tamaki students

Creating an innovative learning environment in a single-cell classroom

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Not all schools have a budget to rebuild or make big changes.

What can you do in a single-cell classroom to develop an innovative learning environment?

An ILE is:

  • learner-focussed
  • emphasises learner valued outcomes
  • flexible – allowing the needs of a diverse range of learners to be met
  • enables collaboration and inquiry

Ministry of Education, ILE website

Recently, I visited Noelene Dunn’s classroom at Tamaki College and talked to her and some of her students about:

  • the changes they had made in their classroom
  • the reason for those changes
  • the difference it made for student learning.

Noelene began with her students’ comfort. She thought about how her students preferred to learn, what furniture was needed to create a comfortable environment that enabled flexibility and collaboration, and what she could do in her room on a tight budget.

She then involved her students in creating a flexible space that worked for them.

“You do more work when you’re comfortable”
Taylor, Year 10 student Tamaki College

Creating a physical space that enabled collaboration was the first step. Noelene then developed systems to encourage and facilitate collaboration. Students in her classes can collaborate physically and virtually. They can sit and work together, or use the online tools available, such as Google docs, to work together.

Noelene developed a Google site, Mrs Dunn maths, to flip the learning in her classroom. It provides flexibility for when and how students learn. Students can personalise their learning and work at their own pace. There are a wide variety of resources to meet the different learning needs of each student.

These changes may look small from the outside, but they have made a significant difference to the students and to Noelene’s teaching approach. I saw three different classes of students who were all very focused, experiencing success, and had complete control of their learning.

You can create a successful ILE on a small budget!

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FASD student

FASD – An invisible disability

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“FASD may often be an invisible disability…yet has very visible consequences.”
Jacqueline Pei & Tracy Mastrangelo, Professionals without parachutes presentation 2015

What is FASD?

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a preventable, lifelong disability, resulting from prenatal exposure to alcohol, that has no cure. It is a brain injury, done to a developing brain. It is not a behavioural issue, therefore must be treated differently.

Students with FASD often find school a difficult place where they do not experience success. As more students are being diagnosed with FASD the prevalence of this disability is beginning to emerge.

FASD student
Image source: Flickr – Lily Monster under CC

This blog post aims to provide you with an awareness of FASD and a starting point for your own investigation.

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Moving beyond fun: Game-based learning

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Games are normally considered to be ‘fun’, though recently there is a growing interest in how gameplay can promote empathy, encourage reflection, develop problem solving and creative skills through “serious experience” (Iacovides & Cox, 2015)

Recently I had the privilege of listening to Rachel Bolstad and Dan Milward talk about “Games and the future of education” at a CORE Education breakfast.

For those of you, like me, who are exploring using games as part of learning, this was a great place to start. For teachers who haven’t used games as a tool for learning, or who have never played games, the first thing is to have a go!

In this video, Rachel talks about her research into the environment that games and simulations present for thinking differently about learning, and about what students and teachers might be doing. She suggests one of the best ways teachers can pick up ideas and explore their own use of games in the classroom is by connecting with others and sharing — I invite you to add your thoughts, findings, and ideas as comments on this blog.

Rachel Bolstad
Link to Video

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Māori achieving success as Māori in English medium schools — what does it look like?

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Using the eLPF to inform strategic planning at Waerenga o Kuri

Recently I had the privilege of visiting two schools, Motu and Waerenga o Kuri, to film their journey into understanding, responding to, and planning for Māori to achieve success as Māori in their schools.

Both schools have a high percentage of Māori students who are achieving at or above National Standards level. This led to the question — “If our Māori students are already succeeding what else do we need to do?” It is a question that is important. If most of your Māori students are succeeding, is that enough? Are they succeeding as Māori?

Professor Mason Durie (2003) explains, "As Māori [means] being able to have access to te ao Māori, the Māori world — access to language, culture, marae… tikanga… and resources… If after twelve or so years of formal education, a Māori youth were totally unprepared to interact within te ao Māori, then, no matter what else had been learned, education would have been incomplete."

The 2010 ERO report highlights that not all educators have yet recognised their professional responsibility to provide a learning environment that promotes success for Māori students.So what does Māori achieving success as Māori look like? How in English medium schools should we address this?

The Māori education strategy, Ka Hikitia – Accelerating Success 2013–2017, suggests making change to enable Māori to succeed as Māori involves:

  1. developing new, and expanding current teaching and learning approaches that are engaging, effective, and enjoyable for all Māori students.
  2. having high expectations for all Māori students
  3. growing knowledge and evidence of what works to support excellent educational and Māori language outcomes.
  4. developing productive partnerships with parents, families and whānau, iwi, and community that are responsive and reciprocal – leading to shared action, outcomes, and solutions.

The intent of The New Zealand Curriculum is that schools develop curricula for their own students that are challenging, engaging, and relevant. Building into the curriculum aspects that have particular significance for school communities ensures that learning has meaning for students, and is supported by their families and the wider community. Thus, each school’s curriculum is a bespoke piece of collective thinking about what matters to them at particular points in time. (ERO, 2012).

With the support of Learning with Digital Technologies facilitators, Kathe Tawhiwhirangi and Trevor Bond, the schools engaged with their BOT and local community to unpack the aims of Ka Hikitia.

For Motu and Waerenga o Kuri schools, the consultation process with the community, in particular Māori parents and whānau, led to an agreed understanding of what Māori achieving success as Māori looked like in their schools. They used Tātaiako: Cultural competencies for teachers of Māori learners to create their own self-review framework.

Following a self-review, each school created their own strategic plan and school curriculum for reaching their identified ideals – placing the student at the centre of learning, while valuing and including te reo Māori, tikanga, and local Māori culture across the school curriculum. A key for parents has been having a say in what their children are learning. The result has been the creation of deep community connections where whānau feel welcomed, valued and involved in their child’s learning.

Having focused discussions with their community that had student learning at the centre was a key in engaging parents and whānau.

“I felt valued and very welcome as part of the community. Some of the benefits for me have been being allowed to come to the school and help them … and see my daughter grow as a person … being able to have a say at what my kids are being taught at school.” Parent

“One of the things that this has taught me is that Māori students are different. They learn differently…” BOT member

“The simplest way to explain it is probably that it’s no longer a single lesson, it’s just intrinsic, it’s embedded in everything.” Teacher

Yvonne Nikora from Waerenga o Kuri explains the change it has made in her teaching approach.

What excites me in having visited these schools, spoken with students, teachers, parents, and BOT members is seeing real change occur. Change that is sustainable. Having a framework for Māori achieving success as Māori developed by the school in consultation with the community to self-review against has been key to this.

To see the full collection of videos from these schools go to Māori achieving success as Māori on the Enabling e-Learning website.

References

ERO, (2010). Promoting Success for Māori Students
ERO (2012). Evaluation at a Glance: Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools
Professor Mason Durie, (2003). Ngā Kahui Pou: Launching Māori Futures. Huia Publications.

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