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Imagine a rainbow – the Arts and learning

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By Rachel McNamara – inspired by uLearn20 keynote Peter O’Connor

Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.
Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.

Have you ever watched a group of 3-year-olds dance? It’s gold! I laugh. I cry. It’s better than any Dancing with the Stars episode I can tell you. They don’t care who’s watching – they’re in boots and all.

My daughter is honestly beside herself when the dance teacher puts on Katie Perry’s “Roar” and she rockets around the room being a tiger, dancing and twirling, with 15 other kids all doing the same thing. Actually, if I’m being honest she’s usually dancing in the opposite direction to the other kids, and she’s thundering around at twice the pace. She absolutely loves it; she is red faced, gleeful, and caught up in the moment, obviously disappointed when the song finishes.

Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash
Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash

Here’s another story for you: I recall a wee lad in my class years ago who spent the entire teaching day being the Big Bad Wolf, because he enjoyed ‘being grumpy’. I’m not sure the other kids enjoyed having a wolf right up in their face growling, and I can’t explain to you how hard it is to teach a wolf to read, but he was right into character and a tenacious actor.

These two stories jump straight to mind when I reflect on Peter O’Connor’s first challenge to the uLearn delegates. Peter asked everyone to warm up their imaginations by rubbing their hands together, and asked us to put our hands where we keep our imaginations. Then he told us the story of doing this with children and the variety of answers he had. I’d love to know where my daughter and that wee lad would put their imaginations.

Peter continued on to talk about the importance of training the imagination, for without it how can we imagine a better future? What does my daughter imagine for her future? What does she imagine as being ‘better’?

Image by Ulrike Mai from Pixabay
Image by Ulrike Mai from Pixabay

I’ve talked about dance and drama; now what about art?

My friend has a very serious and hardened expression after years of trauma in her early life, but when she paints, her face warms. She somehow seems to relax and concentrate at the same time, as she loses track of time in her work (Or is it play? Who am I to make that judgement).

I tell you this, because one of Peter’s key messages was about how we make sense of our lives by telling stories. When he talked of this I immediately thought of her and how important art is in helping her understand her thoughts, her experiences, and herself.

This is why the Arts are so important, I can’t agree with Peter more! We often hear statistics about this generation of children coming through kura with high anxiety and social dilemmas – why would we not give them the opportunity to express themselves!?

Image by AMitchell from The Alcoves
Image by A Mitchell from The Alcoves, all rights reserved.

Now let’s talk music, to round off the arts.

For me, one of the biggest buzzes I get is when we ‘suss’ a song after practising it several (or many more) times in our band. Or when you point the microphone out towards the crowd near the end of a night, and everyone in the room sings the “wah wah wah” to Sweet Caroline (you can hear it now right!).

I almost didn’t add this to the blog because I didn’t want to sound like a show pony, but as Peter points out – Creativity is part of who we are; it’s what makes us human. Music is my connection with others, and something I can do for others to enjoy.

See, that’s the thing about the Arts – you can see or find yourself in the process and in the narratives. You don’t have to be the best; you can enjoy listening or observing the Arts and still relate.

Image by janakudrnova from Pixabay
Image by janakudrnova from Pixabay

When reflecting on Peter’s key messages I must refer to the rainbow story he shared. Peter told us about a little girl capturing and sharing an imaginary rainbow.

For those of you who watched his keynote you might be wondering why it’s not the first thing I shared. It’s the thing everyone talked about afterwards… honestly I’m wondering too! Stick with me though, because here’s the connection I made as Peter talked.

As the mum of a young child my mind immediately went to Rainbow Ruby, that I’ve watched many, many times now. She is an endearing character who, assisted by her friends, fixes issues in Rainbow Village. Ruby asks herself “How can I help?” in each episode and uses her imagination, determination, and creativity to help others. There’s even an episode called “At your service”; I think Peter would love that!

