I’m not going to lie. Nerves and butterflies plagued me in the weeks leading up to 4pm on Friday the 2nd of March. I think it was mainly fear of the unknown, and the dread that I wouldn’t have 100% control over what I was about to do. As the day grew closer, I began to think of ways I could pull out. Maybe I wouldn’t fit the wetsuit? Maybe Hilary and/or Rosie wouldn’t be able to go? On Thursday night, I decided to take a leaf out of Hilary’s (very organised and forward-thinking) book, and watch some YouTube videos. Predictably, the “beginner” videos made it seem all too easy. Trying to “pop up” from the carpet in my bedroom to my feet proved to be pretty much impossible. Due to my weight, I actually physically couldn’t get to my feet in one motion from a planking position. In a panic, I sent some snaps to Rosie and Hilary expressing my doubts. “#wereallinthistogether” “Nope, we are going!” they replied. We were going as a united front, no doubt about that. The next day, Durrie reassured me that I’d be fine. I wasn’t getting out of it that easily! We pulled up opposite Starfish in St Clair. Kussi, Durrie, Jennine and seven students were there waiting. This was happening! Rosie, Hilary and I were issued our wetsuits and excitedly headed to the changing rooms to struggle into them. It was my first time even wearing a wetsuit, and ohmygosh! I am going to get myself one so I will finally be able to brave the arctic Dunedin sea - something I assumed I would never ever do. Getting the surfboard from the hire van down to the beach was a real struggle. When we finally reached our instruction point, I was almost ready to pack it in. After some instructions from the instructor that again made surfing seem like child’s play, and an obligatory photo opp, we were off into the surf. Thankfully the ever-ready Hilary had thought to ask the instructor one last essential question before we got to the water: What were some good phrases to yell when we caught the waves? We had been practising “cowabunga” “hang ten” and “surf ‘n’ safari’’ - were there any others we should know? ![]() Being in the water was so much fun, but absolutely exhausting. I really did feel like a learner, and I began to draw parallels between my experience and that of our students. From my waist-high vantage point in the white water, I watched as Hilary charged right out the back, all guns blazing. She charged through the whitewash and started with the experienced surfers. I watched Rosie frolic around, enjoying the challenge but not pushing herself to her limits, instead watching and examining the environment. I watched as one of our students, Emma, took instructions and then successfully caught her first wave on her first attempt! I watched Jennine try a few times, and then with the help of an instructor, stand up! As for me, I struggled to balance, even just lying on the board! I kept positive and kept trying. I pushed through my fears and gave it my all. I accepted the help and encouragement of others. I reminded myself that even Kussi and Durrie had to start somewhere - they were once kooks too! The encouragement of my fellow first timers, the students (SUPER encouraging) and Durrie and Kussi really kept my spirits up. The instructors were calm and helpful too. My eyes stung, but my wetsuit meant I didn’t feel cold at all. I was getting smashed by the white wash, but I kept going. I caught a few waves, but I got no where near to standing up. In the end, about fifteen minutes before the end of the actual lesson, I was ready to get out of the water. I was completely done. I had no more energy! The main things I learned about being a learner were really just an unfortunate list of cliches:
All in all, I loved my time in the water. My plan is to get a bit more fitness up before I try again, as this will improve my overall enjoyment and ability. We have already decided on our next collaborative learning mission: horse riding! ~Regan Carroll, Rosie Joyce, Hilary Sutherland.
