Isolation 10

Thurs 30 Apr
Wow - I can't believe I am writing Isolation 10 already! The time has actually gone quite quickly. Today I felt like some days are more productive than others, I was very productive in bursts today. rather than full on throughout the day. Had some time when I just was not really onto it but then got totally motivated and got a heap of work done. I think it's about being aware of what we are feeling. I needed the time at lunch today to sit out in the sun and pat the cat. Just felt like it was the right thing to do at the time - I didn't even go for a walk which is unusual. But then I worked through until quite late when I felt like it. Maybe this is something we need to think about for work and study - when do we work best? I normally work really well at 7.30am. I know many others would be horrified at that time of the morning but I do work well early in the day. It gives me time to get set up and organised. Recently that has pushed out to 8.30 - I think working from home has made me a bit lax on that 6am start!!!
I got some good news today. I have been waiting for an appointment for my foot for over a year now. It was scheduled for Apr 3rd and of course that got cancelled due to Covid19. I had resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't get an appointment for another few months but today I got a message saying I could go tomorrow. I am just a little bit excited and hope that something can be done eventually as I can't walk very far without it being strapped up. Here's hoping something can be done - I don't mind if it takes ages to do it, just knowing would be good.
I managed to take the pool from green to clear over the last couple of days - had let it go by just not really thinking about it. Might need to concentrate a little more on my surroundings. So much going on right now - there are different things to focus on and a pool is well down the list.

Fri 1 May
I can't believe it's May. It seems like April didn't really exists this year. It's very strange.
I had a good day today - 12 calls online and a very busy day both at work and not.
Went to the surgeon - finally getting an MRI for my foot to get all the information needed to see if he can fix it or not. He had some ideas but wants all of the information before we go the next step - if he can. Feel good that at least there is a next step.
I did a bit of reading today and found this great advice for lots of calls and how to combat Zoom fatigue.
This afternoon I went to the Future of Learning catch up - these have been going for a while - in person, then online. It was good to tlak with other educators and share experiences and ideas. I do enjoy those conversations.
Watching the Repair shop again tonight reminded me of my father's clock. I think I'll get that out and have a look at it.
My Peptalk magazine arrived today. Wow what a great resource. There were two books in one and I found the information was really great. My daughter had a look as well and she thought it was good as well. If you haven't got your free copy then go to this link and order it. Yes, free. I've subscribed to further issues, that's how much I enjoyed it.

Saturday 2 May
Made a big cooked breakfast for my children - it's nice to have one occasionally. Keeps me going all day and I'm a pretty good short order chef. It's always nice to have my 2 children around. We played some games, went for a walk and just had a nice lazy day. Managed to do quite a bit of the jigsaw - I'm worried now, almost finished all the ones I have in the house!

Sunday 3 May
I really have felt very lazy this weekend. I think that the online calls take it out of me quite a bit. I know I have to work extra hard because of my hearing and I struggle with the lag between voice and camera when I know I do rely a bit on lipreading.
I have 187 emails to sort through. Hmm. Maybe I'm a little unsorted right now - very tired at the end of the day and have struggled this week mentally. Finally finished that jigsaw today - found another 2 in the back of the cupboard so I haven't run out just yet!

Later in the week...
So I've slowed down on the day by day account. I think I just find every day is busy with work or just trying to find time to relax so from here on in I'll do an update when I get the inspiration.
Had a Boma New Zealand Rethinking Education Campfire on Tuesday - really interesting to hear some students talk about their experiences of online learning. You can read some of their ideas on my blog. It showed me how important student voice is in this isolation time. I have made a survey for my mentor group and it's been interesting getting their feedback. I'll do another blog on Reflection and Isolation sometime soon.
I attended a NZQA workshop this week. I was happy that I felt confident in this area, but it was interesting to see the questions others asked. I wonder how we can improve teacher knowledge in this area? There are obviously a lot of people not sure of how things work. Something else to ponder.
I've had a couple of conversations with some of the Boma Education Fellows for this year. It's hard not being able to talk face to face and our programme has certainly been disrupted. Getting to know each other is taking longer, but at least this week I managed to catch up with a few and have some conversations both around what our kuras are doing online, and with our own projects. My project is in a bit of a hold at the moment due to many things, but I did do some more research this weekend around diverse learners and looked into some other sites that cater for these learners. Been a good learning weekend in that respect.
Another flashback moment on The Repair Shop this week - a spinning wheel. Mum used to spin and I remember carding wool for her and watching her spin and knit for hours. She also dyed the wool herself - I remember the different natural dyes she used. I still have homespun jerseys that she made for my children. Such memories and a skill that can be lost if we don't take things up. I wonder how many things are handed down from parents anymore now that we are busier in our lives. It makes me wonder if maybe lockdown is a good thing - getting back to spending time with family and not being able to fill our days with things. Maybe this is the start of people learning the old skills again. I do hope so.
I completed my Microsoft Innovative Educator application for the next year today. The MIE group in New Zealand is fantastic. Such great support and I have made some good friends out of this group so hopefully will be able to continue on with this for 2021 - even though I work in a Google school! I still use a lot of Microsoft tools and and I am passionate about their resources. They certainly work hard to make things better for schools and offer some interesting and useful courses on the Microsoft Educator Community site - go and have a look!
I also completed the Science of Wellbeing Course today - and have a blog half done on that - another day.
Well it's Mother's Day. I've done a couple of blogs, a bit of gardening and managed to finally clear my emails down to single figures. Must be time to have a break and get this posted.

