Sometimes life takes us in directions we never anticipated, but it is in those unexpected detours we learn a lot. When I was in Year 12, I was lucky to find myself in Mrs G’s English class, and again in Year 13. Not only did she instil a love of English (and in particular Chaucer), she inspired me to rethink my career plan and consider becoming a teacher rather than a hairdresser. Considering the catastrophic home perm I inflicted on my younger sister which turned her hair green, this was a god send. Form there my journey followed a fairly streamlined trajectory - university, a stint teaching in Japan, college of education, and embarking on a career as a teacher. I loved my first teaching job, the girls were great, I enjoyed the energy in the classroom when you see those light bulb moments when something clicks and I was working with some amazing educators. Then with little warning a massive curve ball came my way. My now 9 year old was born with a congenital heart defect which required emergency open heart surgery when he was just 7 days old. Six months after that another curve ball hit, and my personal situation changed and I found myself having to step out of the classroom, leave a job I loved and colleagues I really enjoyed working with to return to Dunedin and settle myself and two boys into a new chapter. The road back to the classroom has been interesting. Starting with a brief stint as a single mum on a benefit while I sorted settling one into school and working out what to do with myself. This was a very dehumanising lesson. I still remember the young woman I spoke with on the phone rather rudely enquiring how long I thought I might be on the benefit for. Eager to get back working, I jumped into the world of a customer services representative for ACC. This was a massive eye opener. I very quickly realised I had lead a rather sheltered existence, and discovered there are some very very unpleasant people in this world. After 9 months of talking to people from all sorts of backgrounds I slowly started my journey to find my way back to the classroom. My time at Foundation made me realise how important it is to make the most of the time at school. Being in a pastoral role as a student support officer some days was hard, no day was ever the same and you never knew what you would be dealing with next - everything from relationship spats, to climbing over verandah walls to knock on a window to check on an absentee student, to hours sitting in EPS. But even on the worst day, it was the students that made me want to come back the next day - especially the ones that made the words of a very wise lecturer at Christchurch College of Education echo in my head. “There is no such thing as a bad student, they are all gold. Just with some you have to scrape through a lot of crap before you see the gold,” John Gourley.His words have been my touchstone not only in teaching, but in many aspects of my life. We all have one or two people that have often unknowingly shaped our lives. For me it was Mrs G, and those students that despite the odds being against them have found a way to stand tall and achieve more than they imagined. This is why I teach….to hopefully like Mrs G, share a love for my subject (I can still hear her reading the swear words in Letters to Whetu with great enjoyment, made even more shocking by her revelation she was once a nun!) and to make a small difference. I stepped back into the classroom in February, and it was like getting back onto a bicycle after a long break, a few speed wobbles and then it was like I had never got off the bicycle. Many things have changed, technology has made huge steps forward, but many things are just as I left them. As teachers it can be easy to forget that we do make a difference, and often we may never know the difference we made. ~Bronwyn Thomson
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We’re almost half-way through the year, and so this is a great time to pause and take stock of how far we’ve come and where to next. We started the year off with 1. The formation of cross-curricular Professional Learning Groups. The cross-curricular make-up of PLG groups is to ensure that everyone has opportunities to benefit from the rich and varied experiences of different teachers, and the different perspectives and approaches that other subject's disciplines can bring to a common challenge. 2. You honed in on a small group of priority learners in your class(es). You focused on 2-3 students in a class or across your classes who you thought should be your priority for whatever reason your professional judgement told you. The academic, engagement and wellbeing data you gathered from and about those students will have helped give you a clearer understanding of specifically what category of challenge it is that these students seem to be facing. 3. You shared and compared your data. In your group collaborative doc / template, or whatever format you’ve chosen to use, you’ve shared the data and information you have regarding:
4. You have found a common focus area. For many PLGs, you share the challenge of weaker levels of student engagement, so for the purpose of this example, I will use engagement as the focus. Because engagement is such a large abstract challenge, many of you have broken this down into types of engagement and shared the indicators or signs you’re seeing of a lack of engagement of these different types:
5. Brainstorming the signs you may be seeing of lack of engagement in your class(es) is a good way to narrow down to a manageable focus for yourself and your group. Remember, you don’t have to be a superhero. Pick the low-hanging fruit! Here is an example of one’s PLG group’s engagement brainstorm. The stars represent the indicators that they felt were the most significant / important ones for them to focus on. Ultimately, this group chose to focus on one sign of disengagement - the willingness to take (perceived) risks in learning. "How might we encourage students to take risks so that they feel comfortable expressing ideas, demonstrating engagement? " Remember that these three areas often blend into each other, so as this group tries different approaches, they may (or may not) find that some work on wellbeing may be a part of this challenge too. 6. Hunch forming. This is often the uncomfortable part of the inquiry process because this inquiry is about what WE can do DIFFERENTLY in order to improve learning experiences and outcomes for students. How might what WE’RE doing in our practice be contributing to this? It's also the fun part, where you get to brainstorm and share ideas with your teammates for how you might go about encouraging students to participate more, for instance, or help them get started with work more quickly. This is where referring to the 7 Principles of Learning resources and research might help you with ideas / strategies to try. (New Learning). [link to 7 P's here] ![]() 7. Take action! You have an idea for something new to try to see if it improves the indicators you’re seeing in class. Try it! Consciously watch and reflect on how it went. Record what happened in your collaborative doc. If it was a success, your team deserves to know! How do you know it was a success? (Checking) If it was a flop, you deserve help from your team to unpack why that might have been and to support you in your next prototype or iteration. You’re doing great! The inquiry structure or framework is not meant to make any extra work from what you would normally be doing as the reflective and conscientious teachers that you are. It is merely a guide for a way to progress through an inquiry process to ensure you can maintain momentum (which is always a challenge in the busy life of a teacher) and have a reference point to different modes of thinking for when you may hit a tricky patch or lose focus. Almost all of your PTCs will be ‘ticked off’ across the year through your inquiry journey and the recording and sharing of it with your colleagues. Discussing how it’s going with your appraiser before and after and observation lessons will also support its value and meaningfulness to you with your registration, your classroom teaching and your understanding of and relationships with your students and colleagues. ~ Rowan Taigel
![]() “Where are you from again?” A quick wave of panic rushes over me as I hastily assess whether I should say Rowtowrooah, or the correct pronunciation of Rotorua. Is it worth it to put in the effort ‘this time’? Will they know where I mean if I pronounce it properly or if instead I will receive a baffled look and a plea for me to repeat the already difficult word. (At which point I translate what I’ve just said to Rowtowrooah and am met with an expression of understanding.) The pronunciation of Te Reo Māori has consumed my thoughts since I moved to Dunedin 7 years ago. I was not prepared for the culture shock I would encounter after growing up in Rotorua and being surrounded by the culture, language, and traditions of Māori, as I naively thought at the time, all New Zealanders were. Turns out that is not quite the case. Not only is Te Reo Māori not as prevalent in other places, it is not as valued, not as common, and more to my point, not pronounced correctly. The ‘wrong’ way to pronounce Māori has become the right way and normalised because it is more common, because it is supposedly easier, and because for some reason some people are afraid to even try to say Māori words correctly. Hopefully I haven’t lost too many readers yet, since I know this is something that is often addressed, especially for teachers. (I’m sure you all remember the Kāpiti College student whose speech about the importance of putting in effort to pronounce Māori correctly went viral. If not, check out the clip below). I respect the fact that many people may not have not grown up with an emphasis on Māori language, especially in the South Island. I also understand that some people find Māori pronunciation difficult to quite literally get their tongues around. (As I admitted above, pronouncing Rotorua correctly every time is a conscious effort for me). I also respect that change is hard when you’re used to doing things one way your whole life. I respect these points, however I also think they are no longer that valid as excuses. Not when the same argument has arisen yet little effort has been made for change. Not when we are raising new generations of young people who are growing up in a society where appreciation of other cultures is more important than ever. As for pronunciation (which we deem important when it comes to English, French, and other languages taught in schools) Māori is actually a relatively easy language to pronounce (we already use many of the vowel sounds in English). Finally, change. I’ve noticed this is not something people tend to like the thought of… But after witnessing some valiant efforts in PLG meetings, PD workshops, and lesson observations, I know we are all more than capable because we are already changing all the time. Grammar Nazis |
When the world was too much |
(2) “Not Actually Being in Dumfries” by Hugh MacMillan from Not Actually Being in Dumfires, Luath Press Ltd, 2015
(3) A Scots term for someone from Dumfries
(4) Summer in Dumfries, by Hugh MacMillan from Not Actually Being in Dumfires, Luath Press Ltd, 2015
(5) May Revision, by Hugh MacMillan from Not Actually Being in Dumfires, Luath Press Ltd, 2015
(6) Bad News about Suicide by Drowning, by Hugh MacMillan from Not Actually Being in Dumfires, Luath Press Ltd, 2015
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It was noticeable that almost all the attendants I saw on the train, were black, and from Chicago. However there were not very many African Americans travelling in the cabins and roomettes.
