ideas further please read her books, available from Spectrum Education, or contact her direct for in depth advice on designing and developing your playground. www.successpartnership.com therese@successpartnership.com

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

Yvonne Godfrey Yvonne Godfrey is the founder of Miomo (Making it on my Own), a 10-day, live-in experience to equip 17- to 24-year-olds for a responsible, independent and successful adult life. www.miomo.co.nz

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ALAN COOPER

Get the pedagogy right then find the digital device to enhance it How technology can improve educational outcomes

To get improved results, rigorous innovative pedagogical planning, based firmly on the learning needs (differentiation) of the students is a must. Digital devices used in teaching and learning are not the end they are merely a means to an end. What is important is how the technology can enhance the educational objectives.

Teachers Matter

The big question is what educational objectives are being pursued?

For the purposes of this article I am using a hypothetical classroom where the following universally important overarching educational objectives are being focussed on.

First is to motivate each student to become intrinsically engaged. Second is to grow the professional knowledge and development of the teaching staff so that the school becomes a learning community. Third is to develop in the students an ability to reflect on their development as a learner and thus learn how they learn best; but also to provide the teaching staff with the perspective of a learner’s view.

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The next question is how can the use of digital devices enhance these objectives?

The short answer is to change the focus in the classroom from the traditional teaching model with the focus on the teacher and the way the teacher teaches, to a student centric approach with an emphasis on the learner and how each student learns – differentiation. Thus new and different practices and processes are required that disrupt the status quo,

requiring both teachers and students to unlearn and relearn.

learning objectives, because the student is in control of the pacing.

Having mobile devices (iPads, iPhones, notebook computers and more) available anytime anywhere is the future. Their availability before school, at lunch time, after school and at home opens up 24/7 learning and with it the learning through collegial interaction. The teacher role becomes one of mentor and coach.

An example is student note making: a crucial aspect of student learning. In the traditional classroom as the teacher teaches the lesson students attempt to take verbatim notes. However, this is ineffective as the pace of the lesson does not allow for the analysing and evaluation of the lesson that leads to the precision and accuracy that note making requires.

For any individual school, it may still be several years down the track before this anywhere anytime can be, but it should be in the long term plan or worse equity issues will eventuate: for others anywhere anytime is already the situation. However, despite where an individual school is at, a start can be made on the objectives discussed here, with whatever devices are available.

Putting the learner in control Video lessons, or as a second preference webinar type lessons, is an example of the use of technology to match the above

With video, the reflective student, by using the pause button, is able to provide the time they need to get their head around the content, sort it out, write it down and then move on without missing part of the lesson, and therefore having learning blanks.

When the teacher is teaching there is no pause button.

Likewise with the impulsive student. In their case they can hit the pause button while all those ideas flashing round in their heads are slowed down, sorted and added to the notes.

As with the reflective student no part of the

PHOTO: TYLER OLSON

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hen digital devices are being introduced to a school or classroom because they are the ‘in’ thing - the fashionable classroom accessory - and they are crammed on to the existing structure they will fail. The status quo has not been changed and so these digital devices are simply being used as expensive pens and exercise books.

ALAN COOPER

lesson is thus a blank while the teacher moved on and their imagination flowed.

Wi t h t h e l e s s o n o n video, the teacher is freed to cruise the classroom, with their formative assessment mentor or coach hat on, providing instant feedback, including the correction of any misconceptions.

While these grass roots leaders they were not trendy J a c k o r J i l l ’s o r mere journey men or women, they demonstrated a passion about the developing p r a c t i c e .

Moreover this passion included a willingness to share the materials and expertise that they were developing with others. Through this other teachers came to view them not only as the local guru, but also team players helping to develop a learning community.

“ Digital devices used in teaching and learning are not the end they are merely a means to an end.”

Notes should also be considered a work in progress; moderated, added to, or docked as new knowledge or greater understanding is found. The availability of the video lesson which can be accessed anytime anywhere means that when this updating is done the original can be accessed to check back on.

There is no way a teacher delivered lesson can be re-visited like this.

Transferring the learning into long term memory Transferring the learning into long term memory will not just happen on its own; it must be consciously made to happen.

Students making their own video to teach a new concept to a fellow student or fellow students do this. It is the metacognition - analysing what needs to be included, evaluating, creating – that is the vehicle for this transfer.

An In School Change Agent Sustaining innovation requires a change agent who has not only a rapport with the grass roots (the classroom teachers) but also a pragmatic, personal practical knowledge of the realities of the innovation in the day to day running of the classroom. Thus to be successful the change agent is not some top down outside hiring, here today gone tomorrow, but a bottom up grass roots part of the permanent long term school environment.

This idea is supported by an unpublished research paper by Rebecca Hayes from Mary Washington University in Virginia, which looked at why some New Zealand schools were able to innovate successfully.

Principals must nurture these people.

Thus some recognition within the formal hierarchy of the school, for such a leader, provides not only an expectation that the key leadership in the school support the continued development of the innovation and its continued improvement, but also publically affirms and supports such a leader.

Such recognition does not need to eat into school budgets or scarce management units.

In my school such recognition was provided through a title, such as Director of …... and a couple or three non-contact periods.

Assessment As teachers and the schools they work in embrace innovative student centric teaching and learning, such as the video lessons suggested above, they need to remain grounded. Exciting as it all is, all need to assure themselves that the curriculum is being taught more effectively and that the teacher professional development to promote and sustain this is happening. In this sense, assessment is all about being in a critical continuous learning mode.

concept of more as the learning objective. Is there more here still to see and understand?

What more is there that we can do in the future? In this sense it is a professional development growth model.

As the stories are told and reflected on specific personal practical knowledge is developed and deeper learning (deeper mental - models) is shaped and reshaped. As a result the daily classroom practice moves from good to great - from the ordinary to the leading edge. Moreover the practitioners have control and therefore ownership.

The frequency of these story telling sessions is crucial. Research by Karen Ruffner from the University of Wisconsin found that to meet weekly was the ideal but every other week was more practical. Monthly or longer was not so successful. The best time frame is 30 to 45 minutes. Summaries of these sessions need to be written up assiduously.

Even over a short period of time they become an important record of the journey that the staff, the students and perhaps the parents have made to lift the calibre of the teaching in the school.

Teacher story-telling and metacognitive reflection is only half of the required feedback. The other half comes from the students’ reflections on how the teaching and learning in the classroom appears to them. By making mandatory the use of the conjunction because, the students are forced to think at higher levels, leading to deeper learning. Apart from the information that this reflection provides to each student to prepare them for life-long learning it is a check on whether the teachers have got the more side right. Where the two coincide the signal is full steam ahead, but where they differ it is a red light to re-think.

To conclude, “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” John Dewey.

A proven way of doing this is through qualitative analysis where teachers regularly meet to share narrative stories of their classroom experiences about critical moments, paradoxes, social interactions and more. These stories are then reflected on. One way of doing this is having the

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ANDREW FIU

Are they listening?

The best thing about a classroom environment is the captive audience. The worst thing is the audience could feel more captive than captivated.

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eachers have an opportunity every day to inspire their students. To ensure that the lessons they teach are remembered and provide some inspiration for the students to keep learning. The resources for students today are abundant. It’s having the freedom to explore and making the decision to want to learn that’s limiting our children’s education in the classroom. Teachers need to persuade and inspire students to make that decision. To encourage, to push them to do better, and to teach differently to reach those who have been raised with the internet, smartphones and tablets and with Google at their fingertips.

As an author, I believe creativity enhances the engagement factor and stokes the imagination and desire to learn more, to explore, to help set in place a thirst for knowledge, no matter how small it may be in the beginning. When the class looks listless and the heads are drooping, when the ‘engagement’ factor seems to be at an all time low, I’ve done some exercises with students that may help. Here are three I’ve used.

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20 minute fiction

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After a lesson or a book chapter, challenge students to write their own short story.

You may want to incorporate a few rules, as it will help development. I like to set a word count at 150. Time limits are also great as it keeps them focussed on utilising every minute they have. You can vary the challenges by varying the time limits: the harder the challenge the shorter the

time. I’ve done workshops with seniors that were five-minute challenges and in some I wrote super challenge words on the whiteboard and said they had to be included in their short stories.

English – Hollywood style There is nothing more alluring than the possibility your classroom is harbouring a ‘yet to be discovered talent’. Instead of reading Of Mice & Men from the front of the classroom or having the students read it aloud, try substituting a movie script.

The wow factor is surreal and it’s a fresh approach on energising the students. It may not be what’s on the curriculum but it’s an effective way of getting students to read and the curiosity factor works to your advantage. Encourage them also to act out the cowboy accents or the drill sergeant or what ever the characters are in the movie script. I feel the first key is to get students interested and intrigued that is most important in any workshop or lesson.

Where do I get the free, legal movie scripts I hear you ask? http://www.simplyscripts.com

Poetry Lesson The enthusiasm of students for poetry is generally on a level with watching paint dry and probably the paint would win out nine times out of ten. I think the never-fail first poem to introduce students to poetry should be Cinderella by Roald Dahl.

“ Te a c h e r s n e e d to persuade and inspire students to make the decision to want to learn.”

Why Cinderella? It’s funny. It’s realistic for students and older children to imagine.

E a c h l i n e t e l l s a s t o r y a n d i t ’s v e r y descriptive. You could challenge them to write their own poem based on fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin/Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Below are the first six lines of Cinderella: I guess you think you know this story.

You don’t. The real one’s much more gory.

T h e p h o n e y o n e , t h e o n e y o u k n o w, Was cooked up years and years ago, And made to sound all soft and sappy just to keep the children happy.

ANDREW FIU

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COLIN HUGHES

Lessons from the counselling room School counselling and the key competencies fs underlie the choices that teachers make?

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e are used to thinking about the key competencies of the New Zealand National Curriculum in relation to classroom teaching, but what do we see when we look at key competency learning in the counselling room?

If, as claimed, they are “the key to learning in every area,” how do the following key competencies emerge in counselling in secondary schools: • Thinking?

• Using language symbols and texts?

• Managing self?

• Relating to others?

• Participating and contributing?

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Three secondary school counsellors, in three different schools, who are part of a team researching their practice in relation to the key competencies, answer questions about their research.

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What evidence have you found that key competency learning is present in your counselling work?

For a term each of us recorded ever y counselling session we held, noting the key competencies that came into focus during that session. Over three hundred sessions were evaluated using a common grid. What we found was that the key competencies were obviously present in every session thus validating the curriculum statement that “people use these key competencies to live, learn, work and contribute as active members of their communities.” Of course the mere fact that we found clear evidence that they were present in our counselling conversations did not automatically mean that learning around those key competences was occurring. We needed to look further.

What did you find?

Our counselling conversations with students fore-grounded one or more of the key competencies which in turn became prime

locations of learning and were identifiable as such. For each of us, the key competencies of managing self, relating to others and thinking were recorded as the most common, in that order. We also found that all the key competencies were in evidence both as means - that is, as a way of achieving an outcome - and as an outcome in itself.

How exactly were these key competencies foregrounded in your counselling conversations?

As we focussed on what students brought to the counselling, became curious about their experience and empathically asking questions that helped them explore widely and deeply, one or more key competencies emerged. It was never a case of imposing a key competency because there was never a need to do so. Key competencies were embedded in the students’ stories and naturally revealed themselves as they were deeply listened and responded to. The students’ lives and experiences became the curriculum

COLIN HUGHES

where learning took place. Nor could we pre-guess what key competency would be fore-grounded, based on the problem students brought to counselling because each student’s response to their problem was unique.

To illustrate, when working with a student over a series of sessions around anger, different key competencies were foregrounded in different sessions according to the unique responses of that student. In session one the counselling conversation explored how anger was impacting class work, the rugby team, friends and family, because that is how the problem was presented by the student - the key competency of participating and contributing.

In session two, the student, having explored the destructive effects of anger, asked the counsellor for ideas that would help better control anger. Various cognitive strategies were offered and explored - the key competency of thinking. In session three those strategies were built on in terms of learning ways to respond to others that were not aggressive but appropriately assertive - the key competency of relating to others. A fourth session centred around a particular anger-damaged relationship where a letter of apology and hope was co-constructed with the counsellor - the key competency of using language, symbols and text. The fifth session reviewed all that had been put into practice and its resulting impact - the key competency of managing self. In all these sessions other key competencies were present both as means and ends, but one or two always emerged as the primary ones, around which learning conversations developed.

Is there anything about these (counselling) learning conversations that are transferable to the classroom setting, or are they unique to the counselling room?

Some are unique because that uniqueness is embedded in the counselling/client relationship. For example, the degree of confidentiality available to the student adds a boundary of safety to conversations and encourages a depth of exploration, and therefore learning, that may not happen without it. Also, counsellors are in the privileged position where most of their clients are self-referred - students make an independent decision to come for

a specific purpose. This makes voluntary commitment to their learning more likely.

The counsellor does not have a disciplinary/ punishment role which makes differently rigorous conversations possible. In addition to these role differences, there is a host of specialist counselling skills and knowledge that contribute to the learning that happens in counselling relationships. All these things combine to make the counselling room a unique learning environment in the school.

Having said that, there are important aspects of the learning environment in counselling that are transferable in to the more public space of the classroom. We mention four.

Creating an emotionally safe environment enhances learning. This is just as true in the classroom as it is in the counselling room.

Fear of ridicule or embarrassment around learning inhibits genuine inquiry. In fact, so much so, that in the counselling situation where going to the counsellor is typically optional, students will not even elect to go unless they think they will be emotionally safe. While turning up to class is typically not optional for students our experience in the counselling room suggests that learning will be significantly compromised if students feel emotionally unsafe due to relationship factors in the classroom.

Conversations with students that identify existing levels of a key competency and, m o s t i m p o r t a n t l y, e x p l o r e h o w t h i s knowledge was developed, empower students by building confidence, motivation and the understanding for further learning.

A certain alertness is required to see examples of the key competencies in our students’ lives and explore those with them.

Signs of key competences are everywhere, both in the words and actions of our students and are often unrecognised. For example, when we as counsellors begin to view the mere action of a student coming to see us as a possible example of the key competency of managing self, transformative and hopeful conversations will often open up. This was illustrated by a student with depression who made an appointment to see the counsellor rather than cutting herself, which was her usual response to feelings of hopelessness or despair. The sense of utter surprise when she realised that she had broken a usual pattern was the dawning of a hope that she might be able to continue to manage

herself differently. From noticing such key competencies in students’ behaviour, and naming them, conversations that strengthen and support a fragile key competency can begin to emerge. Teachers as well as counsellors are in a position to notice key competencies in students and have such conversations.

Exploration that arises from students’ interests is more likely to sustain motivation for genuine and transformative learning. While this may be easier in counselling rooms where it is clients who bring the curriculum, it is increasingly common in classrooms for students to elect topics for research that are of interest to themselves. Our experience in the counselling room of intense student engagement arises significantly from this factor and suggests this is well worth structuring for in the classroom.

Involving students in evaluation of their own learning creates powerful learning.

In our counselling students were typically invited into a position of curiosity where they were researchers on their own behaviour and evaluators as to whether what they learned in the counselling room worked in real life and why or why not.

The team developed Key Competency Sort Cards, which were used as one way to help students reflect on their counselling learning experience. It was an empowering and enjoyable experience for students as they identified and illustrated from their own life, their learning around these key competencies. In the classroom, external criteria often compete with self-reflection and self-evaluation, the latter often being seen as having far less status in the school system by students. It may take special effort by teachers for students to lift the status and value of self evaluation in their mind but our counselling room experience would suggest that it is worth the effort.

NOTE. This research was made possible because of a TLRI grant. These research awards require collaboration between university researchers and practitioners. The research team in this project is made up of: Dr Kathie Crocket, Dr Elmarie Kotze, Colin Hughes, Alison Burke and Judith Graham.

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HEATH HENWOOD

Giving feedback that works Providing constructive feedback to assist students achieve their goals

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eedback is a powerful way to build knowledge in students, by having them reflect upon their own work, while increasing their self-motivation to improve. However at times the feedback teachers provide is ineffectual or counterproductive. As teachers we need to ensure that we give feedback that makes a difference. This article highlights some best practices in giving feedback, while outlining some traps to avoid.

For feedback to work, teachers must have a good understanding of what the student is currently achieving, and what the target for the individual student is. This way, the teacher can provide constructive feedback to assist the student to achieve their goals.

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Evaluative feedback, which either praises or criticises students work, is not effective.

It devalues the student work, and impacts the students by imposing a negative selfworth. Evaluative feedback is unhealthy as it a performance-oriented judgment, that is conditional on what the student does or achieves. It consists of evaluating character traits or actions, which often creates anxiety and defensiveness in the student. An example of, “You’re a great student” is a performance-oriented remark which is vague, and does not provide any guidance for student improvement.

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It is much more effective to be specific about what the student is doing right and how they have improved. Called “descriptive feedback”, it is useful in stating the event and what occurred. Descriptive feedback is healthy as it provides the scaffolding for improvement. This type of feedback is unconditional, as it is not reliant on what the student has achieved, but rather reflects o n i t , t o a l l o w improvement to occur.

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“ Empower students by giving them access to information about their own performance and teaching them how to use it.”

Appreciative feedback tells the student how they reacted to what was being done. It is a response to the event, rather than describing the event itself. It gives the student external and internal value, improving their selfworth. As a self-esteem tool it is powerful. Appreciative acknowledgements are healthy and unconditional.

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Feedback should be given frequently and early in a unit of work.

Giving prompt and quick feedback allows the student to learn while the material is still fresh in their minds. Return tests and papers promptly, and reward success publicly and immediately. This empowers students by giving them access to information about their own performance and teaching them how to use it.

The feedback that you provide should be focussed around a goal. It should measure progress against a goal and directly address the learner’s advancement toward a goal. It should outline what needs to be accomplished next.

Effective feedback will create awareness in the student about their performance, thereby creating opportunities for students to recognise their mistakes and determine solutions. It assists them to monitor their own motivation and engagement. When learners sense that their performance is being too closely monitored they may disengage from learning out of feelings of nervousness or self-consciousness. To avoid this, students need to be involved in collecting and analysing data on their own performance, reducing the need for oversight by others.

Through the use of reflective questions, students can review their performance or progress in a non-threatening manner.

It teaches self-reflection by the student considering the issue or goal.

Reward success. Both positive and negative comments influence motivation, but research consistently indicates that students are more affected by positive feedback and success. Rewards can be as simple as saying a student’s response was good, with an indication of why it was good, or mentioning the names of high achievers and students with improvement.

Teachers should never use demeaning comments. It creates anxiety in students and when students are anxious about their performance and abilities, it lowers their self-esteem. Be sensitive to how you phrase your comments and avoid offhand remarks that might prick a student’s feelings of inadequacy.

Praise builds students’ self-confidence, competence, and self-esteem. Recognise sincere efforts even if the product is less than stellar. If a student’s performance is weak, let the student know that you believe he or she can improve and succeed over time.

The ultimate goal of feedback should be to teach learners how to give feedback to themselves. It should be positive so that it supports students’ beliefs that they can do well. Feedback should encourage and show the way for students to excel. It should give them an indication of how well they have done and how to improve.

Introduce students to the good work done by their peers. Share the ideas, knowledge, and accomplishments of individual students with the class as a whole.

Negative feedback is a powerful and often effective method for improving student performance. However, it also has the potential to be very dangerous. Be specific and make it clear that your comments relate to a particular task or performance, not to the student as a person. Try to cushion negative comments with a compliment about aspects of the task in which the student succeeded.

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KATE SOUTHCOMBE

Leadership – tell me what you want...

How discovering what drives and motivates people can make you a true leader

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Teachers Matter

was talking with an interesting group of people recently about the leadership role of a head teacher, when someone made the comment that a change in school leadership plays a significant part in how the school is viewed by both the public and the parents of potential students. I reflected on this comment from both a behavioural and teacher perspective with regards to conflict situations. How does one person influence the whole to the extent that their behaviour is critical to the behaviour of the whole in dealing with conflict? Is this ‘leadership effect’ relevant to us as classroom teachers and if so, how can we effect change from the bottom up when it comes to conflict?

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As caregivers, teachers or parents we may be functioning as leaders in our regular interactions with our children without conscious awareness. Whether we are showing them how to do something, explaining why they can’t do something or simply reading a story with them, we are possibly demonstrating leadership qualities. Some may say we are role modeling, but I would like to make a clear distinction between role modeling and leadership skills. Role modeling, as defined in education, is showing how a specific skill or practice is carried out in a particular situation (we often hear the term applied in the media to apply to general desirable qualities). Leadership, however, suggests that we are guiding and directing others towards a vision or group goal, which may also include elements of role modeling.

Leadership is a generalised approach to guidance through our interactions that are focussed on a vision. Dyer says that a leader is someone who appreciates the long term effects of decisions and choices made in that moment and can see beyond the immediate situation – hence the idea that great leaders are global thinkers.

The traditional model of a leader appears to be the strong alpha male type who makes the key decisions and exerts a certain control over a group, and has definitive ways of handling conflict. I guess we don’t have to look too far to see this model in action.

Our movies are full of strong dynamic leaders who do lots with energy and gusto,

historical leaders, and whether you agree with their policies or not, they themselves were frequently understated in their overt actions, Ghandi, J.F Kennedy, Martin Luther, Nelson Mandella, Mother Theresa. We don’t see many of them sweating it out, gunning people down and getting things done with gusto. They knew what action to take and

“ We need to ask better questions in order to know what type of action to take in the moment.”

frequently mowing down the opposition literally - watch any Bruce Willis movie for evidence! Our society seems to struggle with the notion that a leader can be anything but a strong forceful person. Notice for example how we struggle with the CEO who appears to ‘do nothing’ for his exorbitant salary. We want to see him slaving away, sweating it out, directing people, and giving orders, getting things done! Yet the reality is frequently very different – an effective leader is often one who isn’t there in the spotlight, who stands back, notices what is working, applies the necessary actions, someone who frequently enables more than directs. This final feature may easily get over looked by many of us because we fail to notice what enabling looks like in action. We are busy looking for actions that fit with our interpretation of leadership, despite seldom liking this sort of approach when it comes to being led ourselves! Think of any great

when, primarily because they had taken notice of what people wanted, especially when it came to conflict.