Boma Education Week: Rethinking Education

This call was on Wednesday night and Boma New Zealand had organised 4 speakers. These are my notes from this session.

You can watch the videos individually here:

Dylan Wijaya 

Melanie Riwai-Couch 

Claire Amos 

Rachel & Michael Perrett 

Claire Amos:  the Principal of Albany Senior High School, co-founder of DisruptED and and a board member for NetSafeNZ and 21C Skills Lab

Claire has been doing DisruptEd interviews to try and capture what educators have been noticing. The thing that matters most is wellbeing, not about teaching, learning or assessment but making sure they all feel safe and well. We know they can't learn when stressed and it's hard for teachers when they are unwell.

Where online learning is working is where there is a connection. A connection between school, whānau and the community.

Less is better - you can't do as much as you do in class. Forced to think about what really matters.

Create space in the curriculum

Create space in the day to go deep and wide

Need to have a combination of structure and flexibility

Home isn't school - you can't transfer straight across

Would do better if student centered at school - they would have more agency

They did Mon, Tue structured, then Wed-Fri student led - students loved that

Created agency, self direction and managing time and space

A challenge: The digital divide

OK if already using online platforms, they transitioned easily.

Real cost of digital divide is not about tools but about social justice. They need to be able to connect and still learn.

We need to embrace digital tools but realise we don't change overnight.

The reality is that education is ultimately quite inflexible. We need to design and prepare the new normal that we want.

Notice, take stock and redesign.

Whatever we design has to be agile - we may move in and out of levels. Needs to be a robust powerful experience

How do we measure success? NCEA has it's place but need to move beyond the traditional

Concept of personal constructs of success. Not our place to tell a young person what success looks like. Could be a portfolio of evidence. No one measure of success. Work with them to define what they want for themselves. 20th Century skills. The moment we turn it into a criteria it becomes redundant. Success is when they believe in themselves and can contribute.

Opportunity to consciously and critically integrate Te Ao Māori

Stop being seen as a school in isolation - be a learning hub/community hub - like a marae

A lot we can take from Māori constructs and community to reimagine school. At the moment we are still in the Western industrial age. Use the Māori view lens then we'd have a good educational model.

Working with nature - Green School - see below

Meeting needs of diverse learners and ESOL - think more collaboratively about resourcing

NCEA Hackathon Resource Group - to share ideas and resources

Virtual Learning Network - online courses and resources

Power of school and a platform such as Te Kura - we already have an online school - what would that have looked like if we had access to all of that during this time?

Communities of Online Learning (COOLs) - these had concerns about business - what if we had those?

Could have schools networked across geographical areas, not just Kāhui Ako 

Network/Collaboration/Sec schools online - where teachers are available and can cater for diverse learners and ESOL

Designing powerful online learning takes skill

We are not taught instructional design

Value in Portfolios of Personal Excellence (POPE) - they do impact projects at her school. This has earned them scholarships and opportunities in business. Sometimes we determine that NCEA has too much weight and value. Do impact projects need to be assessed to be valuable? Huge believer in soft skills - Design thinking, agile, collaborative, communicate, self directed

Ideal Learning structure:

Co-Learning hubs - Yr 0-13 learning space and a location for health and wellbeing. Co-working innovation with community as well

In and out of spaces as needed. Teachers there to open eyes and guide through the journey. Learning doesn't just happen in Yrs 1-13, it happens throughout life.

