Lockdown Reading

Monday 4th May

 Previously our cluster has focused on writing and with the students blogging frequently we have seen the rise in this data so that we are well above the national average. This year the focus of our Uru Mānuka cluster is 'Reading'. Based on the data it was important that students in our cluster really started to work on their reading, so that they could then work on other areas like comprehension.

I have tried to encourage my wānanga team to find a book that they are passionate about, a topic they have an interest in, as this will motivate them to continue to keep on reading. Its one of my favorite things to sit out in the sun shine and immerse myself into the story line of a book like I was there experiencing it for myself. We are asking students to write a book review on each of the books that they read. so I thought I would lead by example and put one of the ones that I have read during lockdown on here.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini

Why you selected the novel?

This book is from the same Author of "The Kite Runner"  I really enjoyed that book and had heard that this one was indeed better. It had good reviews and I enjoy books that often have that real life element to it.

What did you think about it overall?

This story is told through the eyes of two young women who grow up during the time of unrest in the country of Afghanistan. They tell stories of starvation, brutality and decisions made from fear and true desperation. This is certainly not a light read, it has a real human side to it and you feel such different emotions for these two ladies as the story unfolds. The fact that even though the story is not based on true circumstances, you know that the events in the book were. As a female that has a fairly strong and independent view on life it makes me sad at how second rate females were thought of, it seems so old school, yet it was less than 20 years ago. 

What was your favourite part?

Its hard to identify a favourite part, because the best parts were probably the ones that were the hardest to read due to the sadness or cruelty. I loved seeing the growth of the female characters in this book. That in a time when the mindset round women were that, that they should be seen and not heard, these two women found strength within their friendship to band together and seek out the best life that they could live.

Who were the characters?

The story was told by two woman Mariam and Laila (twenty years her junior)

- Mariam was the illegitimate daughter of one of the wealthiest men of Herat. She and her mum had been banished to a house in the remote part of the city. At the age of 15 Mariam was married to Rasheed. In this relationship Mariam experienced heartbreak, sorrow and years of abuse. She was not able to give Rasheed the child he so badly desired and due to that their marriage was full of such hatred and poor treatment.

- Twenty years later Rasheed married his second wife 15year old Laila, who unlike Mariam was able to give the gift of children to Rasheed, particularly a boy. However, Laila and Rasheed's relationship was not without it's own issues around lies, deceit and the hard to read abuse. Laila's story was more about love and how the love of her life allowed her to survive through the darkest days.

- Rasheed saw him as the savior in the book - he allowed these two girls to come into his life and he was able to give them protection, food and shelter, with what he saw as very little in return from them. In reality was a cold hearted man, who perhaps got what he deserved in the end.

- Tariq; the lovable rough in this story, he would normally be the character that you feel sorry for due to his disability. But he makes the most of life and stands up for those he sees as being bullied. Throughout the story you see the relationship between Lalia and himself grow and develop into so much more that friendship.

Would you recommend this book and who do you think would enjoy this?

I would highly recommend this book, to anyone that has read the Kite Runner already then they will certainly want to read this. However, anyone that likes those books that tells of peoples real life struggles and who then rises above would enjoy this. The uniqueness of this book being told through female voice is also uplifting. While the underlying love story that intertwines itself through the despair and distraction offers something for everyone. 

Online Learning - teaching in the 21st century?!?

22/04/2020

For the past 5 years we have been putting in place for our students to be better self managers of their own learning and the last week has been the big test. Thankfully Hornby's sites are fairly well set up and run fairly smoothly. But this whole video conferencing and getting our students engagement online is a complete different kettle of fish.

I don't think i will ever take for granted the benefits of walking into the classroom and having the bodies there in front of me, we may not always capture them but at least they can be surround by the conversations and hear what the other students have to say.

Getting the students used to using Google Meets and actually talking to us has been the first obstacle and much amusement. Training them on the etiquette around the appropriate settings, how to use the mute button and the quick keys to turn your mic on and off. As well as the benefits of the chat function. It really is a different world, and one that many of us are not finding easy. Spending a day staring at yourself on the computer can get to you after a while, not to mention i think the headaches i am now getting due to so much digital time compared to normal.