From a behavioural perspective the educator’s role is similar to that of an effective leader. An effective teacher stands back, observes behaviour (current learning) makes notes, provides the necessary ‘ingredients’ for behavioural change (future learning) and then assesses the results to see if progress is being made (maintained or generalised learning). They aren’t working hard or even doing much of the physical work, they are working smart using the environmental and technological forces at their disposal to work for them, guiding and directing as needed and providing the ever important measures to gauge effectiveness.

If we see ourselves as leaders within our classroom, it may help us to reconsider how we tackle ever yday issues within

KATE SOUTHCOMBE

loving wife who does the same.’ Suddenly the story progressed down a very different track to the one most people had begun to envisage, The final scene described by the Aikido sensei is of the drunken man sobbing with his head in the old man’s lap as the old man comforts him, telling him things will be sorted.

the classroom and draw on our leadership skills to then renegotiate our role within the school environment.

When approaching any conflict situation, be it with a parent, colleague or child, if we see ourselves as leaders we will tend to focus on the bigger picture. This may include how to resolve the conflict for the greater good rather than from the egobased ‘I’m right’ stance, how to help the other person feel heard and valued, while at the same time resolving the situation.

This may mean reflecting on the long-term impact of any decision you make by quickly assessing the likelihood that the person will achieve what they want now.

Some potential conflict situations could be; • Parent annoyed with child’s lack of progress • Colleague feeling over worked and complaining to you • Child refusing to eat their lunch With each of the above situations, rather than berating the person for their actions or becoming defensive about your position, strive to understand the other person’s actions – consider why they are behaving this way. Use this additional understanding as the guide for what action to take. Through this we will come to better understand the person. The reason I personally feel this point is so valuable to teachers and parents is because it serves us to take this approach, more importantly perhaps it serves others.

As Tony Robbins suggests, we need to ask better questions in order to know what type of action to take in the moment. In the above examples, the parent possibly only wants his child to be successful. So as a

teacher we can then give examples of their child’s success, rather than defending our efforts to teach the child. The colleague possibly only wants to be heard, so we could try listening! The child refusing to eat maybe doesn’t like their food; again by asking what they like we can possibly make a connection with the parent, sharing this information and build a better relationship with both child and parent. It may all sound idealistic but if we really want to achieve results we need to consider ourselves as leaders, look at the bigger picture and change what we do.

I heard a story told by an Aikido sensei about an incident he encountered on a train that encapsulates this idea of leadership. An enraged drunken man was lashing out at people, causing fear and potential damage as he rampaged through a train. Having practiced the art of Aikido the young sensei had been told to use it only to defend others – take action only when necessary. He was ‘excited’ because here was his chance, surely now was the time to take action - people were in danger and this man needed taking down. Just as he prepared to employ his beloved martial art goading the man with looks and a beckoning finger, a seated old man called out to the rampaging drunk, saying, “What have you been drinking?”

The drunk, caught off guard, faltered and in a roundabout way said, “What has that got to do with you?!” The old man replied ‘I love to drink sake, I bet it’s sake you’ve been drinking. My wife prepares me sake and we sit and drink together. I bet you have a

The old man took action, but perhaps not the sort of physical action many of us would expect. What is so powerful about this story is a potential conflict situation is defused by action and yet there are no winners and losers. The old man asked a better question – what does this man want? What can I give this man that he wants? Yet many of us would have said what this man needs is to be controlled, meeting force with force and possibly only escalating the problem. While there is no denying it was a dangerous situation and the old man faced a certain amount of risk, either way presented risks – only one way gave the man what he wanted, thereby more likely reducing the risk.

Perhaps leadership really can be found in all types of encounters and we are only beginning to recognise that one size doesn’t fit all – leaders are around us all the time and we can all blossom and act as leaders when needed, taking appropriate action that may or may not be noticed.

Moshe Feldenkrais said in so many words that as we grow and develop, what we do becomes the centre of focus rather than the person who does it. Eminent behaviourist Skinner believed that solving the world’s problems depends on us understanding human behaviour - what drives us to do what we do. So perhaps a philosophy of leadership really does start at the top – with someone who provides direction and a sense of unity, someone who listens to the group’s needs and values their contributions, someone who over-sees the group, but remains able to connect and relate to them.

The true leader however is someone able to achieve this connection because through their interactions they have discovered what drives and motivates people – they know what they want!

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MAGGIE DENT

Creating a safe place for today’s adolescents In a world where they can be bullied and attacked - even in their bedroom

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ccording to the Mission Australia Youth Survey 2012, the top three concerns for young people aged 1519 were: 1. Coping with stress; 2. School and study; and 3. Body image.

Adolescence has always been a time of confusion, rapid change and uncertainty.

Every adult has cringe-worthy memories from this transition from childhood to adulthood.

However, what’s changed for our adolescents today is the technology/media-driven screen world that saturates young people with perceptions that are often unhealthy.

They have casual access to millions of sexualised images, advertisements, movies and TV programmes that normalise ‘risky’, shallow and often narcissistic behaviour – whether that be around alcohol, sex, aggression, violence or the pathetic pursuit of fame through a misguided value in being a celebrity.

The ease of accessing pornography is distorting healthy sexual maturity and adding to misunderstanding in the formation of caring, safely intimate relationships. There has been an increase in sexually predator y behaviour from both girls and boys with many unwanted consequences – physical and emotional.

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The social media monster has created a whole new enemy to many adolescents – the anonymous ‘troll’ – or the angry, unhappy school acquaintance who makes threats or spreads malicious lies ‘just for the fun of it”.

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There is technically nowhere safe for most of today’s adolescents – they can be bullied and attacked in the safety of their bedroom.

This creates an enormous sense of threat and stress – a stress they cannot seem to escape.

Another area of threat for many fledgling adults is the absurd insidious pressure (often from mindless actors, models or trashy celebrities) to look the same. I have been really disturbed at the increase in self-hatred,

disgust and self-loathing that I have heard from some of the adolescent groups I have worked with this year. The incidence of selfharming – often as a consequence of feeling overwhelmed by these dark ugly feelings – is increasing at a disturbing rate. The scars created just add to the loathing and the perception of being ugly and unlovable.

MAKE ME FEEL I MATTER

We’re even seeing cases of a for m of ‘online self-harm’ where young people anonymously post abusive and hateful things about themselves.

Today’s education system has become even more test-focused in Australia, and while that sounds like a good idea to ensure good ‘educational outcomes’ for students, for adolescents who are not academically strong, this is just another sign that they are not enough.

Many leave high school feeling like a failure and this mindset, when combined with the heightened intensity of emotions that are a normal part of adolescence, adds enormous stress. Then our strong students are telling me they feel pressured by both teachers and parents to achieve the highest marks possible – at any cost!

The dilemma for teachers & parents The main dilemma for adolescents is that many parents step back because their adolescents think they can make great choices and their parents want to give them their independence. However, the brain pruning of early adolescence means they are actually less able to make sound decisions right when they want to claim their independence. They need guidance and they need parents and teachers to keep a close eye on how they are tracking.

Research confirms the benefits of parents providing consistent rules and discipline, talking to children about drugs, monitoring their activities, getting to know their friends, understanding their problems and concerns, and being involved in their learning. The importance of the parent-child relationship continues through adolescence and beyond.

“The simplest thing we can all do is imagine they all have an invisible sign on their chest that reads “MAKE ME FEEL I MATTER”.

Because they do.”

What to look for when there’s too much stress Most people, whether they are young or old, get overly stressed sometimes. Unhealthy stress can be caused by a lot of different things, but common causes in young people are to do with school, work, family or relationships. Whatever the cause, the results are usually the same.

MAGGIE DENT It’s important to know what the warning signs are so that we can tell the difference between normal adolescent behaviour at the ‘tipping point’ that can push them over into unsafe, even fatal, territory.

• concentration and memory problems

Common mental health symptoms include: • feeling angry or irritable

• high number of missed school days

• feeling anxious • being moody and easily frustrated • feeling like crying regularly • h a v i n g l o w s e l f - e s t e e m o r l a c k i n g confidence, including giving up or avoiding tests or challenges • feeling restless all the time • having trouble concentrating • feeling an irresistible urge to run away, hide or use alcohol or drugs to self medicate.

Common physical symptoms include: • f e e l i n g s i c k i n t h e s t o m a c h ( l i k e butterflies)

• scholastic underachievement or excessive resistance to doing work • frequent visits to school nurse

• difficulties with social or peer group.

There is normal stress and then there is unhealthy stress. Adolescents have poorer coping skills than mature adults.

If you are worried about your son or daughter or one of your students, it can be tricky approaching them with your concerns.

This can be seen by the adolescent as a sign of criticism or disapproval. Sometimes it’s better to get an older sibling to make the first approach or maybe a trusted friend.

Rather than focus on trying to work out what is creating the stress – focus on building protective factors or things that work.

Protective factors We need to make sure we are talking to the adolescents in our care about stress and how to manage it (and modelling good stress management ourselves of course!).

• having constipation or diarrhoea • having stomach aches and/or headaches • having problems sleeping especially getting to sleep • feeling constantly tired • sweating a lot • having cramps or twitches • feeling dizzy or fainting • eating too much or too little

Ensure a healthy diet • Improve sleep (check out http://www. youthbeyondblue.com/factsheets-andinfo/fact-sheet-13-getting-the-sleep-youneed/) • Try Epsom salts bath, sleep support (nonchemical), calming teas/vitamins or Chillax • Increase activity and exercise (incorporate some movement into your classroom)

• using drugs or smoking

• Increase warm relationships with family and friends

• seeming unable to manage distractions, especially social media or online gaming.

• Reassure adolescents you ‘have their back’ no matter what

Drinking alcohol and taking drugs can also cause stress, even though it might feel momentarily like it’s relieving stress.

• Lighten up around home and in the classroom

Frequently overlooked symptoms of anxiety • angry outbursts • oppositional and refusal behaviours • temper tantrums • attention-seeking behaviours (i.e. can be sexual or through bullying)

• Ask how you can help them reduce their stress • At least once a month – one-to-one tell them how much you love them (for parents). As a teacher be sure to focus on their strengths.

Two of the main reasons for an overload of stress for adolescents are: • feeling excluded, separated or unloved (e.g. friendship battles, especially bullying, rumours, mean or hurtful things said to them, dropped from football team, didn’t get a part in the school play, noone saved a seat for them on a bus, not invited to a party or a school formal, trip to movies, when people ignore you) • feeling ugly, dumb or not good enough (e.g. failing a test, not understanding school work, finding homework too hard, missing a goal, getting sanctioned for a poor choice, having acne, not having ‘cool’ gear, forgetting to do homework, thinking they are fat.)

Feeling either of the abovementioned things can feel devastating for our adolescents.

Remember the brain’s natural tendency to prune during adolescence has skewed the way they see themselves and the world and they often misread the confusing emotional and social tides of adolescence.

When they know and are reminded they are loved unconditionally and that things do get better when their brain finally matures in their 20s – and that making mistakes is a way of learning how to make better choices – it really helps them cope.

Adolescents need information about what’s happening in their brains and resources and guidance.

Please be mindful that today’s adolescents are struggling with a nastier, scarier and more threatening world than their parents.

They need as much support and guidance as possible and research shows they really value their parents and want to have a warm connected relationship with them – both Mum and Dad if possible.

My favourite parenting and teaching tools were practising fairness and kindness – our adolescents need allies, lighthouses and champions who encourage them – no matter how bumpy the ride gets. The simplest thing we can all do is imagine they all have an invisible sign on their chest that reads “MAKE ME FEEL I MATTER”. Because they do.

• Write caring/inspiring messages on their mirror/post it notes on their bedroom wall.

• hyperactivity and difficulty sitting still

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Maggie Dent presents

Dare to Be Downloadable an Exceptional resources Teacher for teachers, students

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& parents This ebook based on Maggie Dent’s popular presentation of the same name is a 46-page guide for busy teachers to help them become even more effective, competent and exceptional. Maggie draws on her experience as a former Dare to Be an Exceptional Teacher A 46-page guide for busy teachers to help them teacher and counsellor, and on her research and work as an author and speaker, to identify the qualities of exceptional teachers and offers loads of become even more effective, competent and exceptional. $18 practical tips for climate building in the classroom.

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“Don’t chase people. Be yourself, do your own thing and work hard.

The right people – the ones who really belong in your life – will come to you. And stay.”

Will Smith

NEW ZEALAND RED DEER STAG PETERVICK167

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DR MARVIN MARSHALL

A successful technique for a challenging youngster Sometimes a creative approach needs to be used.

If

you have a very challenging youngster, here is a technique that will give you and the child success.

Give the disruptive child four clothes pegs.

Clip them together to make a square. At the beginning of the school day place them on top of the student’s desk where they are readily visible and accessible.

When the particularly challenging student acts irresponsibly, quietly ask for a clothes peg.

Taking the clothes peg gives something tangible to attach to an undesirable behaviour and an opportunity to have the child make a better choice. The student is prompted to reflect, “Is this behaviour worth losing a clothes peg, or can I figure this out on my own?”

4. Use reflective and self-evaluative questions suggested in the Resource Guide (available from www.marvinmarshall. com). For example, use the four questions for changing behaviour: (1) What do you want?

(2) What are you choosing to do?

(3) What is your plan?

(4) What is your procedure to implement the plan?

Notice that self-evaluation and reflection are built into these questions because what the youngster is doing is not getting what the youngster wants.

5. Spend some time tutoring the student. Even if it is for one minute, you will notice or create some positive comment about the student that will prompt good feelings and lead the way to bonding. Having the student bond with you by your positive and empowering remarks will do more than anything else to promote responsible behaviour and a desire for the student to do what you desire the student to do.

More about Marvin Marshall’s proactive and totally noncoercive (but not permissive) approach to promote responsible behavior, reduce classroom discipline problems, and increase learning is available at http:// www.marvinmarshall.com

When this approach is used to the point that the child loses no more clothes pegs, then ask the student, “Are you now mature enough so that we don’t have to have them anymore?”

By using this procedure and having the student reflect, you will find that using clothes pegs will no longer be necessary. The youngster will have weaned himself from the external approach.

Here are some additional ideas for working with challenging young students: 1. Continue to repeat the mantra, “Do you want to remain a victim?” If the procedure established was not effective, then repeat the conversation, “Let’s try another procedure so that you will not continue to be a victim of your impulses.”

2. Ask for help. Even Machiavelli wrote in “The Prince” that receiving something from your subjects would gain as much loyalty as your giving something to them.

A conversation with a student sounds like, “Lee, I have a problem and the only one who can help me is you. Are you willing to help me?” Of course, Lee is the problem so share the problem with him.

3. Empower the student. Put the student in charge of the activity. It is nearly impossible to do the opposite of that for which you are in charge.

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“ Empower the student. Put the student in charge of the activity. It is nearly impossible to do the opposite of that for which you are in charge.”

MOSGIEL CENTRAL KINDERGARTEN

ASPIRE

Our philosophy is supporting learners to ASPIRE to teach and learn together (Ako), empower teachers and learners to think, experience and make informed choices for lifelong learning (Sustainable), encourage and value children, their whanau and wider community involvement (Participation). We strive to empower all to make discoveries (Investigations) with a large amount of our thinking time spent (Reflecting).

Lastly we also value in our (Environments) that encourage connections.

Mosgiel Central Kindergarten is a semi rural kindergarten situated about 25kms south of Dunedin.

We are licensed as a full day kindergarten operating as a 6 hour session with 40 children in the morning and 30 in the afternoon.

We are a 4.33 teacher team, four full time trained and registered teachers and 1 part time trained and registered teacher.

INSPIRE ME!

I nvolve me and my whanau – working

in partnership has been a successful way to engage and receive support from families. This supports an environment of trust and respect. Each week on a Friday the children facilitate, with the support of the teachers, a shared kai. Our menu is created, ingredients sorted, then prepared and eaten at kindergarten. Our families support and value this weekly event by providing ingredients from the shopping list, talking with their children about the experience and supporting on the day if needed. Our Friday shared kai has been a weekly event at kindergarten for more than 4 years now, an event that was initiated by a child at the kindergarten at the time and is now an embedded part of our culture at Mosgiel Central.

to share their healthy eating and attitudes with the wider community and extended family. Making ‘ka pai’ choices has been a valuable way to ensure our children have the sustainability of energy fuelling foods and the recommended nutrients to support optimum learning and at the same time developing new skills and attitudes for their health and well-being. The children have developed their caring thinking for others through these experiences also. A great example is the understanding our children have for children and teachers with food allergies. Our children will ask about the ingredients in our foods and if the children with allergies can eat it.

Yummy morning tea

Respecting childrens competence

Making Burgers

N urture my well-being – At our place,

feeling like you are at home is important so a practice of speaking with children respectfully, listening carefully and creating an environment to feel safe allows children the opportunity to learn in a happy, healthy and safe place. Our culture of healthy eating and healthy attitudes supports children’s health and well-being (their whole self), allowing children the opportunity to be ready to learn.

In listening to our children and their families we discovered that our children enjoyed the Friday shared kai so much that to weave together some social pressures i m p a c t i n g o n o u r w h a n a u ’s l i v e s w e would begin making, baking and eating a snack break and morning tea together as community. Our children have been able

S ustainable thinking- our programme

is centered on sustainable practices from planting/growing, creating and eating foods to the recycling of all waste. Our goal is to grow sustainable citizens of Aotearoa.

At kindergarten we have an orchard, food gardens and a native water feature attracting the most beautiful birds. The children are fully involved in the planning and maintenance of these processes. These are complimented with a worm farm and

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MOSGIEL CENTRAL KINDERGARTEN

recycling processes such as composting/bo kashi bins and a process to recycle plastic and paper. We were rewarded for our learning in 2012 by winning our local Department of Conservation award called the Toroa Award; an award we are truly proud of. Fancy winning an award for doing something that the children love and participate in; processes that are teaching us to be responsible 21st Century citizens of Aotearoa!

great learning opportunities. Children are encouraged to think about the risks and supported to think about possible consequences – all participation is supported and valued.

Caring for the worms

Giving things a go

Exploring the worm farm

Enjoying the fruits of our work

R eflect and Respect – our environment

supports reflection through a thinking process. Children are encouraged to think about the possible consequences of their actions and are given opportunities to think about their actions. Children are respected for their thinking processes and the need to be supported as unique learners.

I nvestigations – our environment is

Teachers Matter

Participation is supported - all children

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and teachers are encouraged to participate in their own way. Their contribution is then valued through positive praise and supported with social and emotional coaching. Everyone is encouraged to take informed risks – ‘have a go’. We encourage children to give everything a go at kindergarten; we aspire to foster children’s ideas and learn from the consequences. Of course health and safety is paramount but we believe that managing risks provides

created with the aspiration to encourage all children to make discoveries to teach and learn. Our worm farm has been a great example of supporting children with tools and an environment to investigate.

From this provocation the children have explored the life cycle of our worms, which has also led to other animal life cycles being explored. The children have the opportunity to have hands on experiences to investigate, an experience that is embedded in our culture.

Teachers use Edward DeBono’s thinking hats as a self review tool and support children with the use of this tool as a strategy for thinking when appropriate.

The hats can offer children a process to think about their thoughts, process, respond and reflect on their own learning in their own time, supporting teachers to remember that all children use different learning styles and think differently.

MOSGIEL CENTRAL KINDERGARTEN

If we are truly valuing children as competent and confident leaders of their own learning then we need to give children the opportunity to process and reflect on their thinking. Teachers also offer other tools and strategies such as open ended questions, active listening and making time for children to think and respond and promote creative, critical, collaborative and caring thinking skills.

Presenting an opportunity

to add value to children’s learning. Our self review process is based on Edward De Bono’s six hat thinking adapted with Mosgiel Central’s learning community flavour to ensure we get a varied and authentic review.

This process allows us to make the time to reflect and present such environments to support children’s teaching and learning.

Our community lunch

Opportunity to explore in context of my learning…

E

M ake connections – being resourceful

E nvironments – our environments aspire to be spaces of opportunity, which are aesthetically pleasing and full of experiences to discover. As teachers we are always reflecting about practice and how

is an important part of our place.

Making connections is important for the sustainability of our relationships with others. We recently held a community lunch. Members of our community; the public health nurse, vision and hearing technician, fireman, police officers, new entrant teacher, neighbours etc were invited to join the children for a community lunch.

This was a great way to be resourceful within our community and make connections. The children enjoyed hosting such an important event in our community.

njoy your work – finding humour is an important Habit of Mind and an important part of life at Mosgiel Central. We feel it is important to our sense of well-being and belonging to share a sense of fun with others. Teachers support children’s natural sense of fun. Sharing jokes is a common theme around our place. You need to be careful where you are sitting or someone might jump out with a surprise. Education is such a difficult world to work in but the most rewarding. To help us get through the difficult times a sense of fun always allows us to have a laugh, make someone’s day and share the lighter side of life – an extremely important way to keep yourself healthy and be the best teacher you can be on the floor supporting children to teach and learn in a challenging 21st Century.

Having Fun

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PHOTO: ANNA-MARI WEST

Teachers Matter PAUL RAMSAY

PAUL RAMSAY

A matter of choice How choice, and more focussed topic areas have had many benefits for staff and students at Waipu Primary.

E

veryone likes to choose something different to do. Just ask your class what kind of ice-cream they would like and you will get a multitude of answers. Most will stick to their favourites but some will be adventurous and try a different kind now and then. We thought we would apply that kind of logic to our topic studies and were pleased with the results.