We get caught up on subjects and year groups - trying to keep the adults happy

Self directed learning schools in Canada - students come together for home room then work how and where they want to. This is the beauty of what we see in Primary Schools. Student have time to be self directed, but want some structure. Work with community groups, iwi, whānau

Teacher shave thrived where they already use UDL in normal practice. This online learning has shone a light on some people's gaps in practice.

Are teachers digitally literate? How can we use tech to be more inclusive and meet the needs of diverse learners?

Passion is the key to a great teacher

 Dr Melanie Riwai-Couch: Kaihautū Māori and education consultant for Evaluation Associates Ltd, and experienced researcher, evaluator and change manager for kāhui ako.

School Led Learning at Home: Voice of parents of Māori and Pasifika students

Team worked through surveys that were gathered through social media. Thought they would get 20 or 30 but got 100 overnight. Wanted to make sure the perspectives of parents were not lost

The name wanted to capture a new way of being - the partnership between home and school. Other names undermined the learning at home each day.

Doesn't matter what school wants - what happens in my home is what I want to happen.

Identified some benefits that would be good to carry over into school

How happy were parents with the work sent home? 50% gave a 4 or 5 but  25% only gave it a 1 or 2

If school didn't have a culturally sustainable practice then that was magnified online.

What's the best way to gather voice? Didn't use case studies but used pools of stories. Have conversations with communities.

Do we engage with parents and communicate or do we tell them things?

Parents - are they informed consumers or do we say "this is how we define success" and "this is what's important to us". Need to include the voice of parents. Best way to start is to start.

In the report they have included questions that you can use to help reflect on practice. Take back to your own setting.

Māori and Pasifika realities may not be the same as ours.There are questions to ask now and some to ask later. All the questions are designed form themes identified in the data. Constantly reflective.

How can we not be tokenistic in Māori and Pasifika?

The role that complexity plays - equity shouldn't be the end goal - devices are just a milestone on the path to reach potential. It's not enough to just have a conversation. Parents have their own perspective on their children. Need to engage beyond the surface. Her own children use identity, language and culture to grow.

Provocations - things to think about:

Focus on getting devices into homes - need them there to be able to engage

Homes are sacred spaces - no-one asked me about hundreds of people online coming into my home every day

Pasifika - loving home being calm and peaceful, it's a spiritual calm during the day

This is a chance to understand learning and how they can apply it to their own setting and reality

What are we going to go back to? Don't lose the learning. Māori and Pasifika parents have perspectives we can learn from. Need to take our parents with us into the future.

Thesis - a chapter on iwi educators defining success. Want them to achieve NCEA and be literate but also be proud and strong in their culture and to return home to serve their communities.

Really important to many Pasifika families - a right of transition - not just the child but the family as well. Want them to achieve all they can but be a whole person. Need to create conditions in schools to enable them to feel like that.

Curriculum violence - Anne Milne

Rachel and Michael Perrett: Founders of Green School New Zealand which uses a community-integrated, entrepreneurial way of learning with a focus on exciting and empowering students to lead the way sustainably.

Redesigning Education for a long time. Did Green School in Bali for 11 years.

Want to engage young learners as individuals who learn in unique ways

Sustainable caring for our planet

Creating a curriculum that addresses real world problems and engage students with joy, resilience and optimism

High respect values - entrepreneurial spirit to allow them to be changemakers

Whole community involved

Bring people along on a journey

Much of what they do is old knowledge, old wisdom and new future. Pioneering spirit. Authentic self directed learning in a natural context. 600 teachers applied before they even advertised.

Green School Compass - REAL (Relationships, Experiences, Action, Local)

Relationships - self/community/nature - this trumps procedures every time

Culture trumps strategy

Iwi first - needed to earn their place there

Engagement is extensive and rich. 

Māori blessing and powhiri - looked to reach consensus rather than just consult

Parent are essential - need to go on a journey with them to create a sustainable future. Have The Bridge where they can have coffee, the internet - co-working space. Parent have rich skills to share - can park and play

Socio economic background  - schools in Bali, Mexico and South Africa. 70 different cultures in Taranaki

Budget of 25NZ, 25Aus, 50 International

Using Bali formed Vision and values

Tweaked their content and curriculum with others

Focus on starting local and moving global

Community trusts and groups and sustainability. Support them and integrate with them and business. Public Sector support been cherished and supported. Had 7 weeks of this year before lockdown. Turned a dairy farm into an International Destination Private School

Academic rigour - sounded themselves with people to guide them

Hope to open up after school hours for sustainability studies and have camps in the holidays

Pride and partnership - an evolving process

Previous nature based school failures - many were too fringe, easily marginalised. Construction costs too high. Ego. Lack of academic rigour.

