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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distance-learning-senior-primary

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.

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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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Future Ready – bringing your graduate profile to life!

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graduate-profile

Beginning the year provides a great opportunity to ‘start fresh’ with our thinking, individually and as a staff. It’s a time where we can take a moment to reflect on what’s really important and what the key drivers are for our work.

For schools and kura this thinking is revealed in mission and vision statements.. These make explicit the aspirations they, and their community, have for learners in their care.

A really good mission and vision statement is grounded in beliefs about teaching and learning that are held by the staff and the community. These in turn reveal a lot about what they believe to be the purpose of schooling, what is expected of it by the community and society more generally.

I’m writing this as I reflect on three recent experiences:

  1. A camping holiday with my entire family during which we spent time sharing some of our dreams and thoughts about what’s happening in our lives and the hopes we have for the six grandchildren in particular.
  2. A day working with the staff of a large primary school in Auckland where we explored the implications of a ‘future focused’ perspective on all aspects of the school’s planning and activity, and how this is reflected in their statement of intent, vision and mission.
  3. The release earlier in the week of a new report from the OECD on Teenagers’ Career Aspirations and the Future of Work, and the headline in local papers telling us that half of Kiwi 15-year-olds expect to work in one of just 10 occupations.

The questions about ‘What is school for?’ and the ‘purpose of education’ are the common thread in these experiences. Whether a parent making decisions about a place of learning for their child; an educator making curriculum planning decisions for the year ahead; or a national or international policy body researching these things, we can’t avoid the reality that the most significant measure of success of our endeavours is the ‘product’ at the end of the line – in education’s case, the confident, connected, life-long learner who is able to thrive in a world where the future is uncertain and changing.

Considering how well school contributes to the preparation of our young people as future citizens, and how well they then contribute to society in the workforce is a key indicator of success. The journey towards this goal starts well before they get to the senior secondary years when the careers guidance programmes kick in.

The foundations that prepare young people for their futures, including work, are established early in life when parents and whānau begin asking “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Once they make their way to school or kura our children and tamariki encounter the curriculum with an initial emphasis on literacy and numeracy, gradually expanding to other domains of knowledge and the skills associated with them. The design of the curriculum is influenced by our beliefs (as society, communities, educators) about what they need to be able to know and do that will prepare them for what they do in the future.

All good so far, except that when it comes to what actually happens in school, it appears (in some cases at least) that this connection isn’t made. According to a 2018 article in Stuff, while we may consider our school graduates to be educated, tech savvy and enthusiastic, only half of 16- to 23-year-olds feel their education has prepared them well for the future. In that article, Massey University Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Paul Spoonley, is reported as saying that there has been a disconnect between employers’ expectations and the secondary and tertiary curriculum for some time.

The more recent OECD findings reinforce this earlier report, with the list of ten occupations identified through their research looking very similar to the list I would have made when I was at school, more than 40 years ago. None of the occupations identified in the World Economic Forum’s list of top ten skills you will need to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, appear in the OECD list for example.

However, I’d suggest that the ‘disconnect’ should be considered more widely than simply being between what employers expect and the what is in the school curriculum – or perhaps more correctly, how it is taught.

Many schools and kura have made explicit the aspirations they have for their learners, in the form of a graduate profile. In almost every case, these profiles describe a wide range of competencies and dispositions that places of learning want to see developed in young people during the time they are with them. These are based on beliefs about what is important in terms of character, including the ability to adapt and cope with change, and not narrowly defined in terms of specific skills or knowledge outcomes.

Again, this is a really valuable exercise and one that I’d strongly support. Once developed, the graduate profile must remain a ‘living document’, not something that is filed away and used as a point of reference for achievement when learners reach their final year.

As the new year begins, I encourage you to revisit your graduate profile (if you have one) and reflect on the extent to which the programmes, themes, activities and topics planned for this term or year will provide opportunities for your learners to develop the characteristics you’ve identified. What measures will you take to so that you can confidently say these things are being or have been achieved? Moreover, as the characteristics described in a good graduate profile likely to develop, what strategies and measures do you have in your school, kura or centre to monitor and track this development over time?

Let’s make 2020 the year we shift our emphasis to be truly ‘future focused’, and take steps to ensure that there is no longer any gap between what we say we aspire to see learners achieve and what they report as their experience when they leave you to participate as contributing members of society – including in the world of work.

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Make the most of uLearn19

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With two weeks to go, it is timely to look at how to get the most out of your uLearn experience.