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![]() On our trip to Europe we had a cruise, three train and 10 plane trips as we visited 8 countries, in just under 7 weeks. So only enough time to gather first impressions of the places we visited. First up was London - but inner city London as we stayed in Paddington and just travelled on the inner tube links. Our impressions of London were that it was clean, multicultural and the people moved with a purpose. We didn’t see any evidence of homelessness or beggars. London looked prosperous. The only sign that the prosperity was not universal was the guy on the tube with the plastic bag of syringes, who after trying to beg for some money, and chatting to himself for a while, jabbed all the used syringes in succession into his arm. ![]() It was a totally different feeling in Brighton. Here it was very down at heel; the pavement was in need of repair, as did many buildings. We saw at least four people bedded down in the main street on our journey from the station to the sea and there were lots of beggars. It was much more mono-cultural, almost everybody we saw was white. Brighton looked neglected, and the prosperity we saw in London, gone. ![]() Onto the continent, and Vienna, the city of culture! Back to cleanliness,though Vienna was a little worn around the edges! Good food, especially the meat and pastries though definitely not cheap. Despite the delicious pastries, people did not seem overweight - until we got on the cruise and suddenly I felt much slimmer! The sight-seeing was much more reasonable than incredibly expensive London, with the churches free to visit (a contrast to St Paul’s!) Not a very multicultural city but very friendly and intensely proud of their Hapsburg Empire past, especially Maria Theresa. After the cruise and a bus trip, we were in Prague, the city of smokers. Alcohol was also readily available and you could buy spirits everywhere, including the equivalent of a Z petrol station. Beggars were in short supply in the city centre and we saw no homeless poeple. While the city was clean, it was a mix of past glory ( here Charles the IV was the big hero), badly constructed communist era buildings and beautifully restored buildings. The older guides were very anti-communist, and felt cost of living was high but we were told by a young guide that the employment rate is 98% and that some people just like to grumble! Whilst the official currency is koruna, euros were widely accepted though the conversion rate varied considerably. ![]() Tapas bars were prolific in Andalucia in Spain, and while they were usually busy, they were especially busy from lunch through to late afternoon. We also noticed that smoking was very common here as well, but the people were very friendly and happy to cope with my almost non-existent Spanish. There were lots of churches in Andalucia, though you either had to pay or sneak in after a service if you wanted to look inside. There were so many paintings of adoring angels and beatific Mary's and Jesus' that we really did overdose on religious paintings after I had dragged Jim into several cathedrals. ![]() New Year’s Eve we spent in a taxi queue. Not sure where it was posted that there was no public transport on New Year’s Eve but we didn’t find the post! Amsterdam really is the city of canals…. 50 kilometres and 1281 bridges! Not mention the nearly 850 000 bikes but there was no lycra in sight. Here the bikers just dress in normal clothes and ride at speeds under the speed limit and stay in the cycle lanes. The red light district was a bit of a disappointment, not nearly as interesting as I had imagined (not exactly quite what I had imagined, just not what we saw). Small red rooms with nobody home, presumably still recovering from the big night - it was New Year’s day. I know it was winter, but the city was a bit drab (maybe the New Year’s Eve rubbish didn’t help with this impression), very grey and uniform. Almost everybody spoke English and they were always very polite though I do feel too young to have people offering me their seats on the tram! It is no wonder that we saw almost no overweight people, the food is so dear that they obviously can’t afford those extra kilos! ![]() We didn’t spend much time in Paris, and our really lasting impression was our garret room…. We had thought there was a lift, but no, just 6 flights of stairs and we were both really sick. The room was missing a few things, like a basin and walls that didn’t slope, so not the most pleasant room! We had just been reading about artist’s garrets in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, I did wonder if it was just karma. We did rise from our sickbed and venture into Paris and also out of Paris, (I was delighted to use my Navigo again). In the towns outside Paris many people did not speak English and I had to use my limited French but they were very considerate. Also the towns were quite rubbish free and actually looked tidier that the area around Gare du Nord where we stayed. Smoking, while more present than New Zealand was definitely less than in previous visits and less than we saw in places like Spain and Prague. ![]() Morocco, though it was touristy was still a bit of a cultural shock. Not quite what I had expected either. Firstly, there was the noise in the towns, especially in the squares and the souks. The bargaining for goods I had expected, but the motorbikes in Marrakech that are ubiquitous and drive at speed through the narrowest of medina alleys, were a surprise. Every scenic spot had its attendant sellers of everything from eye makeup (some kind of metal) to fossils to refilled bottles of water and heaps and heaps of scarves. Like many we went, you paid to go to the toilet but here you paid everywhere even in a cafe or restaurant. Once you had handed over your 5 to 10 dirham, you were given your allocated toilet paper ration. Sometimes flushing the loo was tipping a bucket of water down the loo. The friendliness and openness