It’s not new, but at Waipu Primary both teachers and students are choosing what they teach in topic areas such as science, technology, social science and environmental science. These areas are

at the start of something and then at the end. Usually at the start they had limited knowledge so chose either the pre-structural or uni-structural levels. Obviously at the end they rated themselves much higher but they needed to be able to prove their level to teachers.

There was a clear expectation that maths and reading would be done prior to morning break and that the topic would involve some writing when it started after morning break.

This was a management choice! The sessions were timetabled from Week 2 to Week 9, and the Year 4-6 classes did their interchange on one day while Year 1-3 classes did it on

“ All staff agreed doing a topic study for one day a week had improved their curriculum delivery.”

being delivered for most of the day once a week instead of the traditional daily spot. The daily spot was being eroded by many factors and “topic” areas were being skimmed over with little in-depth study in Science, Technology, Social Sciences and Environmental Science.

another. Our 2 new entrant classes did their own mini-swap as we felt they needed to get used to school and shifting them around classes was more likely to confuse them. In week 10 our 2 groups decided to share what they had done and this will become part of the process in future.

Teachers chose their area of “expertise” at a team level in conjunction with their colleagues, and developed units for in-depth study. The idea was to offer choice and have teachers presenting in different areas where they would be enthusiastic and motivated.

Choice and more focussed topic areas had many benefits for staff and students. All staff agreed doing a topic study for one day a week had improved their curriculum delivery. They found there was more chance to gauge children’s knowledge, more time for research, discussion and brainstorming.

There was a chance to complete an activity in a day and reflect.

Students have been allowed to choose the area they want to study in as much as possible. They are given a brief synopsis of each area without the teacher’s name attached. Again we wanted them to be keen and motivated to learn.

Our most recent professional development has been around using the SOLO taxonomy for children to choose their level of knowledge

Staff found they had to be well planned week by week, resources collected and parents informed. Organising visitors or helpers was important. Each day’s programme needed evaluating afterwards and the next week’s lesson set up based on that evaluation. Time

and resources were important issues. It was good splitting classes so we had older children as role models for leading groups and other activities.

C h i l d r e n ’s k n o w l e d g e a t t h e e n d o f t h e programme was improved. On-going interest was noted after completion. Levelling using the SOLO taxonomy at the start and end showed growth.

Students were excited and keen to come to topic day. Final discussions and reflections showed children linking ideas and understanding why we did background learning before the main study. Parents have reported children talking about science at home and how they are noticing evaporation and other topics covered. Parents love their children’s reaction and enthusiasm.

Choice had lots of benefits for all. I surveyed all staff and students to reveal the successes and the results were surprising. For instance, for the staff 90% said their curriculum knowledge had increased a lot, 30% had hugely improved their knowledge of the topic and 40% were hugely motivated. 40% of staff believed student engagement to be hugely better due to 75% of students having lots more opportunity to follow their interests.

All students in the school completed a student questionnaire. There will be some slight errors in accuracy as Junior classes were asked as a group and some possibly copied off their peers. However, 94% of students enjoyed choosing what to study, 91% liked spending more time on their chosen area of study and 90% enjoyed the different way of having a topic presented to them. 89% of students felt that they had a better understanding of their topic, 96% were keen to learn more and 95% enjoyed the opportunity to follow their own interests. Overall less than 1% of students used the rating not at all in any of the areas surveyed.

Although this method of curriculum delivery required more work and thorough planning, many benefits were noted by staff. The ability to complete in-depth work around a particular area and get students involved and well engaged was noted.

Teachers felt they delivered a better quality lesson.

Students were highly motivated and enjoyed the activities. Their knowledge improved, they were keen to learn, were made to think and were able to follow their interests.

Overall, giving teachers choice about what they taught and giving students choice about what they learnt was positive and we will continue to develop our curriculum teaching along this line.

Be a bit adventurous and try a different flavour or way of delivering the topic areas!

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PHOTO: ROBERT HAINER

THERESE HOYLE

Is it a playground or a battleground?

Making it safe to play Is your playground an emotionally and physically safe place?

I Teachers Matter

spent a day last week in a wonderful school in Essex; the behaviour of the children inside the school was outstanding, however the Head teacher was concerned about the behaviour outside in the playground.

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His is not an unusual concern, and research

by Blatchford and Baines and Pellegrini, tells us more and more schools are worried about the deteriorating behaviour at playtime.

Sharp and Smith’s research also shows that 75 percent of bullying in schools happens in the playground.

What’s important is that the behaviour management systems are reviewed.

Frequently, the systems inside the school are excellent, yet those outside can be poor

and unclear, with a lack of continuity and consistency.

Outlined here are some simple steps that I use with schools on my training days. I hope they will support you in making playtimes and lunchtimes a safe and enjoyable time for everyone. This article may also help inform your Playtime Behaviour Policy.

• Respect for others • Respect for property and the environment.

• Responsibility for all your actions Our Playground Rules are • We are kind and helpful to everyone • We are play safely and look after each other

Step 1 - Rules

• We listen to each other

Review your School Rules and ensure that you have Rules displayed inside and outside.

• We are honest and truthful

Edventure’s Rules cover the 4R’s of

• We take care of our school, playground and equipment

• Respect for self

• We are respectful and polite

THERESE HOYLE

Step 2 - Rewards At playtime the reward is always that the children get to play and have fun!

Additional incentives such as the following can be used: • R e w a r d To k e n s : “S t a r c h i l d ” , “Caught being good” and ‘Star Player’ (details can be found in my book 101 Playground Games).

How to use these: When children are seen playing co operatively, being kind etc and keeping to the rules they get a paper token. These incentives can then link back into the teacher’s classroom rewards or children can collect their tokens each week and every class can give a certificate to the child or children who get the most slips (certificate templates are on the CD Rom in 101 Playground Games.) Alternatively, the school can give a certificate to the class with the most slips. Many teachers/ schools also like to do drum roles. When a child receives a slip his name is put on it and then it is put into a drum (box).

At the end of the week during assembly, the drum roll takes place in a dramatic fashion with someone beating a drum and the box being turned over a few times.

Then 2- 6 names are drawn out and those children are then awarded a prize.

• “The Great Play Award” (see 101 Playground Games appendix for the certificate) is a special certificate that is given out in assembly to a specific child who has kept to the rules/vales of the school; alternatively it can be a plaque, or just a sticker. Teachers choose criteria for selection from week to week and ideally choose different children each week.

Step 3 - Problem Solving It is important that a problem solving, solution focused culture is developed in a school. This can be done through Circle Time and the development of Action Learning Sets, Peer Mediation etc.

Lunchtime supervisors are encouraged to help pupils sort out problems in a fair way and encourage them to take responsibility for their behaviour. They listen to all parties involved and encourage pupils to problem solve and find solutions. In some circumstances staff will intervene and help both parties reach a fair and amiable agreement.

Step 4 - Consequences and Sanctions Consequences vary from school to school.

Most schools agree that there needs to be some sort of restorative consequence, such as time for the student to think through how they could have acted and how they could choose to behave differently next time, time to restore relationships that may have broken down etc. In the first instance with low level incidences a verbal warning is often all that is needed. However if the child breaks the rule again, a 5-10 minutes ‘time out to think’ is a good consequence. The child usually has to sit

the school can use the following sanctions: Stage 1. The child will be asked which rule he/ she is breaking and which he/she needs to keep. They will then be given a verbal warning.

Stage 2. The pupils name will then be written on a red playground behaviour slip, outlining the rule they have broken.

Stage 3. The slip will be given to a class teacher at the end of play and put in the ‘I am unhappy with you’ box.

Stage 4. The Principal will speak with the pupil, if two or more notes are received in one week and targets for improvement will be set.

“ No one is ever too old to play. Indeed the spirit of play lives forever with us in our inner fun child.”

- Holden

in a solitary place, on a bench, in the hall or classroom away from other children, thinking through which rule they have broken and which rule they need to be keeping, who they need to apologise to etc. Children can join in the game or activity once they have had time out and/or as long as relationships have been restored.

You may know some children who are hugely reactive at playtime. Danger, stress and anxiety trigger the release of adrenalin and cortisol, which often leads to the fight or flight response.

These children do not have the stress regulating brain chemicals to calm themselves and need soothing, calming adults to help regulate the chemicals that have flooded their brains.

And if this continues: Stage 5· A letter will be sent home and possible lunchtime exclusion from the playground will occur.

Step 5 - Playground Activity Leaders (PALS) PALS consist of a group of children who help make the playground a safer, more enjoyable space for younger children.

Their responsibilities are to: • teach children different games

Positive play experiences and positive social interaction for these children lead to positive emotions and a cocktail of good chemicals such as opioids and oxytocin, which make them feel calm, content, secure and safe.

• befriend lonely children and to help them make friends

Some schools like a clearer sanctions system.

All members of the playground PALS meet regularly with the teacher responsible for playtimes for training and ongoing support.

If pupils are not able to sort out their problems in a fair way or they continue to: • break the school rules • use aggressive behaviour • be involved in bullying behaviour,

• to take out and put away playground equipment

The ‘Playtime PAL’S wear special sashes or caps for ease of identification.

Playtime PAL’S receive recognition and awards at assemblies and a certificate at the end of their time in the job.

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THERESE HOYLE When considering adopting this system in your school, please give consideration to: How many PALS you need, given the size of your playground and number of children in your school?

How many times a week would be suitable for them to be out on games duty?

How would the PALS be chosen?

What support will they need?

Tr a i n i n g u p t h e P l a y g r o u n d Activity Leaders (PALS) Teaching the games Ideally a lear ning support assistant, lunchtime supervisor or a teacher will take responsibility for the PALS, their training and on-going support.

Step 1 - Discuss roles and responsibilities, rules for themselves, playground rules, rosters, period of time that they are elected to be a PAL (weekly, half termly or termly).

Step 2 - Introduce a selection of games and remind children of games they already know.

If you have a copy of ‘101 Playground Games’ print out the “Traditional Playground Games” section from the CD Rom and give each child a pack of games that they can keep and use as a reference. This will give the PALS ten playground games to learn and introduce to other children.

Step 3 – The children plan and organise a game to play with younger children.

Step 4 – The PALS evaluate how the game went and continue to learn new games.

Step 5 – The PALs choose a uniform that distinguishes them in the playground, this may be a baseball cap or sash.

Step 7 – The PALs are introduced in assembly to all the school.

Step 8 – The PALs, on their assigned days, go out and play games in the playground with the children.

Step 9 – The PALs contribute to “Playground news” at assemblies.

Step 10 – The PALS meet weekly with the assigned adults who support them.

Ongoing support The PALS need to have a regular time to talk about their experiences, the successes and the challenges with a specified adult. Ideally this meeting is weekly or every two weeks. At the end of six weeks or the end of term their time as a PAL they receive a certificate to thank them for their contribution and hard work. This is given out in assembly.

Have Fun!

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PHOTO: SERGEY LAVRENTEV

Teachers Matter

Step 6 – A roster is agreed to.

ANGELA STENSNESS

A whole school approach to inquiry

I

nquiry learning is a term that is being increasingly used in education circles.

Responsive educators are tr ying to introduce this method of learning within their classrooms by adopting a range of different models. Unfortunately, the choice and implementation of models between classrooms is inconsistent. In addition, some of these models rely on “pseudo problems” and result in “projects” which often fail to move beyond a research stage, and create no new knowledge. This can result in minimal engagement and a lack of ownership by students within the process of Inquiry.

In addition to the trend towards Inquiry in classrooms, many schools encourage or require teachers to engage in their own Teaching Inquiry. Teachers may research and implement teaching methods and strategies to better meet the needs of particular students within their class(es). The model used for this process can also vary.

A whole school approach to Inquiry within a school would achieve consistency between students, classes and teachers. This consistency would allow for more time for students and teachers to gain experience with the process, thus allowing greater sophistication as internalisation occurs. The result of this would be the ownership of a process useful beyond the school walls.

SAIL (Stensness Authentic Integrated Learning) in the 21 st Century, is a whole school approach to Inquir y Learning, developed by Angela Stensness. The process is useful throughout the years of schooling (Primary, Intermediate and College), and indeed beyond schooling, into adult life.

Whilst the process remains the same, the sophistication of each step increases as internalisation of the process is achieved.

So why SAIL?

By becoming competent at using rigging and a rudder, the sailor is able to manage the wind and use it for their own purposes and movement. SAIL encourages students and teachers to be open to all that they can learn around them. This includes learning within the classroom via planned learning sessions, as well as outside of school, paying attention to incidental moments or other areas of interest.

We need to equip students with tools to make good use of this stimulus, using it for their own educational purposes, rather than waiting for the links to be made explicit to them.

The more experience that a person has with sailing, the more challenging the conditions in which they can sail. The more experience a student or teacher has with this SAIL process, the more complex the problems they can solve.

Sailing was once essential transport, but has now become a recreational pastime for many. Through the SAIL process, we want to redefine the boundaries of learning so that students and teachers continue to learn in their “recreational time”, as well as when they are at school. This comes as a result of engagement in the real problems that they work to solve. They are encouraged to find the “So what?” in their learning and understand that what they have learned should make a difference for themselves and others.

What is the SAIL process?

There are 7 steps in the SAIL process. Each step in the process is crucial. Whilst the process is sequential, previous stages may be revisited as required: Stimulus: The situation/experience/ artifact that begins the desire for Inquiry.

Scrutinise: What has been done before?

(Research)

In addition to the acronym (Stensness Authentic Integrated Learning), the metaphor of sailing can be taken further to encompass more of what we aim to accomplish for our students and teachers by adopting the SAIL process of Inquiry.

This stage requires the instigation of the Stensness AST (Absorbing, Storing, Thawing) method of gathering, sorting and using relevant information from teaching sessions and additional research to complete the Inquiry.

Sailing is a method of propulsion that enables the sailor to be in control of their own movement. SAIL enables students and teachers to control and own their learning journey through a process of Inquiry.

Suggest: What are the options for solving this problem/ actioning the Inquiry?

S t r a t e g i s e : How will the Inquir y be completed? (Detailed planning)

PHOTO: VALERIY LEBEDEV

SAIL in the 21st century

This stage includes collaboration agreements, identification of the key attributes of the intended solution, timelines, milestone points, resources and other necessary considerations.

Solution: Completion of the solution / Inquiry.

Share: How will the Inquiry be shared?

Who will the Inquiry be shared with?

Speculate: What went well - process and product? What would be changed - process and product? What are the next steps?

The SAIL process is not limited to a major term-long Inquiry, but is also useful when creating a piece of writing, a poem, solving a Mathematics problem, engaging in artistic endeavours or completing a Science Investigation. The process could also be useful in School Review processes at the Principal or Board of Trustees level. The possibilities of the SAIL process are many and varied within the whole school context.

SAIL in the 21st Century allows all students, teachers and members of the school community to engage in a process of Inquiry in a meaningful and consistent manner. In addition, the SAIL process leads to increased assurance that Inquiry learning moves beyond a research based “project”, to a solution that will make a real and tangible difference. The SAIL process equips the whole school to action robust and well-considered solutions to the myriad of challenges and opportunities present within the world around them.

How the SAIL process looks in action will be shown in Issue 24.

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JOAN DALTON

Learning Talk: develop the art of inquiry Book 4 in the Learning Talk series is here!

T

he art of inquiry is fundamental to powerful conversations that make a real difference for learning and innovation.

Whether you are engaged in a difficult conversation with parents, a coaching conversation with colleagues, or robust dialogue and discussion with your team around important learningrelated issues, consciously working on inquirer capabilities will help you to achieve your desired results.

And of course, these skills transfer to, and impact significantly on, the learning of the learners you teach.

Book 4 in the Learning Talk series provides a wealth of practical strategies, concrete examples and templates to develop and enrich your capabilities to more effectively listen, inquire, advocate, explore different perspectives and engage in possibility thinking.

Teachers Matter

Included here are three short extracts for your reading pleasure!

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JOAN DALTON

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Teachers Matter JOAN DALTON

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BETTE BLANCE

Managing your own brain An open letter to a teenager

W

hen you are growing up you rely on your parents. As a newborn baby you would die without their care.

As you grow up in a family, they provide for your basic needs of survival and your need for love and belonging. They will meet these needs in different ways according to the time, energy and financial resources they have to do so.

As you grow and develop, you have the need to feel comp e t e n t a n d t o m a k e some of your own choices. When you are a toddler, you exercise these two needs strongly by experimenting and saying things like “No” and “I do it”. Your parents could probably share some ways you learned to meet these needs.

Teachers Matter

The interesting thing about life is that these needs become prominent again in adolescence. As a teenager you want to meet your need for power and freedom and choose some interesting behaviours to get what you want.

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Your parents gradually let you make more and more decisions, as they are wise enough to know of your need to feel powerful and competent. They like you to have some practice at making choices in a safe way.

They teach you by putting boundaries in place around what is expected of you, how you need to behave, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in your family. They want to help you be successful, to get what you want, but not in a way that is unacceptable to another person in the family; no one person in the family is more important than the other. Your parents set the expectations as they have more experience than you. They have a strong picture of what they want the family to be like.

While you are little, your parents may appear to have control over you. It is important that they do have control over some of the things that you do, so they can keep you safe. Some children make choices that are destructive and show that they are not in control of their own brain. They may seem to need more ‘control’. Their choices are made without

considering the family. The times when your parents may seem to control you are when you are not in control of your own brain.

However, most happy children do as they are asked, because they want to be part of the family. This, however, does not stop them from trying really hard to get what they want.

The time your parents are waiting for; the time that they are really, really looking forward to; the time they have been guiding you towards, is when you take control of yourself. When you have learned to manage your own brain.

There are a number of ways you can manage your own brain.

• Be careful what you think. What is your self-talk? Does it put others down? Does it criticise or blame others? Or does it encourage and support others.

“ If your parents and teachers perceive that you are mainta ining self control, they are more likely to listen to your explanations.” unsettled. You have a choice about how you respond when other students choose to disrupt your learning and the learning of others.

• Does your self-talk criticise and blame yourself? “I can’t do this.” “I am just stupid.” Or do you say to yourself that you are doing your best and you can do even better if you try?

• Look after your body and your learning will improve. Eat lots of fresh foods and get enough sleep.

• Do you ask for help when you need it? It is a sign of strength not weakness.

• Exercise is important; not only for a strong body but for a strong brain as well.

• Yo u a r e r e s p o n s i b l e f o r y o u r o w n boredom. Manage your boredom and see things that are good about a situation.

• Set your dreams and goals and keep a journal to keep them alive.

• Intelligence is not fixed. The human brain does develop and grow. You do make new brain cells and when you learn something new, the brain builds important connections.

• Be a problem solver not a problem maker.

You have the choice. If you are seen as trustworthy by peers and teachers they will have confidence in you and trust you.

• Maximise your effort and become an engaged learner. In class, challenge yourself to ask questions, take notes, even if you have not been asked to.

• Be the solution in a classroom that is

• Ta k e s m a l l s t e p s a n d c e l e b r a t e achievements.

When you get into an argument, whether it is with a parent, a teacher or a peer, it is because what you are wanting and what you are getting are two different things. If you are self managing, you will discuss it calmly and listen to the other person. If your parents and teachers perceive that you are maintaining self control, they are more likely to listen to your explanations. With more information, they may get a different, more favourable picture of you. However, there are times when you will accept that you can’t always have exactly what you want right now. That is managing your own brain.

CAMILLA WATSON

Why do I feel so bad?

Part 2 - understanding and healing depression; the anger driver

A

lthough depression is linked to sadness, and may be brought on by a period of grief, the difference between ‘a down patch’ due to life stresses or changes and true ‘depression’ is the ‘anger’ link. Moderate or severe depression always has a component of repressed anger, perhaps even anger that you think you do not have a right to feel, and in the mind/body philosophy self-harm is anger you think you do not have a right to feel, turned back on to the self. People with suppressed anger will often turn to ‘self-medication’ using food, alcohol, drugs or other addictive behaviours to stop the thoughts and numb the pain.

Anger is an important emotion that is designed to heal, or change, injustice.

When injustice is perceived, the power of anger should be used to create change in the environment so that this does not continue. In this way the individual and the society moves forward, making changes to the cultural structure for the betterment of all.

Injustice

Anger

Anger

Speaking Out

Healing

Improved Society However the healing flow can be interrupted - typically at stage three ‘Speaking out’ - and the anger festers and boils within. Eventually the individual may give up the struggle to create change, give up hope that change can occur, and become ‘hope-less’ which is the beginning of depression. As the lack of hope for the future permeates the depression will grow, eventually leading to lack of all hope or belief in the possibilities of life.

Change

Justice

Inability to Create Change

Giving Up

Hopelessness

Depression The most common reasons for an interruption in the flow of the normal Injustice/Change pattern are: • The individual learns that being angry is not safe as someone else in their environment will become more angry, threatening, and perhaps violent.

• The expression of personal desires is not allowed within the individual’s environment.

• The complaint of the individual is either not believed or given any validity.

Speaking Out Change

Injustice

• The individual feels angry but then feels guilt at having that anger and the original issue remains unresolved.

• Lack of training of children in how anger should be used leading to unresolved issues.

Small children don’t know how to verbalise and discuss which is why they scream and hit when they are angry. Negotiation is something we should all learn as we are growing up.

Managing anger and depression in the classroom – An angry child is ‘perceiving’ an injustice so one of the most helpful strategies is simply to reflect the emotion you see - “Wow, you seem really angry about something... (pause)..What happened?” and then use the phrase - “So you don’t think that was fair?” Then simply register words and sounds that show you are listening, “Hmm, Ah ha, Gosh” etc. In a ‘sand-box’ situation it is often the child who hits out after an injustice has been perpetrated upon them, that gets into trouble. It can be helpful to look back for the original incident and give that the main focus. Remember anger is about perceived injustice and sometimes there was no actual injustice or there is just no ability to ‘right the wrong’. However often we don’t actually need to. Sometimes just acknowledging that the child’s feelings have validity, just being there to say “I hear what you have to say” is all that is necessary or appropriate.