Made a list of mistakes form Bali they didn't want to make. It can be traumatic, it's stressful. Tough to conjure up a project like this but have a genuine desire to help. Montessori and Steiner have helped pave the way.

Need to be seen as serious, not fringe. Academic rigour is really important - you can learn calculus and stats in nature.

Unless Universities change it's hard for schools to get pathways so they are doing a blend of NCEA with the Green School Diploma to allow access to Uni

100% in Bali is Green School Diploma and Uni will take their students, but here it's not enough. In Bali 52 Universities came to recruit graduates - self starter, independent learner, self confident and determined. Some universities are listening but we lose so much talent to an antiquated machine.

They are moving from being the builder to the BoT. Roll early Feb was 47 and maybe have 65 by Term 3 and 100 for Term 1 2021. Want to continue to grow to perhaps 450-500 Yr1-13. Bali had a waiting list to get in. International school, but more and more people going to them.

Dylan Wijaya: a year 12 student attending St John's College in Hastings, New Zealand. For the past 3 weeks, he and 6 other students have been striving to create a cost-effective ventilator in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Called it Pear because it was like Apple, plus the Hawkes Bay is known for Pears.

Still at the brainstorming stage.

Lockdown has given him time to learn material at his own pace. Says he does 4hrs for the 6 hour day. More hands on approach plus time for hobbies

He is pursuing his purpose - to save lives

I really enjoyed this session - it reinforced my thinking around education and what education could look like. We need to make sure we take this opportunity to move forward, not take a step back into what we had. I'd love to work towards the idea of a marae as our school hub - more community involvement. More things to ponder!

Boma Education Week—NZ Campfire: Young Voices

Boma New Zealand invited young people to share their perspectives on and aspirations for education in our current COVID-19 context and beyond at a campfire on Tuesday this week. There were a range of students on the call and all had a say as the session went on. 

The Campfire conversation was facilitated by Hannah Hudson from Boma NZ and covered these questions as well as going off on a few tangents!

1. How might our experience of learning through Covid-19 inform how we could rethink education?
2. What is working, what isn't?
3. How might we redesign education to ensure everyone is engaged and has access to learning that works for them?

These are my notes from that campfire. If you want to watch it, it was recorded and is on the Boma New Zealand Youtube Channel.

What is something that has changed that you will take forward?

Time management skills

Managing own learning

Freedom - need self control to devote time to each subject not just getting into one for hours

Working outside is nice

No distractions

Not having to be confined to a class period - can spend 2 hours on something and study what you want a lot more

Develop project management skills

What are some ideas that have seemed radical before and now are looked at again?

More unstructured time in timetables

Can collaborate regardless of geographical location

Doing webinars and classes from anywhere

Getting different perspectives

The variety is cool

Recording classes - you can go back and listen to them again

Learning from experts in the field

Missing people - students and teacher as you discuss ideas more freely onsite, can help each other onsite and learn by explaining it to others

Need more effort into being deliberate in contact. You don't bump into people

You are not building relationships

Being on a computer screen all day is mentally draining. Socially it makes you tired and you get nowhere

Teachers give you motivation at school. At home you can spend hours doing nothing and then work at night instead.

Can't just ask a teacher something - have to email or arrange a call.

Teachers are always asking how do we best engage students - Ask students what they find engaging. Ask the individual.

Could be a collaborative area - need to go with what is best for students

There are a range of different ways to learn content now so they should be able to choose. Give them an option of everything.

Everyone has a different way of learning. At home you have time to process things - less stressful than at school.

Different teachers are doing things in different ways. Some set work for the whole week, some each day - need a similar way to do things to make it easier

Need time to finish things

Being away from the traditional 9-3 means it doesn't matter when they fit work in - nice to be flexible

What's the purpose of school?

Lots of curriculum shuffling going on now - more internals, more projects

Social important - realised how much you learn from your friends

What's more important -Excellence in NCEA or the social interactions?

What teachers think young people want is misunderstood - what would you like teachers to know?