of many of the people was also unexpected and many people chatted to us even when they weren’t trying to sell us things. The Moroccans we met just seemed to get on with making the best of what they had. I had of course realised that Morocco is part of Africa but hadn’t thought that so many would identify quite as strongly as African. Even in our short stay the tensions between cultures was obvious, in the south many identified strongly as Berbers but in Fes that wasn’t as obvious. Discrimination against “African noir” was also present, perhaps because slavery wasn’t illegal till 1924 and is still carried on informally today according to some reports. ![]() While we saw heaps of spices, the food was subtly rather than strongly spiced, but delicious. Prices varied a lot and mostly depended on how touristy the place was rather than the quality of the food. I had also imagined the desert as sandy, but while we saw sand dunes, most of the desert was just stony. Oasis weren’t a ring of date palms around a spring either but followed a river or a string of springs, so they were long and thin. We went on quite a few drives for several hours and I had thought that it might have been boring but the hills and mountains had subtly different colours and the gorges were really dramatic. There was almost always something to see, often herds of sheep, goats or even camels with their attendant herder. So it was definitely a land of contrasts: high tech with cell phones everywhere and low tech with the same bread ovens that have been used for thousands of years; beautiful with lovely palaces and buildings and ugly with rubbish everywhere; generous people taking you into their houses and people trying to rip you off, but it was never dull and it is still providing food for thought. ~Jeanette Chapman
You may have heard a lot of talk in the media, and social media, in recent times, about the “millennial question”. These young people in the workplace who apparently have an outlandish sense of entitlement, are narcissistic, lazy and hard to manage. (See this interview with Simon Sinek which “nearly broke the internet” regarding this very topic). While this interview makes some fair points and observations (as well as some very broad generalisations), what we really need to be concerning ourselves with is the wave of young people coming into our school who follow on from this generation… the “post-millenials”. One researcher (Jean M. Twenge) has dubbed this group: iGen. “I call them iGen. Born between 1995 and 2012, members of this generation are growing up with smartphones, have an Instagram account before they start high school, and do not remember a time before the internet. The Millennials grew up with the web as well, but it wasn’t ever-present in their lives, at hand at all times, day and night. iGen’s oldest members were early adolescents when the iPhone was introduced, in 2007.” Teenagers these days spend their time vastly differently to those even 10 years ago. The arrival of the smartphone has drastically changed every aspect of their lives; from the way they interact with others, to their personal mental health. We know this. We see it in our classrooms on a daily basis. We discuss it in the staffroom. This is more than just a decrease in attention spans (you’ve probably heard of devices being called ‘weapons of mass distraction’!). The impact of the smartphone, in particular, on young people’s mental health and ability to maintain and develop sound, meaningful and positive relationships, is abundantly clear. Research, like the one I am quoting in this post, is now emerging of the strong correlation between smartphone use (mostly in order to access social media) and sleep disorders, depression and anxiety, and other mental health issues. The scary thing about this wicked problem, is that like the “black death” of 1347-1351, it does not discriminate between rich and poor, ethnic background, urban or rural… “Where there are cell towers, there are teens living their lives on their smartphone.” On one hand, having a ‘smartphone’ in our pockets has had an amazing effect on our ability to connect with others and to connect with seemingly unlimited knowledge sources. The advent of social media has afforded us the ability to connect with our friends and family all around the world. It enables us to seek out and establish new relationships, to make professional and personal connections and form networked online communities with like-minded people. But on the other hand, while these phones of ours may be ‘smart’, it is becoming increasingly apparent that we need to support our young people, and each other, in how to be smart with our use of these devices if we want to be happy. “It’s not an exaggeration to describe iGen as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades...There is compelling evidence that the devices we’ve placed in young people’s hands are having profound effects on their lives—and making them seriously unhappy.” ![]() The future has arrived. Not only have we caught up with it, but now it is overtaking us. The uses we envisage for the technology we create are only limited by our own imaginations. The nature of the time we live in, and the exponential advances we’re making in technology, mean that even as we design a tool for a specific purpose, it is already being used by others for things we never even dreamt of. This does not mean we should ban phones or social media because we did not forsee the harm they could cause. Just as we should not ban motor vehicles because people can be harmed by them. We need to provide ‘seatbelts’ or put safety measures, like a road code, into place so that we can all enjoy the positive benefits of our advances in technology and limit the negatives. “...recent research suggests that screen time, in particular social-media use, does indeed cause unhappiness… Teens who visit social-networking sites every day but see their friends in person less frequently are the most likely to agree with