I m p o r t a n t n o t e : P l e a s e e ncourage anyone feeling overburdened by anxiety or depression to seek personal support and professional assistance.

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JENNY BARRETT

The flipped classroom A few questions answered

There is a useful visual of the above definition that has done the rounds at http:// www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/ In reality it looks like this New Zealand classroom: a PE Teacher, Carl Condliffe at Wellington High School has been using a flipped classroom model for the past year or so and he has shared online at www.

NZPETeacher.com. Reading his thoughts and watching his video content, you can immediately see applications across a range of subjects.

I’m interested - how do I learn more?

Read a book - Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Your Class Everyday, Jonathan Bergman and Aaron Sams.

Teachers Matter

J o i n a n i n g – f o r e x a m p l e : w w w. flippedclassroom.org

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But wait, how does the flipped classroom model apply to primary?

The NZ Curriculum already gives primary schools the freedom to let students drive the planning and choose the content. The teacher then embeds in this the literacy, language and numeracy objectives for individual students. So what could the flipped classroom model add?

To answer this we need to look at the “pros” of a flipped classroom model.

Firstly, there is improved access to “content”.

Students can learn at their own pace, reviewing what they need when they need it.

Students who miss class can stay up-to-date and refer to videos or content outside the

classroom. If a student does not understand a concept the first time, they can easily access it as many times as they wish.

Secondly, there is a positive impact on the classroom time. The teacher has more time to be the guide, working one-on-one with students and thereby strengthening relationships. Classroom time can be the much talked about time for collaborative learning.

Thirdly, it allows knowledge to be applied to different contexts – for example, the teacher (or students!) may have made a fantastic video on how to measure area. This concept video can then be used in topic work, art, tech, physical education and so on.

Thinking about these advantages, primary teachers may be able to identify two different elements of their teaching that could be

PHOTO: IURII PLIUSHCHEV

W

hat is the flipped classroom?

Generally it is defined as “a model of teaching in which a student’s homework is the traditional content accessed outside of class generally using technology. Then class time is spent on inquiry-based learning which would include what would traditionally be viewed as a student’s homework assignment”

JENNY BARRETT “flipped”. In the first instance, by capturing those key bite-sized chunks of teaching and learning, then by making these available outside school, you will be able to tick the first bullet point above – improved accessibility for all. The second element involves a bit of re-organisation. It does not mean that every class has to be flipped, just when appropriate.

Bergman and Sams advocate thinking about “What is the best use of your class time?” and focussing your class time on these types of activity. Fun YouTube videos of different vowel sounds, blends, simple numeracy concepts could be made available on a class blog or a school online learning environment. Web based games to practice these skills could also be provided for completion outside of class. Do you need to use valuable class time for content delivery or drill activities? As a result what would often be the homework activity, using these skills to produce or create something, could be shifted to the classroom, where the teacher’s facilitation and input can prove more valuable.

At this point many of you may be saying, “But I do this already!” You just didn’t realise that you were “flipping” your classroom.

OK I’m sold and I want to give it a go - do I need to create my own content?

Not necessarily. There are resources available on You Tube, Teacher Tube, Khan Academy (a not for profit database of 4,500 videos) and Ted-Ed. Have a look around first, and if you think you can do a better job then go for it. Personally, I would ultimately aim to have my students create the content. They could take what is out there and then apply it to their contexts and make this available to future students. Perhaps older year groups could make content for younger year groups, reinforcing their knowledge at the same time.

I think I or my students can do a better job – how do I do it?

Screen capture tools: as the name suggests you can capture whatever you do on screen.

Many interactive whiteboard software packages come with built in screen recorders.

Or if you have a tablet or ipad there are more and more apps becoming available with Show Me being a well-known example.

If you want to capture yourself “doing” something, a visualiser is the ideal solution.

Andrew Riccardi of Waimea College is an advocate of the flipped classroom and uses a visualiser to capture maths tutorials (http:// www.youtube.com/user/MrRicciardi73) . The beauty of the visualiser is the ease with which

“ Every student is thinking, writing, interacting, reading, listening and speaking – EVERYDAY!” Carl Condliffe NZ Teacher you can capture live teaching, those key bitesized chunks of learning that students may want to revisit. Just press a record button and it will create a video with audio of whatever you or the students are doing. They are particularly popular with Science and Technology teachers because of the detail the top of the range models can capture.

Webcams, digital still cameras, video cameras: all of these can of course be used to capture video too. The decision about which comes down simply to the quality you require for your video.

You then share your videos on YouTube, via your blog or online learning environment.

What do I do in class time?

Assimilate. Sounds a bit Star Trek but essentially students problem-solve, discuss, debate, work in groups, craft and create.

They are doing the lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy at home and the higher order learning in class. Whilst watching the videos outside class, students are often asked to “watch, summarise and question” with the questions meeting the following criteria: • one question they don’t know the answer to • one question they do know the answer to and can challenge others on • o n e “ h o t ” q u e s t i o n ; a n d t h e y a r e givenquestion starters to ensure that the question will activate higher order thinking and discussion.

What potential issues should I be aware of?

Equality of access is the first issue that springs to mind. Ideally you need a library

with good computer access and broadband for students without home access. Other solutions range from school-sponsored lease arrangements where parents pay a weekly amount for a device, to the school providing wireless internet access for the local area. Community engagement is an important starting point and needs to include acknowledgement that both students and parents will keep up their end of the bargain and commit to supporting the “outside the classroom” component. Good community engagement at the beginning of the process can also eliminate many other issues that could potentially surround a flipped classroom such as agreement on appropriate screen time for different age groups, acknowledgement of who should deal with technical problems, theft, breakages and expectations around the amount/speed of data required.

There has to be recognition that there are different learning styles and the “outside the classroom” content should be varied, motivating and stimulating. Flipping the classroom can significantly increase teacher workload in the short term. Professional development, time and resources for course development all need to be considered.

Te a c h e r b u y - i n i s t h e r e f o r e a n o t h e r important starting point.

Applying it to outside the classroom Two other good starting points are to apply the concept to administration meetings and to encourage the library to get involved.

Firstly flip your staff meetings. Rather than use this time together to read documents and listen to announcements, staff can access information outside of the meetings and use time in meetings for valuable discussion and debate. This may even lead to a reduction in the time spent in meetings!

Secondly, ask the librarian to build a library of video and audio that teachers and students can choose from to form the basis of the “outside the classroom” component of the flipped classroom.

To quote from the horse’s mouth, Carl Condliffe, the NZ PE Teacher, has found that “Every student is thinking, writing, interacting, reading, listening and speaking – EVERYDAY!” Surely what every teacher wants.

With thanks to Carl Condliffe and Andrew Riccardi for permission to point people in the direction of their work.

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BRIAN NOBLE

Tips for parents on career guidance with your teenagers Practical things to do with your teen

F

or today’s teenagers making decisions on study and career direction can be a sizeable hurdle. With numerous and rapidly changing career choices, hampered by inadequate information and exploited competition for their or your educational dollars, it can be a minefield. As parents we want to avoid the futility of years of study plus thousands of dollars wasted on a degree that’s not used or gives zero employment opportunity. If you are a parent asking, “How can I help my son/daughter make this decision?” Here are some practical things you can do to help.

Acknowledge the situation.

Most colleges have a low ratio of career guidance personnel to students, therefore little time is available from the careers person to give your children the information they need and want.

Television incorrectly shapes our children’s career perceptions, for example a lot of people are studying criminology at present as programmes such as CSI look exciting. It is highly unlikely there will be enough jobs available for all the graduates.

Teachers Matter

Universities have two key drivers (a) We need students for revenue. (b) We want students to excel to enhance our reputation. Many times I have heard, “It doesn’t matter which degree you do as long as you do one.” This is like saying, “You need some clothes but it doesn’t matter what size they are”.

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Careers are changing fast. 30 years ago there was not an IT industry; now it employs millions of people. It is anticipated the average college leaver will have 5 major career changes, and an estimated 85% of the jobs college leavers will do, have not been invented yet.

Teenagers do not have the full information to make a sound career decision. They may think they know lots; reality is most lack information to make the right career decision.

Many professions have vastly diverse positions. Nursing has over 27 different

types of careers, legal careers also vary widely. It is not adequate to know “I want to be a nurse or a lawyer” - they need to know what type of nurse or lawyer.

70% of New Zealanders do not like their work.

Looking at the above list one could easily despair in finding the right career. The good news is that it’s not only possible to identify the correct career direction, but feasible to qualify careers that your teenager will both excel in and be passionate about. For most people their career is the main source of income in their life. Being in the right career will bring improved advancement, better income, greater fulfilment and accomplishment. We succeed with less difficulties, and go further when we are doing what comes naturally.

Spending a little to get it right is one of the best financial investments you will ever make.

Measure what fits your teenager.

When buying yourself clothes you would only want garments your size. Likewise, when choosing a study or career direction, knowing what fits is imperative. You wouldn’t go into a clothing store and keep trying on garments without checking size. One wrong garment purchase may cost hundreds of dollars - one wrong career choice will cost thousands and may impact confidence, self image, motivation and quality of life.

Focussing on helping your teenager to known the person they truely are will make career or study decisions accurate and easy.

What to measure?

- Aptitudes Aptitudes are by far the most important measure in determining the right career or study direction. If you can only use one measurement in career guidance then Aptitudes is the one. They take longer to assess but provide the most useful tool with the greatest longevity. Fully developed by 16 years of age, Aptitudes change little through our working life. This once in a lifetime assessment will give clear and decisive study and career direction for both now and in the future. Knowing your teenager’s aptitude

pattern not only gives a career compass but shows how to be more successful.

Assessed by Worksamples, Aptitudes are not limited to what your teenager knows about themselves. Aptitude patterning gives a definitive measure of careers that fit.

With over 70 years research, we know the aptitudes pattern required in each career - Personality Select a reliable personality indicator. Free online personality tests are unlikely to have the depth you need for such an important decision. Good personality tools will show information on how we are energised, the way we relate to others, how we take in information, our decision making processes, the way we like to live life, planned or spontaneous. These factors have greater or less significance with different careers.

Personality alone is not sufficient, you need to know the strength of a preference, and clear indication is different from slight. Be sure the personality indicator you use has comprehensive career information.

- Interests Are easiest to measure but beware. Find a list of careers and get your teenager to go through them rating how much they would like each career. Cross out the careers that are a definite “no” then ask what it is about the remaining ones that really appeals to them. Then get them to research the careers to check their understanding of what is involved in that work. Research position descriptions and have your teenager read them through to qualify their understanding of that type of work. The pitfall, is that most probably that they have been heavily biased by partial information.

Television usually gives a stance of careers based on the acting part liking or disliking the work. Careers shown to be exciting will only be so if aptitudes, personality and interests all match. People we know can shape opinions of careers and as 70% of people have been shown to dislike their work, your teenagers understanding of careers is most probably incorrect or at least heavily slanted.

The acid test if a career fits is the question “would you do this work if you were not being paid for it?” When the above three measures all match the answer will be yes. Using a career guidance professional who uses the above tools will equip your teenager with the knowledge to make the right choice. It takes the stress out of the process and will probably save you thousands of dollars.

PHOTO: DIONISIO DIAS FILHO

BRIAN NOBLE

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KAREN BOYES

11 Exam tips for success Test and exam season is upon us and there are simple tips and strategies that can make this time of year pass faster and with minimum stress.

1. Maintain a positive attitude In the weeks and days coming up to your exam, keep a positive attitude and believe in yourself. Pay extra attention in class, as the teacher is likely to give special tips, hints and ideas to help with your exams. Ask your teacher questions to clarify anything you are not sure about. Focus on passing your exams and seeing a successful outcome.

Avoid people that are stressing out about exams – just visualise your success.

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Spending 10 -15 minutes a week planning what you are going to study and when, will increase your efficiency and even lower your study time. Draw up a calendar and mark the times you have available to study. Now prioritise what needs to be learned within these times. Summerise y o u r n o t e s a n d r e v i s e t h e m w e e k l y.

Remember it is extremely important to learn the information you DON’T know rather than continually looking over what you know. Get your old test papers, assignments and exams out and learn what you got wrong. Spend a little more time on the subjects you find challenging as well. It is easy to get sidetracked with the subjects you are good at, or the information you know, as this makes us feel good. However learning when you don’t know is hard and the more you work on this the easier it will get.

3. The night before Revise your notes quietly and quickly.

Cramming the night before does NOT work as your brain gets too ‘full’ and is unable to recall lots of information at once. Get a great night’s sleep – or at least attempt to.

It is better to be fresh and relaxed the next day, than tired or exhausted.

PHOTO: PICSFIVE

Teachers Matter

2. Make a plan

KAREN BOYES

4. The morning of the exam Have a great breakfast. You want to eat food that will sustain you rather than heavy, quick fix food. An apple will give you more energy than caffeine. Arrive 10-15 minutes before the exam and avoid people that are stressing. Stay focused. Ensure you have 2 pens, 2 pencils, an eraser, your calculator with spare batteries and anything else you might need, or are allowed. If you are allowed, take a bottle of water into the exam. Make sure you go to the bathroom before the exam.

5. Exam time Keep your positive attitude and stay relaxed.

Breathe deeply. When you are instructed to start, scan through the entire paper to give you an overview of what you will be answering. Start with the easy questions first.

You do not have to start at question 1, then 2 and so on. Start with the simple questions to calm yourself and get your thinking flowing. Many times while you are working on the easier questions your subconscious brain will be thinking on the hard questions.

The answers for the hard questions are sometimes in the easy questions.

Read the instructions carefully. Circle key words to help you answer the question correctly. Key words include; explain, give 3 reasons, summerise, comment, compare, contrast. These key words will be asking you to provide different kinds of information.

In maths, always show your working. Read essay questions twice and plan your essay on the side of the paper, using key words, ideas and thoughts. Maintain a great sitting posture in the exam. Slouching will slow blood flow to your brain; so sit up straight – it makes a difference.

6. Manage your time Pace yourself. If your exam is for sixty minutes, divide the time by the number of marks available. For example, if 100 marks are available in 60 minutes, that means you need to spend no more than 36 seconds per mark. So if a question is worth 2 marks,

“ It is the preparation before and what you do inside the exam that makes the biggest difference. Study Smart and pass..”

spend 1 minute on it (giving you time for checking later). A question worth 20 marks should take you 7 minutes, and so on. Keep an eye on the clock and leave the last 5 minutes for checking and rechecking.

7. I’m stuck The harder you try and think sometimes the harder it is to remember. Take a deep breath. Breathing slowly and deeply, especially in and out through your nose will calm you down. Breath and relax and the information will flow easier.

If you are not sure about a date, just leave it out and come back to it later. When you can recall a small part of the information but not all, jot it down in the column or on a piece of paper and come back to it.

If you find you are completely stuck on a question, move on quickly to the next and come back to it later. Other options to trigger your memory might include asking yourself these questions: Where was I when I studied this? What letter does the answer start with?

Where in the textbook do I recall seeing this?

What am I being asked to find? What do I need to know to answer this? How can I break the problem up into parts? What steps should I follow to solve this problem? If you are still not sure, stay calm and move on.

8. The death grip If your arm gets tired during the exam, chances are you are gripping your pen too tight! Without distracting anyone else, stretch out your arm, relax your grip and continue the exam.

9. Multiple choice

not sure, make the most intelligent guess you can. If you have to guess, choose the longest answer. If there are 2 choices that are similar avoid those. If there are opposites, choose one. Often the most general answer is correct. Don’t spend too much time on one question. Do your best and move on.

10. Neatness counts It is very important to write legibly. If the person marking your exam cannot read it they will mark it wrong. Erase your mistakes or cross them out with one neat line – do not scribble errors out. Be careful that your numbers are easy to read – if your 7’s look like 1’s you will be marked wrong.

Do not obsess with neatness, you do not have time for that, and avoid rewriting an answer out again.

11. I’m done Stop and go back over any questions you have skipped and recheck those questions you have answered.

Grammar is important. Check you have capital letters, full stops and correct p u n c t u a t i o n . Yo u r s p e l l i n g i s a l s o important – an exam is a formal writing time, there is no place for informal text language in your answers.

Double check your full name is on your paper and any extra pages you are handing in.

I would wish you good luck for your exams, however luck actually has nothing to do with whether you will pass or not. It is the preparation before and what you do inside the exam that makes the biggest difference.

Study Smart and pass.

The key to multi choice is to answer every question. Your first choice is usually correct.

Be aware of key words such as; all, never, always, now, exactly, only. Watch for negative words; no, not, never. Read all the choices before choosing one. If you are

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DEBORAH BARCLAY

Well-being within education Shift the focus in the staffroom from an on-going roll out of professional development to raise student achievement, to a portion of time being dedicated to the well-being of staff.

Is

it just me or do teachers appear constantly busy, on a wheel of ongoing change and an increased workload? Although I am an advocate for innovation and development, it does seem that no sooner do we roll out one new initiative, that another one is upon us, leading us to sometimes feel overwhelmed; multi-tasking at a frenetic pace.

Teachers Matter

As a teacher you know the routine well… you’ve taught all day (not a straight forward task!), you may or may not have done a lunchtime duty, the 3.00pm bell goes, you spend the next 10 minutes seeing the children off and talking to their parents.

You grab your laptop in one hand and a pile of work in the other (that you will end up taking home to do after dinner) and you race to the staffroom for the 3.15pm staff meeting that you know you’re going to be late for. With 2 minutes to grab a quick cup of coffee, you sit yourself down, take a deep breath and prepare to be fully engaged and ready to take on the next piece of professional development that will need implementing, meanwhile, thinking about tomorrow’s teaching plan and what you are going to cook for dinner that night! Phew!

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It’s any wonder we can sometimes go home feeling like the tank is empty. In an occupation requiring constant up-skilling in an environment where you give so much of your time and energy to ‘little people’, it is vital to take care of yourself first.

While we can debate the reasons why teachers feel so much pressure, I wonder if it is time to shift the focus in the staffroom from an on-going roll out of professional development to raise student achievement, to a portion of time being dedicated to the well-being of staff.

Wo r k i n g w i t h i n E d u c a t i o n c a n b e challenging and demanding. School environments are highly dynamic places.

We deal with relationships - children, parents and families, and colleagues.

We are constantly adapting to on-going changes and developments whilst under pressure to move students academically, and we are in the midst of a rapid growth of technology.

Training to become a Certified Coach last year ignited an interest in me to explore the ways people in Education can make self-care a priority in order to be more productive and effective in the work place. While the idea of making one’s self-care a priority might seem self-centred, doing so actually allows us to make our greatest contributions.

When we develop our awareness of our wellbeing, and attend to our needs, we have a much better chance of maintaining our vitality, and coping positively with challenges that working in this industry present. At times we can lose ourselves in the daily madness of our busy lives. When we start making our own well-being a priority, life satisfaction increases.

As a Coach I work with clients to improve the quality of their lives. Sometimes it takes just small amounts of tweaking and a focus on what it is that makes you happy, that can result in positive changes.

In a recent workshop I facilitated for Women in Education, I shared some ideas on taking better care of ourselves in the workplace.

I typically start by looking at the external aspects of work and gently shift to the parts of ourselves that require care and attention.

Here is a small snapshot of what was covered.

Time Management Take time in the morning to plan your day – don’t just dive right in!

Schedule meetings in slots prior to the bell ringing –that way the meeting stays on task and has to move at a smart pace (Work smart not hard!)

Don’t put off the dreaded task! – Break it into smaller achievable chunks and start it!

Give yourself 20 minutes before you leave to tie up the day’s loose ends.

Technology Between cell phones, text messaging and email most of us are plugged in and available 24/7 The trick is to manage technology. Email is a great tool in that you can communicate with anyone at anytime. So what’s the problem? The problem is that everyone else can communicate with you in the same way.

Plan how and when you respond to emails Read all emails at once and write a list of ‘to do’s’ as you read them. Actioning one at a time could see you spending half of your day responding to emails!

Get into the habit of filing messages, so they don’t pile up in your inbox

DEBORAH BARCLAY

“ While the idea of making one’s self-care a priority might seem self-centred, doing so actually allows us to make our greatest contributions. ”

Stress What causes stress depends, at least in part, on your perception of it. Something that’s stressful to you may not faze someone else.

I ask teachers to think about the following questions; What situations knock you off track at work? How do you react? How do you feel physically/emotionally when this happens? What can you do to ‘rebalance’?

One of the activities I suggest doing is making a list of actions that could restore your equilibrium when you feel ‘out of kilter’.

It could be something as simple as having a cup of tea in a quiet space or going out of the school grounds at lunchtime for a break.

ILLUSTRATION: 123RF.COM

I also encourage peop l e t o e s t a b l i s h boundaries for themselves and get really clear about them. This works well for both work and home. It is about setting new priorities for yourself, using your time the way you really want. A couple of examples are; • Take time for lunch everyday – sitting eating food whilst at your laptop does not count!

• Work reasonable hours. Set a time for heading home. It is a myth to believe that working long hours makes you productive. Smart workers get the job done within a reasonable time frame.

As a cog in the wheel of an Education system that is constantly evolving and changing, keeping up to date and doing so effectively and efficiently, happens when we make our well-being a priority and we feel that we are managing our own lives, not the other way around!

PHOTO:ALPHASPIRIT

• I also cover facts and tips for exercise, sleep & nutrition –all of which are key components to feeling well.

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PAT BUONCRISTIANI

Babies and bath water The ‘gist’ thinking that comes with internet reading cannot replace deep thinking.

