Pos Ed Ted Talks 2021

 

Philosophy for Children Session #1 with Amy Austin and Sondra Bacharach - September 15th 2021

Reading prior to session: https://www.thesapling.co.nz/single-post/2018/09/20/book-list-can-books-help-children-do-philosoph

https://www.prindleinstitute.org/teaching-children-philosophy/

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VuGYXtyYoHkSjnHEuaM_cixPPmb3xSQkkZI5n5kcf94/edit

Play in the Junior School

 

Questions we had: 

These are the key questions to the junior team:
How do you observe and make sense of that?
How does it look in inquiry
How do you train people up to be play leaders?
How does it operate in terms of changes in personnel?

Positive Education Presentations

We introduced the idea of Term 4 Positive Education presentations. 

The purpose of these presentations is to: 

Build expertise in particular areas of Positive Education 

Teach and learn from each other

These presentations could be used for parent coffee mornings to keep the community informed. 

Here is Nicola's revised 2019 presentation based on "Energy" Chapter in David Keane's book, "Deliberate Art of Success."

 

Smackdown- To maintain momentum of student progress

 

PE and Health - August 2021

 

 

Actions: Autahi - Engaging kids in different games that start to build in competition. Teaching skills using equipment that we have available for break times/discovery time. Cycling in yoga/movement into resting time (active relaxing) Including body science - How does my body move? Building up a muscle? Planning to make PE more accessible to students who are fearful. More emphasis on small games. 

Tautoru- When raining, teach skills inside. Come up with a plan for inside locomotor skills (3-4 wet weather activities) Create 2x 35 minute blocks a week for skills teaching rather just one. Putting PE gear out during KLL 

Māhutonga/Matariki- Seniors skills teaching in juniors to raise the profile of some sports. Eg. Netball, Festival Whānau day, Parents and kids Gymnastics, using kids to lead (those who are passionate about it) ASB model within school Build a culture of sports and games in the playground. How does the body work? How does my brain learn. How does work alongside my body? Muscle memory, mindfulness. Mini Inquiry Body science.

Parent Positive Education Workshop - August 2021

Positive Education Workshop - an introduction

Finding your Inner Resources

Music

Restorative Practices and Social Coaching - Session 2

When we are dealing with different scenarios, how can we ensure that we are uplifting the mana of our students? 

What is going well:

We have been developing a consistent language across the school. Social coaching conversations are happening. 

Progress so far: 

-Jude ran a session about restorative practices/ social coaching.
-We met in teams and in triples to discuss what we do to “manage behaviour.”
-We have interviewed students across the school to ask them how teachers should respond in different situations.

There are still some inconsistencies about how we deal with "behaviour" across the school. Teachers deal with situations in different ways. 

These are some of the things that we need to come back to

 

We clarified some of the low level playground 'stuff'

Next Steps: To agree on what we do- 

toys, other rooms, duty teacher, jobs, character strengths groups, etap entries. 

What are the possibilities?

Do our guidelines need to change? 

We will carry these questions around with us when on duty to ensure that everyone is on the same page:  

Positive Education Session 3

We revisited the Positive Education Strategy

 

Lessons we have learned- in groups, report back, add

 

1. In teams reflect on last few years of Pos Ed

 

Supports? Hinders?

 

What’s worked well? For whom? How do you know?

What’s not been effective or had any impact? What may be sitting behind that?

 

…………………………..10 years………………………………..

 

Many programmes came and went in schools

Off the shelf packages were purchased and dumped on teachers

Then increased attention to PLD and importance of teacher wellbeing

Building capacity and sharing decision making

Research into all areas of school life- english literature, sports coaching,pastoral care etc

Now more aware of the influence of the wider environment- policies, systems, processes, recruitment and review processes,assessment schedules and processes, communication with whānau

Now prefer to call is whole-school wellbeing

Mindfulness training and practice for self regulation etc predates positive psychology

Now greater call for cultural responsiveness, getting away from one size fits all

Mathew White
“ One of the biggest challenges in the implementation of positive education over the last decade is an over reliance on science and an under reliance on educational philosophy. Many people equate activity with impact. They haven’t engaged with the big questions around professional practice and the implications of pedagogy.”

Lea Waters SEARCH online course ?

Alignment between governance, leadership and management critical

Alignment of vision and measurable goals

Collective teacher efficacy- critical self reflection

Integration of student voice

Collective mission

 

GGS

 

Lesson 1: Measure Purposefully

 

Collect baseline and ongoing data

Be responsive to changes in the environment

Evaluation strategy- efficient collaton and analysis

Although complex effective data helps a school be more refined and targeted with it’s wellbeing strategy

 

Lesson 2: Do PosEd with the students not too them

 

Embrace the wisdom, voice and perspectives of the students

Include them in design and implementation

Student contributions to newsletters, assemblies, parent workshops etc

 

Lesson 3: Less is more

 

Pos Ed needs time and space...what needs to go so that it can have this space?