the statements “A lot of times I feel lonely,” “I often feel left out of things,” and “I often wish I had more good friends.” Social media use is a reality of our times. It’s here to stay. Many teachers and coaches use Facebook groups to organise groups they run. Most adults I know use at least one form of social media. The ability to converse and function in an online world is just as important a skill to learn these days, as it is to do to in the physical world (anyone who has accidentally read the comments section in a Stuff ‘article’ knows this). Teaching and modelling to students how to converse, collaborate and include others in constructive online spaces, such as in the chat or comment sections of a google doc, or in google classroom, is just as important as teaching them how to work in groups in class. Our role as teachers is to help prepare students for their futures, not the future we were prepared for. They are part of a time period where world leaders tweet and use facebook - either positively, or with disastrous results. We must guide them regarding who to emulate. “Girls use social media more often, giving them additional opportunities to feel excluded and lonely when they see their friends or classmates getting together without them. Social media levy a psychic tax on the teen doing the posting as well, as she anxiously awaits the affirmation of comments and likes...girls are more likely to [harm others] by undermining a victim’s social status or relationships." Almost every serious incident I was involved in exploring last year included inappropriate use of social media as a major component. Girls inciting others to bully, girls “accidentally” including someone in a group where they say nasty things about her, girls pointedly “forgetting” to invite someone to a social event, girls “slut shaming” each other in chat groups and in public forums. "Social media give middle- and high-school girls a platform on which to carry out the style of aggression they favor, ostracizing and excluding other girls around the clock.” Supporting our students to get involved in as many co-curricular and extra-curricular activities as possible, will also help them to forge friendships outside of social media. Many of the girls I worked with last year regarding discipline issues were not involved in any such activities. Supporting our girls, and their parents, to establish a routine where phones are not in the bedroom when they go to sleep, or at least are not by their heads, would be a great start too. Many inciting comments and conversations in major incidents in 2017 at OGHS happened after 9.30pm on social media. Asking our children about how they days was not only at school but also online, will open up the opportunity for them to talk to us about anything they’re not happy with in that space. Lastly, encouraging students to think before they post, and to empathise with another’s situation, is going to be so important to them enjoying and moving forward in the world and workplace. Many employers state that they key skills they’re looking for in employees are the ability to work well with others, collaborate, and empathise with each other and their client base.
“Adolescence is a key time for developing social skills; as teens spend less time with their friends face-to-face, they have fewer opportunities to practice them. In the next decade, we may see more adults who know just the right emoji for a situation, but not the right facial expression.” ~Rowan Taigel ![]() I first became interested in the Feuerstein approach because of our Syrian students. Just as with many other English Language Learners, it was hard to assess their thinking skills because of the language barrier. As well, we thought it was likely that emotional trauma and previous poor schooling could hamper their learning. These barriers, however, are not unique to refugees or homesick and culture shocked international learners. We all know that for too many Kiwi learners, the biggest barrier is not learners’ lack of ability, but the lack of belief that they can develop those abilities, usually manifesting itself as disengagement in all its challenging forms! Moreover, thinking is a Key Competency of our Curriculum, and is core to our teaching for all students. (Note that there could now be a renewed emphasis on these higher levels of the Curriculum, given that our new Minister of Education’s, Chris Hipkins', mother is Rosemary Hipkins who worked on this area of the Curriculum…) Feuerstein developed his theory and practice working with traumatised children moving to Israel after World War Two. He took a growth mindset approach. He wanted to find ways to assess their capabilities and enable them develop those. Not only had these children missed on formal education, they were lacking the normal cultural support for learning in all areas because their families had been destroyed. This is an important insight that links Feuerstein with Vygotsky (even though they worked completely independently): all learning is mediated. Parents, and teachers, are those mediators. In an ideal world, we know what stage the learner is at, and what they need to reach the next. Feuerstein developed tools for assessing learning that were not reliant upon language. He also developed ways to strengthen thinking. These cognitive changes do not require language, or any subject-specific knowledge. However, they have been to shown to transfer to applied areas of learning. Through his method, learners develop their cognitive and metacognitive skills and motivation to learn. (See What the Feuerstein approach has to uniquely offer by Dr Dorothy Howie - be aware Feuerstein’s terminology does initially seem odd!!) This is not a ‘brain training’ programme, but something much richer, as it relies on shared learning, and hence a focus upon the emotional and cultural components of each person’s learning. It is intensive, and long term, and ideally is a whole school approach, similar to the three-tiered