I

am reading a fascinating book: ‘The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains’ by Nicholas Carr. I strongly recommend it. I was particularly drawn to his analysis of the differences between ‘deep reading’ and the kind of interconnected, hyperlink driven reading that we engage with when we read on the internet.

Deep reading is the thoughtful, internalised reading we engage in when we read a book from cover to cover, when we engage with it at a deep level and contemplate the characters or the ideas contained within it. It is essentially linear – we start at the beginning and go on to the end.

the CD led to the demise of the cassette tape, but that was because the CD did exactly the same thing as the cassette tape – only better.

Internet reading, with its interconnected, networked nature involves a very different kind of thinking from the deep, linear thinking that a good book offers. They both have us thinking in different ways, and both ways are powerful.

Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. We need to teach our kids

“ The internet and books have us thinking in different ways, and both ways are powerful.”

how to navigate the rich, interconnected w o r l d o f t h e i n t e r n e t . We n e e d t o encourage them to make connections, to link old knowledge with new discoveries, to create networks in their understandings than are essentially horizontal, broad and integrating. But we also need to make sure they see the v a l u e o f d e e p r e a d i n g , of mining at depth a rich seam of knowledge. There is a place for ‘gist’ thinking, but it doesn’t replace deep thinking.

Inter net based reading is a different animal. It is filled with distractions and opportunities to be sidetracked that take up working memory as we decide whether to ignore them or follow their seductive paths.

Carr is afraid that this kind of reading – and it is fast becoming the predominate form of reading – will lead to superficial thinking.

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But when something new comes along we are naïve to think it will simply replace what has gone on before. Ever y new medium does not mark the previous media for obsolescence. People feared that TV would bankrupt cinemas. It has done no such thing and multiplexes thrive and continue to grow. We thought TV might destroy live theatre, but it has not. Certainly

PHOTO: ZHEKOS

Teachers Matter

In a recent conversation with a university professor friend I heard her bemoaning the kind of ‘gist thinking’ that she felt was becoming far too commonplace among her students. “They think they understand, but they are satisfied with just the gist of the idea”. This, I think, is exactly what Carr is writing about.

GLENN CAPELLI

Slow Down – Time Wisdom in a Crazy World (Feeling Groovy) We all need to add a touch more contemplation in our lives and learning.

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ome words and phrases for our time:

The Buddhists have a saying:

Pico-femto baboons

When you eat a mandarin, eat the mandarin.

Infobesity

This is very true and equally applicable to both food and to life in general. How often do we rush through a meal and barely know, let alone taste and savour what we have eaten. Similarly, how often do we rush through our day without taking the time to enjoy fleeting moments of pleasure, let alone hours of deep contemplation and conversation?

Sigh.

In today’s World we have refined the concept of time to an unprecedented degree. Long ago, it was enough to simply measure time in seasons, and the time of day by the position of the sun.

The first clocks had hour hands, and it was only in the twentieth century that we added the minute hands to our clocks.

Now we have gone digital and created instruments that can measure time in milliseconds, nano-seconds, pico-seconds and femto-seconds.

There are more femto-seconds in a second than there have been seconds in the last thirty-one thousand years!

Some people live as if they are on “picofemto” time. As the alarm goes off, they jump out of bed and brush their teeth while they are shaving or going to the toilet, all to save time. Then they rush to their cars, and speed to their offices, always needing to be somewhere fast, like now!

(Sidewise metaphor – warning alert!

Apparently the male baboon completes the act of copulation with around fifteen thrusts in a mere eight seconds. Without getting too personal, some people seem to live their lives like a baboon, operating on “pico-femto” time, rushing through everything that they do, no matter how enjoyable, to get to the next thing on their list, rather than taking their time and savouring the moment.)

We all need to address our “pico-femto” baboon-like behaviour and see where we can slow down and enjoy the journey. Paul Simon gave us the advice: ‘slow down, you move too fast, gotta make the morning last.’

In today’s world we have an epidemic called Infobesity. There is so much information around that folk are constantly snacking on flicks of information and never sitting down to a proper meal of learning. The sport of our World has become constant sprinting.

Moving fast from one web site to the next, from a television screen to an iPad to an iPhone to a mega screen all in a milli second and all at once.

Way back in the 80’s Barrie Hopson & Mike Scally wrote a book called Lifeskills and led

PHOTO: BRANDY MCKNIGHT

Neomania

“ When designing l e s s o n s for students, incorporate some slow time, some delve time, some deep time.” the way to us thinking about the T Skilled Worker/Learner. The T skilled worker has the horizontal line of the letter T representing our Broad skills and the vertical of the letter T representing our deep skills.

Our broad skills include our ability to scan information and to bounce between fields of knowledge; our deep skills incorporate our ability to dig deep into a particular field of knowledge: to delve, persevere and gain nuances of distinction.

We need both.

Instead of a pattern of skim, skim, skim, skim… good learning may require a pattern of skim, skim, travel deep, deep… then skim again and re-loop.

There is a danger for our brain to get stuck in a rut of Neomania – just loving the new and the next. The next page, flick the iPad, the next best thing, flick to the web page.

Becoming a Neomaniac in a World of Infobesity may mean the pico-femto baboon keeps on snacking but never feels sated, never feels the esteem that persistence and consistence and mastery of deep learning can bring.

When designing lessons for students, incorporate some slow time, some delve time, some deep time. Help students with attention and focus. Praise the ability to go longer and deeper on subjects. Likewise, add a touch more contemplation and vertical T travel in your own life and learning.

It may feel frustrating at first but once we all re-learn how to pace our learning we can dissolve some of the anxiety of life and, as Paul Simon sung, be ‘feeling groovy’.

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G

ABCDEFGHIJKLMN KAREN BOYES

A to Z of effective teaching A by-the-letter guide – with one letter in each issue Gathering data through all senses

According to Neuro Scientists the brain is the ultimate reductionist.

It reduces the world down into its simplest parts such as photons of light, sound waves and vibrations.

Information is stored in the brain through sensory inputs. Dr Art Costa suggests intelligent people use their sensor y pathways to gain information. These are visual, auditor y, kinesthetic, tactile, olfactory and gustatory.

Costa asserts to know a wine you must drink it; to know a dance it must be performed; to know a game it must be played. When sensory pathways are open and alert more regions of the brain are interconnected and this crossreferencing strengthens what is learned. Encourage your students to gather data using a multitude of senses.

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Global Learners

Ground rules

Global learners require the big picture when learning. They like to see where concepts interrelate with other concepts and how it applies to them. These learners need an overview of a topic first and tend to get frustrated with the fine detail. According to the Dunn & Dunn research, 70% of teachers teach analytically (the opposite of global), while up to 70% of students learn best globally. The technique of revealing information line by line (intellectual flashing!) drives a person whom prefers to process globally crazy. Start your lessons with the big picture and a purpose for learning the information..

Students need to know the ground rules. Can they talk in class, go to the bathroom, move around, listen to music, use colour in their notebooks? Ensure you are clear on what you expect and that your students know this in your first lesson. Create a poster or chart with the ground rules so ever yone is clear on your expectations. Be firm, but fair.

Be alert to the unwritten rules, the actions you do not comment on. Also if students see you have not taken any action on someone breaking a ground rule they will assume it is now OK to behave in this manner.

gG

ABCDEFGHIJKLMN

g G

NOPQRSTUVWXYZ KAREN BOYES

Gifted Learners

Gender

Are some learners “more intelligent” than others? Eric Jensen asserts it depends on your definition of intelligence. Carol Dweck’s work clearly shows the notion of intelligence being fixed is false and intelligence can be developed with enrichment programmes and having a growth mindset. Howard Gardner’s work on Multiple Intelligence suggests we all have our own unique package of intelligences and all have gifts worth developing.

Research clearly shows when teachers have high expectations and nourish each students gifts they can produce outstanding results. Treat every student as if they are gifted, intelligent and capable of achieving well above average results.

Brain development in both genders differs greatly. At any age the brain may vary from as little as a few months to three years. In a study of 200 children, the boys outperformed the girls on spatial tasks; however the girls showed earlier dominance in linguistic skills. Sensory perception is also different between genders. The following differences are a generalisation over a big population and are not necessarily relevant to an individual. Females are more likely to pick up nuances of voice, music and other sounds. Males have better distance vision and depth perception. Females excel at peripheral vision. They also are more sensitive to touch and have a stronger sense of smell. Males react more to extreme temperatures and are better at target directed motor skills, mathematical reasoning and working out word problems. Females are better at mathematical calculation, fine motor co-ordination, locating missing items and recalling locations in context.

Goals

A goal is a behaviour or outcome that a student is consciously trying to perform or attain.

Goal setting is an important component of students’ motivation, self-regulation and achievement in academic settings.

Goals can create positive effects by directing a student’s attention to important activities and away from distractions. The more specific a goal is the more focused the student can be toward its achievement. Constant feedback is also an important element towards achieving goals as this helps create a flexible action plan towards success.

“ Start your

lessons with the big picture and a purpose for learning the information. ”

NOPQRSTUVWXYZ

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JAN BIBBY

Defining moments in a ‘not uncommon’ learning journey!

How hard work and explicit teaching can overcome dyslexia.

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hen, Connor, my grandson was seven he struggled to read and write. I am an educator. I knew what this journey looked like. Often it didn’t end well. Joint diagnoses of dyslexia and dysgraphia confirmed my instincts and set us on a ‘not uncommon’ learning journey.

By the start of Year 4, aged 8.05, Connor was scoring 3 on the National Star Reading Stanine. That was in the 11-22% range.

Interestingly, Connor’s Star Listening Comprehension Stanine score was 9. This gave him a listening age of 12-13 years and placed him in the 90+%. In October of the previous year, Connor had scored 12.6 on a Stanford Binet Listening for Meaning test with an educational psychologist. Clearly Connor was an intelligent child, so why was it so hard for him to read and write?

Teachers Matter

Initially the journey Connor and I embarked on together covered a range of phonologically-based activities to ensure he understood sound/symbol and blend/ letter relationships. He needed multiple opportunities to go over this foundational learning at his speed, to accommodate processing issues. All phonological work was contextualised so that Connor continued to develop his knowledge levels and expand his interest in the world around him.

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with a whole sentence. I used learning of sight and high frequency words as part of our phonology work so that Connor was seeing and working with these words often.

(Remember he’s a visual and tactile learner).

I made up grids of about 12 words and used this as a base for a range of activities. I would work on these words until he knew them.

When we moved onto the next grid of words I would make sure we used previous grids as review so that he didn’t lose those words.

Regular review is very important, as is going over the words, as often as possible at home.

These students need to have automatic recognition and recall of sight and high frequency words along with strong word attack skills. Often dyslexics appear to be going well with their reading until they start using ‘readers’ with fewer pictures. When the visual cues disappear they are completely lost. Without automaticity of sight and high frequency words these students will ‘lose’ the plot with their reading. The same applies to writing. Dyslexics need to be able to write down the sight and high frequency words automatically to allow their thought processes to flow when writing.

As part of our learning I took Connor t h r o u g h a K i d s L a n g u a g e K i t ( w w w. kidslanguagekit.co.nz) I had written when I was teaching ESOL. The tactile and rote learning components of this resource were perfect for him. He’s a tactile, visual and oral learner. The tactile elements provide focus and engagement while the rote component added fluency to his reading skills. He particularly enjoyed the last section of each unit where key words are exploded with associated vocabulary to enhance comprehension and link neural pathways.

We worked on sequential activities, oral recounts (I did the writing), and as many developmentally appropriate activities as possible to increase his intellectual capacity and to help him keep pace with his year group. I did the writing for him as his dysgraphia had the potential to cripple him intellectually (2% writing speed). We focussed on the mental processes of the learning, not on whether he could express it in writing. Of course, he was still very disadvantaged when he had to read and write in the classroom setting. In Years 3 and 4 it was a nightmare for Connor to try to keep a sentence in his head, while he figured out how to write it down a word at a time.

Learning words individually, while neural pathways are established, is critical. Connor became very confused if he had to deal

By Years 5 and 6 National Progressive Attainment Testing (PAT) results put Connor’s reading comprehension at Stanine

6 (77%) and his reading vocabulary at Stanine 5 (60%).

Connor is now in his first year of Intermediate School and in February 2013, scored 4B in e-asTTle reading test and 3P in the e-asTTle writing. By June his e-asTTle reading result was 5B and his e-asTTle writing was 4B. Interestingly his Maths had also moved impressively from 3P to 4P. June 2013 Reading, Writing and Maths results place Connor in the ‘above’ category on New Zealand National Standards.

In spite of never having been offered any assistive technology (we did apply for funding) Connor has conscientiously applied himself to written tasks and gradually increased his proficiency and speed. We are planning ahead. He is learning to touch type so that by the time he gets to Year 9 he will be able to use a voice activated technology to assist him with his writing.

This journey is a testament to the fact that hard work and explicit teaching can overcome dyslexia. Connor is defined by what he can do – not what he can’t do. He’s a ‘bookworm’ and reads veraciously! He plays water polo and is competitive in cross country and triathlon events. He’s and avid movie buff and has a huge imagination.

He’s not a bad writer either! In May 2013 he wrote this poem.

To find a poem . . .

To find a poem I dive through the water, the ripples shimmer in the sun.

I see bubbles fizz like a can of Sprite, I break through the surface, take a breath, Crack a smile, stroke by stroke I get closer to the prize, Victory, I have the bright, shiny, classic gold!

JAN BIBBY

“ Practice, practice, practice and the result will be effective literacy.”

In Year 3, at the end of year School Prizegiving, Connor was awarded the ‘Effort’ award - one of four prestige prizes.

DYSLEXIA D

to significantly aid his learning journey. A mix of massage to hands and shoulders (for the dysgraphia), talking through emotions around the learning process, bark flower compounds and supplements, body balancing and techniques to improve coordination, all supported his learning pathway.

yslexic learners are typically tactile, visual and oral learners. They will successfully learn to read and write if an explicit, phonological programme targets their specific learning needs. They are usually intelligent. Don’t give up on them.

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ou, the teacher or parent, need to understand the symptoms and issues associated with Dyslexia. Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz is a must read along with online articles. Check eyes (NB: important you go to a behavioural optometrist), ears and other health issues, to eliminate any additional impact on the students’ learning.

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upport and strengthen students’ self esteem by dividing the learning into bite-size goals which can be understood and worked towards to get a well earned reward (e.g. ‘Ipad’ time). Incentive systems punctuate the journey with emotions of achievement and success.

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earning styles and tools matter! Use every learning style and tool available to present and practice the information the students needs to master. Lots of repetition is necessary to create neural pathways that will eventually facilitate retention of the learning. Consider ‘old’ technologies (e.g.

desk- size blackboards and chalk, desk-size whiteboards and pens, crayons and textured paper, paint, pavement art, plasticine or clay, magnetic, foam or any type of manipulative alphabet letters and numbers, felts, vivids, music, collage, movement) and ‘new’ technologies (e.g. iPads).

The possibilities are as endless as your imagination – and those of your students!

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ncourage and praise the students often. This learning is ‘real work’ for them.

Enjoy the journey with them. Have fun.

They present a unique opportunity to demonstrate the power of creative teaching and learning.

‘X

factor people’ is how these students should be described. They invariably possess unusual giftedness in some area.

Look for and develop that giftedness.

They are often lateral thinkers. Connor added some holistic kinesiology sessions

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ndividual tutoring or in very

small groups is important because dyslexics have difficulty processing and decoding, ‘intensives’, with a narrow focus (e.g. one or two specific learning intentions), work best for them.

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utomatic recognition of sight and high frequency words is critical. Teach each word in context, orally at first. Follow this with a variety of interventions to teach the spelling of each, specific word. Being able to read and write these words easily and quickly facilitates fluency in the reading and writing process.

Strong word attack strategies are essential.

Teach these explicitly. Use patterns, rules, learning constructs and games as anchors to imprint and cement the learning. Insist on mastery of the phonological components of the learning and any other processes that resonate with the dyslexic learner. There are no short cuts. Practice, practice, practice and the result will be effective literacy.

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ANGIE WILCOCK

The culture of homework And why it needs to change

If

there’s one education debate that fires up both parents and teachers, it’s the one about homework!

Research findings across the years seem to come to pretty much the same conclusion - there’s a good side and a bad side to homework. Nothing new here.

I’ve been a primary teacher for 25 years and avoided what I considered to be useless and time-wasting time fillers - consolidation of spelling and number facts have their place within the realms of homework, but tasks which aimed to stretch the student’s imagination and creativity were much more in line with my view of homework.

The quality of ‘at home’ tasks kids can produce when they are truly bitten by the learning bug is amazing!

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Recent Australian research by Richard Walker and Mike Horsley on parent involvement in homework confirms earlier research conducted in the UK on the more general issue of parental involvement and support of their children’s learning. The study claimed that parental involvement in children’s learning is a powerful predictor of achievement into the secondary school years.

ILLUSTRATION: ARTISTICCO LLC

Teachers Matter

Teaching content by way of giving it as homework is a poor reflection on our overcrowded curriculum - but it happens. Kids should be inspired by a world of knowledge they don’t yet have, and motivated to learn more....every day. We know that doesn’t happen under our current structure and system of education. Sir Ken Robinson spends his life trying to convince us that we need to re-think our models of teaching and learning and, as a by product of that, how and why we give homework. It shouldn’t be a chore, but it is - and more often than not the parents become either the task-master or the surrogate researcher or homework assistant. When parents are standing by the school gate talking about homework or an assignment that’s “too much”, we know we’ve got it wrong.

ANGIE WILCOCK

We could go on and on about the rights and wrongs of homework; the benefits and the disadvantages. But the one thing we don’t address nearly enough is the ‘culture’ around setting homework there are many teachers who are made to feel uncomfortable if they set limited homework... often because parents expect more... that’s the ‘culture’ we have created.

Until we change the ‘culture’ we will always have divided opinion, regardless of what any of the research says.

I remember teaching a gifted and talented class a few years ago. They (and their parents) lived and breathed education - the students not always by choice! With the exception of maybe three or four students, all undertook additional after-school tutoring - not to keep up with Year 5 and 6 work, but to push them ahead. Some of these kids were doing Year 9 maths at tutoring college and were under enormous pressure to achieve.

At the end of Term 1 these students were asking for ‘holiday homework’, so I asked them to take out their diaries and copy down my instructions. “Pick up a ball, take it to the park and kick it or throw it to someone. Find a book you want to read, and read it. Sit quietly in your room and imagine where you might be in 15 years.

Listen to some music. Play a board game, not an electronic one. Go on a picnic with your family. Talk to your mum and dad about ‘stuff’ that interests you.” You could have heard a pin drop - the looks on their faces were priceless. “But where’s the real

“ The alignment of homework with developing life skills should be encouraged ”

homework?” one called out. “That’s it”, I said. Within 24 hours, I had more than one parent question the homework - “But you can’t be serious”, said one. “Extremely”, I replied. They didn’t ‘get’ that this was indeed ‘homework’ for many of these kids - this was living - this was developing life and social skills.

We can argue about the quality or quantity of homework across all phases of education, but the one constant is this - homework is here to stay in some form or another, unless there is a massive upheaval of our current teaching and learning models and ‘culture’ of expectations, both professionally and parentally. What we can, and should, encourage is the alignment of homework with developing life skills - if we can’t beat it, we need to find a way to make it as painless as possible.

If we want kids to make any kind of effort with homework, particularly in the secondary school years, we need to make it relevant and ‘real’ - something they see will benefit them beyond the school gate.

When I work with parents, and even students in their senior years who argue the point that the homework tasks they are set are ‘useless’, ‘pointless’ and have little relevance, I remind them of the life skills they are developing every time they do an assignment. I tell them to forget about the content - focus on the skill. At some stage they will have a boss who will ask them to complete a task. They will need to understand what the boss wants them to do; think about how long it’s going to take; do they need to do any background work or research before they start; what needs to be done first, second, third; how long will each little task take etc. If the job is not done on time, the boss will find someone else to do it.

The skills involved in completing an assignment are life skills. Understanding what is being asked, planning, prioritising, managing time, organising are as much part of a homework assignment as they are part of life itself. If we must insist on continuing with homework as part of our education system, at least let’s make it relevant....and let’s think outside the square a little better as to what kind of homework we are assigning our kids. If it seems useless, maybe it is on face value.

Our job as educators and parents is to bring some relevance and meaning to it all. Would we want to waste our precious down time doing something that seems pointless? I think not. Why should kids think any differently? Homework as such is not the issue - it’s the ‘culture’ that needs to change.

PHOTO: SZOCS EMESE

The Australian study found that where parents support their children’s independence, and merely provide guidance rather than control when completing home tasks, then students benefit.

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JEN BRADLEY

A letter to teachers on the use of stoplights in the classroom Rethinking the use of visual behaviour charts in our classrooms

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ear Teacher,

Teachers Matter

Before you hang that stoplight up for the new school year in 2014, please put yourself on red for a minute or two. Rethink the idea that hanging a large paper traffic light in the front of the room, dotted with magnets or ice block sticks displaying each student’s name is ok.

Rethink the concept that publicly tracking behaviour and doling out consequences based on whose behaviour moves them off of green each day is fair, kind, or appropriate. Please rethink.

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Or you could think about how it feels to be 5 or 6 or 7 years old and to worry daily about your name being moved from its perch on green. I promise there are more authentic ways to get children to think about their behaviour and more compassionate ways to help children to develop those executive functioning skills. There really are.

I know you can put a halt to it because I did, and it wasn’t even that difficult. We simply started talking things out. I know you can do it because my current work takes me into so many wonderful classrooms, both

public and private, urban and suburban, with amazing teachers in each of those categories who don’t use the stoplight or anything like it.

What they use, and you certainly have this too, it’s just not as visible as the stoplight is right now... is respect. They teach and practice and brainstorm and m o d e l a n d d i s c u s s a n d l i v e r e s p e c t .