At first Rainbow Ruby was another of those ‘in the background’ programmes to me, but actually there are great messages in there. Those messages link completely to Peter’s sentiment about successful people being servers and giving to others, as well as his gorgeous rainbow themed anecdote (which had us all entranced) AND it gives those messages in a way our kids can understand.

Peter’s rainbow story and Rainbow Ruby, made me reflect on how the Arts are for each of us to enjoy for ourselves, and equally for us to serve others. I don’t mean serve with a negative connotation whatsoever. I’m talking about how we give back, how we make connections, how we inspire, how we share our understanding of the world with others. When we make connections with others through the Arts we add to each others’ wellbeing.
Me mahi tahi tātau mō te oranga o te katoa. We should work together for the wellbeing of everyone.

I’m an unashamed advocate for the Arts in education (as you can tell) so I had a wee ‘squee’ moment when I got the opportunity to pen this blog about Peter O’Connor’s keynote at uLearn20. Peter inspired so many, and certainly reinvigorated me to shout from the rooftops about the importance of the Arts to:

  • train the imagination – to help people imagine what can be (so we don’t stay with what we’ve got now), which gives power to make change
  • help people make sense of their world
  • ensure our use of creativity, as that’s what makes us human
  • serve others or to give (which is to be successful)
Image by RMcNamara
Image by R McNamara, all rights reserved.

So now, off I go to watch another episode of Rainbow Ruby with my daughter, to encourage her to sing loudly and unapologetically, to paint with her heart (not just her hands), to be the voices for all of her toys, and to dance in the opposite direction to all the other kids if she wants.

Tohaina ō painga ki te ao – Share your gifts with the world, my darling.

Let me leave you with this final consideration to ponder on: I think Peter was right when he said ‘we’ve sold away the Arts and that the Arts is a curriculum area but also a pedagogy’. It’s up to us to right this wrong in our kura and society.

 So I challenge you: what will you do to encourage the Arts for:

  • your children, 
  • your mokopuna, 
  • your ākonga… 
  • and yourself?
Image by Alexandr Ivanov from Pixabay
Image by Alexandr Ivanov from Pixabay
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Good teaching is like good cooking!

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With a background as a sociologist whose scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions as well as by demographic trends in local, regional and global contexts, Pedro Noguera was an inspired choice of keynote to open day two of the uLearn20 (virtual) conference. He didn’t disappoint!

pedro-reflection

Beaming into us from his base in California, Pedro captured the essence of what had been emerging through the conference to that point with his opening challenge to the participants, asking, “How can we make our schools and early learning settings more responsive to learners?” A simple question, but one for which there is no simple answer. Instead, it invites a deep engagement with a wide range of issues, and the exposure of many of the assumptions that underpin how we currently work in schools and as a system.

pedro-barriers

In his presentation Equity, Empowerment and Deeper Learning Pedro traversed a number of the key issues facing educators today. His emphasis was always on what is best for learners, highlighting that we cannot disconnect education from the cultural context and influences on our learners. Excellence, according to Pedro, should be achieved through equity. We must start by affirming the language and identity of the individual learner, and address any interpersonal or institutional bias as it is exposed. We must learn to move past the barriers to equity that we face on an almost daily basis – complacency, racial bias and a punitive mindset – and seek to embrace new ways of working, being and relating to others.

Historically, education has been used as a tool to assimilate learners into a common culture to prepare them for taking their place in the industrialised workplace. Our current model and approaches, according to Pedro, have been focused on control and compliance, and logistical and technical changes have dominated the conversations about how learning communities should operate. This was highlighted in the responses from schools, early learning services and systems to the recent COVID-19 lockdowns.

pedro-essential-ingredients

Pedro’s message was clear. To create the educational settings we need we must shift the paradigm. It won’t happen simply by introducing new programmes or changing policies. We need to start at the very core of our beliefs about what is important and what matters for our learners and their futures. We’ll know we’re there when our attention is on developing talent in all of our learners, rather than trapped in deficit thinking that leads to remedial actions.