PB4L initiative. I am not sure yet how we could best incorporate it into our already busy Curriculum learning but am thinking it could be something we could trial with whanau groups next year, and perhaps as part of our English Language and Literacy classes or Learning Support. From what I’ve read, the students enjoy it greatly. ![]() In the September holidays, I attended a two day course run by Dr Dorothy Howie who is an expert on the Feuerstein approach (scanned slides). She trained with Feuerstein in Israel, and we are extremely fortunate to have her expertise available to us. The first day was an overview of approaches to teaching thinking. The second day looked at what the Feuerstein approach offers. There were a number of other teachers there, including Simon McMillan from Kaikorai Valley College. In 2016, Simon researched the teaching of thinking in the United States while on a Fulbright Scholarship. Since then, as he found so few practical approaches for classroom teachers, he has become very interested in the practical value for teachers of the Feuerstein approach. I’ve attached some of his links to Feuerstein, especially the Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment (FIE) Method. Dr Howie is now going to run a five-day training session at Kaikorai Valley College from Monday the 22nd January to Friday the 26th of January. I am going, and look forward to learning and sharing more. If you want to learn more, or think you might like to attend, email me or Simon. ~Nicky Chapman The article below comes from the following site: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/what-qualities-will-future-teachers-need/
What qualities will future teachers need? Andy Hargreaves | 12:30, Nov 13, 2017 As facts become more easily accessible, the role of the teacher is changing. Teachers of the future will need both more authority… and less authority, argues Andy Hargreaves Many of us think a lot about the future, what it will be like to live in a world of robots, a world where there’s more technology, a world where many of the existing jobs have disappeared. Some people think that technology, apps, or algorithms, will replace teachers. But they’re wrong. Others people think that teaching will continue exactly as it’s done for the last one hundred and fifty years – teaching from the front, question and answer, seat work, and tests. But they’re wrong too. So what will technology do for the role of the teacher, when humanity is going through profound transformations? The teacher will need both less authority and more authority. Less authority because any knowledge or fact can be looked up in an instant on Google or any other search engine. The teacher can no longer bluff. The teacher really has to know, or better still has to help the student come to know how to evaluate the information that is in front of them, to tell right from wrong, good from bad, true from fake, boring from interesting, shallow from deep. This is the job of a well-prepared, not merely enthusiastic, teacher: to help the learner learn in relation to the principles of learning and in relation to the ethics of what it means to be human and in relationship with each other. This is why the teacher will need to have less authority – to be a facilitator, supporter, stimulus and guide; not a blowhard who just bluffs. The teacher will also need more authority. One of the other things that makes us human is our love of stories, the way we pass on history from our elders and ancestors through narrative – through tales of what our great, great grandparents did; through stories of how we came as a people from another place to settle in a particular land and what we came to believe because of it. We need to hear the great plots of life, of drama, struggle and obstacles, love and loss, and tension and relief. Teachers should still be able to set their classes on fire This is why people watch TED talks – not an algorithm, but some somebody standing there for eighteen minutes utterly captivating the people they have in front of them. And we want real people in front of us to do this, not just someone on YouTube. To do this, and to do it well as a teacher, you need the power of great stories: oral command; mystique and presence. Part of the joy of learning and teaching is not just in mastery but in mystery – in that moment of divine ignorance that the teacher holds like a little piece of magic just before an insight or an answer is revealed. People will always want teachers who know some things extraordinarily well, almost more than anybody else. As a teacher, facilitate a lot, but also don’t be afraid to be a tour de force in your own area of expertise either. Expertise, wisdom and knowledge have become devalued too easily. Teachers can’t know everything or bluff, but when they really know what they are talking about, they should still be able to set their classes on fire. So when we think of the teacher of the future and the skills, knowledge, and sheer professional capital that they will need, the question is: How do we deliberately develop these? Teachers learn best and improve most when they work with other teachers, when they have access to their practice, experience, students, knowledge, and insight. This does not mean that all teacher development will be school-based. It needn’t be all face-to-face, either. For instance, Michael O’Connor and I have been working with a network of 29 schools in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, where teachers may be the only teacher in their school, hours from some of the other teachers with whom they collaborate. But if they can meet, even twice a year, it is enough to sustain stimulating and supportive online interactions where they can plan curriculum together, review each other’s practice, give feedback, and have their students communicate with each other. Alone, none of us knows everything, but together we can know almost everything we need right now, and become more aware of what we