Innovation and Creativity

Future employers are seeking dispositions in a ever changing world that will enable graduates to be prepared for a range of scenarios in their futures. These include; independence, collaboration, initiative, creativity and lately, humility.

 This article offers some practical ideas for developing creativity and innovation from a very young age. If anything it is a good start.

Click on the image to take you to the full article.

Whilst this blog post is essentially US based there are some predictions well worth thinking about. Having watched 'Most Likely to Succeed' last week I would also suggest that there are a few more that could be added, particularly for secondary hill.

1. Exam based assessment be a thing of the past - why ask students to perform in isolation without access to information? They will never have to do this again in their lives!

2. Subject integration has to be the norm, where in life to we face an issue to only consider one aspect?

Any others you can think of?

Websites for Learning

Worth a look! Try to learn something new over the break.

Feedback Tool

Love the resources from Ewan McIntosh via No Tosh

This is a great visual about giving feedback, great for senior students or teachers for a range of situations.

Mindsets and Mathematics

A great video from Jo Boalar, Stanford University, that explores both of these ideas.

What are the skills and attributes needed in tomorrow's workforce?

I love the provocation in this article. We talk a lot about what skills our children need. This article suggests the need to emotional intelligence rather than factual knowledge and skills will be increasingly important in the future. The collaborative and cooperative skills learned and demonstrated in primary classrooms are more closely related to the skills needed in the workplace than those learned and demonstrated in secondary and tertiary schools.

How can we redesign learning to encourage older students to build on these skills?
What is more important, what or how we learn?

An article that doesn't provide the answers but poses some great questions.

Making Collaborative Practice Work

This is a case study of Wildwood IB World Magnet School. Teachers there believe teacher collaboration fosters a supportive professional culture, lessens conflict between teachers and provides students with school-wide best practices.

The reading provides a video, overview, explains how it's done and gives links to further reading.

Building Relationships Means Having Empathy

I have the long held belief that relationships are at the heart of learning. Building, sustaining and nourishing those relationships requires energy and hard work. Here are some blog posts from Edutopia about empathy which provide ideas to do just that.

Back to Inquiry

Inquiry learning has had its turn to take a bit of a hammering. It certainly has been on the back burner in many schools largely due to the national standards and the subsequent focus on reading, writing and maths.

Great inquiry begins with immersion and getting the children to wonder. This ASCD reading http://bit.ly/ASCDInquiryandWonder reminds me of some of the gems of inquiry learning. There is nothing more exciting than immersing children in a topic and provide tools for them to explore and wonder about their learning.

Learning really ignites when inquiry learning blends with design thinking. Great things are happening at Stonefields and Hobsonville Point in regard to this.

Steve Mouldey from  shared this great resource. His blog is worth checking out.

Using tools like this children are able to play a great role in their learning and thinking. They need to have a say in what it is they want to learn about. 

Innovative Learning Spaces Means Collaboration

Moving forward effectively with innovative and flexible learning spaces means that you have to work closely with colleagues. There is no hiding behind a closed door with 24 children and hoping that others don't pop in to see what you are doing.

While that is exciting for many it is daunting for others. This article suggests strategies and systems that can be used to contribute to effective collaboration. Many we are already using but these can always be developed to be made more useful.

Great tools to collaboration
Googledocs and sites - share planning, information, ideas and resources
MATEs - Mutually Agreed Team Expectations make how you are working explicit to all
Scheduled Meeting times
Strategic Pairing - designed to complement and bring out the best in each other.

This is a great article from Edutopia that uses these tools and leads to further readings if interested.

Fantastic Posters for the Classroom

I just love edutopia, it is well worth following them on Twitter!

This link came through today and provides access to great downloads to 9 motivational posters for your classroom.

Two More Great Maths Sites

Back from the lead teacher's maths meeting and just had to share two amazing maths sites with you all.

Jo Boalar hails from Stanford University and is a maths guru. Her work dovetails beautifully with what is being published her by Dr Bobbi Hunter and others. Her website is youcubed.org

Another great site that has fabulous resources for the teaching of rich mathematical tasks is nrich - enriching mathematics.