Still looking for reasons to join us in Rotorua? uLearn is CORE Education’s annual professional learning conference.

ulearn-keynote

Across three days of professional learning opportunities, you will connect and collaborate with others who have the interests of all learners at heart, and the drive to explore innovations and develop practical solutions to learning challenges.

But wait, there’s more! You can take part in uLearn even if you are not coming to the conference! The #notatulearn hashtag offers you the chance to follow along and experience uLearn virtually this year.

BEFORE

Plan

  • Read the uLearn updates you’ve been sent.
  • Familiarise yourself with the conference themes and focus questions.
  • Identify what you’d like to get out of the conference.
  • Take time to read the programme and pick a pathway through the breakout selection. Pre-book your breakouts to ensure a seat.
  • Make sure your device is fully operational outside your place of work.
  • Make sure you have all your charging cords with you, but travel as light as possible!

Connect

Pack

  • Wear comfy shoes – you will do a lot of walking.folder
  • Bring your own drink bottle.
  • Wear a backpack so you’re hands free.
  • Make a uLearn dinner costume to fit the ‘Into the Jungle’ theme. Homemade costumes garner much admiration, and there are prizes to be won for your efforts.
  • If it’s too late to do this, make a note for next time!

DURING

The good news is you can still do many things from the BEFORE section, when you arrive.

Network

Visit the CORE Education stand and meet the Connected Educator Team.

connected-educator-team

Embrace social spaces at uLearn

Ten Trends conference showcase

WHEN: 5.00pm – 6.15pm Tuesday 8 October (optional, all welcome)network
WHERE: Unison 3, Energy Events Centre
Want to connect before the conference gets underway? Register via the app, or just come along and join in on the day, after you’ve picked up your lanyard and name tag. The Ten Trends Conference Showcase, brought to you by a CORE Education team, includes audience participation. So grab a drink, and get social with us.

Welcome reception

WHEN: 5.00pm-6.00pm Wednesday 9 October
WHERE: Exhibition rooms – Bay Forum and Trust Sportsdrome, Energy Events Centre
The Welcome Reception is a chance to engage with exhibitors and other delegates in the exhibition spaces, and continue the first day of your conference experience, while enjoying fine wine and canapés. The interaction continues with the Town Square fun and games.

ulearn-social

Town Square

WHEN: 5.30pm-6.30pm Wednesday 9 October (optional, bookable)
WHERE: Exhibition rooms – Forum and Trust Sportsdrome, Energy Events Centre
The Town Square is the heart of the community where people come to meet and socialise. As an extension of the welcome reception, Town Square is an opportunity to experience the vitality and heart of the uLearn community. Gather around the Digi Smackdown stage to hear impassioned speakers share their stories, tips and resources. Join the speed geeking conversations, play the giant games and begin the uLearn19 prize challenge. Try your hand at the Interactive Digital Mural in the Grand Hallway. Take the time to get connected in edSpace so that you can continue the conversations. Talk with the exhibitors and find out what’s on offer, and plan to come back to them during the conference. Meet up with your pals, meet new people, and flow on out to dinner at your leisure.

Eat Streat

Eat Streat is a vibrant, colourful must see as one of Rotorua’s coolest hot spots in the city. At the lake end of Tutanekai Street, you can enjoy quality restaurants, cafés and bars. The covered central walkway will keep you dry and the retractable roofing gives you all all-weather al fresco dining. Take a team there on any evening except on Thursday, if you’re going to the uLearn dinner.

Participate

  • Your colleagues are your best collaborators, so don’t be shy to ask about successes and failures, share your learning, and offer strategies that may apply to them.thumbsup
  • Take time to visit the Exhibition Hall and ask exhibitors about their wares. They are there to assist you to do your job.
  • Branch out and broaden your horizons, or stay focused on your identified goals – there’s no right way to do it.
  • Be brave – ask questions, offer thoughts.
  • Be thoughtful and invite others to join you if they are looking lost or alone.
  • Contribute your questions to back channel conversations and share ideas and provocations to social media.
  • Contribute feedback to the presenters by completing the breakout evaluations as you go. Read the live keynote blogs and consider your own thoughts.
  • Keep an eye on Strea.ma on the conference screens, as an easy way to track social media
  • Visit the CORE Education stand just inside the door in the Forum Room. Meet the team, explore our 2019/20 professional learning offerings, and peruse resources.
  • Complete the challenge and enter for your chance to win the ultimate uLearn prize – a complimentary uLearn20 ticket plus flights (within NZ) and accommodation.