Next week Jacinda has announced the all schools will open for Year 10s and below. It has raised a lot of questions and probably some anxiety for some. I myself am looking forward to being around people again even if it means keeping our distance still and limiting the number of people that i let into my bubble. I don't think we will have many kids back, but we shall see.

Concern is obviously there for our senior students, many are still struggling with engagement, whether its because of internet, lack of device or just lack of motivation, but the importance for some to gain their NCEA has now sunk in that this could be at risk or certainly a lot harder than they originally thought. But yet again i think it will take some ingenuity from the profession to ensure our kids get the best education we can offer them. I have recently signed up to this group on Facebook and have found it very interesting going through and reading some of the amazing things that other school have in place already.

Something that will come out of this pandemic will be that education in 2020 will certainly look and feel different to any other year that i have experienced in my 15 years, many try and link it back to the year of earthquakes where for months we were not teaching, however, i feel like its different again.

New Zealander of the Year....... Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield

21/4/2020

It is just under 4 weeks since our country moved into lockdown and in that time the world outside has changed drastically and the simplistic human behaviors that we took for granted like going to the beach, socializing with friends or getting our groceries, have all been altered. It has become a part of my daily routine to sit and watch the 1pm update with Jacinda and Ashley Bloomfield. Watching the numbers decline in NZ, while sadly seeing massive devastation in other countries around the world, especially in the USA and the UK.

Before we left school a key topic that was being covered in Yr7-9 either in Wānanga or Huramanu classes, was LEADERSHIP! When you ask students about people they see as leaders they will often automatically name sports stars, musicians and actors as the go too. However, I wonder if during this time our younger population, have taken on board the leadership which has been demonstrated daily by both Ashley and Jacinda. I have often watched in amazement as they both deliver the facts with such empathy and sincerity. They have lead from the front, making the tough decisions, knowing it would put pressure on our economy, raise unemployment and put our low income families and our most at risk, in an even more volatile position that what they currently are in. Doing it all with one goal in mind, to make our country safe again and to stomp out Covid-19.

Sitting back and watching other countries from around the world look upon our Prime Minister with envy, while Trump keeps telling people that he is not a doctor, but that people should just take a cold and flu tablet or that the media are all about making up fake news. Jacinda conducts herself with such poise and grace, not being rattled by the multitude or ridiculous questions asked daily and often repetitively, by our supposedly most qualified media journalists. I am often finding myself yelling at the tv during the press conference because of the barge of questions they yell at her and the unkind nature in which they treat her. I often wonder if she goes off stage and shakes her head at the stupidity of some of these people.  Jacinda Ardern I admire you and am grateful you are the one in charge of getting us through the other side of these crazy times and I hope that our young children will murmur your name from now one when asked who do you know that is a good leader.

Lets Forget about March 2020

31/3/2020

It's funny I sit here and reflect on the term that has been while in Lockdown, writing my blog that I put down as a goal that i would update weekly. I think of my blog title 'New Beginnings" and would not have guessed that three months ago this is where we would be and how different the world currently is and how different it will be from here on in, 'New Beginnings" could never be so true.

Term One has been frantic, I think i have referred to myself as Dory from Finding Nemo numerous times and singing "just keep swimming, just keep swimming, to people when they ask me how i am going. The introduction of both Wānanga and Hurumanu has seen a high level of angst I think in the staff room at times. This does not mean that this is not right, it just means that yet again our staff are putting their all into this and make sure we are doing the best for our students. It is certainly one thing i will say about our staff is that they put a lot of time and effort into making sure we have things in place for our students, so that they get the best out of their education.

On a personal note i have really enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of Wānanga, it has allowed be to be involved in a part of the school that i would not normally have anything to do with except for the interactions that you may have while out on duty. An added bonus is getting to work with staff that i normally wouldn't have had much to do with had we remained silo structure. The team in Mōhua have been great and i am thoroughly enjoying working with them on a daily bases.

Getting back to the current situations NZ is currently in a 4 week Lockdown from our Govt to help prevent the spread of Covid 19 from spreading in our communities. It's been nearly a week since school was officially closed. Last week it was nice to be in at work and work along side (yet it be 2meters apart) to help come up with beneficial online learning that can be done by our students. it was really nice to see us banding together and just be around each other prior to going into this lockdown, especially as i live on my own  it just gave me that respite.

