What a magic Community Event!
11 years ago
Monday, December 15, 2008
EHSAS Dinner Meeting with Mark Treadwell
On the 27th of November Mark Treadwell spoke at our EHSAS Dinner Meeting.
4 Minute Walk Through Workshop Lead by Tony Burkin of InterLEAD
On Tuesday the 18th Nov 08 I attended a workshop lead by Tony Burkin which was focused on the concept of 4 minute walk throughs as a strategy to improve teacher observations.
Some key points were
* 4 minute walk throughs move staff to self reflection, self diagnosis and continual interdependent professional growth
* 4MWT conversations provide rich data for powerful reflective conversations which challenge teachers' thinking / assumptions.
* 4MWT meet the needs of Generation X and Y - Conversations to reflective dialogue, personalize growth and training, diminishes number of praise junkies, moves teachers to independent learning, relationship of equals, autonomous learning, challenging/exciting/stimulating
* 4MWT allows the coach to observe underlying patterns and structures over time...to see the entire picture...by taking a number of snap shots
4MWT have 2 components - the 4MWT - seeing through new eyes and reflective collaborative conversations - using a new voice.
The 5 steps of a 4MWT
Step 1
Student orientation.
What are the students focusing on before they saw me? (teacher, individual work, collaboration in groups, combination of above, don't know!)
Step 2
Curriculum decision points
(a) content - skill, knowledge, concept. What strategy are these students learning? Check for curriculum alignment.
(b) Context - How do I know these students are learning? Level of questions / conversations - cognitive type?
(c) Context - At what level of thinking is this teacher taking these students to?
Step 3
Instructional decisions
(a) Generic - What do all great teaches do which maybe this teacher did not do?
What is not happening?
(b) School - How is the teacher incorporating schoolwide thinking and initiatives into their teaching?
(c) Specific - How is teacher providing for non-routine students? How is teacher working effectively in a non-routine teaching situation (e.g. outside the classroom)?
Step 4
Walking the walls
How is the teacher using the classrom to deliver the curriculum and enhance students achievement?
Step 5
Health and Safety
(a) health and safety dangers?
(b) Barriers to learning. Heating/lighting/space/external noise
Following a number of 4MWT there would be a reflective collaborative conversation. This is to be covered in the next workshop!!
Some key points were
* 4 minute walk throughs move staff to self reflection, self diagnosis and continual interdependent professional growth
* 4MWT conversations provide rich data for powerful reflective conversations which challenge teachers' thinking / assumptions.
* 4MWT meet the needs of Generation X and Y - Conversations to reflective dialogue, personalize growth and training, diminishes number of praise junkies, moves teachers to independent learning, relationship of equals, autonomous learning, challenging/exciting/stimulating
* 4MWT allows the coach to observe underlying patterns and structures over time...to see the entire picture...by taking a number of snap shots
4MWT have 2 components - the 4MWT - seeing through new eyes and reflective collaborative conversations - using a new voice.
The 5 steps of a 4MWT
Step 1
Student orientation.
What are the students focusing on before they saw me? (teacher, individual work, collaboration in groups, combination of above, don't know!)
Step 2
Curriculum decision points
(a) content - skill, knowledge, concept. What strategy are these students learning? Check for curriculum alignment.
(b) Context - How do I know these students are learning? Level of questions / conversations - cognitive type?
(c) Context - At what level of thinking is this teacher taking these students to?
Step 3
Instructional decisions
(a) Generic - What do all great teaches do which maybe this teacher did not do?
What is not happening?
(b) School - How is the teacher incorporating schoolwide thinking and initiatives into their teaching?
(c) Specific - How is teacher providing for non-routine students? How is teacher working effectively in a non-routine teaching situation (e.g. outside the classroom)?
Step 4
Walking the walls
How is the teacher using the classrom to deliver the curriculum and enhance students achievement?
Step 5
Health and Safety
(a) health and safety dangers?
(b) Barriers to learning. Heating/lighting/space/external noise
Following a number of 4MWT there would be a reflective collaborative conversation. This is to be covered in the next workshop!!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Professional Friday at Epsom Normal hosted by Michael Absolum
On Friday the 31st October, at the invitation of Sarah and Lesley, I attended a meeting of educationalists to discuss student led conferences.
The blurb for the event was
The main speakers were Cherie Taylor Patel from Flanshaw Road Primary School, Sandra Jenkins, principal of Freemans Bay School , Glen Ryan, Principal at Mary MacKillop School Mangere,
and Wendy Kofoed principal of Newmarket Primary School
My reflections from this meeting were
* we call our 3 way conferences student led but are they really? How much control has the teacher handed over to the students.
* Does scripting enable or disable student empowerment?
* What influence has AFL had on students ability to share their knowledge of their learning pathways? Have we made connections from this new knowledge to the way we report to parents?
* What are the implications of 2 way conferences and simultanious conferences for our staff, students and parents?
* How do we monitor the reality of our conferences and MIB
I enjoyed the meeting - the informal, informative style, the headspace provided by a Friday afternoon and the exceptional wine and cheeses!
The blurb for the event was
The topic of discussion for this get together will be “student-led conferences”. You may know Cherie Taylor Patel is doing her PHD research in this area. She will be part of an informal panel with two other principals who have been trialing student led conferences in their schools. They will briefly talk about their own definition and philosophy of students led conferences, some of the key things they did to get them going, how they have developed since then, and how they see them fitting into the “big picture” of the annual reporting to parents. Wendy Kofoed will be there as well. She is researching home-school partnerships.
Many of you will have also trialed student led conferences, in some form, in your schools and will be able to contribute your own findings to this discussion.
There is some interesting thinking being done in this area and this is an excellent chance to discuss the ins and outs and practicalities.
The main speakers were Cherie Taylor Patel from Flanshaw Road Primary School, Sandra Jenkins, principal of Freemans Bay School , Glen Ryan, Principal at Mary MacKillop School Mangere,
and Wendy Kofoed principal of Newmarket Primary School
My reflections from this meeting were
* we call our 3 way conferences student led but are they really? How much control has the teacher handed over to the students.
* Does scripting enable or disable student empowerment?
* What influence has AFL had on students ability to share their knowledge of their learning pathways? Have we made connections from this new knowledge to the way we report to parents?
* What are the implications of 2 way conferences and simultanious conferences for our staff, students and parents?
* How do we monitor the reality of our conferences and MIB
I enjoyed the meeting - the informal, informative style, the headspace provided by a Friday afternoon and the exceptional wine and cheeses!
EHSAS Leadership Meeting
On Thursday the 30th October members of the leadership teams for Red Beach and Gulf Harbour plus our observers met. The dialogue was centred on Michael Fullen's writing on Professional Learning Communities and our own personal research and thinking on the effects of coaching as a PD strategy on the achievement of students.
Our conversations around Michael Fullen's article looked at "five critical elements that underpin effective PLCs: reflective dialogue,de-privatization of practice, collective focus on student learning, collaboration,and shared norms and values." We reflected on the pressence of these elements in our own school and within our EHSAS Leadership group.
Our conversations around Michael Fullen's article looked at "five critical elements that underpin effective PLCs: reflective dialogue,de-privatization of practice, collective focus on student learning, collaboration,and shared norms and values." We reflected on the pressence of these elements in our own school and within our EHSAS Leadership group.
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