Kia ora tātou this is a brief overview of my Mind lab journey. Though it has been a lot of work I would actively encourage participation in the course. An agile solution to a Trickey problem? My mind bubbles when I think about all the potential inquiries and tangents that I could explore due to my Mindlab journey. An issue in my practice is often I look for the new and exciting and embrace it without fully understanding what it is. The idea of failing fast is not always the best practice for the classroom. I really enjoy talking about changes in my practice with others and me and colleagues are in a constant cycle of reflection. Two inquiries that I am thinking about looking at are: “How can Agile Methodology be applied to the classroom to effectively increase students self-management?” Or “How can gamification be effectively used to increase skill mastery in Mathematics?” These topics may be helpful for my community of practice (COP). #Bafflegitimize is a cross-curricular professional learning group that I belong to in my school. Our domain of interest is increasing student engagement in the classroom. We have regular meetups in a work setting, informally and digitally. When we meet we spend time talking about what we notice in our classroom common problems we have experienced with our learners and what we new strategies we have tried. It can be difficult to meet due to some members being part-time and the busy nature of our work but we are a tight and non-judgemental team with the best in mind for our learners. I am often viewed as the one who seems to be trying out something new and the group would label me as “future-focused”. I do not know if the community of practice would be so receptive to these inquiries. Due to the changing nature of our workplace words like “agile” and “gamified” can often be seen as fad like. Like everything else, this too will pass. We have used Kahoot, Quizlet and other learning games but they have their limitations and students can quickly tune out. Learning sometimes has to have the necessary academic rigour is also a critique that has been levelled at these concepts. I also know that my COP is willing to attempt the new and would love to see how they could possibly develop the practice in their classroom. Being a cross-curricular group will it work in subjects like Dance, Spanish, ESOL, PE and Economics? It actually surprised me when I started looking at the idea of the Agile classroom that there is so much research out there. The beautifully entitled paper referenced at the bottom talks about the friction between cyclical and transformative change and this echoes deep within my COP. We struggle to let go of old systems and feel there is a value in them. I think another important thing for my COP to understand is that the Agile methodology is not about technology but it has humans at the core of its method. Imagine how much improvement we could make within our weekly retrospectives both as a team and our students. As for gamification, we could see more of a need for this in mastering Maths skills. It is very interesting to read about the use and success of the Math Land project on students with Emotional and Behavioural issues. Though from the research it does seem to lend itself to skill mastery well would it result in the deep learning we may require from our students? So I guess it is time to think about which pathway I will venture down and how many of #bafflegitimize will travel with me. Personally, I am very excited by this journey into the unknown and know where ever I am heading student engagement is the aim. ~Duncan Trickey References
https://www.worldgovernmentsummit.org/api/publications/document?id=2b0d6ac4-e97c-6578-b2f8-ff0000a7ddb6 Explorations into becoming new, radical, and quite possibly dangerously progressive within an Aotearoa New Zealand contextDunham, Nicola; Owen, Hazel; Heta-Lensen, Yo https://medium.com/laboratoria/the-agile-classroom-embracing-an-agile-mindset-in-education-ae0f19e801f3 https://www.infoq.com/articles/agile-schools-education Bozarth, J. (2017). Nuts and Bolts: Communities of Practice. Retrieved from https://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/2400/nuts-and-bolts-communities-of-practice Cambridge, D., Kaplan, S. & Suter, V. (2005). Community of practice design guide: A Step-by-Step Guide for Designing & Cultivating. Retrieved from https://net.educa use.edu/ir/library/pdf/NLI0531.pd…
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Seven months ago, I just stepped in my dream postgraduate University. Although I do like the free study environment and experienced and admirable teachers there, I don’t like the city. That city is known for being extremely humid in summer and cold in winter. I didn’t want to bear the terrible weather for too long, so I decided to escape from that city for a period of time. At that time, there was a notice that said we were welcome to apply to do our internship in New Zealand next year. When I first saw the message, I knew this was my chance. After several rounds of competition, strict training and going through a series of formalities, finally I got the chance. I have to say I didn’t know that this decision would make such a big change to my life. ![]() The first city I met here was Christchurch, where the Confucius institution is located. We had more training there to help us adapt to the local teaching model. I still remember the last day when the training finished, the mandarin learning assistants (MLA) who were based in Christchurch got picked up by their homestays one by one. My friends and I helped to put their luggage in their homestays’ car, at that time I was so worried about the homestay I would face tomorrow. I thought they wouldn’t welcome me too much, because I didn’t get any message from them until the last day before I arrived Dunedin. I found I was totally wrong. After a long bus ride, I arrived Dunedin at a sunny afternoon. My homestay and his two kids were there waiting for me, my lead teacher was there too. Those are first bunch of wonderful people I met who have made this year so amazing to me. What the most moving thing is for me is that my homestay chooses to share their life with me and treat me as part of the family members while they don’t have to. They bought me to all kinds of family activities. The most impressive one is Sunday morning breakfast with all family members in Dunedin, through which I see the passing