So what was the call to action I heard from Pedro? Simply this – we need to re-capture the ‘delight’ in seeing all of our learners succeed and flourish. This won’t happen if we continue to focus only on trying to ‘fix’ problems. Instead, we must reorient our efforts to recognise and respond to the needs of each learner, acknowledging their culture, language and context in the programmes we design.

A final comment from Pedro sums it up well for me… “Good teaching is like good cooking. They always come back wanting more!” Imagine our educational settings and system where we could genuinely say that is the case?

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Wellbeing and resilience in Aotearoa – act now!

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Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.
All images by CORE Education, all rights reserved.

Dr Lucy Hone’s keynote at #ulearn20, What do we need to learn for lifelong success? was all about reimagining success, learning and tomorrow.

In this blog I share some insights from Lucy’s kōrero. As director of New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience Lucy cited evidence of the high levels of distress among our tamariki and rangatahi, and urged us to consider success more broadly. She shared that allowing ākonga to identify, use and develop their strengths requires us to think and act differently. We learnt how an appreciative inquiry approach can build lifelong confidence, engagement, resilience and wellbeing.

What is the purpose of education in the 21st century? Lucy began by making reference to the four pillars of 21st century education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together (Delors, 1996).

Lucy’s knowledge, research, and lived experiences combined in a powerful and practical way that connected with each of us at #ulearn20 in our different learning contexts. She referred to her presentation as lessons from science and living. Lucy was brave and inspiring as she shared how her studies into the science of resilience and her own personal story of tragedy and loss motivates her each day to educate and inspire others about the concept of flourishing. Learning to be and learning to live together are two of the UN’s key objectives for education that Lucy feels we now urgently need to turn our attention to.

Questions and provocations

Lucy posed several reflective questions and provocations throughout the keynote, which are helpful for us to contemplate in our own contexts.

  • What do we need to live productive, contributing, satisfying lives?
  • What does it mean to live a flourishing life?
  • What skills, capacities, friendships and cultural connections enable us to flourish?
  • How do we live a life worth living and help others do the same?
  • We are not serving our ākonga well, how can we claim to be?
  • How can we help – in ways that matter to them?
  • What questions are you asking your akonga?

Lucy’s challenge to us all to act now and with urgency to make a change to support our young people in Aotearoa comes off the back of some alarming stats about the staggering increase in rates of depression in our youth. The levels of psychological distress, and most common issues that young people report experiencing, include: stress, anxiety, a lack of energy or motivation, depression, and feelings of hopelessness/worthlessness. The NZ Union of Student Associations conducted a study using the Kessler 10 scale to measure and evaluate our current state across 1762 university students in Aotearoa. Lucy’s response is that we need to change what we are doing.

“We need to better equip our young people better to cope with today’s volatile, ambiguous uncertain times”

Useful models and approaches to support practice and systems level change

“Human systems move in the direction of their inquiry, so watch what it is you focus on” (David Cooperrider)

Lucy recommends taking an appreciative and strengths-based inquiry approach to the exploration and teaching of resilience and wellbeing. She referenced Jackie Kelm’s (2005) model describing it as simple yet powerful.

Appreciate Find what’s best (notice what’s good) Feeling Good
Inquire Think about what could be (hope and dream) Getting Clear
Act Take small steps forward Taking Action

Jackie Kelm (2005) @appreciativeliving.com

Appreciative inquiry does not ask us to ignore the reality of what is going on, nor wait until tomorrow gets better. It invites us to appreciate and inquire even in times of darkness. The underlying principles of AI provide us with a pathway forward, inviting us to build upon strengths, imagine what could be, and take small steps to make that happen. (Lucy Hone)

We can each relate this to our own learning contexts when reviewing our practices, identifying challenges, determining our priorities, developing goals and seeking feedback from others. To inquire ‘even in times of darkness’ stood out to me – this is what it means to be bold and brave. It’s a call to action that challenges educators to step into the arena, to seek to know more and to deeply understand the current context. This inquiry approach is an immediate action we can take and is a great place to start.