Leaving Denver, you journey into the Rockies and have have some excellent views looking back over the plains. This first part of the journey, about 480km is everything I had expected; lots of high snow covered mountains, the rapids of the Colorado river and heaps of pine forests - though some of these had great swathes of dead trees presumably due to the pine beetle. What was surprising, was the large number of farms and settlements, I had never imagined so many people living in the Rockies but we passed town after town (and ski resort after ski resort). I now know why the trip was so long, every time the train passed a town, it slowed to a crawl and blew the horn continuously.
| Closer to the Colorado border, the scenery changes and I began to wonder if I was on a Western set and kept looking for the Indians lining the cliff tops surrounding the cowboys. |
After yet another train ride to San Luis Obispo, I met up with ex-Oghs teacher Alison Everett, who spent the next few days educating me about California wines...
An easy one. Substitute “garden” for ‘students’ (and “self”, “colleagues”, “community”). I like this version too: “The farmer’s footsteps are the best fertiliser.”
Catch and store energy: Not just water and sunlight, but also biomass and fertility.
Ideas here anyone? Perhaps reuse and recycle resources - colleagues’ and one’s own? Having great morning tea food and conversations? My grandfather’s version was “Don’t bust your boiler”.
Obtain a yield. Every plant should have a useful role to play.
Hmm. Probably a good approach to scrutinising one’s teaching resources. Or maybe it could be restated with a bit more faith as “Every human does have a useful role to play”.
Apply self-regulation and accept feedback. Listen to both positive and negative feedback from nature .. and from people!
Enough said!
This one seems very close to the advice to catch and store energy. Both come from a deeper respect for the processes and complexity - of natural and human productions, culture, and thought.
Produce no waste: Recycle, reuse and compost.
In nature, there is no “waste”. Everything is valuable to something. That understanding applies equally to experience: all is learning.
Design from patterns to details: Look for and replicate the patterns you see in nature.
Our inspiring Curriculum could be seen as the larger pattern, from which our units and lessons flow. The whole and the parts imply each other.
Integrate rather than segregate: Create synergy between plants.
And departments, all staff, learners…get those chatty girls working on something they’re all passionate about!
Use small slow solutions: Good design takes time.
Good design also needs imagination and some courage, but develop inquiry cycles based on careful observation and preserve what works well already.
Use and value diversity: A more biodiverse garden is a healthier garden.
Our core value of “respect” is active, not passive.
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This could be about noticing those quiet or quirky kids and paying them nurturing attention. This and the previous principle are also about allowing the”‘wild” to remain in our gardens/lives, in some areas. Giving ourselves personal time to play and just “be” is creative, energising, required.
Creatively use and respond to change: Be flexible! Rigidity does not last long in nature.
Flexibility needs grounding. The pace of change in our material and cultural worlds (eg especially climate change, technology replacing humans and deep human interaction) requires us to hold even stronger onto core values of caring for each other and the world to which we all belong.
Images sourced from Google free to use images.
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