Challenge, Motivation, Support - 28 Days Of It

28 days ago I had no real idea of what I was getting myself in for.  I signed up for #28daysofwriting in the hopes that I would get my blog up and running, get back into the habit of writing regularly and make some new connections with other educators.  My one goal was to make it.  To complete the 28 days rain, hail or shine.  I am proud to say I made it.

What I didn't expect was how much I would come to love my 28 minutes of writing each day.  The daily time allowance when I was in quiet reflection about my professional practice became so much more than just 28 minutes.  I didn't expect to be thinking about it or talking about it as much as I have.

In 28 days a lot of things have happened.

I have a sore hand/wrist from typing which my massage therapist picked up on today as she felt the tight muscles.  It's a little like the technology version of the writer's dent I get on my ring finger when I write by hand a lot.  She growled me.  I didn't care.

My typing speed has gone up markedly.  Each night as I sit furiously typing my hands fly across the keyboard of their own accord, like they used to when I was back in University.  I love that.

I have read the blogs of wonderful educators from around the world.  Inspiring posts and fantastic gleanings from these passionate people.  We are in good stead with them in our classrooms, heading our schools or working to train our educators.

In 28 days I have managed to come up with 28 different topics to write on.  Some of them average, some of them make me proud.  My posts have been read by family, friends, colleagues and my wonderful Twitter crew from #28daysofwriting.  Having a blog to write on is great, having an audience to write for is amazing.

I have made some great connections with other educators in the past 28 days, most of whom I hadn't connected with prior to the beginning of the challenge.  I've learnt a lot from them.  More than I can say.  Thank you all for your wonderfully crafted posts and equally amazing encouragement you have given me.  I am so very grateful.

In 28 days I have eaten far too much chocolate.  At the time felt like a reward for working so hard.  Now I just feel greedy.  Perhaps next should be #28dayssugarfree.  That might be a good idea (most likely one to be ignored however).

28 days ago I didn't understand how difficult it would be some days to find 28 minutes of peace and quiet in which to write.  It doesn't sound like very long, but some days it was hard to fit it in.  I've only ever written in the evening.  Sometimes posting, like last night, just before midnight.  Scraping in by the skin of my teeth.  Sometimes I'd remember that @tombarrett lives in Australia so is likely at least two hours behind New Zealand time and wouldn't perhaps realise that I might be late.  Never needed the excuse luckily!

27 of the nights I have managed to be uninterrupted for my 28 minutes because I type once Little Miss Two and Miss Four are tucked up fast asleep.  Tonight I didn't manage to be so lucky.  Tonight I type my last post for #28daysofwriting sitting in a dark room on Miss Two's bed, my presence soothing her off to sleep.  I am cross-legged and hunched over my Chromebook.  My massage therapist would be shaking her head.

And with that I will sign off.  I have loved every second of my #28daysofwriting.  The 28 precious minutes are something so much bigger than what they seem.  My love for writing has been reignited.  I love my blog.  I want to keep it up.  I will keep it up.

Thank you so much Tom and everyone in the #28daysofwriting group.  You have inspired and motivated me.  Challenged my beliefs about best practice.  Encouraged and supported me.  You have given me some of the best professional learning all from the comfort of your own homes far, far away.  We are a small and powerful group of dedicated and passionate educators.  Let's keep doing what we do, and sharing it with the world.    

Turtles, Sharks and Owls

Are you are a Turtle, a Shark, a Teddy Bear, a Fox or an Owl when it comes to dealing with conflict?  I was at a course the other day where these conflict types were discussed and I found it a really interesting concept (you can read another post about the other things I learnt here).  I learnt a lot about conflict, the types of ways people deal with it and how to help students to learn to work through it in a positive way.  All good stuff.

The animals associated with how people instinctively deal with conflict:

Turtle - quiet, retreats from conflict by withdrawing and refusing to talk about the issue.  The turtle avoids conflict at all costs.  They tend to stay away from conflict and avoid the people they have conflicts with.

Shark - aggressive, 'my way or the highway'.  Sharks do not shy away from conflict.  Instead they try to force their opinion or way onto the person they are in conflict with.  They are determined to 'win' and like to compete.

Teddy Bear - does what is expected of them to avoid conflict.  They accommodate and make sacrifices to keep harmony.  A Teddy Bear tries to smooth things over and will put others before themselves in an attempt to preserve their relationships.

Fox - makes compromises, negotiates.  They give a little to get a little.  They are willing to sacrifice and maintain balance for the greater good.  Foxes do not avoid conflict but also don't seek to fully resolve the issue to the satisfaction of both parties.

Owl - comes to solutions that suit both parties, reasons, remains calm.  Owls are collaborative and place great value on goals and relationships.  They like to problem solve and work through a conflict fully to make sure that all parties are satisfied with the outcome.

The point of discussing the conflict types at the course wasn't to decide on which way of dealing with conflict was 'better' but more to allow people to realise the positives and negatives of the way that they operate in a situation where conflict in involved.  Depending on the situation, a person who has developed good conflict management skills may choose to behave in any of the conflict styles to get the outcome that is desired.

As a side note for those of you who read my Maker Time post, Miss Four was looking at her 'cake' earlier and as she was rummaging around in it found a M n M chocolate.  I cannot hazard a guess as to how long it was in there for or what it was touching (a dead cicada or lump of gravel perhaps).  It was promptly eaten.  Awesome.

Reference must be made to the Cool Schools Mediation programme where I heard this information, it is however, written in my own words and I do not claim any ownership over the concept.