still need to know in the future. Andy Hargreaves is Thomas More Brennan Chair of the Lynch School of Education at Boston College and author of Collaborative Professionalism, part of the WISE 2017 research report series ![]() I am a busy person. Like most of you, my life is full! I have a job, a family, friends and hobbies. Squeezing it all can be a challenge! So like most people, I tend to multi-task. I have one screen open on one device to do marking, while watching a movie with my son. I take my laptop on holiday so that I can plan lessons. And like most people, when I do have a free moment - I’m on my phone! Usually social media or games or just anything to suck the attention. This weekend wasn’t so different. I was camping in beautiful St Bathans, doing the dishes in the campervan and decided to multi-task. So I decided to listen to one of the podcasts I’ve had sitting in my playlist for a while. Turned out to be a perfect one! Click HERE to listen. This led to me to some pondering. Firstly, about my own habits! How often do I stop and do nothing? Or just do a mindless task without trying to multitask something else? Not nearly enough, I think! But also, about my students. Those wee beans who walk into my class period 3 or 4. They’ve already had 2 classes, 2 assignments or tasks. They’re probably thinking about what they have to get done for this afternoon's class, or tomorrows. How many projects are they carrying around in their heads? And that doesn’t even account for when they are thinking about filling in sports application forms, or running through gym routines for after school. Or if they’ll have to cook dinner tonight? I wonder how often our students get bored, and get bored long enough to actually think? I see how quickly they reach for their phones if they finish a task in class, or how quickly those tabs change on their devices. So, have a listen to the talk, and have a think about what you can do to advocate ‘boredom’ in your class! ~Amy-Lee Budd
![]() Below is Duncan's full Pechkucha which he delivered to the audience of the opening showcase event at this year's ULearn conference. The conference was attended by more than 1500 delegates this year. In this presentation, Duncan hints at what will be covered in our team's (Duncan Trickey, Amy-Lee Budd and Rowan Taigel) upcoming workshop session, "Spiralling into Collaboration", which received outstanding feedback. Watch this space, there is more to come from our time at the conference. It takes a while to process! To follow us on Twitter, click on our names here to find and follow us [Rowan, Duncan, Amy-Lee]. If you're not on twitter, and want to know why you should be, read this blog post. Linda gave me some interesting articles last year all about the lifelong impact of self-control. One such study was a 40-year study of 1000 children which revealed that childhood self-control strongly predicts adult success (Moffitt, Poulton, & Caspi, 2013). The results of the study showed that it did not matter what your level of intelligence was, or your socio economic status. Self-Control is a predictor of early mortality, psychiatric disorders, and unhealthy behaviours which could include drunk driving, unsafe sex, smoking, overeating and general non compliance in a range of contexts. ![]() So what is self-control? Since I didn’t understand the highly complicated definition in the article I had to look it up. Self-control (noun) The ability to control oneself, in particular one's emotions and desires, especially in difficult situations. "Lucy struggled for self-control." I had a bit of a laugh when I saw the example above of “Lucy silently struggled for self-control”. How many Lucys do we have in our classrooms? Many of our girls don’t “silently” struggle for self-control either, they let it all out! We all have issues with self-control one way or another as this is just how humans are. When we have difficult students we have our own sanity preserving techniques to help them to manage their behaviour. Some approaches work well, and some we’d rather not remember. Sustaining this type of management in a volatile environment can be very difficult. Taking ownership of behaviours which exhibit a lack of self-control though is what we would hope our students will eventually do - PB4L. But how do we empower our young women to kick-start their self control? Do they have the tools to do this, what are they? Can self-control be taught or is this something that develops with maturity? (I figure I must be pretty slow to mature!) Added to these questions is the concept of willpower. I always thought it was really the same as self-control but some recent readings have made me think differently. Willpower (noun) control exerted to do something or restrain impulses. "most of our bad habits are due to laziness or lack of willpower." ![]() An excellent book, entitled ‘Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength’ (Baumeister & Tierney, 2012) talks at length about the willpower gap and that in fact, willpower is a depletable resource. ‘Until 1998, scientists didn’t know that willpower was measurable’ (Baumeister et al, 2012). We evidently have about 15 minutes of willpower at any given time. Just imagine the everyday decisions we make which can deplete this willpower - eg. shall I delete this email, reply or save it for later? Should I have the piece of fruit or custard square? You know, you decide to get fit, think about it, dream about the end result, make an amazing weekly plan of exercise and go for it. Day one you are totally awesome, and feel a bit sore but a great sense of achievement. Then by day five you are over the initial enthusiasm and just can’t seem to get out of bed early enough, making the excuse that you’ll work extra hard tomorrow. We all know how the story ends - within a few weeks we have decided that after our birthday we’ll start again, or after the wedding …. etc. By the way, how many of you have stuck to your 2017 new year resolutions? Hmmm? Where