2017 | - Part 2

Harmful Digital Communications and Schools – what does it all mean?

Posted on July 6, 2017 by Pauline Spence

I loved those ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books we read as kids – the best thing about those books was that once you made a choice, if it didn’t go as you intended, you could backtrack and pick another path.

Life is a lot like those books, and we are often faced with moments where we must choose, “What next?”. In real life, however, we rarely get the chance to go back and try again — and given the nature of the online world, the speed and reach of our communications, going back and taking another path is almost impossible.

Don’t get me wrong — the online world is an amazing place — the opportunities it offers to us as educators, and to our students are phenomenal. The rate with which we are engaging with others online and the speed with which the environment is changing is exciting. However, with these exciting new opportunities, come new challenges and risks to navigate.

The online space is a largely lawless state. There is no president of the Internet, and no world-wide set of behavioural expectations — and it can be unforgiving if we want to go back and try again. The New Zealand Government has recognised the unique landscape of the digital world, and in 2015 introduced innovative legislation that walks the line between freedom of expression and enabling people to safely participate in the online world.

The Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (the Act) aims to lessen the harm caused to people by online content, and to deter people from posting or sending content that may harm others. In short, the Act gives people in New Zealand an avenue for dealing with harmful content posted or sent digitally — it offers help for serious cases of online bullying, abuse, and harassment.

What are harmful digital communications?

Harmful digital communications can take many different forms. They can be private messages or content that others can see. They include when someone uses the internet, email, apps, social media or mobile phones to send or publish threatening or offensive material and messages, spread damaging or degrading rumours and publish online invasive or distressing photographs or videos.

A digital communication is harmful if it:

is directed at an individual; and
makes or could make that person seriously emotionally distressed; and
it has or could seriously breach of one or more of the 10 communication principles in the Act.

At the core of the Act, are the ten communication principles that give guidance around what a digital communication should not do.

A digital communication should not:

disclose sensitive personal facts about a person
be threatening, intimidating, or menacing
be grossly offensive
be indecent or obscene
be used to harass a person
make a false allegation
breach confidences
incite or encourage anyone to send a deliberately harmful message
incite or encourage a person to commit suicide
denigrate a person’s colour, race, ethnic or national origins, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.

So…what does this mean for us as educators, the schools we work in, and the young people we work with?

The blurring of boundaries between online and offline, home and school, means that what happens out of school time, usually ends up spilling into the school environment and having a negative impact on student learning.

Key things to know:

Schools have a statutory role. The legislation specifically names schools in the Act, therefore schools have a statutory role. A school representative can file a complaint (with consent) with Netsafe on behalf of a young person and, where Netsafe is unable to resolve the complaint, the Act provides for the school representative to apply for enforceable court orders against the content author or host.
Ages and stages. The law has both a civil and a criminal pathway (charges under the new offence of deliberately posting harmful content can be brought against offenders 14 years and over, while the civil remedies in the Act are available to New Zealanders of all ages).
Safe Harbour. Under the Act, a school can be considered an online content host if it controls an online space where content can be posted (including school Facebook pages, class blog sites and content sharing sites such as Seesaw). As an online content hosts, schools can be held legally responsible for content, however they can be protected from criminal and civil liability if they follow the ‘safe harbour’ process outlined on the Ministry of Justice website.

Opportunities arising from the implementation of the Act

The Act is not all doom and gloom for us as educators or for the young people we work with. The ten communication principles lend themselves perfectly to having conversations with our students around what it means to be a digital citizen and what they can do as individuals to make sure their peers, friends and family members are able to participate online meaningfully, respectfully and safely.

Does the Act change how we deal with online incidents?

The Act doesn’t change how we respond to incidents around student wellbeing. Schools should continue to follow the procedures they have in place for dealing with any behavioural issues involving students. The behaviour is the same whether it is offline or online — the behaviours behind online bullying are the same as those behind face-to-face bullying — the only thing that is different is the environment within which the bullying is happening.