down of love and care from one generation to another. To be honest, I was not an outdoor person, but they are totally an outdoor family. With them, I saw lots of beautiful sceneries around this area, and they also teach me what a good parent should be like through their actions I see every day. There’s no word can describe how lucky I am to stay with them. The only thing I think I could do to reward their kindness is to be a kind person and care about people around me. There is a saying goes like “the world is a book, those who don’t travel read only one page.” During my spare time, I traveled around the country. Because I can’t drive in New Zealand, I always travel by bus. It’s impressive how intercity drivers drive. They can drive while introducing passengers the places of interest all the way! They would stop and let you have a short visit at some of the scenic spots along the way as well. I think that most of the history of New Zealand I have learned from those knowledgeable drivers. When you travel, you will see this country is full of natural beauties and people here really cherish it and have done a great job to protect the environment. Certainly, they get paid back, people from every corner of the world pay lots of money to see the beauty of the country. People value honesty and transparency so much here. There’s not such a thing like compulsory tips for waiters, guides, or drivers, because they think it’s their employer’s duty to offer them a decent salary rather than the people who use their service. Several month ago, I left my kindle at a backpacker by mistake in Te Anau. I thought I must lost it, but the receptionist contacted me as soon as they found it after they cleaned up my bed, and only charged me 5 dollars for post fee. In a word, living in this country, you will have a strong sense of security for people trust each other. The cultural diversity also makes it a very unique country. Beside strong European culture, Maori culture is also highly valued. Once I had an opportunity to experience a Marae trip with year 10 girls in our school, we slept together on the floor with our sleeping bag at night. When all lights were off and everybody stopped talking, the sound of sea wave miles away got so soft and clear in the air. The Māori teacher started to tell us the story of early Māori settlers. The culture inheritance process was so natural and solemn, which inspired me a lot. There are lots of things make me feel great to stay here of which I can’t list them all. People say thank you to bus drivers when they get off the bus, people say hello or smile to each other when they meet on the road, supermarkets offer free fruit for kids, drivers always give way to pedestrians, and animals are also equally respected and protected as lives who share the living environment with us ect. If I have to give a title to this country, I would say it is a distant utopia in my mind.
~Betty Pu The other day, I helped a blind woman see. Ok, not exactly… but I did see something for a blind woman. I have an app on my phone called ‘Be My Eyes’. It’s an app that connects blind and low vision people with sighted volunteers for visual assistance through a live video call. It was 6.30am, and I was on the crosstrainer at the gym (true story!) when I received the alert: “Someone needs your help. A blind or visually impaired person is calling for help.” I stopped my pedaling and answered the call. An American lady asked me to help her identify a package from her freezer. She was wanting to heat up a lasagne dinner, and needed to know if the packet she was holding was the correct meal. I told her that unfortunately she was holding a ‘hotpot’ and helped her identify a lasagne in her freezer. It’s a little thing, but it can make a big difference for someone else. And it sure made me feel good having started off my day with a good deed! While we often hear about people misusing technology, there are plenty of people out there, teenagers and millennials especially, who are using technology for social change. Young people are actually going out of their way to utilise technology for the betterment of humankind. Take the ‘Sit With Us’ app, designed by a teenager. It’s an app designed for young people in a school to find their friends, host lunch events and welcome new people to sit with them. ![]() Another great NZ creation, is the website ICON (In Case of Online Negativity). This was dreamed up by a founding member of the Sticks ‘n Stones youth anti bullying group. The aim was to create an online tool that would connect and inform those affected by online bullying, harassment and harm with the appropriate information, advice, tools and services. I’m sure everyone has heard about our very own ‘Student Volunteer Army’. This organisation was set up in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes and has ‘since become a multi-faceted movement with a focus on enabling New Zealanders to give back to their communities.’ Young people need mentorship over monitoring. Some need guidance more than others in thinking of ways they could leverage their technology for good; to even change the world! Having a greater purpose in using technology to achieve a goal, to serve others, to improve meaning and quality of life, can quickly take over time spent keeping up ‘streaks’ on Snapchat, or trolling on social media. Using tech for these purposes will help our young people ‘be somebody’ in a much bigger and more meaningful way than racking up ‘friend’ numbers or followers on Instagram. We need to help our young people harness their natural curiosity, ability to think imaginatively, and tendency to ask preposterous “what if…” questions for the benefit of us all. It is such an exciting time we live in, and it really is a world where if you think creatively, work effectively with others, and harness tools and capabilities for innovation, you really can make dreams come true. ~Rowan Taigel In the classroom one of the most difficult times for our students is pre-examination. This often seems to be even more difficult in the Maths classroom. The number of emails from parents as we go towards Exam time increases and students generally worry more. One way I changed my practice was to use Classcraft in the classroom. This is a role-playing based online game. I felt that if I could foster the idea that the students were on a quest to defeat the exam together, we would see better results. This idea