ULearn 2018

ULearn 2018 is The Culture of Change.

Āheinga: Capability

With so much focus on the future now is the time to focus student learning on capabilities and allow these to thrive in our students.  We as educators have a responsibility to prepare our students for this unknown future and developing a skill set of transferrable skills is key to a successful future for our akonga.  As a Digital Technologies curriculum PLD facilitator the integration of key competencies and developing a framework of integration that supports schools to integrate digital technologies across the curriculum in meaningful and authentic ways.   

Hapori: Community

In this day and age schools need to collaborate as working in isolation is not in the best interests of our learners.  The old saying "It takes a village to raise a child" rings through and schools need to utilise the shared expertise of family, parents, whanau, community to build a community which fosters relationships and collective learning opportunities.  As a Digital Technologies facilitator I know that one key way of building this ecosystem is using digital tools which make engagement and communication easier and more efficient in our busy day-to-day lives! 

Hurihanga: Change

Education is changing at rapid speed and educators needs to move with these times to ensure we can provide our learners with the most effective learning opportunities we can.  From a Digital Technology point of view we often talk abut the exponential growth that is taking place but this is true in all aspects of society and it is about how we prepare our learners for the changes that are currently happening and will continue to happen throughout their life.  The importance of transferrable skills is key and we need to disrupt education as it currently stands to challenge the status quo to prepare for the unknown - transferrable learning and adaptive expertise are the answer because it is not ok to just continue educating how we have been for the past 2-3 decades...what has to change?

I am looking forward to ULearn 2018 and making connections with like-minded people who are all keen to contribute to the capability, community and change that is fundamental to our education system moving forward! 

I will post my notes from the keynotes and breakout sessions in seperate blog posts - raw notes because it isn't about what you put in writing...it's about how you put your learning into action! ENJOY!

Beyond the 'Whitestream'

Me mātau ki te whetū, i mua i te kōkiri o te haere

Before you set forth on a journey, be sure you know the stars

Starting at Team Solutions was an induction by fire in the best way possible! I am really looking forward to my new role as a PLD facilitator and learning alongside such an amazing bunch of colleagues.  From the first day and then into the noho Marae days people were so welcoming and made the ‘newbies’ feel accepted and reassured that we were about to embark on a learning journey not only to help others but that would also provide us with great professional learning along the way. Day two we headed to Waipapa Marae for two days of  professional development around Culturally Responsive and Relational Practice. 

This was all a new learning curve for me but through listening to all the presenters it made me reflect and challenge my own ideas about how I see cultural identity within schools and how this would impact on my new role as a PLD facilitator. 

Ann Milne spoke about the realities of culture within schools and for most the ‘mainstream’ is the ‘whitestream’.  This made me think about how I (and most other teachers) perceive the ‘norm’ in most schools.  The white culture as the dominant and other subcultures fitting within those predetermined boundaries, expectations and learning models. So often in schools we unintentionally place barriers to Maori and Pasifika success into the school vision, teaching practice and policies.  Barriers which prevent equitable learning.  Pedro Noguera spoke about “equity being what students need to be successful”.  If I can help schools to get the conditions for learning right by challenging their existing ideas, then students should learn and therefore achieve.  If they don’t then it is the process which is flawed and needs to change rather than the child... or in Pedro’s wise words “if you get the conditions right then the vegetables will grow, but if they don’t then you don’t blame the vegetables”.  Equity is not just about academic achievement and outcomes.  All students have different learning needs and it should not be up to the child to have to adapt to the teaching but rather the other way around.



Ann used the analogy of a white piece of paper which is an image that has stuck in my head. The background is white and then so often we place lines on the paper which children have to work between; writing between the lines, adding colour in between the picture outlines. This is how non-whitestream children feel in the existing New Zealand school system. It is this system that is failing so many Maori students but often the perception is that the child is failing due to a number of external constraints such as family situation, socio-economic status, financial inequity right down to not having a healthy lunch. These things do contribute to the underachievement of Maori students however, my take-aways from this professional development is that we as teachers and educators need to change the system to raise the achievement of our minority groups.   