Since being in lockdown i have never seen my house so clean, it's amazing what you can achieve when you have know where to go and the weather is rubbish. I have done some baking, but again am conscious that i am the only one that can eat it. I have enjoyed seeing  the different things that people are willing to do to keep themselves amused. Les Mills session in the morning have been great as well as my exercise class being on line live through zoom have been great.

Zoom the greatest word since being in lockdown, i love this feature and have enjoyed connecting with staff, friends and family, it is a great tool and is certainly keeping me sane during this time. Am looking forward to the cheese club that is going ahead as planned on friday where everyone will be sharing the cheese they are having at the time.

Stay safe, stay at home and enjoy the time with loved ones

Year 7-9 Arrive on Site

JANUARY'S END SEES THE STUDENTS RETURN

2020 sees the introduction of our new wānanga class. Wānanga provides a structured time for our kaiako and rangatahi to build on relationships. To establish a positive culture within our kura, where students are willing to step outside their comfort zones, take risks in their learning and to flourish in areas that they are passionate about; while at the same time allowing staff to support our learners towards their chosen pathways.

We see Wānanga as :

• Relational - getting to know our learner 
• Helping akonga to navigate their way
• Learner focused
• Innovative
• Supportive
• Differentiated to meet individual students’ needs 
• Co-constructed
• Structured 
• Increasing student wellbeing

Thursday 30th saw the first day of meeting our new wānanga students. Nerves were high from all corners - staff, students and especially the parents. The Year 7's showed signs of being overwhelmed, new with that slightly big uniforms that they will all go into, their face that showed amazement, terror and nervousness all at the same time. They all sat so quietly taking everything in and happy to explore, meeting their huramanu teachers and seeing the different places where their learning will happen. At the end of the day I was humbled by a wee girl that approached me and handed me a apple and said "we don't give our teachers apples anymore, thank you for being kind". The action was heart warming and certainly made my day.

New Beginnings 2020

27th Jan 2020

NEW YEAR, NEW BEGINNING

 "there is nothing quiet as intoxicating as certainty"  

- What do i do to move us closer to the strategic goals and our move to creative excellence?
 Wānanga will be my focus for 2020 and my stepping stone to improving my students ability to generate creative excellence. Through wānanga students will have the opportunity to take risks, get given leadership opportunities and build relationships with both staff and students.

- Reflection from the year before?
marks that were gained considering the ups and downs I had last year I am pleasantly surprised to have gained my first Excellence in Home Ec externals along with Merits. I really want to maintain the momentum that I’ve started and work towards course endorsement, it’s there for the taking we just need to build on the culture of the students to make them want it just as much as I want it for them.

- Focus for the year
Based on the data over the past three years our students writing level for all gender and ethnicity are above the national average. While Maths and Reading are the focus for the this year and will be seen in Wānanga through the DEAR (drop everything and read) as well as incorporating Literacy into our lesson plans when looking at CARR, Wellbeing and Cyber safety.

Increase expectations of your students - those that are not yet gaining Achieves but are certainly capable of, still need that guidance and support to get them there. While maintaining the standard for our Excellent students.

Cultural Responsiveness
 reflect on what changes i would like to make?
I see Wānanga as a good starting point to introduce the ideals around cultural responsiveness, especially the philosophy around contentedness and getting to know the people round you.

Hospo Pd Cluster at Burnside High school

29th November

Today I got the opportunity to attend the Hospitality Cluster Meeting held at Burnside High School. I have attached below the Agenda for the day

The morning session consisted of going through requirements for moderation and Consent to Assess. It was interesting to see the direction that Service IQ are heading and the introduction of E-Learning into their product options. Considering the direction that most schools are going it is good to see this option is becoming more accessible. However i feel there are still a number of issues that need to be looked at like access to students work.

The ability to talk to other staff especially as I am going through the rebuild was of huge benefit as it allowed me to get the views of other from around the south island and made me feel more confident about the decisions that i have made and the things that i am fighting for in my department.