Respect for the teacher, yes. But respect for children, too. The stoplight used this way does not respect children, their feelings, or their struggles.

I recognise myself in you. I once believed that giving students a “visual” for where their behaviour stood in my class would enable them to control it, that all children could control their behaviour, and that controlling behaviour was one of the most important tasks on my teacher to do list.

So please leave that stoplight in the resource box. Don’t use your crisp new class list to construct more names to move from green to yellow to red. Your students are so much more than ice block sticks or magnets, and these events in your classroom are learning opportunities for all of you.

As a first year teacher, I remember ‘writing names on the board.’ That’s what I was told to do, and that’s what my teachers did when I was in school. But then I started paying attention to the hurt, the shame, the frustration, and even the apathy in the eyes of those students whose names appeared in chalk day after day. They were six and seven years old, and I knew they deserved better.

Start the 2014 school year fresh and new. Ditch the stoplight and adopt an approach that helps every child in your classroom feel supported, not just the ones who are most able to control their behaviour. All of you will feel better at the end of the school day. I know my students and I did.

I absolutely understand why you want it to work. It’s a very big and very unwieldy job to be in charge of educating dozens of young children for six hours/day. But we both have to admit that a major part of the stoplight equation, even if it works, is shaming. And shaming children simply isn’t what we educators are supposed to do.

We also know the predictable pattern the stoplight creates. Think about how it feels to see your name, day after day, moving towards that red circle, broadcast to your peers and anyone who walks into your classroom. Those are the very children who struggle with “school behaviour,” and they deserve our support, not embarrassment.

Thank you, Jen Bradley, Ph.D./mom to four/former blackboard shamer P.S. Here are three resources that can help you make the switch and stop the stoplight. There are many more, but these can get you started: www.responsiveclassroom.org http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ positive-psychology-in-the-classroom http://www.nea.org/tools/15828.htm

ILLUSTRATION: LE MOAL OLIVIER

JOHN SHACKLETON

Linking motivation and praise Ensuring all students meet their targets

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very teacher will have in their classroom at least one student who is highly self motivated and able to challenge themselves to meet and exceed expectations.

But the majority of students will be less concerned with achievement and content to cruise along doing what needs to be done to get by, and no more. How can we ensure that these students meet their targets too?

One of the most popular methods, and one which I think is most often mis-used, is praise. There is no doubt that appropriate praise can inspire a child, but used wrongly it can either have no effect or actually have a negative effect.

For example, children don’t need to be praised for doing something that they enjoy doing. Even if they do it well, a very simple ‘good job’ will suffice, or, preferably, specific praise for a specific part of what they have done should be offered. Children need a level of sincerity in praise and subconsciously know that doing something they like doesn’t require the effort that doing something they are not keen on takes. Over praise for an easy task can be construed as implying that you didn’t actually think they were capable of achieving a result, even though it was simple, and therefore the child can infer that you think they aren’t that bright! I recently heard about a child who had been nominated for an award at school for eating her lunch nicely! While I can understand that it might be desirable to praise something like that we really need to have an expectation that a school child is able to eat properly – I am fairly sure all the other kids weren’t spitting food at one another, or dropping it all over the floor, so in this case the praise isn’t necessary. If, however, after lunch she

had voluntarily wiped down the tables and cleared up then that would have been worthy of at least a ‘thank you, well done’.

To make sure that your praise doesn’t appear insincere always try to be specific about what you are praising – ‘I love the way you put the detail into the leaves on the tree you painted’, rather than just ‘awesome picture’. Defining what you think is great will give them a glow of pleasure that you have noticed the effort they made, and will also inspire them to try even harder to make the next picture, or task, even better. Descriptive praise provides the child with feedback, they know what is good, and what can be improved and help can then be given with how to improve. The language used is moderate and shows the child that there is room to experiment and move on – if the praise was overly extravagant then the child might feel they had already achieved all they were capable of and either stop, or be scared to, try any more.

It can be tempting, probably more as a p a r e n t t h a n a s a t e a c h e r, t o u s e d comparative praise – “You got 9/10, X only got 7!” However praise used in this manner will only be motivational if the child continues to come first. Once they are beaten they feel helpless or hopeless, and, worse in the long run, become poor losers, lacking the ability to cope with perceived failure. When you set children a task, therefore, praise their ability to master the task, to figure out a solution for themselves, for thinking outside the square, rather than being the first to finish or gaining the highest mark. Children are more than capable of putting competitive pressure on themselves without having an adult do it too, and reinforce its importance. Praising

“ Defining what you think is great will give them a glow of pleasure that you have noticed the effort they made, and will also inspire them to try even harder to make the next picture, or task, even better.” their ability to problem solve for themselves will motivate them to move on and try more with harder tasks.

The praise I have talked about so far has been intrinsic. Most teachers will also use extrinsic praise – stickers, house points etc. and these are also a valid and useful method of praising and motivating. It is necessary to look at what they are awarded for though, and how the children will perceive this. For instance, if the maths genius in your class gets his stickers for solving some complicated equation, and the kid next to him gets one for keeping his pencil sharp the message that the pencil sharpener gets is that the standard of achievement expected from him is considerably lower than that expected of his friend – it is very hard for humans to exceed the level of their expectation, so if they set their bar low then they will consistently perform at a low level.

Have a level of consistency for the extrinsic reward system and use the intrinsic praise to maintain the desire to move onwards and upwards in the students.

I know that in the classroom every day there are a hundred and one things demanding attention and time, but if you take just a couple of moments to think before praising then everything you say to your students can help them grow and achieve more.

And, for the principals and managers, don’t forget this works for your staff too! Everyone enjoys meaningful praise and it makes for a happy environment. Now, I’m not going to say ‘good job everyone’, but I am going to say ‘thank you for reading this and I hope it helps!’

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KERRY HOWELLS

Enhancing teacher relationships and effectiveness through the practice of gratitude How taking up gratitude practices can create positive ripples in our classrooms

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Teachers Matter

uch research has highlighted the potential of gratitude to enhance wellbeing, improve relationships, and increase our ability to deal with adversity. The application of this research has started to gain some interest in the field of education. In my recently published book, Gratitude in Education: A Radical View, I have explored the potential of gratitude for the teaching and learning process. This is contextualised within the complexities and challenges of considering gratitude amidst the background of teacher stress, student disengagement, and many of the inequities and pressures we currently find in our workplaces. In this article I will draw from my book and the research that I have conducted in several schools, to outline some of principles that can be applied by teachers to improve their resilience and effectiveness.

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This work rests on the hypothesis that, no matter what th e c o n t e x t , s t u d e n t disengagement can be directly and positively addressed if they can be encouraged to express gratitude while they are learning.

Teachers’ gratitude flows down to students and so the effective way to encourage students to ‘thank while they think’ is for teachers to approach their students and their activities with an inner attitude of gratitude.

Being clear about what gratitude is Broadly speaking I take gratitude to mean an act of giving back out of acknowledgement for what we have received. This need not involve direct reciprocity, though for many cultures it cannot be separated from it. The point to capture is that it is better if gratitude

is freely given, without a quid pro quo expectation around it. If a teacher expresses gratitude to a student, it is best not to look to the reaction of the student as a measure of the impact of the gratitude or to expect anything in return.

Gratitude is defined in a myriad of ways in the literature. In many positive psychology studies, it is discussed and measured as an emotion. I argue that this is an important starting point for gratitude in that we usually feel grateful for something in order to be motivated to express gratitude to someone or something. Gratitude in its complete and most powerful sense is an action of some kind that grows out of our feelings of appreciation or thankfulness. For example a teacher may feel grateful for teaching at their school or for their principal. However, I feel that it is not until they express gratitude through some kind of action that it becomes true gratitude.

separate constructs. One does not need to be in a positive state in order to express gratitude or wait until others around them are feeling positive.

Take up one or two ‘gratitude practices’ The distinction between gratitude as an emotion and gratitude as an action is important in the context of education in order that teachers do not think that they need to aim to feel grateful all the time. In fact, just one action that we take can have a profound effect on our feelings and on those around us. It is helpful to go even further to construct gratitude actions as ‘practices’.

“ Gratitude in its complete and most powerful sense is an action of some kind that grows out of our feelings of appreciation or thankfulness.”

It is also important to distinguish between gratitude and other concepts that are sometimes used synonymously with gratitude, such as positive thinking or optimism. Although one of the outcomes of being grateful is often reported to be an increased sense of positivity, they need to be considered as

The concept of a practice reminds us that we need to be involved in a conscious and purposeful act that we repeat until we have mastered it, rather than leaving it to chance or when we feel like practising. Considering gratitude as a practice allows us to see that we do not need to be perfect all the time, and

KERRY HOWELLS

we can fail often before we can start to truly express gratitude – especially with difficult students or colleagues.

My research has shown that when teachers take up just a few simple gratitude practices that they have not embarked upon before or in areas where they have had little or no gratitude, they report profound results.

Gratitude practices that they report to be most effective include greeting students, smiling more often, thanking students and colleagues, and teaching with a sense of appreciation for the subject matter and opportunity to teach. These only become gratitude practices when they are done with what I call an ‘inner attitude’ of gratitude, or in other words where the spirit behind them is an acknowledgement of what they receive and are wanting to give back. For example, a teacher may have been greeting students as a habit for many years, but it is not until that teacher does so with an inner attitude of gratitude that it becomes a gratitude practice.

As a result of taking up such practices, teachers report that they give greater priority to relationships rather than tasks; develop greater collegiality; feel calmer; have a greater overall sense of wellbeing; and their students are more engaged.

Use gratitude to ‘recognise’ students and colleagues These outcomes can be explained by the power gratitude has to bring about a giving and receiving relationship and to thereby move past the functional or ‘exchange’ relationships that many find themselves in as a result of increased emphasis on performance and tasks. Indeed gratitude cannot exist without a relationship because it calls upon us to give back to another. It also strengthens a relationship by recognising what we receive from another person. If a teacher greets their students with an inner attitude of gratitude, for example, they are recognising them in a particular way and this brings about a stronger connection.

Often students need such recognition in order to feel that they belong, and to be able to orientate themselves to where they feel trust and warmth. The same can be said of expressing gratitude to one’s colleagues.

In order to recognise others in ways that they can feel our gratitude, we need to take time to reflect on what we receive and give back in ways that are culturally appropriate and meaningful to that person. Recognising a student publicly in class by thanking them for what you have noticed and appreciated in their efforts may be boosting for one student, but doing so with another from a different culture may generate embarrassment. Our focus on gratitude therefore stretches our interpersonal attributes because it calls upon us to come to know others in ways we may not have given any attention to in the past.

Choose gratitude rather than resentment There is an important symmetrical relationship between resentment and gratitude, where they are at opposite ends of a spectrum. In other words, where there is gratitude there can be no resentment and where there is resentment, gratitude cannot exist. They cancel each other out. Our expressions of gratitude unite us with others and encourage us to recognise, celebrate difference, and acknowledge the efforts of others. Resentment on the other hand leads us to reject, divide, ignore, lament, blame, backbite and criticise.

When teaching in environments where there is low morale and diminished trust, it is helpful to choose gratitude as the point on the compass to help us navigate how we want to respond. This does not mean that we simply replace resentment with gratitude, as this may lead to putting a positive veneer over negative situations that are crying out for our attention.

Rather, a powerful and effective gratitude practice is to take one step out of resentment by naming it, or acting on it in some way by addressing the cause directly with the person, or dealing with the resentment in a proactive way. Another practice might be to start our day with an inner attitude of gratitude rather than resentment and to reflect on this as we drive to work or as we are about to enter our classroom.

Practise gratitude when in the midst of adversity Empirical research in the area of positive psychology shows that those who are in a more grateful state are more optimistic, have greater resilience, tend to get less depressed, and have enhanced wellbeing. However, it may be difficult to practise gratitude when we are feeling stressed, or hurt, or going through areas of personal hardship. It may be almost impossible to express gratitude towards someone who has caused us pain.

It is important not to set ourselves too lofty a goal and then feel disappointed in ourselves if we cannot practise, contributing to even greater negativity. An effective gratitude practice at these times is to choose an area where it is easy to feel grateful and think of one way in which to express it.

If a teacher is feeling angry because of the behaviour of a particular colleague, they could focus on feeling grateful for the ability to teach and express this to their students by thanking them when next in their classroom. Such actions not only move that teacher into a more resilient state by bringing more gratitude into play, but also enable them to turn their attention and energies towards a more positive direction.

Although the research on gratitude points to many potential benefits for teachers, it is important to contextualise gratitude within the complexities it can often raise and the different cultural connotations and emphasis given to this giant of a concept when it is considered in an education context. As Johannes Gaertner wrote, “To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch heaven”.

You may already recognise teachers in your school who live gratitude and note that their classrooms are ‘heavenly’. Interestingly, the story behind their gratitude is often one of the great adversity they have had to face. For most of us, the journey to living gratitude needs to be one of firstly taking up gratitude practices and then noticing the many ripple effects within and without.

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DR LAURA MARKHAM

Raising a smart child who loves to learn Make sure our kids know they can choose how smart they are

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ow can you raise a smart child who loves to learn? Many people believe that intelligence is static; either you’re smart or you’re not. But it turns out that intelligence is like a muscle: it can be developed with use. What’s more, if you believe that’s true, your brain has more potential!

Stanford researcher Carol Dweck ran an experiment with middle schoolers. If they helped the kids to think they could develop their intelligence, would the kids’ math grades improve?

In less than two hours over eight weeks, they taught the students concepts such as: Your brain is like a muscle that can be developed with exercise; just as a baby gets smarter as it learns, so can you. The results were astonishing: the brain-is-amuscle students significantly outperformed their peers in a math assessment, without additional math teaching.

“ In times of change learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to work in a world that no longer exists.”

Eric Hoffer

So our goal as parents is to raise kids who believe in their ability to build mental muscle.

These kids are perpetual learners - they can learn what they need to in new situations and are always curious to learn more.

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Experts also question the obsession in our culture with pushing children to read or achieve academically before school age.

Toddlers and preschoolers have other, more critical work to do, from building with blocks, to playing with rhythm and color, to learning how to get along with their peers.

Even Verbal and Logical Intelligence actually begin with talking and wondering, when kids participate in thousands of everyday conversations about life. That’s

PHOTO: YANLEV

Teachers Matter

Although intelligence is often equated with scores on IQ tests, most scholars now believe that IQ tests assess only part of a person’s intelligence. Traditional IQ tests basically measure the child’s retention of verbal and mathematical knowledge. Unfortunately, this limited dimension is then equated with the child’s intellectual potential.

why kids who are lucky enough have quality discussions with parents as toddlers and preschoolers do better as they make their way through school. (Such quality discussions are not the norm with daycare and nannies, unfortunately.)

D r. H o w a r d G a r d n e r d e scribes seven different kinds of intelligence that are important in human functioning, all of which kids need an opportunity to develop: • Verbal Intelligence • Bodily / Kinesthetic Intelligence • Logical/Mathematical Intelligence • Musical Intelligence • Interpersonal Intelligence • Intrapersonal Intelligence • Visual / Spatial Intelligence Our job as parents? Encourage our kids’ natural curiosity and strengths, from dancing to reading to drawing. And make sure our kids know they can choose how smart they are – it’s intellectual lifting that builds brainpower.

MAGGIE HOS-MCGRANE

What do students do when they don’t know what to do?

Part 2: How do the Habits of Mind ‘fit’ with the primary years programme?

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his is the second in a series where I’m comparing Art Costa and Bena Kallick’s Habits of Mind with the IB Learner Profile and the PYP Attitudes.

This article will look at the habits of thinking flexibly, thinking about thinking and striving for accuracy and precision.

Thinking Flexibly - IB Learner Profile: Open-Minded, PYP Attitude: Confident Open-minded students are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view and are willing to grow from the experience. Open-minded students are therefore flexible people who are willing to consider alternative points of view and who have the capacity to change their mind as they receive additional data.

Costa and Kallick write that flexible people are able to approach a problem from new angles or are able to take different approaches and that they are confident in their own abilities as learners - they can apply what they have learned when making decisions and choices. Students who do not display open-mindedness and flexibility however, have problems in considering different ways of doing things or different points of view - they believe that their way of solving a problem is the best or the only way of doing it.

Thinking about Thinking - IB Learner Profile: Thinkers The Learner Profile defines thinkers as those who “exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognise and approach complex problems and make reasoned, ethical decisions”.

“ Open-minded students are therefore flexible people who are willing to consider alternative points of view”

This Habit of Mind is metacognition, the ability to know what we know and what we don’t know. Metacognition allows students to develop a plan of action, to reflect back on it and to evaluate it.

It involves being aware of your own actions and how these affect others and the environment. I was interested to read that metacognition develops in children around the age of 11, and that not all adults metacogitate as they don’t take the time to reflect on their experiences.

Striving for Accuracy and Precision - PYP Attitude: Enthusiasm This Habit of Mind didn’t really fit in with any of the attributes of the Learner Profile or the PYP Attitudes. At first I considered integrity (being honest and demonstrating a considered sense of fairness) though not being convinced that it was a good match, I went on to think about enthusiasm, which involves enjoying learning and willingly putting in effort. With this Habit of Mind, Costa and Kallick are referring to “exactness, p r e c i s i o n , a c c u r a c y, c o r r e c t n e s s , faithfulness and fidelity”. Students who do not strive for these often don’t put much effort into their work and produce work that is sloppy or incomplete - these are the students who care more about finishing the assignment than about its quality.

The next Habit of Mind identified by Costa and Kallick is questioning and posing problems. To me, this straight away leads me to the attribute inquirers, which is at the heart of the PYP programme of inquiry. Issue 24 will cover my thinking about that one.

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MICHAEL GRINDER

Difficult parent conference A continuation of the article in Issue 22

As

teachers we view parent conferences with great ambivalence. On the one hand we have the opportunity to cooperate with our students’ parents - that could turn the pupil’s school year around.

And, at the same time we are much more used to communicating with students than adults and may find ourselves in a defensive posture.

Four Stages The four stages of a D i f f i c u l t P a r e n t Conference, with a commentary on the non-verbals follows. It is essential to make the grade book or a paper the source of the problem. This preserves the relationship with the parent.

Parent Stage Recommended Teacher Responses

Teachers Matter

1. Venting * While the parent vents maintain eye contact. Surprisingly, an overtly angry parent shifts easier than a covertly angry one. The parent probably has rehearsed a dozen times what they want to say. The parent’s ability to listen is like a full message machine. The parent cannot hear until they clear the previous rehearsed recordings by venting.

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2. Shifting Use your hands and eyes and direct the parent to a grade book or paper.

Suggested wording, “Let’s see what the grade book indicates.”

3. Self Discovering The most important phase of the conference is when the parent discovers the facts. Most likely the parent will be shocked and will look up at the teacher – continue to look at the grade

book. As the teacher listens to the parent’s discovery the teacher makes empathetic sounds and nods their head.

4. Resolving The teacher returns to eye contact when the parent is ready for solutions. Sometimes the teacher looks at the parent and softly says, “What we can do about (switch and look at the grade book and raise your voice) THAT is…”

Sometimes it takes more than one conference to process through the stages.

The parent may not have fond memories of their own school experiences. Consequently, inadequate feelings are stimulated. When the parent leaves the classroom they often relax. While walking the parent to the parking lot, a more neutral environment,

“ By making a paper the source of the problem, the relationship with the parent can be preserved”

the parent may shift - then a more meaningful conference occurs. *The success of the conference depends on more than the teacher. Sometimes parents don’t come with a win-win attitude.

We can be successful with a parent who communicates with a win-lose attitude.

There will be occasions where the parent hurts so much that they operate with a lose-lose (e.g., “I am hurting so much I want others to suffer also!”). As professionals we have every right to leave a conference when treated less than humanely. We have every right to not let people express unwarranted anger at us. A simple, “It sounds like it would be appropriate to have (mention position of the person you plan to ask to attend; e.g., principal, another teacher, union representative) present.” At the same time, we have the option of allowing someone to vent.

A scene from the book Silence of the Lambs (sorr y, it didn’t appear in the movie) offers such an example. The patient, hard working FBI Director waits at the curb side to be picked up by his driver. That morning the driver learned the Director’s chronically ill wife passed away during the night. As a way of giving the Director love, the driver intentionally waits around the block so that when the driver picks him up late, the Director can explode at the driver – thus venting his long held frustrations.

MICHAEL GRINDER

Discuss the possible solutions, write down what is agreed to and when to check back. Use a different piece of paper and a different location on the tabl e from the volatile paper(s). Keep the solution paper(s) separate from the problem issues(s) paper(s).

Parent Conferences— the Basics 1. Take care of yourself. a. Never be alone in the building for parent conferences. b. Prepare well, ducks in a row, with written documentation of issues. c. Breathe well. Take several deep breaths before the conference.

During the conference, stop and take two deep breaths any time things get heated.

Thank them sincerely for coming to the conference and walk them to the door.

5. If this is not enough, you may be dealing with “a big cat.”

2. Show that you care about them and their child. It’s also important that they know you understand how much they care about their child. You all want what is best for the student.

Welcome them with friendly eye contact, a smile, and a handshake if appropriate.

Gently invite them (with a gesture, not words) to sit down.

3. Share the facts and do so in written form with everybody looking at the paper.

Sit at 90°, with you being at the short end of a rectangle table or side by side at a round table. Place the paper(s) in front to them so they can see the information better. Have duplicate copies, if needed.

While looking at the paper, and using very few words, explain the volatile information in a calm and business-like tone of voice.

Give them time to think about it, while you SILENTLY keep looking at the paper. If the information is new or unsettling, they may need calm time to process.

PHOTO: VARLYTE

If they are upset, listen quietly to their full story without interrupting. As they talk, slowly nod your head and think about what they are saying so they GET it that you are really interested in what they are saying.