is your willpower? What was the pivotal moment where you decided to not pursue your dreams and goals? If you do remember the moment - you’ll probably realise that your willpower was at a pretty low peak. The good news is folks, that although willpower is a depletable resource, you can restore it. This could be through a few minutes of meditation, gardening (for me), a walk, prayer, creative activities, reading something motivational or simply reminding yourself of your goals and why you have them. Putting this all into the educational context. If, as research indicates, our students at any given time have 15 minutes of self-regulatory willpower, the ability to restrain certain behaviours or impulses. With all the choices students make even before they get to school, how do we help them to restore their willpower and ultimately their self-control resources? No student comes to school to fail, and even though I have taught some extremely challenging students, I don’t believe that a single one of them really wanted to behave so badly that the consequences were exclusion or stand-down. Wouldn’t it be great to have the keys to tap into the willpower gap for those students? How awesome to develop strategies with these students so that they know how to restore depleted willpower in order to develop the self-control necessary for success in all aspects of learning, life and future goals? Perhaps somewhere in this rambling is a good research topic? Have a great break everyone - you’ll find me in the garden! ~Robyn Bazika References Baumeister, R., & Tierney, J. (2012). Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. Penguin USA. Moffitt, T., Poulton, R., & Caspi, A. (2013). Lifelong Impact of Early Self-Control. American Scientist, 100(5), 352. doi:10.1511/2013.104.1 ![]() The following article is an indicator of what I consider the important place for languages in education in New Zealand. The world is morphing fast and far from the digital revolution singularising language into an English only world, the more digital our world becomes, the more fractured our world becomes and the less likely it is for a single language to control everything. The first language used on the internet was English and by 1990s it made up 90% of the content. However, this pattern is changing faster than expected. The share of French, German, Spanish and Chinese has increased and the share of English has shrunk to 30% in the past two decades. The use of Chinese grew by 1,277% in a decade since 2000! Monolingual English speakers run a huge risk. I saw it in Thailand first-hand at the Asia-Pacific German Olympics. You had students who not only spoke their mother tongue or tongues(!) but varying degrees of German and very often English too. Language is seen as a tool by these students to allow them to be active in a global environment rather than solely an academic pursuit and there are millions of them pouring out of the schools and universities of the rest of the world and looking for opportunities. If you want to communicate you need to be able to speak and you have to have experienced the joys and difficulties of learning another language. You need to have been confronted with the problem of adjusting to a different culture and not being able to make yourself understood and then getting the huge pay-off of in fact getting the thing you wanted or making the point you had in another tongue, regardless of how many hands and feet you used. Even the most basic of year 9 language education if it's done right opens up the student to accepting that there are such things as different ways of looking at the world and communicating in it. If we want to produce high-end scientists, mathematicians, social scientists, artists, designers or anything else and they think they might like to work in an international environment, frankly it's embarrassing if they can only speak English and they will be passed over if the person with the same or similar skill set also speaks a couple of other languages, just as Helen Clark was passed over. Try being an astronaut these days without the rudiments of Russian. You won't get off the ground. ~Chris Durrant The Lost Opportunities of Being Monolingual~Sally Hill Associate Professor Sally Hill is Head of the School of Languages and Cultures at Victoria University of Wellington. For all the attention paid to gender and behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing as reasons for Helen Clark missing out on the top job at the United Nations, the former Prime Minister revealed in an interview last weekend that a lack of language skills was also to blame. In an article on Stuff, Clark stated that not being able to “speak French or Spanish” was a factor in her losing out to Portuguese António Guterres as UN Secretary-General. Of the 12 candidates for the role, Clark was the only English native speaker and the only monolingual. If someone with the profile of a former Prime Minister can be negatively affected by a lack of language skills when competing on the international stage, what does that mean for the rest of us? What opportunities would be open to New Zealanders if we had better language and intercultural skills? And how can we turn around our woeful language-learning statistics and make sure Kiwi kids are well-positioned to seize these opportunities in the future? ![]() Eighty percent of New Zealanders speak only one language and rates of language study in schools and universities have been declining significantly since 1993, according to the Ministry of Education. As a country, we also have a record of taking pre-schoolers who speak languages other than English into our education system and turning them into monolingual English speakers. Yet recent Asia New Zealand Foundation research shows that more than 90 percent of us believe learning other languages is valuable and more than eight in 10 believe New Zealand children should learn a language other than English. We put ourselves at a disadvantage if we ignore