Don’t overdo any one part

 

Lesson 4:

 

The teacher matters a lot

Refined pedagogy, strong relationships and authenticity

 

Lesson 5: Often, parents matter even more

 

Communicate effectively to build this partnership around wellbeing

 

Lesson 6: The importance of language

 

Aspects can be misunderstood and dismissed as a happyology

 

Lesson 7:Interventions are never permanent

Some get embedded i.e. WWW Some have a limited time ie Gratitude wall in staffroom

 

Lesson 8: Wellbeing is taught and caught- Pos Ed is not a curriculum

 

Lesson 9: Pos Ed must be tailored to fit each school and each student

 

Strategies need to be flexible enough to be adapted as required. It’s not a one size fits all approach

 

Lesson 10: Beekeepers just don’t make honey

 

Surrounding crops get pollinated- positively or negatively depending on the teacher

 

Sue Roffey

 

A vision for the whole child

A strengths based approach

Solution focussed approach

Emphasis on relationships across the school

 

Toni Noble and Helen McGrath

 

Bounceback

 

School based factors

Student wellbeing a top school priority that underpins academic learning

High level leadership support,professional learning, whole school,role modelling, communication with families,integration where appropriate

Flexible and adaptable, measured

 

What are you thinking now?

What are the 3 messages that jumped out for you?

 

Discuss in teams….

 

What do you keep doing? Start doing? Stop doing?

Pos Ed team to monitor this……...

Positive Education and The Arts

 

Positive Education/ Restorative Practices

What do we mean by whole school?

Whole school wellbeing change requires attention to every level of the school operation…..

What are some examples for students/ staff?

One group do students another do staff…...

Student? ( enrolments,awards,discipline,reporting, curriculum,)

Staff?..( induction...coaching...interview, meetings..)

What’s taught?

What’s caught?

Physical environment,school experience, culture)

Has to be taught AND caught

Complex challenge across a whole school system---- you can expect a whole cohort change before embedded- 6 years

Ecology- a complex web of wellbeing factors

Diagram

Person

Personal factors

School factors

System factors

Need to view as a whole system

Messy reality elements combine sometimes in unpredictable ways

Who are the people?

Students

Teachers

Leaders

Support staff

Board

Parents

Wider community

Iwi

Inclusion- wellbeing for all/ Special characteristics

Disabilities requiring learning support

Minority/ ethnic/ religious

Trauma

Economic hardship

Mental health

Gender diverse

RESEARCH

Need all levers for change

Recent research Flinders uni- 6 months academic learning high implementing schools

Multiyear whole school more than classroom only

Long term undertaking

Whole school involvement has better results- resource intensive however, more commitment and sustainability

Parent training

Context very important

Teachers- strengths depended on how the teacher practised strengths spotting

Restorative practices - strong research base- done with not too

SOCIAL DISCIPLINE WINDOW

Punitive/Restorative 

Teaching with the heart and mind 

Who will/ could support your vision within the school?

Who will/ could support vision beyond school gates

How can you draw on the whole system?

Are their practices and processes in our school that may undermine wellbeing/ what may they be

LOOK AT STRATEGY DOCUMENT TOGETHER

Triples: Teams were asked to read and complete an ECG. The Positive Education team got together to summarise these reflections.

Nic, Mikayla and Jenny

Nik, Beth, Ximena and Suz

John, Scott and Carl

Understanding Behaviour, Responding Safely (MOE Team, Vic and Susie)

 

15.2.21 - PLD Meeting Whole Staff - Strategic Plan- New and Old

What is the same? What is different? The key things… what does that mean for us in programmes, teaching and learning. Spending about ½ an hour on this. 

What is most important here.

Sharing back

Similarities:

• Leavers profile

• the focus on the whole child/Pos Ed

• Excellence and inquiry

• This all fall into the vision but it’s expressed in a different way

• All of us being learners -  child and students and whanau

Differences:

• The new one captures the essence on the front - the image to refer to is easier can see the link to Taranaki

• Immediately more engaging

• More simplified? Maybe? In some ways it's not more simple…. There is more unpacking on the pages as they come through the plan… caters to both big ideas and the nitty gritty

• More acknowledgement of place - cultural competencies were more explicit - is this more teacher speak? Rather than speaking all the same language. The key idea here is that all in the community are learners... the how of this is still to come. 

• The whakatauki, sets the idea of collaboration as a way of working.. Fundamentally it's about a vision for a way of working. Whereas in the past there was perhaps confusion.

• Positive education is the bedrock of our kura - wellbeing is needed to be the centre of what we do.

• This new design is a graphic that can be easily understood

So what now:

• We’re looking at integrating the Te Ao Māori lens 

• Through collaborative learning and UDL bring the arts health and p.e in a collaborative model

• Groupings are flexible and mixed ability - not only in the classroom but in workings as learners ourselve (PLD, Triples etc)

• Planning explicitly for engagement and representation so their mana is uplifted.

• What does it mean? We need to get better at UDL..

• No matter what has come before… each day is a new day and restoration of mana is important

• Cultural competencies - This thinking has begun in teams, making sure our understanding is shared and deeply understood by all. We will need to keep these things in mind and alive.

• How do we bring our community together with us… How does our community experience our school? The journey through Autahi - Seniors

• How can we share our story - aligned messaging always -  we need to be concise and clear with our community

We will be coming back to this...