lets me rethink the roles of me and my learners. I was no longer the teacher but the game master and my students each had a personalised digital avatar to adventure with. I spent vast amounts of my youth chasing Snotlings and pretending to be a werewolf so this change felt really exciting for me. The girls in class were excited as well and loved to personalise their own avatars giving them roles and powers. I was excited about the class and really enjoyed setting up different adventures based around defeating the end of year exam. It worked very well for some of my more cautious learners; those that often relied on the teacher's knowledge. Instead, they now worked more collaboratively to tackle the problems and did not rely on me. The engagement in class increased and students began writing up problems on the board and their teams would work together to teach each other content, trying to tackle the more difficult questions. If I further analyse this change in my practice, it was clear to me the students had to develop a new view of our roles in the classroom. There are a number of theories on why gamifying learning works well. Curtiss Murphy talks about motivation as one of the biggest factors in improving learning, and by increasing the motivation for students to work and succeed as a team, I had unlocked more agency in my learners. The experience in my classroom also seemed to echo Jane McGonigal's concepts of “social fabric”, “Blissful Productivity” and “Epic meaning”. We were no longer students in the classroom, we were a band of warriors slaying the Demon of Algebra. How else could I have developed this idea for my students? Could the whole exam have been a gamified experience instead of a standard test? The results in the exam were an improvement from the previous year, but not for every student. Could an examination be more gameful? In what way? Imagine an exam were every student went in with the same motivation I had seen in the game? Rather than an independent closed book exercise, we were thrown into some fantasy realm where we could use the skills we had been equipped with to solve problems. What effect would this have on our learners? ![]() What further action am I going to take with the knowledge about the motivation my learners have experienced in the classroom due to this change in my practice though? That is a really wicked problem and I have tried to develop different gameful ways of delivering content but none with as much success as Class Craft. Would the novelty eventually wear off if all the Maths content was delivered this way? Gamification is a wonderful and creative way to approach learning but would it be sustainable in my practice? If it is to be, I would have to call for a more collaborative approach. Who knows what kind of awesome adventure me and a colleague could develop for our learners!? References:
Kapp, Karl M.. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction : Game-Based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education, Center for Creative Leadership, 2012 Curtiss Murphy, Why Games Work and the Science of Learning, Alion Science and Technology https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306 Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open. ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf ~Duncan Trickey A few weeks ago when I was on a course in Wellington, one of the presentations involved questions around gender and some common terms. We were discussing the challenges students and schools face when catering for the diverse needs of our LGBTQI community. Some of the terms I was very familiar with, (I know that I am a cisgender female), but others, I wasn’t so confident with, for example, what it means to be bigender. So I thought I’d do some research, and also share with you a wonderfully simple diagram which helps to explain, or map out, gender. I thought I knew "the basics", but this diagram and the explanations really helped me solidify my understanding, and my confidence in explaining some of these terms and concepts to students (and my son) who may ask. The Genderbread PersonGender identity, gender expression, biological sex, and sexual orientation exist independent of one another. The schema used below to map out gender (the “-ness” model) allows individuals to plot where they identify along both continua to represent varying degrees of alignment with the traditional binary elements of each aspect of gender, resulting in infinite possibilities of “gender” for a person. Gender Identity: Who you think you areOn the left of both continua there is an empty set symbol, which is meant to represent a lack of what’s on the right, and on the right we have “woman-ness” (the quality to which you identify as a “woman”) and “man-ness” (ditto, but with “man”). Gender identity is all about how you think about yourself. It’s about how you internally interpret the chemistry that composes you (e.g., hormone levels). It has been accepted that we form our gender identities around the age of three and that after that age, it is incredibly difficult to change them. Formation of identity is affected by hormones and environment just as much as it is by biological sex. Gender Expression: How You Demonstrate Who You AreOn the left of both continua there is an empty set symbol, which, you guessed it, represents a lack of what’s on the right. On the right sides we have “feminine” and “masculine.” Examples of different gender expressions and possible labels are to the right. Gender expression is all about how you demonstrate gender through the ways you act, dress, behave, and interact—whether that is intentional or unintended. Gender expression is interpret- ed by others based on traditional gender norms (e.g., men wear pants; women wear dresses). Gender expression is something that often changes from day to day, outfit to outfit, and event or setting to event or setting. Biological Sex: The Equipment Under The HoodOn the left of both continua there is an empty set symbol, representing a lack of what’s on the right, and on the right we have “female-ness” and “male-ness” (both representing the degree to which you possess those characteristics). In the examples to the right, you see a term, “intersex,” which is a label for someone who has both male and female characteristics. You also see two “self ID” (self-identification) labels, which represent people who possess both male and female characteristics