In the afternoon we had a chef come in and demonstrate the way in which you can combine three units eg Grilling, Frying and Salad or boiling while using the observation sheet. I still find the observation sheet tricky to use and a bit cumbersome, especially during a practical lesson with over 24 students. 

Novemeber 10th

Due to the nature of my subject understanding an knowing how to control a fire extinguisher is actually quiet important. Before going into this training i thought i knew what to do, but actually i really don't.

Key points to remember
1. don't hold down handle until ready to fire
2. remove the pin
3. make sure the extinguisher is held in an up right position
4. release slow and steady, sweeping over the area of the fire, aiming for the base of it.

something that i did not know that i went back to the room and checked was that different models have different purposes. The guys final piece of advice was, if you are unsure then get out and sound the alarm.

Next Steps Camp

18/9/17

At the beginning of August 60 students and 4 staff (Honor, Alby, Phil and Allen) headed off to Kaipoi Blue Skies to attend Hornby's Next Steps Camp (Leadership Camp). Its a three day camp where students test themselves, step outside the box and work with people they may not have had anything to do with prior.

The most important session that came from this was the Mana Horomaka session. This came about because we were concerned about the level of pride that students were demonstrating in school presently. We wanted to inspire them to hold their heads high, have pride in the school that they represent and not to be afraid to take risks.

We got the students to look at the barriers that were holding them back from having  pride, below is a list of things they came up with. Many of the barriers are things that they themselves could actually change, while other barriers are things that we don't have control over eg school rebuild.

We got the students to then do a Y diagram of what they would like Hornby to 'Look' , "Sound' and 'Feel' like and they then had to place these ideas onto the cut out letters of Hornby Pride and Mana Horomaka that you can see below

The third and find step in the session where the Mana Horomaka posters. Prior to camp I contacted 10 former students who were willing to put their name and face to support the project. They sent me a quote that represented their reasons for being proud to have come from Hornby.

After showing them the ones from former students we asked the current students to make ones of their own and a couple of what they produced is below

Now we are back at school we have set up a Mana Horomaka committee that is responsible for now using student voice to help promote the message and assist in building that Pride school wide. We have presented back to the school and am now looking at introducing Mana Horomaka awards for the end of each term for both Senior and Junior students 

Professional development #2

My second factor that I have been involved in for the past 4-5 weeks is learning how to run a student lead inquiry. I had no idea where to start with this discussion looking back I have made mistakes that I would change next time such having a strong marking criteria, a timeline with expectations linked to each milestone and allowing the students longer period for the doing and action phase so as to get stronger results on this.

I have found both pros and cons with doing this learning style
1. Its tricky to learn to let go the reins of the class, many times I felt redundant as the students worked independently on their chosen topics.
2. Trying to target the knowledge or information part of the inquiry so that it excites the students into engagement
3. I needed to set more dates of accomplishment so that students didn't get behind.

Things I loved some students really took to this a ran with coming up with some great ideas such as
- applying to get free fruit in canteen
- fitness programs with junior school
- healthy items in the canteen
- creating veggie garden

18/9/17
I am really embarrassed that i have not actually posted on here for such a long time. Reflection back on the Inquiry that i tried doing in Year 10 was a bit of a disaster. The students had some great ideas but unfortunately the follow through was a bit rubbish, therefore we didn't get much completed.

I would like to try and do this again next year and now that i have an idea of how to run it i will feel more confident about how to structure it and make it more achievable for the students to obtain.

Professional development

Since my last posting there are two major events that I have been involved with that need some reflection

The first one being my Middle Management Leadership course run by Murray Fletcher. The main key points that I feel I have gotten out of the first two days are:
- reflecting on the type of leader and personality as a leader I have. Using the activity 'Who is Waka' based on thinking by Suzette Lovely. This required us to select words that we best associated with ourselves. Once completed we counted the group we had the most old whether it be A, B, C or D. I ended up being mostly C's which linked to being a Collaborator.