the benefits of learning to function in other languages and cultures rather than expecting others to adapt to ours. It’s encouraging to see the issue of language learning on the agenda this election and widespread agreement that we can do better in this area (despite valid concerns about how best to go about it). After many years of relative neglect of languages, the Government’s commitment last year to invest $34.5 million in the Centres of Asia-Pacific Excellence signals greater recognition of a need for improvement if we want deeper, mutually beneficial economic, cultural and political relationships with the countries of our region. Shifts in global power relations and phenomena like Brexit and political turbulence in the United States suggest that relying exclusively on English won’t be enough in other parts of the world, either. While speakers of other languages will continue to learn English, we put ourselves at a disadvantage if we ignore the benefits of learning to function in other languages and cultures rather than expecting others to adapt to ours. According to a recent Economist report on The Future of Work, “virtually any career, public or private, is given a boost with knowledge of a foreign language”. A recent New Zealand employment market report notes that there is “a scramble for talented candidates with foreign language skills and access to global networks” in sectors like banking, while a trends report from IT Professionals New Zealand notes that “with many ICT/software companies operating globally, job candidates who are able to interact in multiple languages are highly sought”. Many international companies are well aware of what they stand to gain by employing people with knowledge of the languages and cultures of their clients. As former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt famously put it, “If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen.” An estimated 65-70 percent of the world’s population speak at least two languages. They enjoy advantages that most Kiwis are missing out on. Beyond the economic and trade arguments, bilingual and multilingual students outperform monolinguals in cognitive tasks and achieve better results across the curriculum. Research also suggests that monolingualism limits our health and well-being: a recent study from the University of Edinburgh shows that learning another language, even as an adult, keeps your brain sharp as you age and can delay the onset of conditions such as Alzheimer’s by years. Studies conclude that any amount of language learning is good for you, and that, contrary to popular belief, anyone can do it, at any age. We need to make the most of the bilingualism and multilingualism that already exist in Aotearoa New Zealand. We should do three things in the short, medium and long term to make sure every New Zealander – from the toddler entering early childhood education to the next former Prime Minister aiming for the top job at the UN – can enjoy the benefits of language learning. First, we need to make the most of the bilingualism and multilingualism that already exist in Aotearoa New Zealand. This must start with Te Reo Māori, but should also include community and heritage languages. We need to do more to celebrate our rich cultural and linguistic diversity and encourage awareness that acquiring even a basic knowledge of another language can begin to transform our interactions with its speakers and aid our understanding of their worldview. Second, those entering the workforce over the next decade need to develop their knowledge of other languages and cultures by studying them at secondary and tertiary level and practising their skills through technology, work-related learning and face-to-face encounters. The curriculum should reflect how varying degrees of proficiency across different languages can be useful in different contexts. Third, we need to provide support and incentives for teachers at all levels of our education system to improve their language skills and for speakers of languages other than English to train as teachers. This is essential if we truly want to provide opportunities for all children in New Zealand to have deep knowledge of more than one language and culture. The result will be they grow up in a more inclusive, prosperous and internationally engaged nation – and can grasp opportunities denied to previous, monolingual generations. As a Twitter and Facebook user (and I’ll admit I sit more in the consumer that contributor bracket) that makes a point of following inspiring educators and education professionals; I frequently have inspirational quotes, stories and videos pop up in the feed. But recently I have noticed a bit of a theme coming through in these posts, and I thought I would share some of them with you. ![]() Tobie Taylor Jones recently posted this wee gem on Twitter and with 453 retweets and 953 likes; it’s clearly resonating with people. Many of the retweets and conversations stemming from this centered around student voice experiences where teachers had realised just how powerful their believe in a student was. It’s so easy to see a student's deficits when we are constantly marking and grading. But it reminds me to see what students are capable of, and to remind them that they can. I also had Michael Moore’s “Where to Invade Next” come up a few times lately. I’ll confess Michael Moore isn’t my favourite film-maker and I worry about the pedestal the education sector places the Finnish on. But what really piqued my interest in this film, was the way the teachers talked about their students and about the attitudes they had to the purpose of school. In the mire of planning and assessments, I like to stop and remind myself of why I started teaching. It wasn’t to assess and grade students, but to help them find something that they love doing and help them learn to learn! ~Amy-Lee Budd
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June 2019
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