Schools should:

follow existing obligations under the Education Act (i.e. NAG 5)
follow procedures and systems already in place for dealing with behavioural issues
respond promptly to online incidents
contact Netsafe for advice
identify a professional leader who will make contact with Netsafe on the young person’s behalf (with consent following the school’s usual consent process).

Netsafe has recently released a quick reference guide to help schools support students affected by online incidents. The “Responding to Online Digital Incidents Involving Students” Guide is available here.

For more information about Netsafe, the Harmful Digital Communications Act, or online safety, please email Netsafe’s Education Team at education@netsafe.org.nz.

Hear Pauline Spence’s Keynote
at the Digitech Roadshow

Pauline Spence and Anjela Webster from Netsafe will present a supporting keynote on:

“Digital citizenship and safety online”

How do schools design tech-enabled learning, support wellbeing online, and understand how to respond to harmful digital communications? Delegates will:

Gain an overview of current ideas about digital citizenship
Explore vital approaches that effective schools use to help their learners thrive online

Find out more!

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Learning in leaps and bounds — a different way of learning

Posted on July 4, 2017 by Gemma Stewart

Ko Aoraki ko tātou, ko tātou ko Aoraki

This year I was presented with the opportunity to take part in Aoraki Bound. I grabbed the challenge with both hands, signed up, started training, and tried really hard not to think about the reality of what I was about to do!

Aoraki Bound is a course run in partnership with Ngāi Tahu and Outward Bound. It is very similar to an Outward Bound course where you are challenged both physically, mentally, and pushed beyond what you think you are capable of. On top of all that you are immersed in te ao Māori, taking part in pōwhiri, waiata, haka, learning about Ngāi Tahu kōrero. You are expected to step up and find a space for leadership in this area. For twenty days you’re isolated from your normal everyday life. There is no technology, no contact with your friends and whānau, and not even a book to read. It’s amazing!

Aoraki Bound was everything and more than I expected it to be. Since I have been back, everyone has been asking, “What was it like?”, “What were your highlights?”. They have proven to be very hard questions to answer. For those who know me well, the best answer I have is — there wasn’t a single minute when I didn’t want to be there. I can honestly say this. Every activity, every bit of pain, every laugh and conversation, every challenge, and every person contributed to an absolutely indescribable 20 days of adventure.

One aspect, however, that stood out for me, as it created one of my biggest challenges, was having the opportunity to be one of the kaikaranga for our whānau. Karanga is so much more than just the words. The responsibility of representing your group, your iwi and your entire culture is immense at the same time as being a complete honour and privilege. This started from the outset, as I had the role at our first pōwhiri in Anakiwa. Having had somewhat of a heads up for this, I was semi-prepared, however, I don’t remember much of the stunning ferry ride through the Sounds, as all I could focus on were the words going round and round in my head. A funny thing occurs when I karanga. No matter how nervous I may be leading up to it, as soon as we are all gathered and ready to go, a sense of calm comes over me. In Anakiwa this was heightened by the environment that we were being welcomed into. Anakiwa is truly one of the most visually stunning environments that I have ever seen, and we were not only welcomed by the people of Outward Bound, but also by Tānemahuta and his tamariki in the form of birdsong.

From Anakiwa our next stop was Arahura Marae. I was honoured to be able to support and be supported by two other wahine toa from our combined whānau. What a marae to stand and karanga on! By then we had bonded as a whānau and this karanga meant so much more as I was representing all of us as one rōpū. I increasingly found that I was able to draw strength from those standing with us and the presence of our taiao that surrounded us. To karanga with the mighty Arahura River rushing beside us, and the greatness of the wharenui Tūhuru standing before us, was all we needed to guide us into one of the most incredible whare that I’ve ever seen.