ulearn-engage

Record

  • Find out about our keynote presenters: Shay Wright, Dominic Liechti @domiliechti, and Sally-Ann Wiliams @sallyannwtwitterbird
  • What do you know about them already? What do you wonder? Have you followed them on Twitter?
  • Keep notes. Set up a collaborative doc for your group and add the link to the uLearn19 collaborative keynote docs. Shay Wright, Dominic Liechti and Sally-Ann Williams
  • Share in notes and join in uLearn discussions in edSpace.
  • Tweet as a way to include your #notatulearn friends. Share your favourite quotes and resource links.
  • Remember to use the conference hashtags to be part of the hashtag story. #ulearn19, #CENZ19, #notatulearn
  • Meet up with colleagues to discuss and reflect on what you’ve learnt.

Plan

Consolidate your learning, prioritise, and decide what you will action back in your learning community.

AFTER

Collate and share resources

  • Think about ways to share what you have learned in your workplace, and how you can positively influence other staff. shareconnect
  • Presenters are asked to share their presentation slides and resources. Access the urls from the breakout sessions that you attended. 
  • Watch out for the keynote resources that are added to the uLearn website and to edSpace. Watch the keynote videos to revisit key messages. 

Continue conversations

  • Write your own blog to share your reflections.
  • Join a discussion in the edSpace uLearn discussion group or start your own conversation.

ulearn-connect

Take action

  • Award yourself the appropriate digital badge and identify the level you achieved on the uLearn19 digital badge rubric.
  • Gather evidence of the impact of your conference experience and attach evidence to your badge as part of your digital portfolio.
  • Bring others into your action plans and find ways to implement them.

And above all, plan to have some fun while you learn!
Now that you’ve read this, come along to meet the Connected Educator team at the CORE Education stand at uLearn, and share the ‘secret message’ and you will receive a treat:

Ehara mā te takitahi, engari mā te takitini, ka angitu koe!
Not as an individual, but as a collective, you will succeed!

All images copyright CORE Education, all rights reserved.

 

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Ripples in the pond

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ripples-in-the-pond
Image source: Julian Böck, CC0

Throw a stone into a pond, and you will create ripples. The ripples will undulate outwards from the source of the disturbance towards the edges of the pond. There is a cause and effect relationship. These particular ripples will not happen without the stimulus of your stone-throwing action. You can choose the size of the stone, the force of the throw, the direction of the throw. These choices will have a flow-on effect to the size, magnitude and force of the ripples. But there will be other forces at play too. Sometimes the size of the ripples may appear to be disproportionate to the size of the stone, or the strength with which it was thrown. While we do know that there will be ripples when we throw the stone, we cannot completely accurately predict exactly how those ripples will evolve.

So it is in education.

We plan learning experiences – they will have some impact, but not the same impact on every learner, and we can’t be certain about what kind of impact they will have. Further, we can’t know of the unintended, but still potentially beneficial, learning that may occur for some learners.

We conduct inquiries into our teaching. After careful thought and deliberation, we select a particular strategy or concept to experiment with, and gently lob it into the pond of our learning environment. We notice and observe the ripples the stone creates. We reflect on whether these ripples are desirable, as well as noting the unintended ripples. We might then wait for another opportune moment to select another strategy, another stone, and to toss that into the pond.

The analogy works in other ways too.

The pond, like a learning environment, is a complex ecosystem. It is made up of many different parts: the water, the flora and fauna, bacteria, microbes, etc. Every part has its own role to play, and interacts and intersects with some or all of the other parts in both predictable and unpredictable ways. This ecosystem appears generally stable, but can easily be affected by other influences: the weather, a person throwing a rock into it, the introduction or decline of a constituent part: the dynamics of the ecosystem shift in response to changes.

Our classrooms are the same. They are made up of many different parts, not the least of which is a range of individual and distinct personalities and their learning interests, preferences and needs. Most days the learning environment ecosystem appears generally stable, but can be easily affected by other influences: the weather, the actions of an individual, a new person coming into the environment, or a familiar person leaving. The dynamics of the environment shift in response.

So how is thinking about education in this way helpful?

It supports us to consider the idea that everything we do as educators creates ripples – both intended and unintended. Being mindful of the stones we choose, and paying careful attention to the ripples that result, is part of being an effective educator. Additionally, the analogy honours the agency we have as educators: we are inherently part of our learning environment, our learning ecosystem. What we do creates ripples. The stone can be a pebble or a mighty rock: everything we do nudges the ecosystem, which dynamically shifts in response. The system is not external to ourselves. What we do matters.

Like to think about this some more?

 

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