Strategies for implementation

We heard a range of useful and relevant everyday strategies from Lucy that we can implement into our practices to build resilience and support wellbeing. These ideas are based on applying the five principles of appreciative inquiry (Cooperrider & Whitney, 1999). They too can also be implemented instantly. Take a moment to consider the practical strategies and ideas to introduce into your practice and leadership. They are applicable for an individual and as a process model for creating sustained positive systems change across your team/s and community.

Underlying principles of appreciative inquiry

Principles of AI Strategies and ideas
  • Constructionist
  • Words make worlds
  • Simultaneity
  • Questions create change
  • Poetic
  • Focus on strengths
  • Anticipatory
  • Foster hopes
  • Positive
  • Value positive emotions

 

A strengths-based approach – characteristics and emotions

Positive affect (emotions) and inquiry are the most effective way to generate and sustain positive change. (Lucy Hone)

lucy2A strengths-based approach focuses on amplifying strengths rather than reducing weaknesses. This is an important consideration when developing and implementing learning tools for assessment. One of Lucy’s suggestions is to invite learners to undertake a character strengths survey such as the free scientific, free VIA survey or you could develop your own linked to your local curriculum to highlight the values, hope and aspirations at your place of learning. What a great way to get to know our ākonga and for them to get to know themselves – remember, what we focus on grows and builds active awareness.

Another way to socialise positive emotions and focus on understanding strengths is to create games and cards. There are some great resources and ideas already out there – check out All Right? and Sparklers for Chitter Chatter cards, Downtime Dice or Te Waioratanga – the Kapa Haka poster set. Have some fun with gamification – design your own kete of tools and use the words and meanings that resonate with your learning environment and culture.

Wellbeing and resilience – mana, rights and agency

Kia tū rangatira ai
To stand like the chief we were born to be

Lucy shared this whakatauki from Melinda Webber’s (2019) research ‘learning, succeeding and thriving in Aotearoa’. It speaks to me of three really important concepts: mana, rights and agency. How can we honour and foster each of these to support our learners to develop a strong sense of self-efficacy? Lucy’s kōrero is relevant to us all across the education system and society – parents, educators, leaders alike. While listening to Lucy I made several connections to my own learning context. When Lucy talked about adopting a strengths-based mindset, the importance of holistic wellbeing and applying mana enhancing practices, these concepts resonated for me with the kaupapa of Te Whāriki; the early years curriculum and the newly released resource He Māpuna te Tamaiti. I also saw a connection to learning dispositions and the key competencies of The New Zealand Curriculum – how powerful for us to develop a shared understanding and language no matter the context. We equally have an important role across the education sector to support social and emotional development, so let’s keep talking.

We have to work together to change the dialogue

An exercise designed to promote hope – best possible future self

Hope is a powerful agency of change. Lucy shared a scientifically validated intervention strategy tested by psychological researcher Lyubomirsky (2004) that we can use to promote hope and future goal setting. It is designed to foster the belief in a positive future, that you can alter the future and take steps to get where/what you want. Have a go with your learners and encourage them to write their aspirations and hopes for the future, then store them in a sealed bottle. This, says Lucy, provides them with a permanent artefact of their future hopes that they can nurture over time. Lucy says …

Cultivating hope in this way works because it provides us with an opportunity to learn more about ourselves; it highlights what’s important and therefore helps us structure our priorities, it can help you move from the realm of foggy ideas and fragmented thoughts to concrete, real possibilities. Keep asking each other about your plans and dreams, what do you want to be when you grow up? How do you want to be?

 

Our collective hopes and dreams for children and young people in Aotearoa

It is exciting that we are bringing wellbeing and hauora into focus and I am hopeful for the future. When I think about flourishing I can see the synergies between Lucy’s kōrero and the across-government vision of the Child, Youth and Wellbeing Strategy to make Aotearoa the best place in the world for children and young people. A key takeaway for me from Lucy’s keynote is not only the need to do more, but to be deliberate and intentional – we need to prioritise this when designing curriculum. We need to intentionally focus on strengths, share positive emotions, foster hope and awe in our learning settings, ask questions as opportunities for change, and be careful with our language – ‘words create worlds’. There are lots of practical ways we can do this – redesign our learning environments, do a stocktake on key words and messages displayed, create space for imagination and what if/possibility thinking, develop a series of cards with images and words of positive emotions and strengths that provoke conversation and ask questions. We need to inquire into, and invite, discussion around strengths, values, hopes and emotions.