Answer their questions without blaming.

D o n o t s a y, “ Y o u r c h i l d d i d t h i s . ” Instead, say something more neutral and impersonal such as, “This is what happened on this date.” Continue to speak in a calm, business-like voice.

4. Person-to-person, in a “we’re-in-thistogether” style, consider solutions.

a. For instance, if they are yelling at you, quietly and slowly nod your head while you keep looking at the paper.

If their language becomes abusive, calmly and firmly stop the conference by standing up and slowly walking to the door. Do this while looking down. Say something like, “We need to have someone else present.”

b. If issues can’t be resolved, reschedule the conference and arrange for the principal or other resources to be there at the next meeting. c. To prepare for this, see Avoiding a Cat Fight, which will be in Issue 24

An emotional parent, who has calmed down, is ready to be cooperative. Set the paper(s) with the volatile information off to the side. Shift your posture so you are looking at them, and in a friendly voice talk about best ways to help the child.

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MONICA WILLIAMS

Lemon meringue cupcakes

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hese beauties are preeminent of spring. The plain vanilla cupcake, the tart but creamy lemon curd, the sumptuous gooey meringue...and the crunch and flavour of toasted coconut.

On their own very nice, but together?

Simply delicious!

Ingredients Vanilla Cupcake 1 1/4 cup plain flour 1 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk combine milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar and leave it to sit for a few minutes) Filling 1/4 cup lemon curd (homemade or bought) Meringue 2 egg whites 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions Preheat your oven to 180° C.

Teachers Matter

Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt into a bowl and mix with a whisk.

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In a separate bowl mix the eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil together and beat well.

Next, combine half of the dry mix with half of the buttermilk, add to the wet mix and mix well, combine the other half and beat until the mixture is smooth.

Spoon into cupcake papers and fill 3/4 of the way.

Bake for 15-20 mins or until the sponge springs back when pressed.

When cooled, using a knife cut out a small section at the top of the cupcake and fill with the lemon curd.

Swiss Meringue Fill a saucepan 1/4 full and heat until simmering.

Place the egg whites and sugar into a bowl (preferably a metal mixing bowl) and put over the simmering water, whisking constantly until the sugar is dissolved (you can test this by rubbing the mixture between your fingers. It is done when you can’t feel any granules).

Take your bowl off the heat and, using a whisk attachment, whisk until glossy thick peaks form. Add the vanilla and mix in.

Fill a piping bag and decorate each cupcake. Sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes.

NGAHI BIDOIS

Flying the dream Furnish your mind with dreams as they could make a big difference to who you become.

I

just flew seven times in two days on business around New Zealand and enjoyed every minute of it. For some people flying that many times over a month would be a nightmare let alone over two days, but I really enjoy flying.

My love of flying goes back to when I was very young and I would watch the air force jets blast overhead. Peter Ustinov said “Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well.” I would furnish mine by dreaming of flying one day.

After many years my dream came true, however I thought we were going to crash on my very first flight! My uncle had shouted me a flight from Auckland to Rotorua and we started circling a paddock. I was sure we were about to crash land only for the pilot to inform us that we were about to land at the Matamata airport to pick up another passenger.

Turning dreams into reality may not always be easy and requires the right attitude as well as high quality hard work. The guys at Google are a good example. Google founder, Larry Page was studying for a PHD at Stanford University and dreamed that he could download the entire Web onto his computer in a week. Well… after a year, he had managed to download a portion of it! However he persevered with his dream and now the rest is history and one of his favorite Google quotes is “You have to have a healthy disregard for the impossible.”

Do you have a healthy disregard for the impossible? One of our popular Maori proverbs ‘Whaia te iti kahurangi Ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei’ encourages us to pursue our dreams and if we stop then let it be to a lofty mountain. So I encourage you to keep dreaming and keep creating dreams for the ones in your care. As Disney says “When you wish upon a star it makes no difference who you are…” So keep wishing on your star because it may not matter who you are, but it could make a big difference to who you become.

Since then I have flown around the world several times for business and am constantly flying between New Zealand and Australia as well as the length and breadth of our beautiful country. I am living my dream.

I also had an opportunity to learn to pilot a plane. My wife and kids shouted me a flying lesson. One of the best Fathers’ Day gifts I have received. I recall the conversation with the instructor at the end of the lesson.

“Well did you enjoy that Ngahi?” I think he saw the gleam in my eye and could spot another potential flying student.

“Yep, I really, really enjoyed that thanks.” “Do you reckon you will be back for another lesson?”

This time the gleam was in his eye, but it quickly disappeared with my reply, “Nope, definitely not.”

He was surprised and enquired why I would not be returning.

“Well, if I do have another lesson I am afraid that I might not be able to stop and that would not be a good thing.”

He smiled and I could see that he understood my logic.

So while I might not be piloting a plane my dream of flying continues to be a reality. Flying is fantastic and I also have a small boutique VIP hosting business where I get to fly in helicopters as well.

So how have you furnished your mind? Do you still have childhood dreams you want to fulfill? How about the people in your care? Do you help them to furnish their minds well with dreams that may one day come true for them? My work with leaders has shown me that all leaders dream, turn those dreams into goals and achieve them one step at a time or in my case, one flight at a time.

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BARBARA GRIFFITH & TRICIA KENYON

Remember that November Author Jennifer Beck Illustrated Lindy Fisher Published Huia Publisher ISBN

978-1-77550-010-0

Promoting picture books

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t’s almost Guy Fawkes night and at the school speech competition, Andy talks about Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot. The children cheer, thinking Andy will win the contest, but then Aroha tells the story of another fifth of November, in 1881, at Parihaka.

This multi-layered picture book, more suitable for middle to upper levels, provides the opportunity to research and delve into the differences between violent and non-violent protest.

The illustrations are collages that have been created by hand using a variety of different mediums.

“This story originated as a contribution

by New Zealand, organised by the S t o r y l i n e ’s C h i l d r e n ’s L i t e r a t u r e Charitable Trust of New Zealand to an international publication, Peace Story published by Korean IBBY for the 2010 Korean Children’s Book Festival, Nambook 010.”

Teaching suggestions.

1. Identifying the problems within the storyline.

Gunpowder Plot Problem Who What Why

Teachers Matter

Attempted solutions

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Results

Parihaka

BARBARA GRIFFITH & TRICIA KENYON

2.Illustrations What symbols can you see and what do they represent? E.g. -the white net – kupenga- depicts the capture or ‘netting’ of the people of Parihaka.

3. White Feather

4. Key figures in the storyline

5. Personal Response

For the people of Parihaka, the white feather was a symbol of passive resistance and nonviolence, but the white feather has different meanings in different cultures.

Guy Fawkes.

If you had the opportunity to speak to either, or both, Andy and Aroha after the speech competition, what would you say to them? What questions might you ask them?

Find as many different meanings for the white feather symbol as you can.

Find out more about the Gunpowder Plot and why Guy Fawkes got involved.

Te Whiti 0 Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi.

Find out more about the story of Parihaka and how these two men influenced their people.

Possible websites to visit www.parihaka.com w w w. h i s t o r y l e a r n i n g s i t e . c o . u k / the gunpowder plot of 1605.

6. Poetry An extract from the JC Sturm poem ‘He Waiata Tenei Mo Parihaka” is at the front of the book.

A. Find out who JC Sturm is…. you will be fascinated.

B. Locate the full poem for further reading.

7. Song Lyrics ‘Parihaka’

Lyrics by Tim Finn.

These lyrics provide a further opportunity to explore the Parihaka issues using a different medium; music.

8. Quote from Sir Paul Reeves On the back page of this book is a quote from Sir Paul Reeves questioning the difference between violent and non-violent protest.

A. Read this quote and discuss.

B. What profound questions would you pose from reading this book?

C. Has this book changed how you think about resolving problems?

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THELMA VAN DER WERFF

Colour as a communication tool Colour will communicate about you, whether you like it or not!

P

eople depend on some form of communication and cannot survive without it. We all have to share our experiences, our feelings and expectations.

We communicate in different ways, either through speech, body language or through facial expressions. Most people however, are not aware that we use our body language and the colours we choose as the first expression of communication.

How does this work? Behind every colour is a message that communicates something about our emotions and/or our current state of mind.

Consciously or subconsciously we surround ourselves with colours that are a reflection of what we like to express about ourselves.

The colours we chose to surround ourselves with can either be in our homes, offices, cars and/or clothing.

disposition. The drivers of red are the gogetter in society. They love to get on with things, preferably at ‘high speed’. Did you know that red cars collect more speeding tickets than any other colour?

colours you surround yourself with are needed for the properties of that colour to make you feel ‘at home’ and therefore comfortable. The colours you choose to wear are an expression of how you actually are feeling.

When we look at our work environment the same rule applies. For example, if you’re a lawyer or an accountant you would like to be taken seriously and not surround yourself predominantly with fuchsia or magenta, which are fun loving and playful colours. Instead you would communicate your professionalism by using colours such as grey (stability, intelligence), burgundy (maturity, worthiness) and navy (trustworthy, dependable).

Teachers Matter

The colours in our homes and work environments.

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You will choose the colours you surround yourself with to feel comfortable; which is why different colours through the house create a different energy needed for that specific area. When you are decorating your home you are using the colours you choose to (sub)consciously communicate what is important in your life and what makes you feel comfortable. The colours you have in your house are not necessarily colours that you would wear on your body because the

The colour of your car says exactly that: ‘What drives you?’

Even if you did not choose the colour of your car yourself, it will still be the colour that drives you. The colour of your car is a reflection of what drives you and how you want to progress in life. If you drive a yellow car you don’t mind being noticed and will go through life with a confident and cheerful

All the colours you use in your home, office and car are far more permanent than the colours you choose to wear daily. These are a finer reflection of your state of mind and you are communicating this to the outside world, consciously or subconsciously. By gaining awareness of the emotion behind every colour and why you are attracted to some colours and dislike others, you will be able to make conscious choices to communicate the message you want to express. A different colour will not only communicate to others but will also affect your personal emotions and frame of mind.

For example, most people who are experiencing a difficult or depressive time will dive into the colour black. This is the socalled ‘do not disturb’ colour. However, to get over the feeling of solitude, a different colour will create different emotions and will also provoke different reactions from those around you. You will be seen in a different light, creating different reactions from others, which in turn will create a different emotion and experience for you. By changing your colours you can change your life.

To h e l p y o u understand what your personal colour choices communicate about you I have designed a useful App for I-phone and android, called My Colours.

You can download this App to get a better understanding about what your colour choices reveal about you.

ROWENA SZESZRAN-MCEVOY

Are people fat because of you?

Do not let your life choices influence those around you

T

he western world, maybe even you, your family, the people you care about, are fatter and sicker than we have ever been!! And what are you doing to make it better or worse?? Is what you are doing, saying, promoting, inspiring, motivating, encouraging and supporting the folks in your world to be active, to eat healthy, drink more water and to exercise regularly?

Let people choose the life they want without any negative influence from you!!

“ Let people choose the life they want without any negative influence from you!”

Even if you are not fit, hate to exercise, had a poor experience with a gym or Personal Trainer OR, you have decided to be fat, unfit or unhealthy - all your personal choice and your personal opinion - what are you recommending to the folks in your world who need to help with their health, selfesteem, and weight loss?

Are there people who do love the gym, are fit and healthy, look younger and are stronger, are in great shape, have a higher self-esteem and a much happier life BECAUSE of their active lifestyle, exercise programme even if you have chosen not to?

Even if you don’t want it, there is no argument that an active, healthy lifestyle will give those who choose it a life where they feel younger and stronger for longer.

Healthy people may not be happier, but they certainly look and seem to be. Not being sick, fat, tired, or overweight is a great start to having a superb life!!

PHOTO: 123RF.COM

No, most people do not want to exercise, eat vegetables, drink water, join a gym or go to a Personal Trainer. Some folks do not, “want” to brush their teeth, or go to work, or go to school, or clean their house, wash their clothes or take out the rubbish BUT…what they do want is the outcomes they can achieve from doing those things - self-respect, confidence, success and a healthy, fit, strong, clean life they can live to abundance!!

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ROBYN PEARCE

Is it good for you?

– Your environment, I mean?

Use VAKOG to discover your dominant sensory preference

I still have a copy of the hand-written note from an Auckland principal to one of his senior teachers. She’d waved it like a bright flag as she walked proudly into the second half of a Win the Paper War course with me, way back in 1994!

Dear Roz The staff and I are very impressed with the area to the North of the foyer, as we can now recognise it as your office and not a second hand dealer’s yard containing a treasure trove for bargain hunters. The organisation is awesome, and the definite spin off is in the process of organisation we found that caretaker from 1987 whom we thought had travelled overseas.

Did you know your teaching style affects how you work your paper and run your office?

Teachers Matter

I know many of you know about VAKOG, but let’s recap in case there’s a beginning teacher or anyone unfamiliar with it.

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Human beings have many ways of accessing and processing infor mation, using a variety of filters or methods. One of these is known as our representational system. We have five ways of processing information neurologically, at both internal and external levels. Three of them are very common as dominant preferences – visual, auditory and kinesthetic. The other two are very unusual as our primary processing method, but they underpin many of our actions as secondary

processing tools. They are olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste).

Almost all of us have one dominant sensory preference, and most of us experience elements of the others to a lesser degree.

If we’re blocked from processing our experiences in our preferred sensory style it dramatically inhibits our ability to function, hence the impact on how we manage our paperwork. Ask a visual to remember something and they’ll see a mental picture before they answer you.

An auditory will mentally recap what they heard or read, and kinesthetics will connect with their feelings to bring back the meaning and sense of the matter.

Let me explain.

Visual This includes what we see or even the way someone looks at us.

A sterile environment closes down a visual processor. They need colour and interesting pictures. Their thinking is stimulated and expanded by colour, movement, shapes, and what they can see. They learn by observation.

Neither visual nor kinesthetic processors like having to study a manual to discover new information – faced with lots of tightly written material their eyes glaze over, their brain shuts down, and most of them go ‘this is too hard’.

So, if you’re visual, make sure you’ve got your ‘Action’ items

where you can see them. That doesn’t mean a messy litter. Try coloured folders, attractive upright periodicals boxes, lists in coloured pen on a whiteboard, flowers and plants in and around your desk, photos of your loved ones or artwork of your kids or whanau where your eyes rest. You might like ornaments around you (but be careful they don’t take over!).

Notice how good you feel when everything looks tidy – and work to keep it that way.

Auditory Auditory processors seek logic and understanding through what they hear and/or read, and learn best by reading or listening, and/or writing things down.

When they stand in your foyer they look for

PHOTO: GEMENACOM

S

ome years ago I realised that ‘how to manage the paper war’ had to be another book – the silent scream on people’s faces, the empty laugh, the embarrassed shrug of shoulders when the topic of paper and how our offices look was raised – all this cried ‘HELP’! And the lift of shoulders, the huge increase in energy, the excitement when people learn they can control the darned stuff, learn they can create a smoothly functioning environment (and more importantly, maintain it!) – all these were prompts.

ROBYN PEARCE

something to read. When they walk into your office they look at the books on your shelves and read the titles. Sounds influence them – they’ll eavesdrop on your receptionist’s conversations without realising what they’re doing. Some auditory people read computer manuals to understand them (and the rest of the world shake their heads in amazement!).

Others need to talk through a problem – they don’t know what they mean until they hear themselves say it.

This sense breaks into two sub-sets – auditory tonal and auditory digital.

Auditory tonal involves sounds and hearing – the words we hear and the way people say those words to us. Broadcasters, theatre and television people sculpt sound to weave magic.

Auditory digital is more internal. It includes reading – what we read, the words in our heads, the logic behind the words, and the way they look on the page. Many writers, journalists, and publicists would describe themselves as wordsmiths.

They’re just as much craftspeople as a s c u l p t o r, a w e a v e r or an artist. Their medium is words, sentences and paragraphs – the shape, look, sound and meaning. They need to see something written down in order to make meaning and logic of it, to remember it.

front entrance of the building was way too distracting. He was lucky enough to source another location, at the back of the office away from passers-by. He was troubled with two issues – his outgoing nature as well as his auditory style.

Kinesthetic or Tactile Touch is the external, and feelings the internal methods of learning for a kinesthetic processor. A kinesthetic will walk into your environment and immediately ‘feel’ comfortable or uncomfortable, depending on how it looks and the unspoken atmosphere.

Their tactile sense enjoys the texture of items in their workspace. They often fiddle with their hair or their clothes, often without awareness of what they do. They need to doodle, or play with a stress ball or toy on their desk whilst they listen or think. Other people mistakenly assume they’re not listening because their heads are down and their pen busy. If you force them to keep

In my training courses I place koosh balls (colourful rubber pom-poms) on the tables.

Not everyone uses them, but one woman spoke for all the tactile learners when she said, ‘Robyn, I usually find it very difficult to sit still in a training course. But today I had no trouble.’ (She’d played with a koosh ball non-stop for four hours!).

Another of my students told of working for a man who wouldn’t let her doodle in meetings. She found it incredibly difficult to concentrate on what he was saying, and left his employment quite quickly. (Through a whole day of training she doodled non-stop, and gave an enthusiastic evaluation about how much she’d learnt).

If you’re kinesthetic, make sure that you and your environment feel comfortable. At a gut level you’ll know what you have to do – it will certainly include a pad to doodle on, and some stress balls for when you’re on the phone or listening to someone. You may have to be quite firm with yourself about clutter – it’s easy to slide into a mess, but you’ll find it annoying as you struggle to get your hands on things quickly.

“ If we’re blocked from processing our experiences in our preferred sensory style it dramatically inhibits our ability to function”

If you’re an auditory worker you’ll find other people’s noise distracting – you work best in quiet and calm (unless you’ve chosen the sounds or are making the noise!). If you’re a classroom teacher you can’t eliminate the daily noise of children, but make sure you have quiet times to do your concentrated work. Have music around you – it can also help to block out unwanted sound. You might find a headset with your choice of music a helpful signal to others that you’re in ‘concentration mode’, as well as a sound filter. Notice the times, places and people around you who help or hinder your focus, and find tactful ways to create your choice of sounds and your level of quietness.

One of my clients, an outgoing and quite enthusiastic man, found his desk near the

their hands still their eyes may look at you … but – their minds are travelling the world.

If you teach a kinesthetic something their fingers need to be involved. If it’s a task, their body needs to discover it. They learn through experience – a handbook or demonstration leaves them cold. If they can watch others do something and practice immediately they will model their teacher with great success.

Many kinesthetic children are regarded, quite unfairly and inaccurately, as slow. This is because the western education systems, especially in the higher grades, don’t cater for kinesthetic learners. However, many of these people, when they can (literally) ‘get their hands into something’, become very wealthy and successful business people.

They just need the chance to learn in a different way, without being rushed. Once they’ve ‘got’ something, they’re really anchored it.

The look of your environment matters.

Make it work for you and you’ll be far more efficient than if those who wallow around in a paper-cluttered imitation of a pigsty.

A caution – consider the VAKOG needs of your fellow workers The boss of one of my client companies, a ver y auditor y man, has a ver y low tolerance to extraneous ‘stuff’ in his office.

Neatness and uniformity are paramount to him. This even extended to the pictures on the company walls – in the main office all he allowed were posters of company product information. The staff were not allowed personal pictures or even plants on their desks. His visual workers found it a very difficult environment in which to flourish. My advice – clutter is not OK, but appropriate visual stimulus is.

71

YVONNE GODFREY

Grandparents – friends or foes?

How to treat grand parenting as a team effort and not a competition with parents.

G

randparents play a vital role in raising children. As a Grandparent of a delicious 9-year-old boy, I wholeheartedly agree that Grandchildren are the reward for having kids. I never knew that I would love my Grandchild as much as my own kids and enjoy him even more!

Of course everything is set up for enjoyment with no responsibility – or is there (responsibility)? It turns out, there is quite a lot! And with a growing number of split and blended families today, there are potentially 8 or more Grandparents influencing the Grandchildren. So, what are a Grandparent’s opportunities and responsibilities in this privileged role?

Grandparents can be a wonderful influence on their Grandchildren

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PHOTO: KOSTIA GERASHCHENKO

Teachers Matter

Love The bond between Grandparents and Grandchildren is precious and unique.

For Grandparents it’s the opportunity to experience their own children over again – to cuddle those soft-skinned little munchkins and to feel pride in their development. Lavish them with cuddles, encouragement, praise and quality time.

Write your Grandchildren lovely notes that they will keep for life.

Wisdom There is no substitute for having lived the stages of life, to gain the wisdom to share with your Grandchildren. And it seems that Grandchildren will accept advice and wisdom more easily from Grandparents because they don’t feel judged.

YVONNE GODFREY

Sanctuary of fun memories and experiences The older I get the less important having things becomes and more important it is to spend time with the people I love - my grandson being at the top of the list. When I watch him at swimming lessons I can totally enjoy the experience. There is no rush. I don’t have to contend with wet swimming togs, supervise homework or wrack my brain about what to have for dinner.

Many rituals, memories and family traditions are created at Grandparents’ homes, which can be the hub of family gatherings often until the Grandchild

Grandparents can also be a detrimental influence on their Grandchildren

fire. It is better to discuss your concerns with your adult child in private than to de-edify them to your grandchild. The Grandchild will find a way to use this as a way to ‘divide and rule.’

Undermining the parent’s systems and boundaries While it is always fun to do things a bit differently at your place, just make sure that it doesn’t create a problem when the Grandchild goes home. If things are too lenient or different at your place, you are training your Grandchild to play you off against the parent. When there are split families, this can become a total zoo with

Splitting loyalties Even though your Grandchildren are crazy about you, their first allegiances must be to their parents. Once I asked my Grandson if he wanted to stay the night and he replied, ‘I’ll just check. Shocked at first, I was delighted to think that he had such a respectful relationship with his step father that he considered him a higher authority than me.