"They are process-orientated team players,and seek areas of agreement. As respectful listeners, they strive to facilitate involvement, build consensus and promote group stability - all in a relaxed atmosphere. Collaborators value their personal and professional relationships with others. However, their unhurried style can be frustrating to those who prefer structure and results. After all, their focus is on process, not product! Collaborators tend to shy away from confrontation and conflict . Such avoidance may lead to bigger problems later. People describe collaboraors as adaptable, patient, considerate, relaxed and good natured".

I'm not sure I agree with all of this description, but I certainly see elements of my leadership style in this, especially the points about relationships, shying away from conflict, being a good listener and facilitating group involvement are certainly areas that I can relate to as things I'm aware of and things I do.

Murray continues to reiterate that we are there as listeners, not to cast judgements, we are not there to fix it. I talked to him about the struggles I often feel being generally a single person department, as my other team member only has two hours in my department and I feel awkward about taking up her time when she wears so many other hats in the school. He suggested I look at how I structure my communication and ensure that it is specific, and perhaps look at different medias to share ideas and the level of communication so we are both on the same page.

I found his tips on structuring meetings below very interesting and liked how it was based around celebrating the successes and things done well, which are often not talked about. I will certainly be trying to implement this more into my meetings.

RUNNING OF MEETINGS
celebrate and share the learning 6mins
Share children/student issues or tracking of high risk students 3min
Share info on department admin sort of stuff if you don't get to this then that's placed on google site
Focus ons - where to, work ons,

Understand urgent vs important getting the balance 
what's important now
What matters now
What would be nice if we got there
What can wait

Start With The End In Mind

Jan 31st

Being back at school over the last two days has brought about a bag of mixed emotions of excitement, disappointment, wonder and nerves as we head into another academic year. Of course after hearing the NCEA results from last year you always sit back and reflect and look at what you did well, what were the disasters, and what are the new things you want to try to an engage, grab and get the attention of the students that sit in front of you daily. I have set myself some work ons this year. These work ons are things that I want to try, experiment, challenge and take risks with to see if they get better academic success.

Firstly I had to change my mind set about how I was going to approach this year. I have certainly felt over the years that I am often stressing myself trying to get students to achieve so that they pass and get the credits. Therefore I have put the following quote up in my room, in eye line with where I can see it everyday so that it's there to remind me if required. To me this quote stands for two things: 1) Students need to take more ownership of their learning, they can not expect a teacher to stand in front of them daily and shovel in (filling the vessel) the information hoping that they retain it and remember it for when its next required, 2) This means that I can not just stand up in front of a class and expect my ways I have been doing things to continue to work, i need to make changes so that number one comes naturally (light the fire) hopefully, fingers crossed.

Previously i mentioned the word 'success' these days how we measure success can be so widely measured. Of course there is the obvious, GRADES, however are they the end denominator? These days our schools have so many different factors that can affect the learning of our students, and some of these can not always within our control. Therefore i am also redefining how i see success, grades are good but they are not the be all and end all of it all. Students engagement, application of work and being able to show understanding will be just as important to me.

I have also set my form class a statement in which i would like them to think of during this year "Start with the end in mind". With my crew being Year 13 i really want them to think from the beginning, why am i here???? is it cause i'm trying to get UE, is it cause i need to get the last of my L2 credits for my course or apprenticeship, am i wanting to travel or work. Every action needs to have a purpose.

A focus for each year group are as follows
Yr9 try out my Tellagarmi app to assist with reflection and getting them talk about their final dishes more using are high level of terminology
Year 10's i'm trying Learning through Inquiry for the first time which i'm a little nervous about
Year 11's using my TAI approach of writing templates to see if i gain a higher level of work from students as the year progresses.
Hospo i want to get them ready in the first term to tackle some catering of events within the school, TOD, Board Meetings, Arts Evenings as well as the traditional Camps.

Home Economics Without Borders

Jan 11- 13 HEIA ( Home Economics in Australia) National Conference

So while many of my colleagues are still enjoying themselves on their Summer holidays, I was tripping off to Melbourne ( poor me) to attend the HEIA national conference. This is my first national conference and I wasn't sure what I was in for.