but identify with one of the binary sexes. Biological sex refers to the objectively measurable organs, hormones, and chromosomes you possess. Let’s consider biological sex in the ultra-reductive way society does: being female means having a vagina, ovaries, two X chromosomes, predominant oestrogen, and the ability to grow a baby in your abdominal area; being male means having testes, a penis, an XY chromosome configuration, predominant testosterone, and the ability to put a baby in a female’s abdominal area; and being intersex can be any combination of what was just described. Attraction: Who You're Romantically & Sexually IntoWe have two related ideas here. On the left of each we have “nobody,” meaning no feelings of attraction. On the right we have “men/males/ masculinity” and “women/females/femininity.” Sexual attraction can be thought of as the want, need, or desire for physical sexual contact and relationships. Romantic attraction is an affinity and love for others and the desire for emotional relationships. Some folks have both, some folks have neither, many experience more of one than the other. Gender identity, gender expression, biological sex, and sexual orientation are independent of one another (i.e., they are not connected). People’s sexual orientation doesn’t determine their gender expression. And their gender expression isn’t determined by their gender identity. And their gender identity isn’t determined by their biological sex. If someone is born with male reproductive organs and genitalia, he is very likely to be raised as a boy, identify as a man, and express himself masculinely. We call this identity “cisgender” (when your biological sex aligns with how you identify), and it grants a lot of privilege. It’s something most of us who have it don’t appreciate nearly as much as we should. The video below illustrates this idea beautifully, I think... I feel like I've learnt a lot during my research, and hope this might support anyone with questions to access some great resources.
I am so proud to work in a school community which is so inclusive and backs all our students and community members as beautiful, unique individuals who all belong here. I'm particularly proud of our QSA group, who really embody our school's core values in every way by being champions for equity in our school community. I've included some resources below if anyone has further questions / interest: http://inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/lgbtiqa/ Inclusive education guide for schools http://insideout.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Making-Schools-Safer-For-Trans-and-Gender-Diverse-Youth-web.pdf (a comprehensive guide with a great glossary of terms at the end) https://insideout.ry.org.nz/ A friendly and accessible learning resource to help increase understanding and support of sex, gender and sexuality diversity, so we can all belong Content credit: Breaking Through The Binary - SamKillermann ~Rowan Taigel ![]() A beautiful hot day out at Karitane only moments away from an Epic water fight, my mind stumbles back to the school. It is the Zucchini you see served up on the BBQ. Proudly I say our students grew that at school! It is only a Zucchini but in a way, I saw it as the fruits of our labour; we certainly would gather more nutrition from it than a raft of Credits or an end of year exam. I have spent a massive amount of time reflecting on the end of year project based learning programme for year 9’s. There were some real highlights and lowlights. The student feedback was positive the teacher feedback not as positive (and that's me putting my usual positive spin on things). In my deep reflection, I clearly underestimated the actual size of this “Change initiative”. I hummed, harred and admittedly slurred a little as I caught up with my whānua in Scotland over Christmas talking about the undertaking. The judging day was a real highlight of the term, the effort that some of the girls had put in was fantastic. The joy some of these girls brought to the sick elderly and possibly bewildered, just made the heart sing. What of the others though? What about those who didn’t rise to the challenge in the most appropriate way? Some of my research on Project Based Learning pointed me towards the idea of these projects bringing Social equity. Students could thrive in these settings. For me that is an idea so intoxicating I couldn’t just put the idea away. So what were the next steps? The Future Focused Learning Committee was granted a book to read on the conditions we write about it in the Siren. Look out for that article when I finally finish the book! A lot of the Project Based Learning literature repeats this mantra around “embracing the chaos”, words like “messy” and “fail” are ping ponged across the pages or through the pages or radio waves. As part of my own PLG I have been trying to look at how I can increase student agency, how can we light a fire under the learning to bring purpose? Reading the first few pages of the book I had it. Project Global Inform was an initiative set up by the authors of ‘Launch’. The wicked problem we have in Social Studies is we look at Human rights and weep but don’t make any real impact. Project Global Inform was a global project, mostly around North America, with students tackling the problems of human rights, informing people through social media and then raising money, resources or political awareness to make a difference. This reminded me of the amazing middle school educator Craig MacDonald-Brown who spoke at Ulearn (link below). My ever-patient Head of the department had to put up with me on a soapbox for the first month of the term saying I was no longer going to teach about Genocide I was going to end it. She told me to plan it out and go for it. I did a kind of lazy remix of some of the sources that are included with the book I am not reviewing at the moment and hacked at the core assessment and turned them into my slightly Frankenstein core assessment. After teaching the kids about the United Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) we used this as a framework for looking at various humanitarian issues. I then showed them about what was happening in Myanmar and the ongoing genocide there. We empathised, we wept, we got angry, then I said to them it is our duty to act and fix human rights issues. So my year 10 were sent forth, I wanted them to end genocide. They, though, needed