Last words from Lucy:

What’s one change you can make to redefine success for our rangatahi?

Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.

Dr Lucy Hone is a director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience, adjunct senior fellow at the University of Canterbury, a published academic researcher, best-selling author, and blogger for Psychology Today. She has a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in wellbeing science/public health from AUT. She is the conference convenor of Wellbeing in Education, he akonga aumangea, he akonga tu maia, and the only representative of the International Positive Education Network (IPEN) in Aotearoa. Her research has been published in a number of psychology and wellbeing journals within Aotearoa and worldwide. The loss of her 12-year old daughter, Abi, in a tragic road accident in 2014, resulted in the best-selling non-fiction title Resilient Grieving (Allen & Unwin, 2016).

Resources for further reading

VIA Character Strengths Survey
Sparklers
All Right?
Child, Youth and Wellbeing Strategy
He Māpuna te Tamaiti

References

Child and Youth Wellbeing. (2019). Overview: The Framework. Child and Youth Wellbeing. Retrieved from https://childyouthwellbeing.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2019-08/strategy-on-a-page-child-youth-wellbeing-Sept-2019.pdf

Cooperrider, D.L., & Whitney, D. (1999). A Positive Revolution in Change: Appreciative Inquiry. Tas, NM:Corporation for Positive Change

Delors, J. (1998). Learning: the treasure within. UNESCO.

Free Resources. All Right?. Retrieved 11 November 2020, from https://www.allright.org.nz/free-resources.

Kelm, J. (2005). Appreciative Living: The Principles of Appreciative Inquiry in Personal Life. Venet Publishers.

Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change. Review Of General Psychology, 9(2), 111-131. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.9.2.111

Personality Test, Personality Assessment: VIA Survey | VIA Institute. Viacharacter.org. Retrieved 11 November 2020, from https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register.

Resources. Sparklers.org.nz. Retrieved 11 November 2020, from https://sparklers.org.nz/resources/.

Rohan, T. (2019). He Māpuna te Tamaiti [Ebook]. Ministry of Education. Retrieved 11 November 2020, from https://tewhariki.tki.org.nz/assets/Uploads/files/He-Mapuna-te-Tamaiti-complete-book.pdf.

Webber, M. (2019). Learning, succeeding and thriving in Aotearoa. Auckland: University of Auckland.

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Reimagine tomorrow for tamariki

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By Alicia Ngaropo-Tuia –  inspired by uLearn20 keynote Janelle Riki-Waaka

Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.
Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.

If you hadn’t heard already, uLearn20 was epic! After 15 years of phenomenal, boundary pushing, innovative and disruptive face-to-face learning, uLearn went online for the first time. Transforming this event from a physical to a virtual space was no mean feat, but for our people at CORE transformation is not just our bread and butter, it’s our jam!

Choosing that right person to open uLearn20 was important. This task fell to one of our own powerful speakers, Janelle Riki-Waaka.

She laid down the call to action of uLearn20: Pohewatia te āpōpō – Reimagine tomorrow.

From the outset her message was very clear, we were on the move to reimagine what success is for tamariki Māori and their whānau. Our goal was to stamp out that F(ailure) word too commonly associated with our tamariki Māori replace it with finding passion and potential.

“Get onto a waka whānau (any one will do-there’s lots of them leaving)……. and paddle…..preferably in unison!”

It wasn’t too long before everyone in the (virtual) room was wanting to jump onto Janelle’s waka!

Janelle referenced the beautiful kōrero she shared from her Tainui kuia, Eva Rickard, an influential leader for Maōri land rights and a visionary for rangatiratanga.