Maths Week

It's Maths Week this week and here are some links to some great sites that will provide extension opportunities for many budding mathematicians.

Huge thanks to those involved in putting the maths week site together.

TKI - Gifted and Talented Online > Maths and Statistics. This page provides links to resources to extend able mathematicians.

Interactive Sites for Education provides links for many subject areas, here is the link to the maths topics.

Minecraft is still an app that many children enjoy and there is no better way to engage than to do it with something that they love. Here are a few links to Minecraft resources, click on the images.

By following the link from Smart Apps for Kids you will be guided to a page providing more Minecraft Resources than you need, 67 free Minecraft resources.

Brain Development, Learning and Implications

Today I had the great pleasure in hearing Nathan Mikaere-Wallis share his knowledge, insight and wisdom with the Christchurch Junior School Leaders. Nathan was part of the Brainwave Trust, and is part of X Factor Education, Christchurch. He has been a lecturer at Christchurch College of Education, lecturing in human development, brain development, language and communication and risk and resilience. Nathan has a background of working with children in counselling settings relating to domestic violence, sexual abuse and childhood trauma.

There were a number of core messages in his presentation.

• Brian research is relatively new. In the 1990s there was more research than in the previous 300 years.
• Teenage brain research is 8 years old.
• Healing brain research is 3 years old.
• The frontal cortex isn't fully developed until an average of 26 - 27 years.
• First 1000 days of a human's life is pivotal to brain development.
• Historically we believed that brain development and potential was mainly due to genetics. We now know that brain can be moulded by the environment.
• What is happening at this time influences the brain stem development and frontal cortex potential.
• Other factors have an impact; gender, place in family, temperament, parent's education, poverty, extended family.
• There is an impact of the ability to learn cognitively in the future.
• Di-ad relationship in early years effects brain development.
• Relationships are the most important aspect of learning.

What can we do for children whose learning potential has been impacted?

• Ensure they have a strong relationship with a key person - this challenges the idea of a transition class.
• Extend the duration of this relationship - can they have this teacher for a longer period of time?
• Predictability in the classroom.
• Consider starting school closer to 6.
• Personalise transition to school practices.
• Reduce focus on cognitive learning and national standards in early years.
• Focus on learning dispositions (Te Whariki).
• Consider practices of mindfulness.

To hear more from Nathan you can listen or download a podcast from National Radio. You can also follow him on Facebook.

Difficult Converations

One area of my own leadership that I know needs constant is the skill of having difficult conversations. This is tricky and requires a lot of thought, planning and role play in order for me to be fully prepared. I have worked with Joan Dalton in a Learning Talk webinar and she has written many resources for this topic. Susan Scott's 'Fierce Conversations' is another fantastic resource. I haven't heard Viviane Robinson speak but this is a link to a shared powerpoint that has some wonderful tips and strategies. I will certainly look out for her in the future.

Modern, Innovative Learning and Practice

This is a great post from Derek Wenmouth from CORE. It examines what is the most important thing about MLEs and that is the practice. Does an MLE suit all learners, turning the question on it's head we consider does a traditional classroom suit all learners? The answer is simply "it depends". Derek poses some great questions to consider when reflecting on practice and moving forward with modern learning environments and practices. By visiting this page you can browse through categories to find other thoughtful blog posts on MLE and other topics of interest.

Preparing Children for their Future

This a provocative and entertaining clip that suggests a future outcome for a student taught in a restrictive learning environment. It might be useful to share with teachers or learners about the kind of future that we are preparing our students for.

• What can we do differently?
• How can this be avoided?
• How are we equipping them for a future?

Learning needs to be...

• engaging, personalised, real life, collaborative, relevant, responsive and messy
• connected - subjects don't occur in isolation in real life
• helpful to our students
• changing to meet the needs of a changing world, we can't keep doing it the same way
• flexible

Our students will need to...

• deal with data
• work globally
• self manage
• organise, collaborate, plan, reflect and assess
• learn through real life enquiries
• work with different people; ages, cultures, thinkers
• be digitally responsible

What are we doing to encourage this kind of thinking and learning?

Challenging Practice

Why do you do what you do?

Would you want to be in your class?

How much of your day is having an impact?

How do you use student voice in your learning design?

Mindsets and Feedback

This is great website to go to for resources and thinking about using Mindset work in your classroom.
This particular item caught my eye as it talks about simple things we can all do to promote growth mindsets in our learning communities.
It talks about:

• Questioning and thinking about what you publicly reward and value in your class and school.
• Belonging to an academic community that includes adults.
• Believing in success.
• Seeing value in the learning.
• Belief that intelligence can grow.

Characteristics of a 21st Century Teacher

I have read many of these kid of lists before. In the past there has been the mention of the need for a 21st Century teacher to be technologically literate but this is the first time there are specifics about the ways technology can be used differently.

I think it is certainly worth a read as it is challenging of current practice for many. The list comes from the Edutopia discussion board and was written by Tsisana Palmer.

Obviously, teaching in the 21-century is an altogether different phenomenon; never before could learning be happening the way it is now -- everywhere, all the time, on any possible topic, supporting any possible learning style or preference. But what does being a 21st-century teacher really mean?

Below are 15 characteristics of a 21st-century teacher:

1. Learner-Centered Classroom and Personalized Instructions

As students have access to any information possible, there certainly is no need to "spoon-feed" the knowledge or teach "one-size fits all" content. As students have different personalities, goals, and needs, offering personalized instructions is not just possible but also desirable. When students are allowed to make their own choices, they own their learning, increase intrinsic motivation, and put in more effort -- an ideal recipe for better learning outcomes!

2. Students as Producers

Today's students have the latest and greatest tools, yet, the usage in many cases barely goes beyond communicating with family and friends via chat, text, or calls. Even though students are now viewed as digital natives, many are far from producing any digital content. While they do own expensive devices with capabilities to produce blogs, infographics, books, how-to videos, and tutorials, just to name a few, in many classes, they are still asked to turn those devices off and work with handouts and worksheets. Sadly, often times these papers are simply thrown away once graded. Many students don't even want to do them, let alone keep or return them later. When given a chance, students can produce beautiful and creative blogs, movies, or digital stories that they feel proud of and share with others.

3. Learn New Technologies

In order to be able to offer students choices, having one's own hands-on experience and expertise will be useful. Since technology keeps developing, learning a tool once and for all is not a option. The good news is that new technologies are new for the novice and and experienced teachers alike, so everyone can jump in at any time! I used a short-term subscription to www.lynda.com, which has many resources for learning new technologies.

4. Go Global

Today's tools make it possible to learn about other countries and people first hand. Of course, textbooks are still sufficient, yet, there is nothing like learning languages, cultures, and communication skills from actually talking to people from other parts of the world.

It's a shame that with all the tools available, we still learn about other cultures, people, and events from the media. Teaching students how to use the tools in their hands to "visit" any corner of this planet will hopefully make us more knowledgable and sympathetic.

5. Be Smart and Use Smart Phones

Once again -- when students are encouraged to view their devices as valuable tools that support knowledge (rather than destructions), they start using them as such. I remember my first years of teaching when I would not allow cell phones in class and I'd try to explain every new vocabulary word or answer any question myself -- something I would not even think of doing today!

I have learned that different students have different needs when it comes to help with new vocabulary or questions; therefore, there is no need to waste time and explain something that perhaps only one or two students would benefit from. Instead, teaching students to be independent and know how to find answers they need makes the class a different environment!

I have seen positive changes ever since I started viewing students' devices as useful aid. In fact, sometimes I even respond by saying "I don't know -- use Google and tell us all!" What a difference in their reactions and outcomes!

6. Blog

I have written on the importance of both student and teacher blogging. Even my beginners of English could see the value of writing for real audience and establishing their digital presence. To blog or not to blog should not be a question any more!

7. Go Digital

Another important attribute is to go paperless -- organizing teaching resources and activities on one's own website and integrating technology bring students learning experience to a different level. Sharing links and offering digital discussions as opposed to a constant paper flow allows students to access and share class resources in a more organized fashion.

8. Collaborate

Technology allows collaboration between teachers & students. Creating digital resources, presentations, and projects together with other educators and students will make classroom activities resemble the real world. Collaboration should go beyond sharing documents via e-mail or creating PowerPoint presentations. Many great ideas never go beyond a conversation or paper copy, which is a great loss! Collaboration globally can change our entire experience!

9. Use Twitter Chat

Participating in Twitter chat is the cheapest and most efficient way to organize one's own PD, share research and ideas, and stay current with issues and updates in the field. We can grow professionally and expand our knowledge as there is a great conversation happening every day, and going to conferences is no longer the only way to meet others and build professional learning networks.

10. Connect

Connect with like-minded individuals. Again, today's tools allow us to connect anyone, anywhere, anytime. Have a question for an expert or colleague? Simply connect via social media: follow, join, ask, or tell!

11. Project-Based Learning

As today's students have an access to authentic resources on the web, experts anywhere in the world, and peers learning the same subject somewhere else, teaching with textbooks is very "20th-century" (when the previously listed option were not available). Today's students should develop their own driving questions, conduct their research, contact experts, and create final projects to share all using devices already in their hands. All they need from their teacher is guidance!

12. Build Your Positive Digital Footprint

It might sound obvious, but it is for today's teachers to model how to appropriately use social media, how to produce and publish valuable content, and how to create sharable resources. Even though it's true that teachers are people, and they want to use social media and post their pictures and thoughts, we cannot ask our students not to do inappropriate things online if we ourselves do it. Maintaining professional behavior both in class and online will help build positive digital footprint and model appropriate actions for students.

13. Code

While this one might sound complicated, coding is nothing but today's literacy. As a pencil or pen were "the tools" of the 20th-century, making it impossible to picture a teacher not capable to operate with it, today's teacher must be able to operate with today's pen and pencil, i.e., computers. Coding is very interesting to learn -- the feeling of writing a page with HTML is amazing! Even though I have ways to go, just like in every other field, a step at a time can take go a long way. Again, lynda.com is a great resource to start with!

14. Innovate

I invite you to expand your teaching toolbox and try new ways you have not tried before, such as teaching with social media or replacing textbooks with web resources. Not for the sake of tools but for the sake of students!

Ever since I started using TED talks and my own activities based on those videos, my students have been giving a very different feedback. They love it! They love using Facebook for class discussions and announcements. They appreciate novelty -- not the new tools, but the new, more productive and interesting ways of using them.

15. Keep Learning

As new ways and new technology keep emerging, learning and adapting is essential. The good news is: it's fun, and even 20 min a day will take you a long way!

As always, please share your vision in the comment area! Happy 21st-century teaching!

How effective are the teams that you are working in?

This is a predecessor of a recent post about the effectiveness of school teams. It is a quick measure and is worth reading and reflecting on the teams that you are a part of.

Relationships are the Heart of Great Teaching

If I were to sum up teaching in one word it would be relationships. They are at the centre of all learning for both children and adults. This is a heartwarming TED talk by Rita Pierson who shares her passion for teaching and the important role we have as educators.

When thinking about modern, innovative learning we need to consider relationships and how can what we are doing enhance the relationships were are building.

• Why are we changing groups every three weeks?
• How can flexible groupings be used to strengthen relationships?
• Will some children work better with a particular teacher?
• Does the child need to see things from a different perspective to make the learning clearer?
• Would the child be best with their 'home room' teacher and not move elsewhere?

Research to Support Modern, Innovative Learning Spaces

When our school started the master planning process over a year ago we were on the hunt for research to support the move to modern, collaborative spaces. This link provides a great synopsis of research published in 2006 and whilst nearly 10 years old is still very relevant. It is well worth a read but in a nutshell discusses;

• Impact on learning
• Spaces due for an overhaul
• Power of active learning
• Facilitating focus
• Flexibility
• Comfort
• Decenteredness
• Community

The Key to Effective Teams in Schools: Emotional Intelligence | Edutopia

The Key to Effective Teams in Schools: Emotional Intelligence | Edutopia



I have always had a lot of time for the theories of emotional intelligence and enjoyed reading and reflecting on this article. I love the practical examples and I am sure the emotional intelligence of a group of teachers working in a collaborative way will influence the success of the group. Definitely worth thinking about and following what else Elena Aguilar has to say on this topic.

Early Intervention is the Key

A few years ago I had the absolute pleasure of listening to Nathan Mikaere-Wallis for the Brainwave Trust as he share work and research and findings very similar to what is indicated in this article. Young parents need help and intervention at the earliest time possible will hugely impact the future lives of young people born into low socio-economic, unemployed, drug dependent families.

The following image links to a Telgraph article highlighting this research in the United Kingdom.

Learning was Never Meant to be too Easy

In this Education Review article Karen Tui Boyes reflects differences between Gen X and Gen Y children and their respective attitudes to life and learning. We need to create children that see the thrill in learning something new. It is a short but worthwhile read.

Mathematics: Criticism and Clarity

Teachers are now wearing the brunt of the revelations in the report recently commented on by Hekia Parata and released by the NZ Initiative. Once again it is the teachers' practice that is in the spotlight. Having been involved in ALiM and currently working with the Maths team at UCPlus as a lead teacher in mathematics the comments of Kelvin Smythe ring true. You can read his report here.

Things that resonate with me from both the article and the report are these:

• The need to include rich mathematical tasks in our teaching on a regular basis so children can be actively involved in problem solving.
• These tasks need to be challenging and supported by a range of hands on materials.
• Groups working should be mixed so those involved can learn from each other.
• More credence should be given to basic facts when moving children through the maths stages as the knowledge is needed to work effectively at the next mathematical stage.
• Basic facts need to be taught with the stages so understanding forms the basis of the learning.
• When the knowledge is learned it needs to recalled quickly.
• Teachers trusting their ability to teach maths and not being fully reliant on a 'programme' that delivers a daily scripted dose of learning.

The Importance of Feedback and Other Interventions

I have always believed that effective feedback is the teaching strategy that makes the most difference to learners. When asking for feedback about my teaching from my past students they often commented on this being a strength of my teaching, stately simply, "you let us know our next step or what we need to do to make it better."

There is often debate as to whether this should be written or verbal. The age of the learner and their ability to read written feedback certainly impacts this decision. The quality of the feedback is important and I reflect on this considering the work of Dweck et al when working with students. Praising effort and hard work is critical whilst given the student an indication of next steps is also crucial.

Feedback is central focus of the original article. It outlines ways of giving feedback and the writer shares their school's policy. Links to other readings related to feedback are also given. What is of interest is the graph that is also provided and the information that is linked to evidenced based interventions.

The graph from the site simply illustrates the effect of a number of interventions. It plots them on a graph considering their cost and the impact they have on student achievement. What I particularly like is that you can click on a strategy and go to a synopsis of the research that led to the placement of that strategy on the graph. For example, I had always believed that homework isn't very effective for improving student outcomes of students. When you look at the research you see that this is indeed the case and it summarises where and when homework is effective. The website where you find this information is found here.

You can visit the source used to place these interventions on the graph at the Education Endowment Foundation. It is very useful to select an intervention and then be able to connect to the research that led the author to place it on the graph. Great access to a wealth of information about solid interventions you can try in the classroom.

Mindsets and Praise

On my nightly Facebook wander I saw this clip that had been shared by a friend. It is simple and powerful and captures some of Carol Dweck's research about praise in a concise way. What we say to students matters.

More Mindset Moments

Everywhere I look and read I seem to come across reference and readings about mindsets. These links came via Twitter today.

Carol Dweck talked about asking questions that would determine ones mindset. Although we need to bear in mind that we will use different mindsets throughout the day and in different situations. Click on the image to take the survey.

The website itself hosts a wealth of information, resources, video clips and other things to develop your own understanding of mindsets and ways that they can be used with your children. Click on the image to discover more.

Finally a graphic that illustrates the differences between fixed and growth mindsets.

A Message to New Zealand Teachers

This slideshow was developed by CORE Education and then is being added to by children all over NZ to tell teachers about what they want and how they want to learn.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ypjel4hVvtS7myOXhIJ2TtdByxVtt9eS_YN5Ut1ksoo/edit?usp=sharing

As this is not my creation I don't want to publish it but would loved to have it embedded so you can watch it grow. Please visit the link at this stage to see what NZ children are thinking.

Growth Mindsets

Attending the Learning Network conference a few weeks ago has had a profound effect on my teaching, feedback and thinking, particularly thinking about growth mindsets and the impact they have on learning.

I stumbled across this post from Karen Boyes which I enjoyed and started me thinking about what we celebrate and report to parents. Are we celebrating the attitude children have to their learning or is the focus on achievement? Do we ensure we have shared enough about the progress children have made and the effort they have put into learning? What are we awarding certificates for? Do they reinforce what we believe about mindsets and learning?

I am always one for quotes and pictures and I have grabbed these from the article Karen shared. If you would like to read the article in full, follow the link, http://www.karentuiboyes.com/2014/11/effort-vs-accompishment/

Feedback and a Growth Mindset

Austin's Butterfly is a fabulous illustration of how children are able to respond to quality feedback and make improvements to their work. In order to do this children must have a growth mindset and be aware that learning is a process, seeking to challenge and improve. The use of praise is interesting too, Austin is given praise for persevering and his efforts that lead to improvements.





Dylan Wiliam shares a snippet of his work with self and peer assessment.  This is not the marking of another's work but time for students to formatively assess each others work which has huge benefits for both children involved in the process.

Great Sites and Apps to Motivate Writing

At a recent professional development session with Louise Dempsey some great sites were share to motivate writing.

Bored Panda is a site filled with fabulous photos and motivational stories that will inspire writing.

The Kids Should See This is a collection of smart videos for curious minds of all ages. Topics included are: science, nature, tech, DIY, music and much more. They are high quality, age appropriate and kid friendly making them perfect resources for the classroom.

Go Pro is worth investigating as it houses hundreds of videos and photos submitted by Go Pro users from around the world. From wild animals to riding waves you can join in the fun and see if from a unique perspective. Perfect to use for first person stories.

Apps worth investigating include:
Book Creator - an app that easily allows ebooks to be published.
Popplet - a tool for the iPad and web that allows you to capture and organise your ideas.
Telligami - an app that lets you create an avatar in front of a background then record a message worth sharing.

Mindmapping and Beyond

When I had the privilege of teaching Year 6 students a few years ago, I enjoyed introducing them to the skill of mind mapping. I love these diagrams and ways of recording notes. I would have a lot of fun making them and they are far more interesting to revise than pages and pages of written notes. Maybe time could be spent in reading and/or writing lessons developing this skill.

Click on the picture to visit te@chthought and explore this idea further.

The Literacy Shed

The Literacy Shed is another amazing place to access inspirational idea for the teaching of writing.
Spend some time checking it out.

It also provides links to other 'sheds' which are collections of resources to enhance other aspects of your programmes.

The Writing Book

Team leaders at St Albans all have a copy of 'The Writing Book' for the team to access. It is a resources that is worth purchasing as you don't like sharing it. It is full of fabulous, practical ideas that make teaching writing easier.

A day spent with Louise Dempsey last week reminded us of the need to move away from teaching genre and think about purpose. Snippets of writing and writing exercises with clear expectations so the children experience success.

If you are a facebook user they have a page that is well worth liking and send links that provide motivation for classroom writing. Worth checking it out.

Guy Claxton and the Idea of Building Learning Power

Guy Claxton is an English educator, researcher and scientist who has made his life work investigating and spreading the word about learning power.

His website is well worth investigating and can be accessed through this link.

The basic premise of this is that teachers will work on building students power to learn and creative capabilities. The brain is always growing and intelligence can be developed through experience.

" When teachers focus on building learning power in their classrooms, the impact on learners can be startling. I've seen this happen in schools across the UK when teachers have begun to think creatively about the ways in which they can help young people become better learners."
Guy Claxton, 2007

The Power of Yet

A 10 minute TED talk that is a great summary of Carol Dweck's talk in Christchurch held recently. Full of pointers that educators can implement in their classrooms and practice tomorrow.

Mindsets and Talking to Children

This is the article that Carol Dweck referred to at her recent talk held in Christchurch recently. It is interesting as it mentions her thoughts about gifted and talented education and also ideas about parenting. It was originally posted in New York magazine in August 2007.