to find a project that sang to them. One group looked at gender equity, specifically looking at the price of shampoo and beauty products. They planned to create a podcast informing people about it but despite support, the group never really got the project off the ground. Another group ended up in discussions with a South African NGO who were working to educate about the huge levels of sexual violence in SA. The process was organic and frustrating, at the time we felt that the world seemed so intangible, the student doesn’t always understand why the Minister of Health won’t reply hourly to their emails. Hashtags and Social media accounts were created to raise awareness and quickly were connected to social networks of people interested in what the girls were doing. Was it a success?Not always... it felt difficult at times. Were the girls engaged and stakeholders in their own learning? Yes. The biggest shock to me was that after all the hard work, to-ing and fro-ing, surveys, social media accounts, head scratching and confusion, one of the girls’ favourite things was producing the human rights boards to see and share everyone's learning. I was surprised, as these had been the very things I had been raging against to start with. From this start, I have continued my learning journey failing fast on a number of projects with the students. My Year 9 plan to create a tool to inform and educate students about digital citizenship fell flat. Some students did produce work that covered our curriculum but others fell well short of the mark. The Economics girls did a fantastic job of pitching several charity ideas to a team of judges, and they are currently enjoying using the design thinking process to create the perfect holiday for their client while developing a budget. I am starting to count a few more successes than fails. It is all hard work and we often underestimate how much heavy lifting there is in the thinking. Being creative and thinking deeply about solving a problem is really hard. When you are invested in the problem it becomes even more difficult.
So really in the end what have I learned? Well firstly, I am a proper failure. Let us never doubt this; I have been talking about Genocide for the past 16 years and it persists in this world. In a technology driven world, it will be up to the humans to solve these issues and we as teachers have an important role to play in ensuring the correct framework exists to help the students navigate through these projects. Just because something is difficult, doesn’t mean you should give up on it. Also, my biggest reflection on these projects is that they need to be student-led. Though I may have an idea of what I want to be fixed or the students to work on, student agency only really comes through the girls being truly invested in the work. To do this well you need to understand a design process, possibly the ‘Launch’ process or other design thinking templates. Also, the students, just like ourselves, will want to take shortcuts in these processes. Don’t! The more you work with the frameworks, the more you see the pain points in the process. Have I got it right yet, hell no, but I am getting closer and I long for the day that my students code an algorithm that make cars run on smiles and students enjoy equity in educational outcomes. ~Duncan Trickey In our PLG discussion on Tuesday, the terms grit and resilience came up. Are they interchangeable? What’s the difference between them? we wondered. When looking to the experts, here’s what we found: What is Grit?![]() According to Angela Duckworth, a researcher, a MacArthur Fellowship winner and with a TEDtalk with over 13 million views, grit is “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” Duckworth’s research has evolved around discovering why some individuals accomplish more than other individuals despite having the same talent, intelligence, and resources. Grit is the motivational drive that keeps you on a difficult task over a sustained period of time. “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.” - Angela Duckworth How gritty are you?How is grit different from resilience?Resilience involves the ability to get back up when you’ve been knocked down or to come back fighting stronger after a loss. The subtle differentiating factor between these two deeply entwined character traits seems to be that resilience is the optimism to continue when you’ve experienced some failures and times are so tough that others see continuing as futile or impossible. Testing your Resilience Characteristics The 5 common topics which are explored in resilience questionnaires are: Self-Control: This concept in a resilience test measures your ability to make rational decisions, to suspend judgement, and to act rather than react to provocation. It also tests your ability to finish up boring and menial tasks. Adaptability: This is your ability to improvise, exhibit creativity and inventiveness. It highlights your flexibility based on your capacity to absorb feedback, separate the wheat from the chaff and make the best use of feedback. Optimism: Another key trait explored is your ability to maintain an informed positive outlook on issues. This includes your ability to find solutions and find ways of adapting to all different manners of situations with enthusiasm and passion. Self-Sufficiency: This is your ability to trust in your own talents and solutions. People who display a greater awareness of their innate gifting, and practice self acceptance, tend to be more self-sufficient and resilient. Persistence: The stick-to-it attitude counts a lot in how you fair in resiliency questionnaires. Most successful ventures tend to be the product of people who stuck to it long after others had quit. It’s the inner willingness to continue working on something even after the excitement has worn off. How Resilient are you? A Growth MindsetCarol Dweck’s work has shown that you can change your mindset. Her research found that when students had a growth mindset; a mindset which perceives a challenge as an opportunity to learn rather than an obstacle to overcome, they responded with constructive thoughts and their behaviour showed persistence rather than defeat. “How are we raising our children? Are we raising them for now instead of yet? Are we raising kids who are obsessed with getting As? Are we raising kids who don't know how to dream big dreams? Their biggest goal is getting the next A, or the next test score? And are they carrying this need for constant validation with them into their future lives? Maybe, because employers are coming to me and saying, "We have already raised a generation of young workers who can't get through the day without an award." - Carol Dweck So what can we do? How can we build that bridge to yet?From Dweck’s research into the growth mindset in regards to tenacity and its effects on achievement, especially in an educational setting, she discovered: 4 factors that affect ongoing tenacity or grit:
Below are 5 suggestions to increase your grit and resilience through developing a growth mindset. 1) Focus on Your Language Choice Praising efforts fosters resilience and reminds people of their role in a successful outcome. Too often young children are praised for “being smart” rather than having a good plan. Use language that encourages perseverance and praises effort. 2) Surround Yourself with People Who Persevere Surrounding yourself with people who have both passion and perseverance towards their goals, will help to strengthen or grow the mindset required to increase resilience and grit. 3) Adopt Flexible Thinking Patterns Being less rigid in your thoughts and actions allows resilience and grit to blossom. Simply because flexible people don’t see problems they see opportunities for growth and learning. When every challenge is met with enthusiasm and creative thinking you will see yourself as capable and this confidence breeds resilience. 4) Set Tiny Goals That Align with Your Purpose People with a sense of purpose are happier. However, your purpose is very abstract and often difficult to define. By creating smaller short term goals which align with your bigger purpose, you increase your success rate and your speed of accomplishing goals. This will keep you motivated to keep persevering. 5) Build Time into Your Day for Reflection When you take time to reflect, you bring awareness in a focused way to the things you have accomplished and the path you want to take to continue. Whether your reflection takes the form of meditation, a journaling session, talking with your Critical Friend, a gratitude exercise or a walk outside while you think back on your day, when you give yourself time to think back on your day in a non-judgemental way, you can see what you have accomplished and what actions you need to take tomorrow to keep moving forward. Take Home MessageGrit is our passion and perseverance towards reaching a long-term goal while resilience is the optimism to keep bouncing back from failure. Both of these traits for success are rooted in a growth mindset, and the good news is that a growth mindset means you can learn, develop and build your resilience and grit. Like most valuable skills, this will take practice and dedication. However, these efforts are well worth it because fostering these traits of a growth mindset will have positive impacts on every aspect of your life. ~Rowan Taigel References: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/5-ways-develop-grit-resilience/ https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/resiliency-questionnaire/ http://resiliencyquiz.com/index.shtml https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/2121 https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance/transcript https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve/transcript#t-209464 It was a bit nerve wracking walking to the university this morning as there were police everywhere, as well as riot police, ambulances and nurses in preparation for today’s student strike. The are protesting to get better education for future generations as part of the upcoming elections. At the university, the classrooms were blocked to disallow the teachers entering, but we were a special case so went in. We had a class on indigenous languages, which was so interesting. There are 65 languages in Colombia and 1 million indigenous people. 600,000 of them speak those indigenous languages and some languages are sadly beginning to become extinct. For some, they speak their language at home, Spanish at school and English at church. There are 13 linguistic families those native languages pertain to and the languages that survive are those that are living in isolated communities. 25 of the indigenous languages are found in the small region of Vaupes. One issue is indigenous people marrying someone who speaks Spanish, which interrupts it being passed down to the next generation. In addition, people leave their community in the country to work in the city and the language gets lost that way too. We also talked about how TV really interrupts the transmission of indigenous language as children watch TV rather than talking to (and learning from) their elders. We also learnt about the importance of the rubber trees in Colombia. The demand for the rubber turned many indigenous tribes into slaves to manufacture the rubber. From there it turned violent and lots of natives disappeared. Some of those communities separated trying to flee from being slaves and the language was hence lost as they are not all together in their communities. We looked at all the languages and the areas they are spoken in. Some have as little as 14 speakers remaining and some are monolingual in that language while others speak up to 8 other languages. One tribe, had so few people left who spoke their native language that when one of elders died last year it made national news. A lot of land has been taken away from indigenous areas to be turned into cocaine farms from paramilitary groups. With the peace agreement signed between those groups and the government, the government has recently set up a new department which aims at buying land and giving it back to the indigenous. It is said all conflict in Colombia is over land and looking after the native people also helps in the conservation of the language. ![]() The chemicals they put into cocaine is contaminating the water the tribes depend on and in some areas they are in ‘lock down’ letting no one in or out. Many indigenous end up working in the drug trade as they have nothing else to do in that region. The university has now set up a campus in these regions to encourage indigenous people to study rather than get drawn into the drug trade. The Ika language is linked to a group that wear white and hats that represent the snow capped mountains. They live in a special area really close to the Carribean Sea (hot) but also close to the snowy mountains. They carry bags to collect Coca leaves (the leaf which is used to manufacture cocaine), which are sacred to them. Coca leaves aren’t just cocaine though. They have many medicinal purposes including helping with altitude sickness. Saying that Coca is just cocaine would be like saying all grapes are wine. They have a census here in Colombia but it isn’t very effective as it doesn’t reach isolated areas and some don’t understand Spanish (the language it is written in) so it is hard to define how many speak each language. It is also hard define if you are a speaker o that language as how much do you have to speak to say you speak it. Most native languages are generally only spoken (not written) but some alphabets have been created (mainly by investigators of the language). Some are trying to keep their language alive through music (lyrics through rap or rock). Music is important for many groups as a form of healing. He talked about a tree one tribe uses which makes you high (the flowers) and then you see things, then it makes you vomit. They see it as a cleansing of bad spirits. They sing and chant around you when you are on it. If Spaniards hadn’t arrived in Colombia then everyone would probably speak Quechua language as it was rapidly spreading through Peru around that time. All over Colombia you can find Quechua selling their medicinal products and bracelets babies wear to defend off sickness which are made of stones and animal teeth. The macu tribe are the ones that speak lots of languages but are seen as the lowest socio economic group of all and are used as servants and no one from outside the tribe would marry then. They are the only real nomadic known group. For indigenous, food is really important as they use it to make alcohol as well as to eat. Chicha (alcoholic drink made from corn) takes only 3-4 days to ferment. Many elders walk around barefoot. They live mainly in 2 bedroom houses with an outside kitchen as they cook on open fires. Part of the government programme is giving them resources to build their own houses as there is no point in building a house for them that doesn’t fit their needs. They generally don’t have formalized bathrooms. What is helping the continuation of languages is tribes not allowing members to marry from within their tribe for fear of incest. So they marry outside of the tribe which is helping the next generation learn more than one indigenous language. The languages which are in trouble are the ones with an ageing population as when they die the language will too. The Pisamira language only has 30-50 speakers but that number doesn’t seem to have risen or fallen over the last few years as it is getting passed down from generation to generation. Part of the conservation of the languages has involved bringing back lost traditions, like festivals, creating children songs (and videos) in the language as well as stories and computer programmes with basic dialogues. We briefly heard one language and it sounded interesting (hard to describe but with click sounds). There were certain laws set up for indigenous people in 2010 saying you can’t discriminate because of their native language. They are allowed indigenous names on official documents (in the past their names were changes to other names – sometimes offensive words – without their will). They can use their language at hospitals, court and public administration. They have a 10 year plan to protect languages, but it is a very expensive plan. 36 languages are at risk of extinction. We then heard all the noise of the student protest coming through. Lots of signs and drums and people but a lot calmer than I imagined. They walk the 5km to the main square near congress and the president’s residence. The traffic was soo blocked as the police allowed the students to walk along the main street. A huge bowl of bean soup, rice, fried banana, avocado and juice for lunch for $9000 pesos ($4.50) then a class in the afternoon about use of IT in the classroom. It was very boy focused with games such as plagues and comics, which I just don’t think my students would be that into.
A lazy night in (after a visit to the supermarket to get some lollies as gifts) and a granadilla (similar to a passionfruit) for dinner and an icecream after my huge lunch. I am sick of taking my own toilet paper/tissues to the bathroom or having to pre-estimate how much I need before I go in. Surely paper in the cubicle wouldn’t lead to people using it too excessively?? ~Abbie Law I look back on my time at school with mixed emotions. There were very few subjects that brought me any form of happiness and by the time I had finished Year 11, most of the Science and Maths based subjects had a black mark next to their name (much to the despair of my biologist mother). I saw no purpose in staying at school and was desperate to leave. Family pressure and expectation meant that leaving school was never going to be an option for me - as my mother frequently said, my choices were University or ‘check-out chick’. ![]() So, I tailored my course to get me through one more year, knowing that it would be my last at school - I couldn’t stomach the thought of Year 13. I picked from all of the humanities subjects: English, Social Studies, History and Classics. Signing up for two Scholarship exams meant I was also entitled to two study lines (not sure how I got away with that one. Perks of being a teacher’s daughter perhaps?) Classics was the wild card. I walked into the class having no idea what to expect but knew that if it was based around ancient societies, then it had to be up my alley. I had no idea how much this subject would change my life. Halfway through the year, I declared to my parents that I would be going to University to study Classics. (Conveniently, they had both decided to leave Auckland and move to Blenheim the following year, so were quite relieved to have me leave home.) While my mum just wanted me to be happy, my dad’s only response was: “What a waste of money!” For him, university was about studying something that would give you a career. Classics had no prospects, especially in a country like New Zealand. Luckily for me, I had a rebellious streak and I didn’t care what my dad thought. I was successful at gaining discretionary entrance into the University of Otago to start a BA. I left my hometown and moved to Dunedin knowing no one, blissfully ignorant, wearing my rose-tinted