Tie things into our lives

Now it's not as much routine but more flow

Noticing simple things like family and hobbies

Having spark not just routine

Want to continue studying with fun

Being resilient - how do we operate - best in a school setting where they have time to process as well.

Prioritising ourselves now, not at school

This generation is thought to be good at tech but they actually are not necessarily. Don't want to be on screens all day

Easier to take on tech but this has opened eyes that tech is not everything

This has changed everyone's perspective

Using energy socialising on devices - it's OK to take time to prioritise somewhere else, family or outside

From your experience why are peers not engaging?

Equity has always been an issue, needs to be a priority

Trying to communicate and feeling disconnected when you can't

Big separation between those that have and those that don't

Better wifi means better connected so it's even worse when there is no connection

Struggling with self motivation - some could feel it's time to leave school because they can't do this

Can't keep up with the work, falling through the cracks

In the country, using phone for zoom calls, 3am for work so they have the internet

What should happen when we get back to school?

When we do get back to school - slow down, catch up, don't force the work all at once. Slow down and ease into the routine

Mental health side of things - self motivation

What's happening in the world is overwhelming for some and causes anxiety. School work on top of that

Look at who is disadvantaged and take what's happening. They need help post Covid19, need to learn how everyone is mental health wise

Things need to be gentle when we get back some are close to breaking point

Learning while going through stuff is really hard

Self directed nature, having to learn autonomously

Bad partnership - school can be an escape from home - additional pressure

Realised how little control we have over our own lives

2 days to go into lockdown, so fast and hard to deal with

Reminded of Earthquakes as well

As a generation Chch people dealt with the earthquakes but this goes past that - it's the whole world. Fear of the unknown

Need additional support when we go back

Struggling to read and pay attention - caught between a rock and a hard place

MLE - need a space to be alone - take an easy approach to going back

Is it more difficult at school or at home - rock and hard place

Sometimes can't get into calls so feeling left behind even more

Need to look after ourselves. If you are not 100% you won't learn

Different types of learners - if this is extended how are they catering for different learning styles

Need to have different options for different students

Keep up with the curriculum but in a way that works for you

Some by themselves, some are distracted

At home can complete normal 50 min class in 20min then can do other things but 1:1 feedback is missing

Resources are out there for help, if struggling you need to ask for help but many too reserved to ask

Being away from others can be helpful, don't feel it's a dumb question as you can email it, bit more confidence not having to do so in front of others

Liked it to start with - organised own schedule

Everyone's learning experience is individual and they all have different ways that they learn best

Great solution is to ask students for feedback - establish a partnership

No discipline if you don't go to class anymore so no motivation

Teacher is on the prowl in a classroom environment so you get help without having to ask. Asking for help is now harder because you have to email. It's just an additional thing you have to do - communication.

Reduced level of accountability when learning from home

Need a routine - regular calls for questions and feedback. Teachers need to reinforce that they are there to help

Having a Google Meet time slot where you can just jump on is great. Teachers also need to give 1:1 times

Youth week next week - theme:

“E korero ana mātou. E whakarongo ana koutou? 

We’re speaking. Are you listening?”

Need to take time to discuss things 1:1 where they can really be heard - need to find ways to integrate this into schools

Teachers take student voice and don't use it - it has no effect so then students don't bother

Meaningful feedback and meaningful partnerships otherwise feedback is pointless

You don't have to have a formal leadership title to reach out to teachers

Student leadership helping to shift responsibility from "teachers should...' to people are doing things together

Committees - if you don't get on, don't feel you can't have a say. You should still voice things. You don't need to have a teacher to do so

Student voice should not be linked to student leadership

Needs to be authentic and non tokenistic

Need to talk to those who are affected  - if you are wanting to know about student engagement, talk to the disengaged.

Has to be balanced and working alongside each other

Be good to have platforms like this - missing discussing things with other people

It's also partly on students to find ways to have those discussions

We can be the change we want to see in this world. 

People are doing the best they can

We all have a voice

We have the agency to connect

Be kind, keep learning

This was done on the platform GetVokl - hadn't seen that before but I thought it was quite good for having people jumping in and  out of conversation - couldn't see everyone at once, but was good only having a few slots for people to talk. You do have to make an account before going in which also requires a cellphone for the code, plus then email confirmation. One issue we had was with a student trying to use it on a school iPad - couldn't download the app, so that's something to consider if it is for students.

I really enjoyed watching this - great to hear the voice of young people. It would be good to do more of this from a wide range of students and schools more often. They really have great ideas!!