Ki a koutou ngā toka tū awa o Arahura,
e rere taku kura ki mua o Tūhuru e,
tōia mai, tōia mai, tōia mai rā e. ¹

Our next marae hop was to Arowhenua. This was a stop that I had been talking myself in and out of being kaikaranga for during the whole trip. Arowhenua is home for me, and with that I felt an increased sense of responsibility and pressure. However, due to a couple of circumstances, the choice of whether to karanga or not was no longer a choice. I felt no sense of calm this time. I was honoured to undertake the role, but I was stressing out prior to it, fairly overcome with emotion during it, and had to work hard to hold it together afterwards. I am currently unable to come up with a term that encapsulates what it meant to me to stand and be the māngai, or mouthpiece, for a new whānau who had come to mean everything to me, while entering Arowhenua, where my own whānau had lived generations ago but I had long been disconnected from. I believe that things happen for a reason. During our time at Arowhenua, we got to sit down with Aunty Suzie to talk about womanly things and have a good look at the role karanga plays. Amongst many of her messages, Aunty Suzie talked to us about making mistakes during karanga. Basically, what I got from her kōrero was that whatever came from us at the time is what is meant to come from us, regardless of what we had planned to do.

Ki a koe, e tōku mātanga, tēnei taku mihi whakawhetai ki a koe.
He oranga ngākau, he pikinga waiora — the feelings in your heart will enhance your sense of self-worth.

Imagine this — after a 20-day hīkoi that has taken you from the point of some of our earliest pā sites, to some of our most historically-important sites, to places that are working to ensure the future health and prosperity of our iwi, you finish at the heels of Aoraki, our predominant tipuna. You have spent the day before paddling your way up Pukaki with Aoraki standing proud in front of you; you have sweated, laughed, and cried with a group of brothers and sisters that were strangers 20 days before. Just that morning you had run 21 kilometers in rain and a head wind to cross the finish line to a rousing haka, and you are about to see whānau and friends who you have had next to no contact with throughout this journey of self-discovery. Then you get to stand beside your tuakana and welcome everyone to join with you to celebrate in your accomplishments and to give them a taste of what this time has meant to you. I honestly thought that karanga would be one of those things that the more you did it the easier it would become. I was mistaken. With every step I took on this hīkoi of karanga, it became more meaningful, more spiritual, and more difficult to do justice to this role that has been one of the greatest challenges and honours of my life to date.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved in Aoraki Bound; those who have come before us and those that will come after us. Ngā mihi manahau ki a koutou o mātou kaiako, ki a Sampson koutou ko Tiaki, ko Rangimārie. Nō mātou te whiwhi — thank you for being alongside us, challenging us, listening to us and for the Anakiwa sets! To the kaiako from Outward Bound, Kate, Shelby, Meg, Dave and Tui – kei runga noa atu koutou! To learn from you all and with you all was such a privilege. I am in awe of your skills, patience, and enthusiasm for the work that you do. I cannot forget to mention that without the support of my Tātai Aho Rau (CORE Education) whānau, I would never have been able to undertake this learning. Thank you for understanding that learning comes in many shapes and forms, and that our own understanding of our culture is a priceless asset. A special mention must go to the whānau of Kupe 626 and Kuramarotini 626, without whom this experience would have been nowhere near as amazing.

Hōpua mai ki te puna tapu o Pukaki, e rere i uta ki Waitaki e
Tōia mai e te waka o Aoraki, i tōia mai ki te mauka whakahī, te mauka whakahā
Hōpua mai, hōpua mai, hōpua mai ra ē.
Rarau mai, rarau mai rā, e te tī, e te tā, ki ngā whakaeke
haumi ē, hui ē
Ko Aoraki ko tātou, ko tātou ko Aoraki e
Piri mai, tata mai, tūhono mai e. ²

1. Part of the karanga that Gemma wrote.
2. Part of the karanga that Gemma wrote.

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Where do stories live?

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Christine Alford

‘Everything’ a story – you are a story – I am a story’
(Frances Hodgson Burnett)

Stories make up our lives. As we talk about our day, our ideas, and our dreams, we’ll often talk through a story. These stories naturally flow from us in the form of our routine conversations. I have always loved stories, whether I’m reading a book, watching a movie, sharing an experience with a friend, or working with the children in my kindergarten. I know stories have the power to help us remember, to instil passion and to connect us with others. Therefore, when I was presented with the opportunity to become one of the Dr. Vince Ham eFellows for 2016 with CORE Education, I grabbed it with both hands. Having wondered about the link between stories and literacy, I titled my research, ‘Building oral language skills through storytelling in an early-years context.’