“ I never knew that I would love my Grandchild as much as my own kids and enjoy him even more!”

becomes an adult. My kids remember when their grandmother would mash those yucky vegetables together with a big knob of butter. Our kids ate them happily. Grandad would sit for hours watching them do bombs into his swimming pool.

a number of different systems operating.

By the time they reach their teens, these kids can be highly skilled manipulators.

Always contribute to the solution - never the problem.

Spoiling It could be pancakes for breakfast, a jar of lollies, a game or a set of special books kept at your place and read together.

Depending on their ability, Grandparents may play a significant financial role such as generous birthday and Christmas presents, a contribution to education, or extras like music, swimming lessons or clothing. Wise parents however, do not rely on grandparents as a source of finance that they would otherwise be responsible for. All gifts should be appreciated and not assumed as a right!

Discipline is vital to a child’s development.

There are horror stories about Grandparents who have seriously undermined the parents’ jurisdiction. I know of several situations where the parents have cut off the supply of accommodation, food and money to an addicted child, while the Grandparent is quietly aiding and abetting the kid’s demands because he or she can’t bear to see their precious (but out of control) Grandchild in want. Addicts are master manipulators and Grandparents are very often the easiest targets. ‘He would walk over his dying mother (Grandmother) to get what he wants.” To an addict whose conscience is severed, this adage is absolutely true.

Encouragement to parents Most people wonder if they are any good at parenting. It doesn’t take much for a Grandparent to acknowledge and recognise that their child or in-law is doing a good job – even if it’s just one aspect! This does a lot to strengthen the relationship between Grandparents and parents.

De-edifying the parents Be careful about speaking badly about your Grandchild’s parents. It’s really easy to agree with your Grandchild that Mum or Dad is unfair, out of touch or too tough. Even if you actually agree with your Grandchild, stay neutral rather than adding fuel to the

Secrets and private jokes are delicious – like dainty morsels to be savoured between Grandparents and Grandchildren. This is all very innocent unless you are subconsciously skewing loyalty to you and teaching the child to keep things from their parents. Be wise not egocentric!

Giving contrary advice Grandparents can be a very important and safe haven to whom Grandchildren can pour out their problems. If your Grandchild tells you something that you believe his parent really should know, package it in a way that protects the trust shown you by the Grandchild. Before giving advice to your Grandchild, find out all the facts and what Mum or Dad have said on the issue. Confusion and doubt are the enemies of development.

Being overly indulgent Be careful not to take away your Grandchildren’s’ ability to fight for their character. If you give everything to them – they don’t have to be inventive, work hard and conquer challenges. Don’t help your Grandchildren out of a financial bind without the total knowledge and agreement of the parents and always have a plan for them to pay you back. Never pay for fines or anything else that has a corrupt moral value! Better they face up to the consequences, than a lifetime of weak character.

Finally – treat Grandparenting as a team effort and not a competition with parents.

73

REBECCA JANE FLANAGAN

Happy sticks

The creative arts in nature

I

am such a big believer that the most important learning in the early years occurs in the “outdoor classroom”; that is the natural environment that children are so drawn to. The benefits of exploration and play in nature are vast, but sometimes it takes just a few simple ideas to spark inspiration in teachers and parents.

Education in nature is not only possible, but it is engaging, meaningful and essential. So many rich and varied learning experiences across the developmental domains can take place in the outdoor classroom. Children learn life skills such as problem solving, designing and implementing games, spaces and roles, as well as being challenged to take appropriate risks whilst being supported (this one works wonders with behavioural issues).

Once you start, I promise you will be hooked!

Teachers Matter

The beauty of sticks is that they are a natural resource that children can collect and interact with. Every stick is different and unique.

Collecting sticks leads to great investigations and language rich discussions about trees and nature; especially when there are lots of sticks and branches that have fallen after wet and stormy weather. Children love to interact with materials that relate to something they have just experienced in real life.

74

Wr a p p e d S t i c k S c u l p t u r e s : A f t e r reflection and a language rich discussion about our ideas and feelings towards the artwork, children used different yarns and materials to wrap around their sticks to create their unique sculptures. The original art is from The National Museum of Australia.

Enjoy exploring one of nature’s greatest teaching materials for play based learning!

Here are 6 ideas for using sticks in your play based program: ♪♫ ♪ Little sticks make wonderful tapping sticks (or “Happy Sticks” as I call them), and look lovely when painted and decorated. Test out sounds in your outdoor environment as you tap the Happy Sticks on a variety of natural items. ♪♫ ♪ The humble stick can be used in creative art experiences too. Wr ap ped Sti ck Sculptures are a lovely way to expose children to other artist’s work and cultural art from the world. After viewing natural sculptures and engaging in discussions, provide wool for children to wrap around their sticks. Magic wands are often organically a natural invention for these sculptures. ♪♫ ♪ Weaving in branches with wool and material is a lovely calm and open ended group activity that promotes team work and respecting others. Everyone’s contribution is uniquely creative, and while supported by the teacher, this is a great independent experience.

♪♫ ♪ Stick Pixies are made with a range of unique and natural materials, but the important thing to remember is to give the child the opportunities to make decisions and choices about their creation. The children delight in role playing with their handmade pixies in magical dramatic play mini worlds. ♪♫ ♪ Bush fairy dwellings can be on a small or large scale and are made with branches, sticks, honkey nuts, dry leaves and foliage. The imaginative play that grows from designing play-scapes is rich and engaging. Children are such talented designers when given the chance to experiment and create with their own visions respected and supported. ♪♫ ♪ Gather your sticks into baskets for sorting and grouping, counting, making patterns, exploring size and experimenting with (do they float, sink, sensory exploration). Maths concepts can also be incidentally taught as children notice some sticks are long/ thin/ short/ fat (also smooth, bumpy, pointy).

Sticks in a basket: Collect sticks with the children so they feel ownership over the resource and have a connection to the learning experience from the start. Have the sticks readily available for play based learning.

Stick Pixies: Using natural and unique materials, this is a whimsical art experience that promotes imagination, dramatic play, fine motor development and connects children with nature.

S FU

N

N

IE

Ghoulish Fun

ost see its mum Why couldn’t the gh and dad? trans-parents!

Because they were best dancer?

Which ghost is the The Boogie Man!

Spring Fling

urite game?

What’s a ghoul’s favo k.

Hide-and-ghost-see to ride in elevators?

Why do ghosts like It raises their spirits. th you cross Bambi wi What do you get if a ghost?

Bamboo.

Q: What did the pig say at the beach on a hot summer’s day?

A: I’m bacon!

Q: How do you prevent a summer cold?

A: Catch it in the winter!

vourite dessert?

What is a ghost’s fa Booberry pie. vourite room?

What’s a ghost’s fa The living room!

HAHA

e rain?

Why don’t ghosts lik irits!

It dampens their sp

Q: What do you call a dog on the beach in the summer?

A: A hot dog!

vourite cheese?

What is a goblin’s fa Monster-ella! to a party. Suddenly Two monsters went her r, “A lady just rolled one said to the othe ould I do?” eyes at me. What sh d roll them back to “Be a gentleman an her.” favourite fruit?

What’s a vampire’s A necktarine! favourite dance?

What is a vampire’s The Fang-Dango

Q: When do you go at red and stop at green?

A: When you’re eating a watermelon.

Q: Why do bananas use sunscreen?

A: Because they peel.

Q: Why did the woman go outdoors with her purse open?

A: Because she expected some change in the weather!

A H A H 75

THE LAST WORD: KAREN BOYES

Get Moving!

The value of kinesthetic arts within the classroom

M

ovement affects the brain in many ways and most of the brain is active during physical activity.

The old adage that we only use 5 –10% of our brain is out of date. Chief neurologist of the human motor control section for neurological disorders and stroke at the US National Institute of Health, Mark Hallet says that when athletes achieve excellence in a sport, “they are probably using close to 100% of their brain.”

In the classroom using the body means using more of the brain than students typically use for seatwork. In fact researchers agree there is no doubt that this is true. “Highly complex and novel movement involves most of the brain. During sport we can suddenly make rapid decisions, keep our attention up, monitor our emotions, remember our past, be alert for potential problems, create new solutions on the spot, keep our balance, watch the expression on someone’s face, move quickly and gracefully and still can remember the purpose of the activity.”

Teachers Matter

The research, the theory and real world classroom experience clearly support increasing the role of movement in learning.

Movement has strong positive cognitive, emotional, social, collaborative and neurological effects.

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The kinesthetic arts can be dramatic (dance, drama, mime, theatre, musicals), industrial (sculpting, auto repair, design, electronics, building, metal and wood work) or recreational (playtime, classroom games, physical education, sports, active health programmes.) These movement oriented activities let students communicate with others, demonstrate human experiences, show insights and solve common problems.

Learning is commonly divided into two broad areas: Explicit and implicit. Explicit is “labelled learning”; what students read, write and talk about. Learning the capital cities of the counties in the world is an example of “labelled learning.” Implicit learning includes, hands on learning, roleplays, trial and error, life experiences, drama

games and active learning. Researchers believe that implicit learning is much more reliable than old-style classroom education with an emphasis on reading textbooks and memorizing facts.

Below is some of the evidence in support of movement and kinesthetic arts within the classroom…

Teachers in one High School study reported significant differences in maths and verbal test scores between students taking dramatic arts versus those not taking dramatic arts.

In another study, students were tested for creativity. The theatre students scored higher marks than non-music students.

Researchers concluded that both theatre and dance students are asked to improvise which may prime the brain for new ideas and the will to carry them out.

Play has the recipe for brain growth built in: challenge, novelty, feedback, coherence and time. Reading, counting, speaking and problem solving are all maturation correlated.

It is play that speeds up the process.

Dance can develop balance and ultimately reading skills. With an increasing sedentary population, dance routines involve spinning, leaping, crawling, rocking, rolling, pointing and matching, which all in turn stimulate the motor-cerebella-vestibular system.

Dramatic arts can increase cognitive skills.

Berthox states, “While in motion, the brain acts like a flight simulator, constantly inventing, moving mental models to project onto a changing world. This synthesis of proprioception, timing, sequencing, and kinesthetics is an extraordinary mentally complex operation, and it builds thinking skills.”

Kay & Subotnik’s research clearly shows neurobiological systems necessar y for improved marks include quick thinking, mental model development, task s e q u e n c i n g , m e m o r y, s e l f - d i s c i p l i n e , problem solving and persistence. These and other related skills are developed through the dramatic arts.

There was a time the ‘manual arts’ were only for the less able students, those who might end up doing a trade. This attitude is incorrect. Kinesthetic arts deserve a strong, daily place in the curriculum for all age students.

In the province of Quebec in Canada, a study of 546 primary school children was conducted to determine if there was a causal link between recreational activity and cognition. Children were given one hour a day of physical education while the control group had none. The experimental group significantly outper formed the control group. The results seem to suggest that physical education is responsible for improved self-concept, enhanced academics and enjoying school more. Other data suggests physical education lowers stress, improves circulation and increases cell growth and growth hormones.

For thousands of years the human body has been walking, sleeping, leaning, running, doing or squatting. As Howard Gardner stated, “I believe in action and activity. The brain learns best and retains most when the organism is actively involved in exploring physical sites and materials and asking questions to which it actually craves the answers. Merely passive experiences tend to attenuate and have little lasting impact.”

The body has not adapted to the chair.

Sitting is hard work, bad ergonomics and runs the following risks: poor breathing, strained spinal column and lower back ner ves, overall body fatigue plus less opportunity for implicit learning.

Practical suggestions Use drama and role-plays: use daily or weekly role-plays to reinforce ideas and concepts. Enrol students into playing charades to review main ideas of a lesson or topic. Ask students to write and perform sixty second TV commercials to advertise what they have learned.

KAREN BOYES

Use dramatic arts as a vehicle: Students can use maths skills to design and build a set for the theatre. Maths skills will include measuring, estimating, calculating budgets, ordering supplies and determining break-even points.

Encourage students to dance: Make it fun with no embarrassment.

Use a variety of different play with young children: Exploratory play such as scavenger hunts, hide and seek and makebelieve; exercise play including aerobics, running, chasing and dancing; group and team games such as relays and sports; adventure and confidence play using ropes courses and trust walks.

Support physical education: Use flexibility and conditioning programmes with purposeful goals. Play ‘new games’ often where there is no losing and everyone

wins. Design activities that include everyone. Studies show between 30-40 minutes of daily physical exertion is most beneficial.

Less sitting: Allow your students to stand, squat, walk or lie down when working.

Einstein once commented that the best way for him to think, was to talk and stroll.

Energisers: Here are some ideas; use your body to measure things around the room, play Simon Says, do team jigsaw processes with huge poster mind-maps.

Active games: ball toss for revising, retelling or idea generation. Rewrite the lyrics to familiar songs with current content from lessons.

Stretching: Get students up out of their chairs to stretch and increase blood flow throughout the body and brain. Do this as a whole class or in small groups where students take turns at leading the group.

Encourage sculpture and clay model building: visual-spatial skills are developed from clay work as well as patience and attention to detail.

Use kinesthetic models to explain key concepts: use balloons, blocks, marshmellows, straws, sand etc to demonstrate analytical concepts.

Remember, speed of teaching is not the goal, rather allowing students to build models and learn from the process.

Cross-laterals: give students a 5 minute ‘mental fitness’ break during class to switch on both sides of the brain and enhance learning.

77

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iSSUe 6

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

Use predicting to improve attention

The power to be happy: You can make the difference

p. 12

Think your way out of stress

p. 35

Friendly vs.

Approachable

pg. 62

Perfect your teacher’s vision

pg. 14

Ice cream in the classroom?: Think variety

p. 54

Scrapbooking: Just like Facebooking? pg. 32

pg. 66

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

Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 16

proFessIoNALLy & persoNALLy

The Magazine of Spectrum Education

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Leaders in Developing Teachers

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PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

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ISSUE 18

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

The Magazine of Spectrum Education

pg. 64

Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 19

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

KEEPING THINKING FRONT AND CENTRE

KEEPING THINKING FRONT AND CENTRE

Students need to think about how they are thinking.

Students need to think about how they are thinking.

THE ULTIMATE FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING AND LIFE

THE ULTIMATE FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING AND LIFE

Identify key areas for an effective, fulfilling and sustainable teaching career.

IS THERE A TIGER IN YOUR CLASSROOM?

Identify key areas for an effective, fulfilling and sustainable teaching career.

HAUORA HOMEWORK

Managing the stress of flight-or-fight

HAUORA HOMEWORK

Breaking patterns of resistance toward homework.

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Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 2

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

Breaking patterns of resistance toward homework.

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ISSUE 3

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Leaders in Developing Teachers

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TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

The psychology of colour

pLan for a SmooTh rIDE how the wheel of life can help you

Watch the little words you say and improve students’ understanding

Fostering intelligent relationships helping the “powerful” child win

stUdeNts speAk Up Why it’s important for students to ask good questions

the instructionalrevolution learning new tricks and building students’ self-esteem Five positive steps putting the fun back into the playground

ISSUE 3

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter

pg. 63

LEARN THE A-B-Cs OF DECISION MAKING

bEcomE a SUpErIor TEachEr What to say and when to say it

Take a Break How doing less can help you accomplish more

sAy WhAt?

Being a hero to your students

EmbracE ThE changE Why interactive instruction is a good idea

WHen THey Can’T SiT STill Why some children might move too much and what you can do about it

What you can do to improve your school

The little things are the big things

SUPERTEACHERS

Nurturing Competitive Kids Into Elite Sport

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See, Hear and Feel Help students truly understand the Habits of Mind

ChArACter CoUNts

BUILDING RESILIENCE IN CHILDREN

Anger Danger

pg. 40

Teaching: A letter-by-letter guide

TeachersMatter

5 Problem Based Learning pg. 13

Using Portfolios pg. 16

pg. 32

p. 14

Students sign on for confidence

LET THE THREE RUSSIAN BROTHERS AND THEIR COUSIN HELP YOU

GET YOUR COLLEAGUES TALKING WITH PROTOCOLS

Exercise Boosts Brainpower Teachers Can Learn From Chefs

WHY STUDENTS NEED LEARNING HEROES

HOW YOU CAN WALK THE PLANK OF SUCCESS

The social side of your class

How to Really Say “Goodnight”

pg. 22

From “no” to “yes”

Humour and the Habits of Mind

pg. 53

The contract for independence pg. 60

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Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 5

leaders in developing Teachers

iSSUe 6

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

leaders in Developing teachers

issue 7

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 8

Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 9

Leaders in Developing Teachers

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

Connect with a blog pg. 52

The Magazine of Spectrum Education

TeachersMatter

Connect with a blog pg. 52

The Magazine of Spectrum Education

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

Classroom management or discipline? p. 26

pg. 12 pg. 25

Be Alarmed

Exercise Boosts Brainpower

pg. 47

50 Ways to Raise Your Game

The little things are the big things

ISSUE 13

ISSUE 10

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter

Beyond the Bank

From “problem” to solution

Return on Investment

BUILDING RESILIENCE IN CHILDREN

need Teachers blurbs Can Learn From Chefs

pg. 54

SUPERTEACHERS

pg. 14

p. 14

p. 35

Perfect your teacher’s vision

HAUORA HOMEWORK

pg. 32

p. 54

Breaking patterns of resistance toward homework.

“Sorry:” the world’s rewind button

p. 52

Students sign on for confidence

Identify key areas for an effective, fulfilling and sustainable teaching career.

Humour and the Habits of Mind

Scrapbooking: Just like Facebooking?

p. 36

Connect with a blog

p. 12

Think your way out of stress

THE ULTIMATE FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING AND LIFE

How to Really Say “Goodnight”

Friendly vs.

Approachable

Being a hero to your students

IS THERE A TIGER IN YOUR CLASSROOM? Managing the stress of flight-or-fight

Use predicting to improve attention

KEEPING THINKING FRONT AND CENTRE Students need to think about how they are thinking.

pg. 54 NZ$15 / AU$15

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Leaders in Developing Teachers

Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 12

Leaders in Developing Teachers

Leaders in Developing Teachers

Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 11

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

The Magazine of Spectrum Education

WHen THey Can’T SiT STill Why some children might move too much and what you can do about it

The Magazine of Spectrum Education

NZ$15 / AU$15 pg. 66

The Magazine of Spectrum Education

ChArACter CoUNts

pg. 63

What you can do to improve your school

sAy WhAt? Watch the little words you say and improve students’ understanding

The Magazine of Spectrum Education

Top ten trends in education p. 32

Are you a half-tank pike?

Problem Based Learning pg. 13

p. 43

Using Portfolios

Which language do you speak the most?

pg. 16

pg. 40

Nurturing Competitive Kids Into Elite Sport

p. 62

pg. 64

stUdeNts speAk Up

pg. 22

Breaking patterns of resistance toward homework.

Anger Danger

Why it’s important for students to ask good questions

The social side of your class

HAUORA HOMEWORK

ISSUE 14

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter

Growing your talent

Identify key areas for an effective, fulfilling and sustainable teaching career.

pg. 62

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PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter p. 10

THE ULTIMATE FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING AND LIFE

Teaching: A letter-by-letter guide Ice cream in the classroom?: Think variety

ISSUE 16

ISSUE 3

TeachersMatter

The psychology of colour

Take a Break How doing less can help you accomplish more

KEEPING THINKING FRONT AND CENTRE Students need to think about how they are thinking.

pg. 32

Leaders in Developing Teachers

proFessIoNALLy & persoNALLy

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

See, Hear and Feel Help students truly understand the Habits of Mind

The power to be happy: You can make the difference

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ISSUE 18

ISSUE 2

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter

From “no” to “yes” pg. 53

The contract for independence pg. 60

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Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 17

ISSUE 3

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Leaders in Developing Teachers

leaders in developing Teachers

Leaders in Developing Teachers

iSSUe 6

Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 13

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Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 5

Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 15

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Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 20

ISSUE 19

“Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you; you must acquire it.”

Sudie Back

79

9Th TeachersMatter Conference

At the Heart of . . . g n i n r a e L d n a Teaching cus o F f o s y a D o Tw 14 0 2 r o f n io t a ir & Insp

Sydney: 22/23 January 2014 Wellington: 27/28 January 2014 Hamilton: 30/31 January 2014

Speakers Include Brett Murray: Making Bullying History (Sydney) Celia Lashlie: What difference can I really make?

(Wellington & Hamilton) Ian Lillico: Educating Boys (Sydney) Colin Cox: Psychology & Neuro-Semantics Karen Stent: FISH! philosophy (Wellington & Hamilton) (Wellington & Hamilton) Michelle Bunder: Practical ways to use the Habits of MInd Cath Vincent: Wake Up Your Wow! (Wellington & Hamilton) in the classroom (Sydney) Bill Potter: Developing Creativity (Wellington & Hamilton) Jo Lewis: Thinking Maps made easy (Wellington & Hamilton) Eric Frangenheim: Thinking Frameworks (Sydney) Marion Miller: Switch on the Brain with NLK Karen Boyes: The Many Ways the Brain Learns (Wellington & Hamilton) (Sydney, Wellington & Hamilton) Bette Blance: Choice Theory (Hamilton) Catherine Legg: Philosophy 4 Children (Hamilton) Terry Westblade: The Art and Science of Learning (Sydney) Linda Guirey: Live by Choice, not by Chance (Wellington) Tracey Hughes-Butters: Using iPads effectively in the classroom (Sydney)

Your investment: Early Bird: $595 +gst per person or $495 +gst for groups of 10 or more (register and pay before 31st October 2013) Conference Fee: $695 +gst per person or $595 +gst for groups of 10 or more (register and pay after 1st November 2013)

0800 37 33 77 or 1800 06 32 72 www.TeachersMatter.co.nz info@spectrumeducation.com 80