Ngā Matapakinga | Discussion

Kia ora kotou, I thought I'd give Google Earth a go and see if I could make a local cultural trail of my own. I’ve created Te haerenga mariko o Tauranga Moana a virtual journey of my local rohe (area) using Google Earth. So far the text has been sourced from websites and images from Creative Commons, but I've also been able to add my own content, personalising this trail as my own. Note: This is an on-going work in progress

Finding out more about my local rohe (area) and the people who travelled to it, settled and gave it place names; has been really fascinating. There is a lot about the cultural heritage of Tauranga Moana I didn't know before and by travelling (virtually) to the special places of interest (often those I've driven past), visually demonstrates the stories of the past and present.

What I also discovered along the way was: 

• how closely the stories link tangata (people) to the whenua (land),
• how many place names in websites refer to adopted names given by Pakeha, rather than original names given by Māori,
• how many place names have spelling errors or missing macrons,
• whose perspective is dominantly portrayed in some promotional media.

What I'd like to add to Te haerenga mariko o Tauranga Moana, is more stories about tangata whenua (the people). Talking with mana whenua, local rangatira, kaumātua, artists, scientists and community representatives with strong affiliations to the local iwi would enrich these narratives (social mapping). The possibility for students to create/capture and retell their own place-based stories through images, sound recordings and videos of their whānau, hapū and iwi is endless. 

Find out more about Google Earth and LEARNZ field trips in Fionna Wright's CORE blog post @ Powerful storytelling using Google Earth for Web.

This thread has offered some great ideas for schools to dive into the Changing role of teachers Ten Trend and examine this concept more deeply, against their own pedagogical practices across the school.

St Mary’s Catholic School Rotorua has done just that. Staff have been undertaking professional learning and development to brainstorm and plan how their learners might graduate and progress their learning through play-based learning to more problem-based/project-based learning opportunities.

Staff in leadership roles have supported other teachers in their teams to understand theory (largely shared by Buck Institute for Education), effective pedagogies as well as design elements that underpin ‘gold star’ practice for project-based learning. Teams were able to read discuss, debate and disseminate supporting readings as well as view examples of authentic learning in action.

Circumnavigating these learning conversations is a school-wide focus on a graduate profile - key skills, competencies and capabilities students need today. There have also been discussions on how St Mary’s Catholic School might deliberately create conditions for students to learn and practise these skills. Enter Ten Trends: Changing role of the teacher.

Through facilitated support (Anne Robertson, Tessa Gray) teachers were invited to engage with the guiding questions from the Ten Trends cards to help bring everyone on the same page and clarify common understandings going forward; when collaboratively planning for more authentic, project-based learning opportunities that prioritise different cultural perspectives, personalise learning and make integrate digital technologies.

Next up: St Mary’s is about to implement a strategic plan 2021 (Te Hāngaitanga, one of the guiding principles of Te Hurihanganui) to ensure Mātauranga Māori and bi-cultural connections with local mana whenua (through a number of initiatives, business and trusts) are visibly part of authentic, integrated and localised curriculum design (place-based learning) with a goal to strengthen science capabilities.

Follow-up on this story in the coming months and see how these developments have influenced teacher planning, design and delivery of authentic learning opportunities for all students. 

Pātai/wero: How might this Ten Trend help guide/address engagement, diversity and self-management needs of your learners? We'd love to hear more. Simply join the CORE Ten Trends group to contribute below.

Kia ora @shiralee thank you for sharing your research and practice journey so far. It sounds like you have a hybrid model of 6 monthly reporting as well as giving parents and whānau access to progress information about their children. This is invaluable. Personally (due to some circumstance this year), I still don't know how my son is tracking this year (no mid year report), fingers crossed he's tracking ok by the end of Year 8.

I see you've created a structure for how Seesaw will be used, there are some helpful tips to make learning visible to encourage parents/whānau to comment and respond, including:

• Making learning intentions clear (and in plain language)
• Sharing processes and progress made towards learning goals
• Inviting reflections and critical feedback about learning in an iterative cycle
• Having shared ownership
• Making it manageable

I've always drawn inspiration from Nick Rate's early work on e-Portfolios and his ten step guide (CORE Blog post). 

1. Research to understand the pedagogy behind the approach
2. Define your purpose for using e-portfolios
3. Consult and seek input from all stakeholders
4. Develop a framework
5. Define the criteria
6. Choose the tool
7. Educate all those involved in the process
8. Implement
9. Update
10. Review

There are also a list of links and resources complied in the Ten Trends 2019 PDF (p10) including Curriculum, Progress and Achievement Ministerial Advisory Group Conversation Document, but like yourself, I'd love to hear more school stories. Is anyone brave enough to axe the six-monthly reports to parents?

I see Micro-credentialing relating well to Real time Reporting and Understanding Success trends. 

I recently had a conversation with a colleague around what Ormiston Junior College is doing and their gamified approach to learning. We started asking the question if any other schools had developed a similar approach and what platform they are using? Is there something already out there that can be picked up and altered to suit the schools localised curriculum.

I started a bit of search after this conversation and I've stumbled across ClassCraft https://www.classcraft.com/

So far I've created a class and I'm exploring the all the possibilities.

• I have the option of building a demo class alongside my own class so I can test out features etc
• I can build my class around a particular focus (social emotional learning, positive behaviour)
• Personalise quests with your own curriculum. Create quests that are story driven learning adventures. What I like here is as you are creating the learning quests you have an option of building a story as they progress the learning. You can set a task (either online or not), assign this task (for XP points), create a discussion forum for individuals and teams, Even if its not an assignment you can still reward XP.
• Formative assessment appears in the form of what is called 'Boss Battles' (I need to explore this feature more)
• Teacher can see real time data with insights into student motivation
• There is also an option for you to use lessons/quests already created

I would love to know if anyone is using this in their class or what other platforms are you using with a micro-credentialing approach?

Kia ora @lwoon, so nice to see you in here, long time no see over the hills there!

Snap: I printed off the Ten Trends too to scribbled/circled key points and then went back into the digital PDF to click on the live links . I also saw many synergies in yesterday's Localised Curriculum workshop hosted in Tauranga Moana. I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to open up dialogue around; who our stakeholders are, who has feed-in and the 'biggest voice' when designing and implementing a localised curriculum.

Quick question: Were you looking for the five papers from different authors, including Jan and Derek (Education Council) on Informing Leadership for Communities of Learning? 

Tess 

In light of recent events in Aotearoa, the "Wellbeing" and "Schools as part of a community" trends have really got my attention. Our schools have been centres / safe havens in terms of dealing with how our young people are feeling, and our wonderful teaching staff have responded so well to the big challenge in front of them. It would be great to hear some examples here of what you have observed out there, in terms of how schools as part of a community have stepped up to support student wellbeing