First session was with three note speakers that talked to us about Domestic Violence - the hidden borders. Clementine Ford a well known feminist in Australia, who has appeared on numerous tv shows and written a book on "Fight like a Girl", AFL player Luke Ablett who now spends his time speaking to professional sportsmen about domestic abuse and Dr Debbie Ollis. I found this session really interesting especially when Clementine Ford spoke, she is so strongly opinionated, not all I agreed with, but many made me think about how I have addressed students, boys especially, in my class. She talked about how we react to comments such as "your crying like a girl", "what are you a girl" or "toughen up" and "it's okay Miss i'm just joking" after a sexist joke is made. By allowing these comments to be made, are we allowing the first signs of abuse towards women to be installed into our society and by ignoring it or laughing it off are we encouraging it to continue.

Second session on day one i was really excited about - Engaging and shaping 21st Century minds. In this session we were introduced to a wide range of different technological tools that we can use in the classroom. Some I had seen before, but there were others that I wanted to try or have a second attempt at. A quote the speaker mentioned that resonated with me that shows the shift in education was
"Kindling the fire rather than filling the vessel"
this reflects how education today is all about getting the students on board, use them to create the ideas and direction of the lessons, rather than them just coping endless amounts of notes of the board in which the notes are never reread or used effectively. She gave us these four attributes and skills list which reinforced some of the ideas about a 21st Century Learner.

 I have set myself a goal of redoing a couple of my units early on this year and instead of using just powerpoint i want to try and use Prezi again and see if i can actually get past the first part of it, before giving up, Its not enough anymore to just put key points on a slide and think that's going to grasp the students attention, I know when I am being talked to I find things that are consistently changing in front of me, maintain my attention more. On the left you will see an an example of my aviator who you can customize so that it is to your liking, as well as editing the background so that it has one of the students practical pictures instead. Then by simply either talking into a mic or writing a wee script you can reflect on you practical. I thought this was a nifty idea and am hoping this could be quiet a good reflection tool for my junior classes.

A couple of other options I will experiment this year will be Sway - a presentation application that can embed pictures as it has no copy right regulations, You can use as a way to reinforce what u have just covered in Kahoots or notes and Inscrutable which are tutorial videos good to use when you are not always available to get around every kid or don't know something then they can find and watch the tutorial

Session three - A Matter of Taste was with Dr Gei Liam from Danko University. He focused on how we rely on our senses to give us our flavor of our food and put to rest the myth that our tongue has different parts on it that tastes bitter, sweet, sour etc. He demonstrated simple little experiments we can do in our classes to show how the link between smell and taste is significant.

Something that i didn't know was that embryo fluid starts to take on the flavours of the foods that you eat quiet regularly such as garlic, carrots chilli, therefore when born you will find that the child has a stronger liking towards those foods more often than not because they are used to having them in the womb. The third key point i took from this session was the idea of Sensory Branding - you link certain products with other parts of your sensors such as when you walk into Star bucks you smell the coffee.

The last session for the day was with Joanna McMillan about Empowering the next generation for better Health. She went through what she saw as the six main features for better health: Sleep, Activity, Exercise, Drink, Food, Stress

She also talked about her dinner wheel as you see below that is generally 3/4 plant based foods: 1 Plants, 2 Proteins, 3 Smart Grains and 4 Good Fats

Joanna talked a lot about cultural background and environments having a big effect on a persons food choice which wasn't surprising. It was interesting to hear other teachers from around Australia talk about the same issues that we experience all the time at Hornby as well.









Over the following two days I went to numerous other speakers about how to implement a Kitchen Garden into your school, which will be beneficial for when the rebuild is complete to creating a cafe culture in our class rooms which will be useful for the hospitality classes. 









We had two other key note speakers that I found interesting: one was on the obesity epidemic and talking about how communities and individuals need to put pressure on the government to make changes to our advertising of foods, globalization of food. She showed us a great advertisement campaign by coke with the names on the bottle campaign, coke noted that there was an increase of 7% in people now drinking coke, see the video to the left it blows ya mind.





The second speaker we had on the last day was Dr Joel Gilmore who had me in fits of laughter the whole 60minute presentation, he was all about the use of science in the kitchen and looking at the myths of temperature and time of cooking different foods, focusing especially on eggs and steak I've included videos below cause they best show his humor and give you an idea of what he was doing.