Where do stories live?

My initial inspiration to look at the links between oral language and storytelling resulted from a visit to the Opal School in Portland, Oregon. It was listening to the shared stories from the teachers regarding how their philosophy supports a play-based curriculum which draws heavily on the arts and storytelling, that inspired me.

There were several reasons I wanted to see if storytelling could support oral language skills in early childhood education (ECE). Research supports how integral the preschool years are for the development of oral language, and how strong oral language at an early age means the likelihood of a child becoming strong in literacy is very high (Sheil et al, 2012). And on a personal level, from talking to some of the new-entrant teachers at my local schools, they shared with me how they felt that today, more than ever, students are coming into school with insufficient language knowledge. This means that many children’s oral language skills are not developed enough to support the curriculum objectives. It seemed to me that children would need well-developed oral language skills before they could be expected to become fluent readers, writers, and even fluent thinkers.

As my research began, I immediately hit a brick wall. I had assumed that children would find it easy to tell and share stories, and that they would have the same understanding as me of what stories were. This was a big misunderstanding. Eager not to have my research fall at the first hurdle, I began to talk to all the children about stories, and it became clear that they felt stories were only found in books, on book shelves, and in the library. This clearly wasn’t going to help children tell their own stories, so it was at this point that I realised I needed to ask the right question, which, incidentally, ended up setting the direction of my research. The question was, ‘Where do stories live?’

After turning the topic of stories into a question the children could relate to, and by focussing my research on concentrating on this one question, something magical happened. Stories were no longer just related to books. In the children’s words:

‘Stories come from my mouth, some come from words, some from pictures…Stories aren’t just in books, they come from Lego as the Lego is magic…Stories come from inside of me…you can get stories in your dreams, ‘cause I’ve had them…Stories are also in your imaginations…Or they can be real, like real life stories, not made up.’

My research learnings and surprises

As my formal research ended, the stories continued to flow freely in all corners of our kindergarten, I spent some time analysing and reflecting on my findings and I realised that the children were exploring and experimenting with language more. They were beginning to use many descriptive words, and words they may have heard from friends or peers. I saw how the language used in stories was very different from the language of conversation.

Another observation was that, as the children increasingly began to share their stories, they became more expressive. They were expressive both verbally with words and language, and non-verbally with gestures and facial expressions. Alongside this, the more stories children told, the more their confidence increased and the clarity of their voice improved. As they gained more confidence, interestingly, I noted how this supported children in taking some risks with their stories. Children began to try out words and ideas that they may not have been quite brave enough to do at the very beginning of my research.

Although these made up the main findings of my research, I also discovered some beautiful surprises. I discovered more about the children, their passions, their interests, their worries; the things that delighted them as well as the things that scared them. Through storytelling I had my eyes opened to the uniqueness of each child. Through their stories, I developed a much deeper and personal connection with the children.

I also learnt a lot about myself as a teacher. In the words of Stephen Covey, I soon learnt to listen ‘with the intent to understand, not with the intent to reply’. This was significant learning for me, and I realised children didn’t want someone to solve or fix a problem that they were sharing through a story; they wanted a listener.

The uLearn experience as Dr Vince Ham eFellow

Just when I thought I could relax, uLearn16 quickly approached. Having never been to a uLearn conference before, the experience was new and I was a little overwhelmed when I realised the significance of the event with over 1500 attendees. However, when it came to sharing my own work, I found myself presenting with two other researchers at the Research and Inquiry Symposium. Listening to the findings and highlights of their research projects both excited and enraptured me, and my own nerves soon dissipated.

uLearn is a wonderful mix of teachers, educational researchers, and leaders. To be able to present alongside them was an honour I will never forget. To be able to listen to the many international keynotes alongside more local, New Zealand-based speakers made me realise the passion there is for providing the best professional practice in our classrooms/kura/centres as teachers across the globe. It was a novel experience to attend a conference with not only ECE teachers, but also primary, intermediate, and secondary colleagues. All too often, we work and learn in our own sector’s bubble, but being able to consider issues that cross all sectors is amazing. This is how I feel all professional learning should be; we are one big family in education, we should be working together, learning from each other, listening to each other’s stories and valuing and honouring the work of our colleagues. Surely it is only when we do this, to come together and connect, that we can ever hope to truly transform our practice.

