2022 Bursts and Bubbles Presentation

This week our COL teachers presented at our annual Burst and Bubbles event where we shared a snapshot and summary of our inquiries. 

Here is my speech (note: my students are still completing part of their project and will update my blog and reflections when it is done).

At the start of the year, the aspect of student learning my inquiry was focused on was how do I get my year 9 kids to engage and care about their local community so they would feel like they belonged and would want to look after it. 

I identified this as my focus when I noticed that kids didn’t know much about this place, the place where their feet stood on nor why it was important or who it was important to.  For example when I asked them what places were important to them they said school, church and Pak n Save.  When it came to writing about these places, the tasks my boys were supposed to complete was usually rushed or messy and they would say that they didn’t really think it was important to focus on. 

My boys told me they preferred pictures and images and wanted to verbalise their learning around these sources but when it came to writing they didn’t want to do it or started but didn’t finish.

So I decided to pause and pivot from the unit I was teaching and redesign a new one based on the concepts of identity and belonging.  I aimed to have more visuals and images and less of the other stuff.  I tried to link it more explicitly to places around our school in prep for our local curriculum Hikoi that we went on with Matua Harley.  On the trip the boys were so engaged and respectful it was a game changer.  My next challenge was to figure out how do I take that learning experience and support it from within inside the classroom.

I worked alongside Matua Harley in the classroom space which reinforced the learning and it worked for a time.  Kids were engaged and talking about their experiences and felt connected because they saw who it was important to, they could hear and take on Matua’s perspective and cared.  He was authentic and real for them.

One of the key pieces of literature that I drew on that helped me understand and make changes to my inquiry was Rose Hipkins report on weaving a coherent curriculum and how the capability of perspective taking is a key component to help our young people become actively engaged members of society’.  That coupled with the new histories curriculum and it’s resources helped guide my inquiry better.

Another turning point came from an opportunity to meet with a local artist in our area Gary Silipa who really wanted to connect with our kids.  He took us on a walking art tour of G.I where kids got to learn about the art pieces and the stories of how they got there.   From this trip kids got to say what they saw and what they didn’t see.  They didn’t see enough Maori or Pasifika art pieces or ones that they could relate to.  Through lots of discussion and planning Gary has agreed to help our kids design a huge visual piece outside our school cafe that will show what’s important to them with a planned future assignment out in G.I.  In class now, kids are focused on something real that they see themselves in.  

Student feedback has been mostly positive but now the expectation is that we need at least one or two trips for every unit and we need experts to take us.  

The most important learning that I’ve made about my inquiry is that authentic connections makes perspective-taking real and essentially helps our kids to care about what matters.  The most important learning I made about inquiry was that it’s ok to take opportunities as they come and that the profile of student learning that I thought was important at the start can and will change and that’s a good ok.

Faafetai lava and Go Toa Samoa!

Intervention: Purposeful Perspective Taking - the lesson.

In my previous blogpost, I discussed the planning behind a sequence of lessons based on critically thinking about images and the stories behind them in a hope that my learners will be able to engage more in their learning and care about the places around them.

The lesson was based around the historical street names of some of the places around Glen Innes and how and why they got their names.  Firstly, we looked carefully at the picture of the G.I train station and what the image was telling us.  I got students to think, pair and then share their thoughts.

We then looked at the train station today and discussed what they saw and why.  When I was showing them the different pictures, I needed to prompt some of the kids to really look carefully at what was in the photo, around the train station and why.  We took some time to unpack the two images and then I shared with them the compare and contrast tool with the images in the middle.  

I had to explain what each of the circles surrounding the centre pictures meant which surprised me.  I assumed students would know how to use this tool but I was able to explain that circles on the outside of each image were the differences where as the circles in the centre that were linked, represented similarities.  I have shared a completed copy above.  

Students then went into pairs to analyse a bird's eye view of our local area and to apply the tool to this new learning.  Most of the boys still found it difficult to understand.  

The next lesson looked closely at images focused on the history of our local area, starting with early Maori and what life was like for them living in Ukutoia.  

On a shared document, I provided a table with all the names of the different streets that I wanted them to think about whether they were named after a place or a person and whether they were English or Maori.  I then asked them to write a paragraph to explain what they noticed about the street names and why it was the way it was.  

Lastly, I wanted the students to create a google map showing all of the place names and where they were located.  

I knew that I needed to explain it carefully, so decided to venture out to where I haven't been before for a long time: rewindable learning.  I created a screen castify to explain to kids how to complete the mapping activity.  I needed to do this not just for my class, but also for the other year 9 classes completing this activity.  Here is the link for the video.

Reflection:

I found that students responded well to the unpacking of the images when we did it together.  By modelling it as a class, then asking them to do it in groups, pairs then individually, it gave them a chance to use questioning skills and critical thinking skills to look at the images with a different lense.  When asked idea that the many of the street names were named after places on the other side of the world surprised them and a handful of students identified that these names reflected the people who were in charge at the time.  

When it came to comparing and contrasting, a number of students did struggle but with modelling how to use it and explaining the importance of the compare and contrast tool, students were able to use it effectively.  From here, the tool guided their paragraph writing (although some did struggle to start).

The mapping exercise helped to break up the writing and further emphasised the stories of how they were formed and where they were placed.  I felt the video helped in slowing down the learning to suit the kids who needed the instructions and helped me to concentrate more on helping students who needed it.

Overall, I enjoyed teaching this series of lessons and I feel that kids got the most value out of it because it forced them to critically think of places around them reinforced by scaffolded tools and strategies.

Intervention: Purposeful Perspective Taking - the planning

Describe in detail the intervention you designed to address the student learning problem i.e. exactly what did you plan to change? Be specific about actions, timelines etc.

After redesigned my inquiry, I wanted to think about opportunities to look at perspective taking as way of getting my kids to think critically about their learning. 

I wanted to design a series of lessons on the English Street names of our local area based on a 2016 Jubilee booklet put out by the G.I Business association.  Some of these names were featured in one of the art works we saw in G.I on our art tour.  I wanted kids to use images and photos to unpack and tell a story of what, where, when, who and how in our local area. 

Planning for the teaching:

I studied Aotearoa Histories Using Historical Images site to make sure that I was planning for the lessons correctly.  There were 2 good videos on the site that shared how other schools used images to guide the learning.

I then needed some scaffolding tools that could build the understanding of the images for students to better understand what they were looking at. The Manaiakalani Cybersmart Tools and Organisers have some really cool ones that break down the learning better and I thought I'd focus on one or two as a starter.  

Google maps was also another way to explore where images or events take place so I refreshed my mapping skills by thinking about how to use google maps for students to share their learning.

From these different resources, I developed the sequence of lessons under the title 'Leading Local Change in our Community'.  In my next blogpost, I will detail the lesson itself and reflect on how it went.

Year 9 Social Class Local Art Walking Tour

Making connections with our local community is important to build my students’ knowledge of what is important and who it is important too.  Many of my kids live in Glen Innes and walk or drive through the town centre but have never noticed the art work on the walls.  My year 9 Social Studies class were fortunate enough to be led on a walking art tour around the town centre to hear about who designed and created the art work and the reasons behind them.  Here is a short video of the tour. 

The kids asked lots of good questions and were positive about the experience.  They were given an opportunity to reflect and think about what that saw and what they did not see and how they felt about it.  From the students’ feedback, we are going to think about how to incorporate their thinking into action.  

Leading Staff PLD: Navigating the Tapasā using the Kalaka Research Framework

As our school Professional Development Co-ordinator, I have the privilege of organising relevant PLD experiences related to our strategic goals.  At the start of our Tamaki Tongan Language week, it seemed only fitting that our Pasifika PLD team presented to staff a relevant programme on raising Pasifika Achievement.  Our School Goal Number# 2 is focused on understanding and demonstrating the cultural competencies of the Tapasā in raising Pasifika Achievement.  

Mele Suipi-Latu began by exploring a poem by Professor Konai Helu Thaman a well-known Pacific academic and explored the way the Kahoa, a Tongan flower garland, was intricately designed and put together for a specific purpose.   We explored the 3 stages of making a Kahoa and the distinct parallels educators can find in the process.  The details can be found in the presentation below.  A highlights video has also been created to share the experience.  The feedback from staff was really positive and we look forward to continuing the Tapasā journey.

My Casual Chain

"A causal chain is when a cause leads to an effect and that effect becomes the cause of another effect.  A leads to B. B leads to C. C leads to D.  Any intervention you design will (consciously or not) be based on a causal chain you have in mind - this is your theory of action."

Here is the link to my Casual Chain.

Restating my inquiry

At the start of my inquiry, I wanted to engage and empower my year 9 Social Studies class to ‘care’ about their local community and local curriculum because I believed it was important for them to know.   Many of the kids, although born and raised in Glen Innes, don't really know about the history of the place especially Mana Whenua history, even though they may go past these places every day.  

As I gathered evidence through student voice, looking at student work, talking to other teachers and looking at their test results,  I could see that kids were still not really understanding the importance of our local history.  Much of what we did was still based in the classroom.  My beliefs about what was important to them, wasn't really matching to what I was expecting them to do.  Here, look at a map.  Can you see how far Mauninaina is?  Look at Maungarei, it's so high.  Yep, not enough.  I did some professional reading and developed some hunches and realised my inquiry needed to shift and change.What I found was that 'engaging' needed to be explored more than just taking part in or knowing.  It need to active and dynamic and authentic.  The concept of empowerment was also something that I needed to explore further.  What power were they gaining and who was it important to. 

I sat down and discussed my inquiry with 2 experts who helped me fine tune my inquiry to allow for a more specific and clear outcome.  I started with 'How will supporting students to authentically connect with their local area and community create a sense of pride and respect in their learning?' but realised that 'creating a sense of pride' was different for everyone and can't be measured.   So I've decided to rebrand my inquiry to look at: 

How will supporting students to authentically connect with their local community create a sense of belonging and provoke action for a sustainable future?

I am going to find more authentic stories/narratives to understand and share so that kids can hear a real person talk about a real place.  I am thinking about developing a short series of lessons on the local street names of streets in our areas as a start and utilise perspective taking to build critical thinking and learning for my kids.  Hopefully this would provoke action and help guide them in the future.