My other goal I want to work on is getting the Hospo class more actively involved in the school culture - having their work on display more often and working on a couple of mini projects across subjects (catering arts evenings could be a good start as well as a couple of staff meetings or TOD. I have certainly been re energized by this conference and the passion that many of these staff show in their teaching.

Kapa Haka

29/11/16

Okay so this post is really old, I had started writing it but never finished it, so i guess it gives me an opportunity to reflect on this and see if it actually occurred or not.

(previously written)
I have decided that in this half of the year I really want to ensure I have a balance between committing my time to many school activities like school camps, Japan trip and Geography field trip as well as developing myself professionally, so i joined the kapa haka group. I have wanted to learn the school haka for a long time now and never really had the confidence to put myself out there and try it, the same old feelings of being out of your comfort zone and mucking up in front of the kids, especially with something like performing the hake (a culturally sensitive activity which i know means a lot to our Maori students). Below on the right are the words to the haka, while on the left are the words to the waiata. Both have been written by Matua, with relevance to the community and the students of Hornby High, hence where the discomfort and nerves come when performing it.

(now)
Unfortunately I was unable to continue with Kapa Haka in term 4 as the importance of the students getting their work completed before leaving had to be priority, however, i really enjoyed the opportunity to challenge my speaking of another language, and doing it side by side with our students and at times with them as my teacher. I loved seeing the confidence of our senior kids as they thrived in this environment, envious that i didn't see that same enthusiasm applied in all areas of their school life. It makes me wonder how much more can i do to allow these kids to trust me, to allow them to see that we are trying to help them and get the best out of them, for their benefit, I have know for years that our kids are happy to not try and fail, rather than taking that risk and failing anyway. What will build resilience in  our students so that they see what we see in them..

Anyway back to the balance of lifestyles of work vs self, i still see this as important, but i think i care too much about student success that i continue to put my welfare to a side and focus on them. This year saw the last of my mentee kids leave hornby and will see me for the first time in 8 years without a student to mentor, its a weird feeling but perhaps a sign that 2017 is a year to focus on myself a little bit, swing that balance a little bit back in my favour, especially as the school goes through both curriculum, staff and building changes over the next few years.

Tuesday 3rd

Had a go at doing expert groups with my childcare class today because I thought it would get them communicating a little more and the activity forces them to work co-cooperatively with each other. However i felt like it was an epic fail. the students were so reluctant to participate that they individually read the article and wrote their own notes, then when they had to report to others they just gave them the sheet to copy.

A positive about this activity though was the third part , where they had to go into pairs and one reported - filling the gap, while the one person had the sheet of words that best filled the gaps. working together they had to finish this sheet using the knowledge they received during the expert activity. they fact they were able to complete this showed they took in the information they had read about but was not able to share it confidently.

In reflection it is certainly an activity i will try again as it allows the students to take ownership of their learning, confidence in sharing ideas and the ability to write notes in a format that allows them to understand it

Staff Pd - Teaching Criteria

Forms

Staff Meeting on Monday (30th) was a co construction activity that involved the staff answering a survey on examples of what they see as the 12 teaching criteria. It was interesting having the opportunity to actually reflect on how am i showing this, what am i doing in my class to demonstrate this. If you click on the words form then you will see some of my answers

https://docs.google.com/a/hornby.school.nz/spreadsheets/d/1_yqCFRONkaHlsGbnW43gkGcYw_Ikz-bhkJl2Jhf1Rr0/edit?usp=sharing

the link above shows the final results of staff feedback and some ideas that staff are doing and showing in their classes

Blogging a priority at HHS

November 14th
Today has  been a difficult day at school due to the 7.5 earthquake that struck at 12am this morning. Most of the staff have looked pretty shattered coming to school, but having that normality and a sense of routine is important for our community and our students. NCEA exams are continuing as normal, which is hard for the students, as like us many of them will have little sleep last night. One thing we learnt from the 2011 earthquakes  is that ensuring the our students feel a sense of being cared for is important, hence the relational side to teaching is extremely important in these events. Also its important that as a teacher today you are flexible, as well as understanding of students moods and unpredictability.