“Me arahi, me whai, me whakawātea rānei. Lead, follow or get out of the way!”

I love this quote. Direct, provocative and pertinent to the context of education. For me it also invokes a sense of urgency for which we need to act in kura in order to flip the script for Māori. To frame up my thinking for reimagining tomorrow, based on some personal and professional experiences, I’m going to draw on these inspirational kupu to steer my waka, and just maybe you’ll want to get in with me!

Me arahi – Lead

Brought to my attention recently was a brief look into some of the amendments made from the Education Act 1989 where a schools’ consultation requirements around curriculum and performance were to merely ‘…consider the views and concerns of Māori…’ compared to the Education and Training Act 2020 where schools are required to ‘honour the Treaty of Waitangi and support Māori-Crown relationships by means of ensuring that plans, policies, and local curriculum reflect local tikanga Māori, mātauranga Māori and te ao Māori.’

One would hope that these expectations are already genuinely enacted by all kura in Aotearoa, but statistics on Māori achievement tell us otherwise. Our national PLD priorities around localised curriculum is an excellent way to lead out on change in areas such as definitions of success and as we heard from Janelle working alongside ākonga and their whānau in redefining what personalised success can look, feel and sound like.

A kura I am working with is located in a rural coastal area famous for its kutai (mussels), toheroa and fishing competitions. Locals have very unique fishing techniques and tikanga. Netting fish using horses is something you might see if you ever go there. There is a ton of other local knowledge but you’d have to marry into that area to learn any of that! So, it goes without saying that among other areas of learning and success at school it is important for whānau that their tamariki learn how (why and when) to fish and how to ride horses.

Through our curriculum design we will look at how to leverage that kind of knowledge for contexts of learning that are authentic, personalised and that give value to the different kinds of success identified by this whānau. It’s exciting mahi and we all need to get to work leading this out far and wide.

Me whai – Follow

During lockdown I received an email from a former student who I taught as a third grader in an international school in China close to ten years ago. He wondered if I would remember him which I chuckled about because he was kind of unforgettable, and I mean that in a good way. Anyway, his email was so sweet, thanking me for teaching him the ‘joy of reading’ and among other things he wanted me to recommend some books for him to read – Bless! I do remember him as someone who read with reluctance and so was glad to hear that he had persevered and found a love for reading.

My three sons, on the other hand, hate reading. And they blame me for that because during our holidays I would make them pack books in their bags which they had to read at certain times. To which I replied, blame your Dad for booking us in to stay at cool places where there were better things to do than read a book! So you can’t win them all.

But what does this have to do with the idea of following? Well, I agree with Janelle and believe that as kaiako it is our job to help ākonga know their potential and stick with them to find and follow their passions. And it is the responsibility of kura to do better in allowing the freedom to explore what that might be. Reading was not my former student’s passion but I knew he enjoyed listening to reading and I could see his love for stories.

As for my sons, some of their kaiako and kura didn’t quite see their potentials. Their father and I on the other hand, knew their strengths and passions. They were in the places we followed them to, on basketball courts and rugby fields, at theatre productions and kapa haka competitions and so on. I will continue to harp on at them about books and that’s just because reading is absolutely one of my passions.

Me whakawātea – Get out of the way

Just a couple of days ago, we had the privilege of facilitating a whānau hui at a kura in Te Tai Tokerau focusing (again) on designing a localised curriculum. All that were present were connected through whakapapa, a mixture of kuia, young mothers and fathers, aunties, uncles and cousins of the community.

We spent the day deep in discussion about their aspirations for their tamariki and mokopuna. The outcomes included agreements about what was non-negotiable for them. Whānau were resolute in the importance of their tamariki knowing their identity and culture, knowing also the stories of their rebellious tupuna who fought for their land by throwing herself across the main road in the area.

Throughout the day the principal would slip in and out at the back of the classroom wanting to listen yet mindful of the importance of letting whānau voices be heard. Her role that day ended up being getting lunch ready before the powercut that was scheduled for 11am that morning!

