Priority Learners

Priority Learners - Targeting Specifics

In our recent visit ERO had specifics about how the school approaches priority learners from all levels. 

• They commented "When we asked teachers who are the priority learners in this class" they gave answers like 'I treat them all as priority learners.', 'I'll just look that up on Kamar.' or 'I don't know'." This they lamented "how can there be strategies for these struggling kids if the teacher doesn't know who they are immediately?". 
• Maori Students.  They commented that in documentation that there is much use of the word 'Maori' but one reviewer said "there is no Puku to it".  They wanted to know how the staff were catering to their Maori students.  They were critical that staff didn't see the necessity of this - one reviewer recommended that staff have to see that we're struggling to motivate, retain, our students.  They said that using 'participation' data masks the real case and we should show staff Maori stats in 'roll' data. 
• They indicated that they wanted the school charter/documentation to specifically require staff to link names and numbers of priority learners. 

ERO Define Priority Learners as...

Priority learners are groups of students who have been identified as historically not experiencing success in the New Zealand schooling system. These include many Māori and Pacific learners, those from low socio-economic backgrounds, and students with special education needs. Evaluation at a Glance: Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools [August 2012]

Here at Waihi College we've a community which has a significant number of students that are easily identifiable as being a Priority Learner. We have 28% of our roll identifying as Maori, 2% as Pacific Islander and of course we are a decile three socio-economic school.



So how are we going with our education of our Priority Learners?

Online Information About Waihi College (and all NZ high schools).
There is recently a live website called Education Counts.  www.educationcounts.govt.nz 



Here is a slideshow of some of the key information we have on the website...




Where this leaves us at this stage of the year.  I think that some of the key next steps is for us (collective us) to...

1. Formulate a list of which students at each level are identifiable as 'Priority Learners' - this is beyond just seeing if Kamar has ethnicity of Maori/PI or if the student is in the Memphis Centre.  Query - how readily accessible should this list be?  Do the students on the list need to know they're on it?  Do the parents?  What avenues are there for parents to indicate their child should be added to the list?  Can parents/students opt out of being on the list?
2. Formulate what can be recognised as good practice around the education of 'Priority Learners'. 
3. Look at the levels of expectation we have for the additional support for our Priority Learners - what are the minimal additional actions that are needed by staff.
4. Look at each individual learner - try to systematically identify where the needs are of these Priority Learners.

This post relates to RTC # 10. "Work effectively within the bicultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand part ii. specifically and effectively address the educational aspirations of ākonga Māori, displaying high expectations for their learning." and RTC # 3. "Demonstrate commitment to bicultural partnership in Aotearoa New Zealand."

DEEP Learning Programme

Discover, Enrichment, Essential, Passion
One of the areas of discussion on our senior planning retreat was the notion of using our Learning Advisory time in an alternative fashion. One of the more intriguing ideas from the Hauraki DP cluster trips to Auckland was the Mission Height Junior College's DEEP programme.

When I first heard of the DEEP programme I immediately thought of the 'elective' programme many schools currently use.  However as I understood more of the DEEP programme the more I could see that it had significant differences to electives.

Primarily the programme was presented as the "main reason students are passionate about their day at school".  That the combination of autonomy of learning, concentrated remedial learning, individualised attention and shared passions/interests were attainable without adversely impacting upon traditional curriculum coverage.

Here is the presentation I gave for morning PD this week.




This post relates to RTC #5. "show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning." 

Senior Leadership Planning Days

2015 Plans and Initiatives
This week the Senior Leadership team (and Learning Leaders on Friday) retreated into offices in town to focus upon the direction of the school for 2015.  It was an excellent chance to review the current year, the recent ERO review and look to enhance our practice.  


There were several key areas which we dedicated our time to.  Several of these will be the subject of much professional development over the next few terms.  Primarily for your information these are some of the core focus points...