Picture Source: http://www.annmilne.co.nz/my-blog/2017/10/16/seeing-your-words-in-pictures

My challenge when going into schools in my new role will be to de-centre whiteness and challenge the predetermined ideas that many schools have about how their Maori and Pasifika students learn best and why they are underachieving in the first place. Helping schools and management teams to put cultural practice on a pedestal and embed cultural identity into all aspects of the school day - professional development, pedagogy, planning, assessment, teaching and learning - taking it away from set times and token lessons to it being the driving force behind a schools thinking and student learning.

The Classroom of the Future

In a recent article published in the New Zealand Herald, the potential of digital technologies in the curriculum were outlined and discussed.  The opportunities are exciting and somewhat mind-blowing when you consider what education has previously been and where we are heading.  

At the Global Edtech Summit different tools and technologies are being discussed with relevance to the world our students will be living in and working in.  Tools such as Augmented Reality let children create and innovate in ways which bring their creations into the real world.  Thus giving them more purpose and the child more understanding of the possibilities of their innovations.  

Artificial Intelligence is everywhere and I believe that educating children to understand and realise the potential of this concept it vital.  They need to see tools such as the ones mentioned in this article as both good and bad.  If children are taught about the meaning and reasoning behind digital technologies then they are able to make better informed decision about how they use, interact and view them.  They therefore have a more informed opinion about why they would use such tools and the consequences and opportunities that they bring.  

In terms of education - it is changing at rapid speed.  You can no longer be an effective teacher who does not engage with digital technologies and digital education.  The emphasis for teachers needs to be on the why and the reasoning behind the physical technologies so that as the technologies change at what often seems like warp-speed, we can continue to help our students make informed decisions about their futures.

Kahoot - Quizzes that Motivate!

Kahoot is an online quiz generator which allows you to formatively test your class on a range of subjects.

It is easy to used and the process of making quizzes is easy and fast which is why I find this programme more user-friendly than other similar tools.  

You simply make a new quiz and add each question one at a time.  You must generate at least two possible answers but you can have up to four.  These are presented to children as multichoice.  

When making each question you can add pictures, photographs, youtube or video content which can simply be uploaded or taken from a URL.  

When your quiz is ready the teacher logs on and starts the quiz.  This generates a class code which students use to log onto their own device.  This can be a smartphone, ipod, ipad, tablet, chrome, laptop...the compatibility is pretty far and wide! 

Once students have joined the quiz the question will be displayed on a large screen or projector.  Children read the question and then choose the responding colour on their own device to submit their answer.  

There are opportunities to play this as a competitive challenge where the student earn points and complete on a leaderboard.  You can however adjust the game options to suit your group or class.

One of the best things about Kahoot is the shared resource quiz bank which contains quizzes from other teachers on a very large range of topics.  You are able to make a copy really easily and then either use as it or adapt the questions slightly to suit your own context.  You can also link with other teachers in your school to form a community of learners which allows teachers to share resources and assessment tools easily and efficiently.

Personally I think this is a highly motivational tool which lets children understand how a basic game works along with providing them a relevant test or quiz content.  I go on and make quizzes for a fun Friday activity or to consolidate learning on a particular concept.  

Maths Taster Menu's

I came up with these to help learner's self direct their follow up learning based on their individual needs.  Each of the following Google Drawings has links to both games and how to videos to support learning in a variety of Maths concepts.

The following are two examples of taster menu's which students use to fill their gaps in knowledge.  This has been a really good way to motivate students to understand their own learning.  Students access these 'Taster Menu's' from our team site and can use them as part of their individualised follow up programmes in Maths.  

Some of my more able students are now going on to make their own personalised Google Drawings of Maths Maps with links to specific tasks, games and learning tutorials that support their individual programmes.

Room 15 Reading Slides

My reading planning is again done with the students in mind.  I spend time planning on a format which will be utilised by students via our team Google Site.  

Each group accesses their slides document where each week a new slide is put up with the link to the text and any relevant follow up lessons.  This is used sometime in conjunction with the guided reading text and also is run alongside the Daily 5 which as a team we have come up with to target specific gaps we notice in our children reading.  

This is an example of the group slides for Reading.

Room 15 Writer's Circles

In Writing we are using Google Docs to provide each child with a Writer's Circle.  This is a mixed ability model where the site links each Writer's Circle Doc to the relevant group members.  They all write in a table within the document and this lets them construct their own writing while observing and sharing motivation, ideas and feedback with their group peers.  

Here is how I have set up my Writer's Circle Docs.  They all link back to the site and students can also access them directly from their own Drive folders.  