To me this is a great example of getting out of the way. Article 2 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi speaks to this, Tino Rangatiratanga, the autonomy for Māori to control their own affairs. When debriefing afterwards and commenting on how well the day went, the principal mentioned she was glad for a good turnout. I know some kura do struggle with getting Māori whānau into schools, but giving space and place and getting out of the way in order for whānau to come in is well worth some serious thought and strategy.

I hope you’re already paddling fast in your waka because time is of the essence. This year has given us so much, and sadly not all positive. But I’m glad for the opportunities that have arisen and transformations that have taken place including a challenge to reimagine success, to reimagine learning and ultimately reimagine tomorrow.

Na reira, ki a koe Jaye me tō kōrero whakaohooho i a mātou , e mihi ana, e tungou ana. Ngāti Mahunga me Ngāti Tahinga kei runga!

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Thinking differently: distance learning in senior primary

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A joint blog by Greg Carroll and Mark Maddren.

This blog post offers some key considerations for setting up programmes in ways that will cater for senior primary rangatahi as they learn from home. We hope that applying them will help you to ensure that your ‘Learning at Home’ programme is successful.

1. Preserving and adapting

First up, what do you already do well? Start by thinking about the many current strengths of your kura or school and classroom-based programmes. Which of these remain essential, and what adjustments might you need to make to ensure these continue to work effectively in an online environment? A Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach is useful here. For example, in your face to face teaching, you will probably offer specific supports or approaches to some students such as text-to-speech, or breaking tasks into smaller parts, or supporting instructions with visuals. Now you are working online, take a universal approach and offer these supports to everyone, build them into the design of the activity from the outset.

2. Supporting your people

Whakawhanaungatanga (connecting through building relationships) is important in the move to online spaces and blended ways of working. These spaces can be socially isolating unless you build in times and opportunities for people to connect naturally, in human ways, with each other. Just chatting and catching up is an excellent way to begin online sessions. You could start with a fun activity and go “around the room” if the gathering is kaiako, rangatahi or whānau.

core-staff
Image from a CORE Zoom meeting

How might you support those ākonga who find it difficult to access online opportunities like webinars because they have childcare responsibilities, or are working on shared devices? What if whānau home circumstances mean connectivity is low or non-existent? Can you record webinars and share the recordings? Could you send school devices home? Could you make school data available to your community?

3. Involving whānau

You know your communities, and you want to guide families to support rangatahi in this new context. Helping everyone in the whānau to understand what you are doing and why is especially important for those who might assume the role of key learning support for their children. Ask them what they think they might need to get more involved. Give them a chance to ask you questions.

Could you run face to face or virtual training opportunities to get your community up to speed? What opportunities are there to connect virtually with them through a Google Hangout Meet (which can cater for up to 250 people) or Zoom meeting to help inform and upskill them? You could record this and publish it to the kura or school website, or Facebook page, or class Seesaw page.

Recently Gareth Taylor, the principal of Grants Braes School in Dunedin, ran drop-in book reading sessions for his school community. The engagement from everyone was huge, with up to 85 connections to a single session. He was able to use this time as families were moving into making sense of the lockdown situation to make strong connections into each home and to maintain the quality relationships with ākonga and whānau.

grant-braes
Used with permission from Primary Teachers Facebook Page post

4. Keeping learning healthy

As you design a virtual home programme consider whether there is an appropriate balance of screen and non-screen time. On a typical ‘distance learning’ day we would not expect screen time to be anywhere near the same time as the length of a kura/school day. How long do you expect ākonga to focus on school tasks, and how long on simply being a member of their family, enjoying the time to play and join in with whānau activities?

Plan a range of offline activities where learners simply access instructions online. For example, an online instruction might ask them to read and respond to a shared text or book with classmates, while the actual task requires no online component. Physical activity or creative art tasks need no technology. Ākonga could show their understanding of ideas within, across, and beyond texts by reading and making a simple recipe and then making the food. Family can rate the task! Then ākonga could share the menu and the ratings with the kaiako each week as an ‘assessment’. An example of one school’s task list of these kinds of activities is here.

