9AK #4: Studio ONE: A day to reconnect with student projects

On the 11th of March, our 9AK class spent the day working on the first of their planning and presenting days for the term.  We called this day 'Studio #ONE'.  The purpose of the day was as follows:

• Reconnect as a whole to the purpose, direction and emergence of Akomanga Kaihanga 
• Provide space for and support for teams to help them work well together
• Review data and progress prototypes
• Receive feedback and take prototypes to next stage from guests and community
• Plan and set up the next sprint success
• Teams leaved excited, resourced, motivated, and clear 

The space provided a good opportunity for students to work on their projects and to prepare to present to an audience after lunch.  Karl started the day with a reminder on where they were at and what they needed to do get to.  For an hour students had to plan for their presentations, figure out who was doing what job and practice standing at the front sharing their projects.

After morning tea, the boys had the chance to bond with each other by waking to the top of Mt Wellington whilst the girls visited a number of places around Panmure.  Although I really wanted to run to the top of Mt Wellington with the boys, I reluctantly stayed with the girls and the first place we visited was the Peace Experiment Montessori Education School across the road from the library.  We met with the principal Steven Arnold who kindly showed us around the school.  The girls were amazed with the freedom the students had, who could choose what they wanted to learn and when they wanted to learn it.

The next place we visited was the Maungakiekie-Tamaki Local Board office.  Here were we treated to a tour by the lovely receptionists and the girls enjoyed being in the boardroom and having a chance to debate Covid-19 (please see the video below for part of the debate).  

The boys rejoined the girls to meet at the Panmure Community Hall, where we were greeted by the Hall Manager Boaz Moala, who gave us an opportunity to explore the Hall and imagine redesigning the space.  We were lucky to have the chance to see the hall in it's entirety, even the small rooms that had been locked away for years. 

This is the just-before-lunch-I'm-hungry look.

After being treated to a delicious lunch supplied by Josie and her team, students went straight into the presentation part of the day.  Students had to present to invited guests who ranged from Mr Dunn our DP and staff (their P.E and Health teachers) to community activists and business people.  The guests went from group to group to hear their pitch and to provide constructive feedback.  Students who were not presenting were also given the chance to ask questions to each presenter, which meant the presenters needed to be thinking on their feet and ready to provide answers.  Overall the day was really good in providing students an insight into what the end of the project presentations would look like.  The skills and capabilities that students learnt on this day will definitely allow them to grow and enhance those skills moving forward.