1. Priority Learners - this was a core point emphasised by ERO.  They were particularly interested in how we were identifying these students, what expectations we as senior leaders have and what strategies are being utilised by teachers in the classrooms. 
2. Learning Advisories - we undertook a detailed analysis of the current set up of Learning Advisory.  From the time of day, regularity of advisory time, role of the Pouako, purpose/intent of the advisory, horizontal/vertical forms, to the a similar system observed on a recent DP trip to Auckland.  
3. The House System - what ways can we enhance this competition.  Creating leadership opportunities for our year 13 students.
4. Global Curriculum View - how can we consciously map the entire learning experience for our students.  Across all learning areas, over the seven years of Waihi College what ways are we reaching our learners.  This also encompassed much discussion on assessment data.  
5. Calendar of Events for 2015 - this will be a separate post.  But primarily scheduling in the core events of the Waihi College community.  Interesting things of note; Spirit days move to end of term two, and the senior prize giving moved to after NCEA external exams.   
6. Staff Meetings - at length discussion on the number of meetings, times and days of the week.  Looking at 2015 dropping the Tuesday 8am meeting - rather looking at having more regular after school Monday meetings.  The plan is to look at Monday pm meetings being on a three week rotation following the rotation of (week 1 - Senior Leadership meetings, week 2 - Learning Leaders meetings, week three - TIC/Subject specific meetings).  Thursday morning meetings will move into 'Ako Meetings' where teams focus on full cohort of students (more information to follow on this).
7. Quality Assurance - looking at the goal from ERO to make the exceptional practice the common practice here at Waihi College.  What will this look like for staff and learners in their lessons?  

The retreat was a great time for the senior leadership team (and the Learning Leaders - on Friday) to get a chance to think of the big picture.  Being my first retreat I really enjoyed the experience as we 'nutted out' the pro's and con's of each new idea.  It was very much the case that we had a constant thread of thinking "how will this idea be implemented in the classroom".  I trust that we've come up with some workable ideas (most require 'work' though).  

Naturally we are expecting that there are yet uptapped good ideas amongst the staff.  I would hope that you are able to come and present some new ideas or feedback.  Please do take the time to consider your ideas and come to speak with one of the senior leadership team.  

This post relates to RTC #5. show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning and RTC #   6. conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme

Book Review

Professional Capital Transforming Teaching in Every School
by Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan

This was a book that I picked because of the authors.  Micheal Fullan is a sound educationalist who wrote "Putting the faces on the data" (a book that I share strong agreement with).  And Andy Hargreaves is an Englishman, teacher come professor and now lives in Boston in the US. 

This book really is an attempt to write a utopian view point of how education should be in schools.  Fullan and Hargreaves attempt to write the ingredients they believe with revolutionise schooling - they make a compelling argument.

I found that whilst the primary target audience for this book is those in leadership Professional Capital has a great deal in there for all teachers.  I found myself taking notes and quotes from the book and once I'd finished these were over four pages long. 

Here at Waihi College with the appointment of our schools 'Learning Leaders' I found that Professional Capital greatly helped me in developing my own understanding of where management can best help transform the culture. 

One of the best quotes from Hargreaves and Fullan which really sums up the overarching theme of Professional Capital is (emphasis is mine)...

 

"The secret to higher efficacy and to keeping teachers is not just making sure that teacher get individual support, here or there, but that they get to work in well-led, dynamic, strongly supported schools, where there is a belief in student success, a knowledge of how to bring it about, and a willingness and eagerness for everyone on the staff to keep learning and improving - inexperienced and experienced alike.  It is, in other words, the culture of the school that makes the difference.  If you get this right, if you change the teacher by changing the entire school and profession, then no matter what challenges teachers have to face, a big payback will come through just a few years down the line." (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2014, p. 70) 

I would definitely recommend this book to other educators.  It was not a huge read (about 160 pages then referencing).  It was read more as a persuasive and passionate argument than a thesis by academia.  Finally for those that are unsure if they'd be interested in reading this book here is the cliff note video version from the authors themselves. 

This post is in relation to RTC #4. "demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice."  And RTC # 8. "demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn."

Senior School Examination Information

Senior Examination Preparation
With the School Exams on the horizon here is a copy of a document that I've put together to hopefully focus our learners attention to doing their best.  I've saved copies of the document into S:\Curriculum\Learning Advisory\Year 2013\Planning\Checklist For Seniors Exams.docx.  There are spares around in the staffroom. 

Feedback
A challenge for us as educators is to make our senior examinations a quality learning opportunity.  We can anticipate the pressure that may exist for staff getting the marking done (especially with the senior reports due to go home just after the final exam). 