As a kaiako or leader, ensure that you are also thinking about your own and your colleagues’ wellbeing. Have clear and shared expectations about when you are available to learners and their whānau, what time you will spend on content creation and learning programmes, and when you are off-duty.

5. Knowing it will be different

You will do things in different ways. You won’t have your students ‘present’ with you for the full school day. You will take your literacy or numeracy groups in Zoom or Google Meet instead of in person. Rangatahi will work independently of teachers (or adults at home) for much of the time. Setting up tasks and projects that learners can delve into and out of, as their circumstances allow, will be essential. Homes will often be busy places now, and many senior primary children will have other tasks and responsibilities. How can you include these into what you are asking of your learners? Could they be doing things like cooking meals, cleaning, gardening and other ‘real-life’ chores?

Doing less “school work” does not mean ākonga are not learning, or that what they are doing is not valuable.

In this new world, consider how rangatahi will:

  • ask for help
  • indicate they don’t understand
  • ask clarifying questions
  • work with a buddy
  • share their successes
  • get some downtime, engage and ensure their particular learning needs or interests are met.

Teacher roles will be different. The familiar rhythm we are used to in a school day will change. Kaiako may well spend more time providing feedback on shared or collaborative documents, and online platforms. They will connect with individuals or groups less frequently. Assessment, and even simple things like checking on completion of tasks, will be different too.

Image from https://hail.to/belfast-school/publication/FYMghVk/article/jS64z79
Image from https://hail.to/belfast-school/publication/FYMghVk/article/jS64z79

Belfast School in Christchurch understands things will be different. Even though they do not have all the answers, they have forged ahead with a plan to support their teams through Learning from Home.

For the last week of the term syndicates all posted a variety of home learning challenges, and even in the holiday break.

The principal, Sue Elley, invited parents to email in photos and brief explanations of the home learning tasks completed by each student. Initially intended just to connect home and school it quickly morphed into a more organised system. The school expects this sharing of learning experiences on the school Facebook page and the school Learning from Home website will encourage families to continue to engage with the online learning options.

Their intention was to support all teachers. This focus was crucial to the decisions leadership were making. Utilising the skills of staff and promoting collaboration, and ensuring equity and consistency in the Learning from Home resources for students, were both important. This emphasis also supported staff wellbeing while constructing and learning to use the different school sites.

Each syndicate had at least one staff member with a level of digital fluency who took responsibility for supporting their team to construct and manage their team Learning from Home site. They also oversaw uploading and managing the content in the site.

The wider team shared responsibility for being:

  1. Researchers who find sites, activities and content to upload.
  2. Quality checkers/scrutineers – checking that the content/activities are realistic for the level and ability of the students. In one case an activity was considered unsuitable because it involved building the highest tower using jubes and straws. Most homes now don’t have straws (ecological reasons), and in the current situation, families couldn’t pop down to the shop for a packet of jubes. Some whānau might also have objections for using food products in this way. Therefore the activity was deemed unsuitable for uploading.

The team leaders took an overview of their teams’ site and reflected on what is working and what might need changing. They drew on and analysed the examples of work the students were completing by looking at the Home Learning feature articles shared on Facebook and collated on the school website. These learnings about what was working was fed into their weekly online team meetings to support the decisions on what to add to the site in the future.

Using this blog post

We invite you to consider each section in this post with your team, or in your personal context. Where are the opportunities for you to adapt and change what you do to engage more fully with your community, and to make the distance learning programme as effective as it can be?

To recap, you could consider:

  1. What remains essential from your regular programme, and ways to adapt it.
  2. How you will support people
  3. How you will involve families and whānau
  4. What ‘healthy’ learning is
  5. Accepting that things will be different (for now)

Lastly, know that there is no one template for how learning at home will look.

Please do let us know any areas you would like support from the CORE Education Tātai Aho Rau facilitation team by contacting us at learning@core-ed.ac.nz

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