Student Motivation and Learning through Google Sites

This year my team and I have utilised Google Sites to give our students the opportunity to view and be more actively involved in our planning.  

Up until recent years Teacher planning was exactly that... a plan that the teacher primarily used to guide their daily lessons.  It is slowly changing and becoming more relevant to share that documentation with students so that they have increased ownership in what they are learning and also gain understanding into what goes into planning and assessment of the content they are being delivered.

Enter Google Sites... The Mighty Kauri Team

At May Road School we have a team site which has an interface which shows 'buttons' which lead to other curriculum pages.  These buttons were simply made in Google Draw and connected to the relevant hyperlink.  

From this page students can go to the curriculum area they are working on and access their class pages.  These are designed to suit each class and will link to their group docs and planning for the week.  

Maths, Reading and Writing pages all link to classes and then onto groups within classes.  As teachers we are tailoring our pages to suit our students.  This might include specific websites, follow up tasks, reading logs, student voice forms, homework links etc.  

Our planning is kept very simple and I spend time making the docs that the students will utilise rather than working on a single doc that it just to inform me.  Teachers are intelligent people and it often baffles me how much work we are expected to put in to writing down what we will teach.  

Planning smarter for and with students is the way to go.  It gives them ownership and understanding of what they are learning.  It also builds their digital capabilities using tools such as sites and it becomes a working document that is integrates curriculum for enhanced digital learning.

Student voice is possibly the best way to see if what we implemented made any difference.  Through administering my class a Google Form survey there were able to share their reflections about Google Sites and sharing their learning. (excuse some of the spelling)

Padlet - An Oldie but a Goodie!

Padlet - An Oldie but a Goodie! 

Recently I have been using this tool so much in class to grab student voice quickly and also encourage collaboration between my students.  

This is also a tool I used frequently when presenting at conferences or running staff meetings as it lets people collaborate and share ideas in real time.  It is easy and accessible and generally adults love this way of brainstorming or contributing to a professional discussion or planning session.  

Below is an awesome example of how I recently incorporated this tool into my classroom programme! The answers are cute and well worth a read! 

COPIED FROM Room 15's 2017 Class Blog


Room 15 have been looking at what makes a good ROLE MODEL.  We think that people who do the following make good role models...

- Inspire us to try new things
- Be the best we can
- Do the right thing at the right time
- Follow their dreams
- Do good things for other people and not just for their own interests

We talked about how role models can come in different forms.  They can be people who are close to you such as family and friends.  They can also be people that you admire but have not personally met, like celebrities.  Role models can also show up in many different areas of your life from school, to home, to other activities such as church, sports, after school activities...

This padlet shows some of our thoughts! It is an amazing read and I loved seeing who was named as being a role model within our class and school! 

The Wonderful World of DMiC Maths

Maths has always been about stages and Numeracy Project for me.  A new approach which I have had to learn this year is DMiC Maths which teaches maths through real-life contexts and problem solving.

I found the following explanation a good starting point to my DMiC teaching... https://nzmaths.co.nz/mathematics-inquiry-communities)

Through working with Generosa Leach I have learnt so much about the way I deliver my Maths programme.  Firstly the class is split in half into two mixed ability groups.  The problems that are written are constructed around a 'big idea'.  I need to know the students and which strategies I want them to work on but when writing a problem I plan for other strategies to be used.

Problems need to have multiple entry and exit points.  The students should all be able to relate to the context of the maths problem which gives then an understanding of why we are learning about it.  It also promotes language and discussion which is based on the story of the problems.

Lessons start with the whole group breaking down the problem and understanding the story.  Once we have a common understanding we then look at the numbers involved and start to break down with the question might be asking us.  Children then break into small groups to work on solving the problem in a collaborative way.

Maths norms and talk moves guide students to drive the strategising and problem solving in their own way.  Students need to contribute to the answer and success is determined by each person in the group understanding and being able to share back in their own way.

I have also looked at refining my planning to really think about the students in my group and their strengths and weaknesses.  This is known as 'Mathematical Status'.  All students have status but they are not necessarily the 'best' at maths or the 'smartest'.

DMiC Maths - Room 15 Tangram Question


 My journey with DMiC Maths has just begun but I feel confident in this way of teaching and I will always incorporate aspects of this problem solving model into my teaching from now on.