I hope to see that staff can take the opportunity to give some quality direction/guidance/motivation to the learners around what next steps they need to take to reach the next step N, A, M, or E. 

FYI from the date of this post there are 59 actual days left until the NCEA examinations - That's only 30 days of school. 



This post relates to RTC # 11. analyse and appropriately use assessment information, which has been gathered formally and informally

Use Of Data - Education Review Office

ERO Feedback.

With the departure of ERO there were some good points to focus upon in our school practices.  One of the core areas they focussed upon was the use of data (formative and summative). Primarily they were most interested in how staff are using their data in directing the teaching to specific students (especially 'Priority Learners'). 

Here is the PowerPoint that I presented to staff on Tuesday morning.  (a copy can be found in the school shared drive under admin - then professional development - then staff presentations).




Here is a link to another post that I have done which uses my year nine maths class as the basis for questioning my own use of formative data.

Here is a link to the TKI online tool I refer to in the above PowerPoint.

This post relates to RTC #11. analyse and appropriately use assessment information, which has been gathered formally and informally

Appraisal - Teaching as Inquiry

This post is based upon the document in your OneNote appraisal folder.

Personal Professional Development Plan
Teaching as Inquiry is the formalisation of common practice amongst professional educators.  We have all been doing this process since we've started teaching.  If you've ever thought "how can I get through to these guys?" you've started the Teaching as Inquiry process. 


With the front end of the NZC specifically mentioning inquiry (and the 12th registered teacher criteria being about Teaching as Inquiry) it is expected that we are formally recording some of our personal inquiry.

What is Teaching as Inquiry?
Practically it is about the professional practice of unpacking our teaching, looking at the needs of students, trying new things and reflecting back on these practices.  It is ideally about teacher deliberately crafting themselves into better practitioners. 

What isn't Teaching as Inquiry?
It is not a one off event (you need systematically reflect)

It is not above your workload - it considered a vital component (hence one of the 12RTC's) of your workload.

It is not a solo event - we need to have high trust partnerships with other teachers to help us through each Inquiry. 

 

Handout - This is two versions of explaining Teaching as Inquiry.  They really cover the same thing.  The page that has the heading "Inquiry Plan Template" is one that I've adapted to us here at Waihi College (naughty I can't reference the original source document/author). 

 

Common Queries or Hang Ups...

1. How long should an Inquiry take?
2. Can I do it on anything?
3. What if I get stuck (or time is too precious)?
4. Who should be involved?

 

 

 

This post relates to RTC # 12. use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice

 

 

 

Open Plan Collaborative Learning Environment

Learning Commons
It was my pleasure to spend a day up in Auckland visiting schools that have started down the collaborative learning environment pathway.  I was part of a delegation of 15 DP's from the Hauraki Cluster that travelled north. 

There were several goals for us in our journey...

1. We wanted to see the possible set up of Waihi Colleges new classroom block (scheduled to replace the prefab classrooms P1 to P10).
2. To investigate the idea of 'discovery learning' (autodidactic) - where the student undertakes self directed learning in areas that they are most passionate about - with the teacher linking the curriculum into that learning. 
3. To investigate how staff team teach in a share learning common environment. 
4. To pick up on any innovative, positive, alternative ideas.

The first stop off was at Mission Heights Junior High School.  MHJHS is a new school that has risen from farm land in the east of Auckland.  Predominantly their learners are from immigrant families (around 10% Pakeha or Maori).  The campus was build all in one go.  It may be fair to compare part of their main buildings with what we here at Waihi College will build next year (maybe 2016). 

Here are some of the exciting things that I took away from MHJHS...

Here is a learning common.  It is a larger open space (with ranchslider glass separators).  This one has four classrooms all feeding off the main central location.  In this picture you can see technology is centrally located - staff mingle their way through all rooms and work with all students. 







Here is the front of a typical classroom - there are no teacher desks or chairs - the drawers and cupboards under the whiteboard are the teacher desk.  There are glass doors connecting into the next door classrooms and (from where I took the photo) a large wall of glass into the common area. 
Note the chairs all have wheels and swivel - deliberate as "boys need movement". 







Here is a picture of a science lab - you can see that this too is another open space.