glasses, not fully prepared for the consequences of the choice I had made. Five years later, after living overseas, teaching in South Korea and working as a wine rep in Canada, I brought my Canadian other-half back with me so I could do my GradDip in Teaching and make a career out of Classics. And now I’m here. The thing with Classics is - outside of teaching - there are very few real career pathways. My dad was right. But, I keep having to ask myself, are we really living in a world where we shut ourselves off from learning because there are no dollar bills glittering at the end of the road? Could it be possible that what we get out of a Classics degree is equally as valuable as a Business degree? At the beginning of the year, I talk to my students about what value Classics will have in their life - whether they continue with it after school or not. It’s more about the type of person Classics will help them to become, rather than the transferable skills they might be able to write on a CV. It’s a message that I want the staff to know as well. In studying Classics, students are forced to look at ancient societies who had a vastly different culture than our own. The main reason for this is the religious ideologies that underpin their society. Conversations about sexuality, incest, torture, slavery and racism are common in my classroom and students are constantly being challenged to recognise their own bias when thinking about these topics. Having a student consider why they can’t apply modern definitions and categories of sexuality to the Greek way of life is confronting for them. But in doing this, they also learn to do the same thing when looking at cultural practises that may take place in our modern day society. Beastiality is illegal in New Zealand and the thought of it often brings about feelings of disgust and repulsion - yet, in The Netherlands, it’s legal and the attitudes are more liberal. Encouraging them to identify their bias, and the reasons for it, allows them to be more empathetic to the members of our global community. Not only does Classics encourage students to take a more empathetic approach to their global neighbours, but it also encourages compassion for different generations. Our students have never lived in a country where homosexuality is illegal, yet for their grandparents, or great-grandparents, it was considered a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment. Classics examines societal change. By studying the introduction of Christianity to Rome, students can see how social attitudes change. ![]() I believe the understanding of how society shapes a person has a huge impact on our students’ ability to interact with others. If they can look at how their society has shaped their own identity and perspective, then Classics has been an incredibly valuable contribution to their life. Classics may not have a career pathway, grow our economy or push human civilization beyond its current technological limits, but it does have value. Removing barriers put up by ignorance and fear of other religions and cultures is vital in our global community. So what’s my point? We need to see ALL subjects as having equal worth and value - even those that may seem, on the outside, that they have no relevance to modern ways of living or earning. I’ve even managed to convince my dad of that. ~Jenny Seward ![]() I first encountered Gerd Gigerenzer at a conference in 2010 in Slovenia. He was a very entertaining and informative speaker and I enjoyed his presentation so much I bought the book! One thing that stayed with me was that medical students got less the 25% correct on a test on probability. Specialists didn’t fare much better. How are we able to make informed decisions in life, if we don’t understand the statistics? Especially the probabilities! “There is a 30% chance of rain tomorrow” Does this mean it will either rain or not rain tomorrow? It will rain tomorrow in 30% of the area? It will rain 30% of the time? Or it will rain on 30% of the days like tomorrow? We need to know what the 30% is referring to. The book has many examples (some I now use in my classes) where statistics and probability have been incorrectly interpreted with dire consequences, a man who tested to positive to AIDS who committed suicide but didn’t have AIDS, people going to jail for offences they didn’t commit. My pet favourite for misinterpreting risk is Angelina Jolie. Her decision to have her breasts removes was front page news, the admission the quoted risk was incorrect about page 12. Gerd takes us through interpreting the risk by simplifying the often confusing conditional probabilities and just using a “how many people out of 100” approach. Consider a mammogram. “Your friend is in tears and is wondering what a positive result means. Is it absolutely positive she has breast cancer, or is the chance 99 percent, 95 percent, 90 percent, 50 percent or something else?” Then Gerd shows how anybody, even those who are math phobic can work it out. “Think of 100 women. One has breast cancer, and she will probably test positive. Of the 99 who do not have breast cancer, 9 will also test positive. How many of those who test positive actually have breast cancer?” So it is easy to see there were 10 women who tested positive, but only 1 (10%) actually had cancer! ![]() The book also discusses the relevance of national screening. While those who are picked up by the screening have improved outcomes, there is also a downside. Many of those who test positive do not and have a negative outcome – the next steps involve risks and then there is the stress. Gerd looks at whether this is the best use of the Health dollar but leaves the conclusion up to the reader. Gerd is very qualified to discuss statistics as he is currently director of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition (ABC) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development[1]and director of the Harding Center for Risk Literacy,[2] both in Berlin, Germany. His mission is to try and make risk more understandable to everyone. I thoroughly recommend this book to anybody interested in improving their understanding of Risk and wanting to make informed decisions in their lives. You do not need to be a Maths nerd to understand, you just need some critical thinking!
~Jeanette Chapman |
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June 2019
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