Reference

G. Shiel, Á.Cregan, A.McGough and P.Archer, “Oral Language in Early Childhood and Primary Education (3-8 years)”, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), Research report number 14, 2012.

Connect, collaborate and innovate with educators from early childhood through to tertiary at uLearn17!

Experience New Zealand’s biggest professional development conference for educators with international keynote speakers, a Research and Inquiry Symposium, hands-on Makerspace Playground, 200+ bookable breakouts from a range of presenters, and more!

Register now

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Inter-disciplinary indigenous understandings

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Rebbecca Sweeney and Suzi Gould

Connecting Learning Using an Inter-Disciplinary Indigenous Understandings Inquiry Focus: “How does where one lives affect how one lives?”

At the first day of the Network of Innovation and Inquiry (NOII) Symposium, participants had the opportunity to attend break-out sessions presented by schools. One of the break-outs we chose, was that of Dover Bay Secondary School from School District 68 Nanaimo Ladysmith.

The presenters, Lynn Brown, Robyn Grey, Brett Hancock, Michelle James, Tanya Lebans, and Carson Williams told their story of how they built a framework of community values for all learners (including adults) to ensure a strong emphasis on indigenous understandings in each core subject. They used an inter-disciplinary inquiry approach to do this. The following is a summary of their story:

Scanning

To begin their journey the team scanned their teachers asking, “what is going on for our teachers?”, so that they could inform their plans to build a cross-curricular inquiry project.

Focusing, hunchwork and learning

Following their scan, they used teachers’ starting points to inform the ways in which they would use and recognise indigenous understandings as an entry point for connecting interdisciplinary competencies. Teachers hunched that a cross-curricular assignment would enhance their understanding that learning doesn’t happen in isolated subject areas — that all content has connections. They then initiated their team professional learning around this theme.

Learning and taking action

Once the staff had started engaging in relevant professional learning, the team developed a clear outline for what students needed to do. They presented this in a mindmap format as a tool that learners could use — learners had choice around presentation (paper or digital). The mindmapping process defined the themes (curriculum content and concepts) to be used in the six-week interdisciplinary project.

Teachers then re-worded curriculum competencies in learner language for the project, which acted as guides for learners — helping them to connect concepts as they explored themes.

“It’s all about thinking: collaborating to support all learners”

The initial question put to learners was, “How does where one lives affect how one lives?”. Every subject area used this question, but had a different focus. This was new; the staff had to trust that this was going to work in many ways. They let their learners work, or not work at times, to encourage agency and self-regulation.

As the project continued, teachers found they had to collaborate, so that as learners moved from class to class they weren’t doing the same thing all day. For example, if learners were taking a research approach in STEM today, they would also be covering other useful content in another class.

Indigenous understandings

Staff worked with learners to consider the important information needed for this learning using indigenous frames first. For example, environmental concepts were adapted to the inquiry theme and applied to the Nations that learners chose to explore. Other key points were made about the focus on indigenous understandings to frame the interdisciplinary inquiry approach:

Staff and learners used First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) as the foundation of lessons and backbone of stories to be written.
Learners were supported to access indigenous content, to connect to the FPPL, and then to apply these to overall learning and demonstrations of learning.
Some courses started with a focus on day-to-day lives of different indigenous groups they were studying.
Learners and staff played traditional indigenous games, or focused on athletic skills required to be part of indigenous societies (e.g., hunting skills like spearing and harpooning) — this brought areas like PE and humanities together as they explored the sense of pride gained by doing well (what might this have meant in historical indigenous communities?)