Each of the areas of the school had their own 'cafe' - there was no canteen rather students had access to water, microwave, tea/coffee.  It was all in the open so those that made mess couldn't just slip away.  There was also office space next door - in each of the common area there was office space for a DP - there was no "top corridor" rather the leadership team were located in the commons with the students. 

The computers were all run on these moveable stations - all the data is recorded on the students independent memory card.  These were a very cheap system ($175 each) - there was one computer for every two students.  This meant that MHJHS didn't have intention to go down the BYOD pathway.  To me it seemed that the students just quietly worked in books/pairs or were onto the computers. 





One of the most interesting decisions that MHJHS decided to do was to have a line in the timetable where students get four hours where they can choose their study (with guidance).  Teachers are able to offer 'interest' subjects - we saw lots of specialist sports, competition tuition, Afrikaans language classes, dance classes, skateboard tutor teaching tricks etc.  Every staff member offers their time to do their interest (plus one or two catch up classes).  The *catch up* classes were compulsory (2 out of the 4 periods) for students that are behind in a curriculum.  That way if a student is identified as being "below the level" they're expected to come to some curriculum classes instead of dance/music etc.
  


This post relates to RTC # 7. promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment.  And RTC # 8. demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn part iii. encourage ākonga to take responsibility for their own learning and behaviour.

Formative Assessment

Inside The Black Box
With the departure of ERO this term there has been a highlight of the need for a common level of practice in the use of our data.  This post is particularly focussed on the use of formative assessment data to improve our practice, planning, reporting and general knowledge of our learning progress. 

It was recommended to us to use as one of the core academic sources an article by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam called Inside the Black Box : Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment  [click on the title to link to an online copy].  This article is somewhat dated (circa 1998) but was a quick read (only sixteen pages) and written with the teacher in mind. 

I believed that my own practice around formative assessment is/was very sound.  It has morfed slightly over my years as a teacher of Mathematics - but primarily has involved the same strategy.  Specifically that looked like beginning lessons with some "do now" questions (maths material that focusses on the work covered in recent lessons or earlier this year).  I have detailed roll book (see attached document). 

My formative assessment data would be the scores out of 10.  These I used as a means of gauging whether the class are 'getting it'.  Inside the Black Box really challenged my assumptions and drilled down into the quality of what my formative practice has actually been. 

Here are some of the quotes which if found to be most profound...
  

"Improved formative assessment helps low achievers more than other students and so reduces the range of achieved while raising achievement overall." (p. 4)

A strong statement on the importance of a concentration on the use of data. 

"Pupils who come to see themselves as unable to learn usually cease to take school seriously." (p. 4). 

With honest personal reflection I can see this trait is a valid observable factor in with 9BK - students that are giving up on Maths as they see themselves unable to do it.  Making this one of my priority goals as an teachers. 

"Teachers are often able to predict pupils' results on external tests because their own tests imitate them, but at the same time teachers know too little about their pupils' learning needs." (p. 5)

This is notable in my own formative assessment - I know who's on track for the summative assessment but I'm not specifically able to pin point exactly where they're deficient (and therefore I'm lacking in my practice with feedback/feedforward). 

"Feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on what he or she can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons with other pupils." (p. 7) 

Black and Wiliam highlight a particular shortcoming of my own use of formative data;

"It is essential to ensure the quality of feedback.  Research studies have shown that, if pupils are given only marks or grades, they do not benefit from feedback." (p. 9)

And they challenge with a self assessment questions of;

"Do I really know enough about the understanding of my pupils to be able to help each of them?" (p. 10)

Here are the questions that the ERO team were asking staff and management...

For Staff

1. Where is your formative data?  Can I see it?
2. How do you use your formative data to plan?
3. Can I see the notes you've made for yourself that you use to follow up on?
4. Where are your reflections on your students?

For Management

1. What tools are you expecting your staff to use to gather formative data?
2. What do you provide to staff as guidelines and expectations you have for your staff?
3. What are the your expectations on recording formative observations?

 Finally they commented "We can see the data, we can't see overtly the use of that data."





This material relates to RTC #
11. analyse and appropriately use assessment information, which has been gathered formally and informally - and - RTC # 8. demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn