Tag Archives: relationships

Open the doors #foreverlearners: A made to order coaching model – work in progress

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My new favourite term comes from my tweep mate @debsnet, #foreverlearners is just so cool and gives the old ‘life long learners’ term such a new feel and dimension that I’m almost frightened in case I over use it. I hope it doesn’t come to that.

#foreverlearners for the sake of this blog is about opening the doors. Let me give you some context…

life as teacher

Over the last term and a bit I have been working with a small group of colleagues looking at developing a coaching model to suit our needs. The school in question is in its second year of using another model but things aren’t working out as well as expected. Teachers have not quite gelled with it and so as a newby I am aware of the tension and suspicion some some staff feel. It is a confusing program with lots of what seem to be disconnected steps and milestones. Many staff have let it stray and so they no longer see nor understand its purpose, if indeed they did originally understand the WHY, HOW and WHAT.

I have been reading and consulting, tweeting and discussing coaching for a while and learned quite a lot from many research articles, great blogs, great educators and coaches. Here’s what I have so far…

  • Coaching is about change
  • Collaboration in coaching is vital to its success
  • Coaching models need clear objectives and SMART goals
  • Coach and coachee must be motivated to change
  • Coaching is about the teacher as learner first
  • Reflection should be at the centre of any coaching process
  • Coaching is cyclic
  • AITSL offers many great ideas and strategies for developing a coaching model to match the personal needs of any school

JPR_Coaching

Above is my visual developed for what I think could be a successful cyclic model to enable teachers as learners. This is my vision for a coaching model.

Let me elaborate…

“We don’t learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on that experience” John Dewey

REFLECT

Reflect

What does good teaching look like?

Who will make an appropriate coach for me?

What am I good at?

What things are holding me back or am I avoiding?

What don’t I do that I would really like to do?

What does my student data tell me?

PLAN

Where am I?Plan

Where would I like to be?

How will I get there?

What do I need to get there?

 

ACT

The action component is a differentiated bricolage of options depending on the objectives and actgoals of coach and coachee. Here anything is possible from videotaping classes, peer observations, keeping a journal in any format – blogging, drawing, sketchnoting, diary, video diary, audio. This is where the action takes place, the hands on application, the action research, collection of data. This is where we begin to create, the time when actual paint hits the canvas and a picture begins to take shape.

 

Observe

And then? What then?

OBSERVE

The paint begins to splatter and slowly we stand back one step at a time, have a look, watch our video, listen to our audios, and read our diary. Take another step back and suddenly a picture begins to take shape, observe others learning and teaching, perhaps step forward and add another colour, another shape here and there. Then step back -observe -think and then…

EVALUATE

JPR_Coaching

What worked?

What were my challenges?

What do I do now that I didn’t do before?

Where to next?

And so the process begins again…REFLECT…

Thanks for reading 🙂

Stenhouse

I wish my teacher knew … and other great reflections

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Wow, already Week 3 Term 3 in Victorian schools. I’ve been meaning to write this blog since Week 1. I decided that after a term in my particular school, getting to know my students and watching them learn to learn, I felt compelled to try the “I wish my teacher knew…” scenarios. Of course, I came across the idea on my twitter and fb feeds and always thought it would be great to try it someday. Since I’m not always at a school for a long period of time I hadn’t had a chance before now. Since we had now been learning together for 11 weeks, it was time.

I would NEVER do this without first forming a relationship of trust with my students.

I decided to try it out with one class and was so overwhelmed with their responses that I carried out the same activity with the other two as well. They are lower secondary students and I teach and learn with them in the area of Religious Education. Topic areas over the term included Easter, Old Testament characters and adventures, Martyrs, and goodness. They are actually much better than they sound and I’m really good at hooking them in through their own experiences. Before they know it, they are into it.

Anyhow that’s not what this post is about. This one is mainly about my realisation of just how much more there is to them than what they have already revealed over out first 11 weeks together.

Let me give you some examples that blew me away. I’m not looking for correct spelling or grammar so take that hat off – just ‘feel’…

This one from a student who presents confidently and writes wonderfully deep responses:

Iwish01

 

and this from a very clever young student who takes an active role in class activities is well respected and produces high calibre work:

Iwish02

 

The next one really floored me and it puts into perspective this student’s actions when we first met and that continue off and on in other classes. I have said it and will always continue to say – bear in mind where these kids have been and what has happened BEFORE they arrive in your class every day.

Iwish03

 

One student who spent way too much time thinking about the task and seemed to find it difficult to come up with something finally wrote… “I wish my teacher knew that my sister passed away when I was little.” Oh boy, there are so many things we think we know but they keep on surprising us. This particular student is always happy, greets you with a smile, but on reflection, there is another side where sometimes he goes MIA, not physically I mean, but just for a second I notice he is somewhere else.

 

Of course, they were not all negative or heart wrenching. One of my favourites that makes me smile every time I read it, is this one from a young man, tall, dark, strong and quiet in class but active, and likes to kick a footy around in the yard.

Iwish04

 

Obviously over three classes there are many more I could share. There are those who speak of having difficulty completing homework, broken families, house fires, illness, self-esteem issues, no wifi at home. Along with these, there are also happy ones, where they share their achievements, “… that I went …[interstate] in the holidays for nationals :)” or “… I will never give up until I succeed …” and this gem, “… I do yoga with my mum … It’s very relaxing and makes me release tension and stress for the upcoming week … I like it very much.” And finally, ” … I love to speak French …”.

Merci! Merci! I say. I am so very grateful that they shared these insights with me. They drive my teaching and learning and bring me right back into my place – we will never know them 100% but I’m going to continue to make every effort to get close to knowing them 100%. Our students are worth it.

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

Pedagogy over e-asy

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The other day @MRsalakas challenged us to write a post reflecting on the Sunday night #aussieED chat; Pedagogy before technology. Now, as I think about it – as per usual I have been brewing it in my head since Sunday night – the title can have two meanings:

1. What was pedagogy like BEFORE the introduction of technology?

&

2. Pedagogy should be the forefront of any teaching and learning environment and technology should be a tool to facilitate it.

The Sunday night #aussieED chat was centred on the second meaning as @Mr_Kuran’s diagram reveals…

Screen Shot 2015-06-30 at 10.40.33 AM

Needless to say it was a fast moving chat – your eyes water and ‘bobble’ trying to keep up until you realise there’s no way you can. So just look out for what gets your attention and respond or ponder on that instead. You then spend the next week revisiting the archive cause, YES, that’s how long it takes. This week’s chat is in two parts  just to show how popular it was.

Anyhow back to the two points I made above. There was chatter all about how technology fails at times, what with bad reception, wifi not connecting, and how it kills the best laid plans. BUT, we are all teachers and teachers ALWAYS have Plan B, C & D or as @MissBelfiore mentioned, even Plan D, E & F! Here’s one that made me LOL!

Screen Shot 2015-06-30 at 11.20.35 AM

There were lots and lots of ideas about how educators use tech as a tool but I think the one thing we ALL agreed on was that, YES! Pedagogy ALWAYS comes first.

The Macquarie Dictionary defines pedagogy in two ways “the function, work or art of a teacher” and “instruction”. The root of pedagogy for me is the teacher. We will never go out of fashion, we will never become obsolete as long as there are learners around no matter what age. In fact, we are all learners. Are we not? AND as long as there are learners, there will be teachers.

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At the beginning of the Australian school year I offered a post, in celebration, revealing some of my journal entries. Go ahead, click and read  – I’ll wait – it won’t take a minute….

You’ll notice I did not mention tech in any of them but I did talk relationships, getting to know students, learning yourself as a teacher, learning as a holistic experience. You see, relationships are the key in any pedagogy -they help with the function, work and art of a teacher. I’ve said it many times in tweets and elsewhere – “without relationship there is no learning.”

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It’s the human side that gets learners hooked – the technology is ONE tool that allows it – there are many, many other tools in the box – and, as with food – all in moderation.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Love to hear your take on things please feel free to comment.

What makes me really angry…

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It’s been a while since I sat to write a blog and as always it’s been brewing for quite a few weeks now. As I learn to learn all that goes with my new role, I have begun to get to know our students with disabilities a little better each day. I have had opportunities to speak with them directly, to learn with them, teach them, to meet their parents and spend time with other adults who work tirelessly to support and develop them as learners. I’ve seen and heard quite a number of things that reflect past experiences both positive and negative and it seems that there are some things that still surprise me.

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Some days I’ve left with a heavy heart while other days see me leave happy and confident that things might change or that I’ve made a little bit of difference to something or to someone’s learning experience. Those days where it seems that there is nothing more I can do only gets my brain churning, sometimes through sleepless, anxious nights in search of a solution or at least the next tiny step we could take towards the ultimate goal.

Amongst the school action there is also my consultancy work. I’m still running workshops and visiting schools to facilitate PD. Lately I’ve been spending time learning with primary school educators. In preparation for these workshops I have been trying to think of more innovative ideas for promoting positive classrooms and igniting passion in both students and teachers.

The Pirate, Dave Burgess, and his book Teach Like a Pirate is still prominent in my planning and prep of workshops. Paul Solarz’s book Learn Like a Pirate also makes headlines as schools strive to get their students to become more independent. These promoted me to add to my teacher toolkit with a recent trip to Bunnings – yes Bunnings! Suffice to say that for a few dollars each I now own and promote plumbing equipment that can be used as reading props and language enhancers as well as instruments to assist with addition and subtraction. I’m saying no more…

So… what makes me angry? Oh yes.

1. Teachers who don’t know their students AND don’t take the time to learn them

2. Lack of empathy

3. Unfair consequences

BUT there are many things that make me happy…

1. The support of colleagues and friends

2. My family who keep me sane while allowing me to be who I am

3. My students who surprise me, challenge me, annoy me, and amaze me all in the one lesson!

4. My time, though rare, when I get to write this blog

5. Tweet chats

6. My supervisors who as soon as they find out I’ve hit a wall call a meeting and make arrangements to call and talk even though they are on leave

7. I could go on…


 every student

Thanks for reading 🙂

Why do I teach? I like to learn.

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Last week we made a pact to write-up a blog on why we teach after a fast paced twitter chat. I have been thinking about it for quite a while – it takes me some time to play with ideas in my head and then, just like the last few posts I wake up in the early morning and have to quickly scribble some notes. At about 4.30 this morning however, my ideas gripped me so strongly I even made my own version of a sketch note.063940

Why do I teach? Well, I like to learn first and foremost and you know what they say… The best learning comes when one teaches what they learned.

Really though, deep down, I LOVE finding out about my students. I love teaching them howlightbulbmoment they learn and about the brain and then watch their gorgeous faces, no matter how old they are, when they discover that they really can do something and now have the strategies to do it. That’s what I love the most. Yes, it is that light bulb moment that many talk about in this profession but while it is a cliché’ it is also something very special that teachers just ‘get’. Think of it, if you have kids, of the time your little tacker learnt how to walk, or actually got the food into his mouth. It’s a bit like that.

I enjoy making a difference to students’ lives.  I like getting to know my students as learners. I like being there in their discovery, in their triumphs and in their vulnerable times when they just want to give up. I get the opportunity to support them through it and open the door, allowing them to take risks and be there to pick them up when and if they happen to fail. Teachers need to make it safe to fail and model how to deal with failure when it comes. It’s part of the growthF_A_I_L mindset where one learns and improves from failure rather than a fixed mindset where one believes that you are born with a certain intelligence and there is nothing more you can do to improve it.

I’m an optimist. For me, there is no point in worrying about something until you know what it is you have to worry about. I have many dreams and I try very hard, no – I work very hard to make them a reality. Sometimes it gets me into a lot of trouble because I’m so passionate about making it happen. I believe everyone will learn, for example, and that some may need longer or may need to travel some other path to get there, so…I allow that in my classes / workshops. Yes, even adults all learn at different paces and in different ways.

NateTellingStories1024I love hooking people in – young and old – with stories. I love telling stories. In fact when I ask,  “Hey, wanna hear a story?” there is always a positive response and even a ‘”Shhhooooshhhh everyone! She’s got a story!” My stories are real – sometimes I change the identities and settings but essentially they are about real life experiences and almost always related to the topic at hand. Sometimes, though, I just want to ensure I’m forming those all important RELATIONSHIPS. Students need to feel like you are actually a real eating, thinking, feeling, individual they could possibly learn to trust with their most important learning journey  – developing into a caring, sharing citizen of the world. Hopefully one who might change it for the better so that we can live comfortably in our old age as we proudly watch them from our chairs.

I teach to learn and I learn to teach. YOU?

whydouteach

Thanks for reading 🙂