Science Water Testing 2016

I took 10 children to JPC to test the water quality in a local stream. A teacher from JPC helped us with providing some extra equipment from their school. Children used the equipment to check water nutrients and pollution. I think that this was a great lesson as children were able to have a real go at testing water and could see the results. I would like to take this lesson with my whole class but we would need to have transport for this.

Marae Visit 2016

As part of learning about the Maori culture, I took my class (and all the senior classes) to the local marae. We had whanu with us and that helped when explaining about all the interesting bits and pieces associated with the marae. We had a guided tour, had a hangi there, and immersed ourselves in activities like poi, flax weaving and drawing the carvings.

I think by going to the marae helps children to learn better as they actually have a go at things. It also helps them connect with the marae and the community associated with it. Children learnt so much and I feel it is essential to keep this type of ETOC activities going.

NPeW PD

In this PD we were  looking at student agency and how students view the situation/learning. Give students the opportunity to engage in learning in different ways. Creating a focus for an interview - take out emotion in an interview. We used a peer coach in this PD and we used the different levels of questioning.

We practised the reflective interview in pairs and we wanted to get to the level 3 questions. I'm unsure how this connects with what happens in real life but since I missed a meeting last week, I will have to speak to someone about it first. It seems that we are heading towards peer coaching.

People need to reflect on their own practise without judgement. By leaving emotion out, allows the other person to reflect openly and not what the other person wants to hear. The focus is on the thinking and rationale of decisions rather than gratitude/well done/need improvement.

We collected data from students and teachers on student agency. We looked at having the reflective questioning tool and we made goals around what we will do about student agency and reflective questioning. We are now working on a coaching process around teacher agency in order to improve our practices.

Mindlab First 16 weeks

I have completed the first 16 weeks of the course. I found the contents of the course have made me adjust my teaching by including more collaborative work for students. I have found that when I learn new things, sometimes it makes me question whether I have actually discussed ideas with students. Sometimes I take the time to discuss collaboration with students just to make it clear to them as it has become clearer for myself. I already share the workload at staff meetings and everyone takes a turn at presenting, but I need to think about bring people together to collaborate on science so that everyone takes away new learning.

Overall, the course has made me inquire into my own practice and whether what I thought was the correct way of doing things was actually the best. There are also many things that I am already doing and I have adjusted what I do to improve teaching and learning.

Camp 2017 20-22 March

Camp consisted of Maori culture and outdoor water activities. I found that staying on a marae was a great experience for children and it was easy for them to learn the about tikanga Maori. The water based activities (white water rafting, river tubing, swimming pool) went really well and actually made the camp extra exciting. I enjoyed going with my class but had a few moments when I could have done with having another teacher there so will be thinking about how to make that happen in two years time when we go to this camp again.

Feedback

Feedback to Brigitta Nieuwboer  Across Kāhui Ako teacher applicant.               

The evidence presented and described to support this appointment process lead us to conclude that you model effective practice in your own school and that you meet the criteria for the Across Community of Learners Teacher Role.

The competency based interview and panel members’ examination of supporting documentation demonstrated an effective teacher who even with significant teaching responsibility has led collaborative inquiries in senior mathematics, moderation of OTJs and changing science teaching  and your documents showed evidence of developing practice from learning and discussion. 

Your challenge is now to work responsively with Col leader and colleagues across your Kāhui Ako collaboratively developing capabilities and identifying and addressing problems of professional practice to improve teaching and the learning outcomes for diverse student in your Community.

This will require working with the Community leaders to focus efforts on meeting the Community shared achievement challenges.

As you pointed out in your interview, you lead reflective professional learning with your team, you understand what a powerful tool collaboration can be, that you are capable of changing your thinking and practice when different models are introduced and you make significant effort to ensure a culturally inclusive approach to children’s learning. Your experience and success with current science teaching means you have much to offer as you work collaboratively with others in the Kāhui Ako.

Finally, congratulations on meeting the national eligibility criteria and I wish you every success for the challenges ahead. I am sure you will make a great contribution to the Kāhui Ako.

Prue Kelly

Independent Adviser

New Appointments National Panel

25 February 2017

Using maths PD to change my pedagogy

I have changed the way I think about maths teaching and learning. I now teach at the level that children need to be working at rather than deficit thinking about fixing the gaps. I feel this works particularly well for struggling students as they are no longer in the lowest group in maths and they have a chance to move and accelerate like others.

The way I plan maths has changed as well. I'm not sure that the way we have been shown is the best and have added lessons ahead of time (planned) rather than always looking for resources depending on the previous lesson. This does not work for me as I will forever be planning and looking for resources and I just don't have that much time just to devote to one subject.