Checking

Staff worked together to develop performance-indicator rubrics, and mindmaps were assessed using this. Using questions like, “What tools and strategies did you use to help yourself improve as a learner?” helped learners with metacognition and analysis of their learning.

Learners used their mindmapping skills to summarise large topics and bring their thinking altogether, so they could reflect on their current lifestyles as well as culture and society in general.

Staff were continually helping learners to think more elastically so they could see that subjects aren’t separate, using clever questioning such as:
“How does the geographical information you learned in STEM impact on how societies operated or operate?”

Learner voice was gathered to assess the impact of this integrated inquiry approach to learning:

Learners liked having one main idea for every subject:

“it sort of just connect it all into one big idea”

“I am starting to learn more about aboriginal culture. I am aboriginal and I don’t know much about it, but this helped me to connect”

Mindmaps were also used to demonstrate learners making connections between what was learned in each subject area in relation to the broader theme, “How does where one lives affect how one lives?”

The presenters shared two “Final Words” in relation to how they felt when they first started this work and how they felt when they had finished the first year:

First started: proud, creative, energised, expectant, inquisitive, excited, trusting, possibilities, overwhelmed.

After Finishing: Accomplished, future, impressed, inspired, excited, grateful, next steps, amazed, proud.

CORE Offerings:

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Circle Time at Garibaldi Highlands School

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Rebbecca Sweeney and Suzi Gould

We visited Garibaldi Highlands Elementary School in Squamish with our hosts, Claire, Brooke, and Tashi (see our original Canada post here for more context).

We were privileged to be invited to take part in Circle Time with a class of Grade 4 and 5 learners. This class has been building connections with First Nations communities. Circle time involves learners and teachers sitting in a circle on the floor. It is used for many purposes and in many ways, including having a lighted candle in the middle of the circle.

There was a talking stick held by a nominated learner who led the Circle Time by using a familiar opening that included acknowledgement of the local indigenous people:

We are honoured to be learning on the Traditional Territory of the Sḵwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw and St’át’yemc Nations.

Each person in the Circle then spoke as the talking stick was passed around. We each spoke about how we were contributing to the notion of friendship in relation to the learning intention. We were struck by the confidence and openness of each learner as they spoke about their contributions, which ranged from social actions to projects they were engaged in. We admired the learners who openly struggled to think of what to say, but who were not shy to say out loud that they were unsure or not ready to speak. Circle Time was clearly well-respected and honoured by the learners. In participating, we felt safe to share our brief pepeha and to share our gratefulness at being involved. This was a short but significant and meaningful part of our visit.

During our visit, we also learned about the wider context at Garibaldi Highlands Elementary School. The school has a focus on building a common language, and common structures and practices in project-based learning and inquiry, and growth mindsets.

The school has linked their approaches to the District 48 Sea to Sky plan, which was co-constructed by learners, families, educators, and local government over a period of two to three years. This identifies the key agreed pathways to learning for District 48 learners:

Assessment
Collaboration
Engagement
Play and Exploration
Purpose and Authenticity
Technology

The plan also identifies the competencies learners need to navigate these pathways:

Learn
Create and Innovate
Think Critically
Contribute
Collaborate

There is a no-grade project underway in District 48 and some learners at Garibaldi will not receive grades as the pilot project begins:

“All of the research and benefits of not giving grades is there, and in place of them we are giving timely feedback to students,” she said. “Instead of waiting and giving assessments in three-month intervals with report cards, we will be sending assessments regularly on the progress of students. We will be sending feedback directly to parents.” — See more at: Squamishchief: Teachers back no-grade project.

With a District Plan that has similarities to our own New Zealand Curriculum, there are some potential connections that you may want to make with this district in order to cross-pollinate.

Reflective Questions

What cultural practices have you learned from your local iwi? What could you do to learn more from your local iwi or from your Māori whānau?
How much importance and reverence do you place on Māori tikanga and reo? How do you model this for your learners?
How might you connect with a range of educators from around the world who could learn from you with you?

CORE Offerings:
Course: Culturally Responsive Practice in School Communities

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