A week a go today we had a staff meeting that was apart of our Uru Manuka Program. The main focus they have decided on for the school at this stage is to establish our use of blogger. We had to set up a picture that we could install on our sites that would assist our kids with producing a worthwhile and meaning full blog that will give good constructive feedback. Below is what i designed for both my hospo and home ec students

I believe that using these steps the students should be able to understand the requirements that are need for them to met the criteria for each assessment.

Saturday 20th August

So I finally have time to sit back and reflect on a busy few weeks to the start of term three. I even had to take a day off school this week because I was physically exhausted from a busy weekend ( which I'll get to) and my health was fairly poor.

After spending week one getting back into the swing of things after Japan, the school ball was next on the agenda. It was really nice to be a part of this group of young students, because so much was run by and organized by them. It was a fab evening and I've included some photos below of the evening with staff and my mentee

The next event was leadership camp, this is certainly a camp that I enjoy going on. The students are more mature and gave generally come to camp for the right reason. The are wanting to give back to the school, they are ready to take on responsibility around the school and they are starting to appreciate things that have been done for them over the previous three or four years. This year for me was a lot different as I was unable to get current hospo kids to help me out. So I posted it out on Facebook if anyone was interested. What happened next blew me away and words can not explain the appreciation I felt, but three former student all who had been taught by me and we're now working in the hospitality industry offered to give up their days off to come help me. It has left me speechless but at the same time reinstalled my faith in the fact that, as teachers we may not get that instant gratification that we often want from our students, but that at times those special moments come later in life. These three students arrived, took over the kitchen and just got stuff done  they truly are amazing.

Another thing about this year's camp was that it was the first time all form teachers and dean's of the year group were present throughout. We decided it would be cool to take class photos to remember this time together. I really enjoyed being able to get away and re establish that relationship with my form class which had changed since their junior years where u saw them so regularly. I had a core group of kids who I class as my originals, as my class has had so many changes and coming and goings over the past four years. It's so nice to see these guys grow and mature and stepping up into these leadership roles. I can't wait until their final year next year to see what they can achieve. 

On a personal development I have started attending the kapa haka lessons to learn the school haka. It was a really special moment because when this group performs it always gives me chills. But to finally be apart of it and see these kids thriving on this environment and seeing them excel as teachers and helping me as the learner was very refreshing. I look forward to attending more of these and my first performance of the full haka 

forgot to attach this link, we have been talking in staff meetings about maintaining a record of our work and i always worry that i'm not covering all of the criteria so one of our colleges sent us this link to help this this will have to go through it and see if i can add labels or more information to show what i'm doing here over a 12 month period

https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Self%20Assessment%20Tool%20Schooling.pdf

August 3rd
Have not published anything in here for a while life has been fairly busy with lots of school commitments.
Prior to the recent school holidays I was away for a week on Year 10 camp as the head chef for the 60+ students and staff that attended. Below are the Year 12's that went week 1 of camp without me as well as two of the senior leaders that assisted with the camp. It is always a tough job trying to organise and get the food correct with the different food allergies sorted, as well training up the Year 11's who I took away with me this time to ensure they were doing things correctly and getting things done on time. They certainly learnt a lot from the experience and now hopefully understand what goes into the planning and prep for this sort of event.

During the holiday i was lucky to head to Japan with nine of our school students we attending Tokiwagi High School which is our sister school that we have been visiting for over 20 years. I was lucky enough to stay with the Principal and his family. Considering i know very little Japanese it was good for me to be immersed in the culture and try and pick up little phrases and words as i can. It was a tough trip though as i was dependent on my college to help a lot with the translation and when one of our students got sick and ended up being admitted to hospital he had to be there translating and dealing with the insurance claims. This left me dealing with the other eight students and the day to day dealings with them.

Above is the photo of the kids at one of the temples that we traveled to, while the speech is my introduction that i had to do to the staff on the first morning, which was very intimidating and scary as. During my visit to Tokiwagi i also stayed with the Chemisty Teacher Minako and i taught her how to make the traditional lolly Hokey Pokey, she was so excited about it and said she will try and make it with her classes. Can't wait to see how it goes. I will put up a photo when i have downloaded them all.

I am now back at school and it's week two preparing myself for the Leadership Camp and the School Ball