Like Christmas

You can't see it in the photo but their excitement was plain to see in real life.  Written all over their flushed little faces as boxes were carefully pulled open.  The precious cargo they contained treated as such.  This was a moment we'd been waiting for.  More devices.  The students knew the value in it and it showed today.

Last year my colleague and I embarked on a new journey for our school...  Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and Hapara.  Amazing tools.  We had 12 iPads, six desktops (not in the classroom) and 50 students.  We needed to be creative.  For a start the purpose for us in using GAFE was as a literacy tool, a place to record and share our learning with our peers.  To collaborate and communicate over our learning each day.  We quickly found out the iPads, though incredibly wonderful, were not the best tool for our purpose.  We needed keyboards, anyone using technology to enhance literacy does I believe.  A little research later and my new best friend was found... the Chromebook.  We begged our Principal to consider buying us some.  He pondered on this for some time, and lots of cajoling later agreed to let us trial one each to see if they really were as good as we believed them to be.  Soooo excited!  They arrived and I fell in love.  Head over heels with this little masterpiece of technology.  It did exactly what we needed it to do - it ran Chrome.  Beautifully.

The year progressed at speed.  The budget didn't allow for more device purchases so we made do with what we had (never forgetting how much we actually had - more than a lot we knew).  But two Chromebooks between 50 students was tough.  We used the desktops when we could get to the Learning Centre, the iPads where possible (for docs and photos mainly) but mostly it was a torrent of children begging to use our 'Chromies'.  So we adapted our programmes to suit the skills we wanted them to develop, changed the way we did things to maximise learning time and to ensure that even if they didn't have a device in their hand they were still practising what they would be if they did have one.  In their writing books we utilised a comment margin down the left hand side of the page - commenting on their peers and their own work was something we considered a non-negotiable.  They practised it in their books and they practised it online in GAFE.  We developed writing tasks that were stored online on their Google Drive but could be handwritten and a photo uploaded using an iPad, or typed directly onto the document.  

The students thrived.  They flourished with the added motivation of having their work online, able to be shared with their peers, parents and teachers.  They loved the comments, buzzed over finding another teacher or the Principal had read their work online and left a comment.  Beautiful, supportive comments were left for each other, handy hints given and constructive criticism greatfully received.  It was fantastic.  We were so proud.  But we were always left wondering what would happen if we had access to more devices.  How much we could really push them in their learning, what other amazing achievements they could aspire to.  

Then this year rolled around.  10 new Chromebooks arrived by courier.  10 brown boxes were delivered down to our classroom after lunch by the Principal and her helpers.  It was like Christmas.  We had waited a year for this.  More devices!

We spread the boxes between the students and they patiently waited as we slit the ends of the boxes.  The boxes were opened in unison.  So carefully.  Everyone in that room knew the value of what was inside and it wasn't just monetary.  Oh their faces.  How they lit up when the Chromebooks were revealed from the packaging.  I raced around taking photos, smiling as the excitement bubbled around the room.  

Having worked with 1:25 ratios last year and to now have almost 1:4 - it's incredible.  I am so excited at the possibilities.  They students are abuzz with knowing that they will have far greater access to their much-loved device.  Using them tomorrow is going to be so much fun!

So instead of two best friends I now have 12.  I have to share them with 50 other small people but that's ok.  We shared with far less last year.  The possibilities are endless now.

The One About Ants

Ants are fascinating creatures.  They are much like us, incredibly social creatures living in groups of such order and organisation.  Intelligent and intuitive.  Hardworking.  Always busy.  You might not be able to pick them out in the photo above that I took earlier today but they are there.  I was watching a game of rugby and looked down at the ground.  Everywhere I looked there were ants.  And thus tonight's post was born (amazing where you can find inspiration!).

As I watched the little creatures scuttling furiously from place to place I thought of how an entire world was right down by my feet and I could hardly see it.  I looked closer and saw them changing direction, ducking into holes and under grass, carrying things.  They were busy, very busy indeed.  But unless I looked down, directly down, really hard I would never have see them.

I started thinking about how our schools and workplaces can be like this.  Everyone working furiously, often undetected or noticed unless someone looks hard enough to see what's actually there.  People who have jobs to do, hundreds of small (or large) tasks to complete, places to go and things to achieve.  

My school is very much like the ants.  We are a small group of dedicated educators who work so very hard.  We constantly push ourselves and each other to be better practitioners, to become more knowledgeable and skilled.  We all have jobs to do, often completing these jobs without the awareness of others.  Quietly going about our hundreds of tasks which make the school run seamlessly, smoothly.  

Unless you are a teacher you often don't realise the work that goes into moulding the next generation into successful learners.  Parents often joke about how it must be the greatest job in the world (and it is, don't get me wrong) because of all the weekends and holidays we have off.  Yeah right I hear you all laugh.  Teachers are the hardest working group of anyone I know.  People outside of the education field can be forgiven for making such judgements.  Just as we don't realise the importance of each of the ants in their scurrying madness at our feet.  Each job or task making the colony run like clockwork.  

So to all the teachers, Principals, educators out there...  this post has been about the ants... and about us.  Keep up the amazing work.  Even if no one sees it.  It is all worth it, our kids are worth it.

Here are a couple of really cool facts I found about ants tonight (courtesy of http://antark.net/)...

• Ants worst enemies are not humans, but other ants (much like us humans being our own worst enemies!).
• Ants have two stomachs - one for food for themselves, one for food for others (kind of gross but sweet at the same time).
• Dozens of colonies of the world's smallest ant could live in the brain case of the world's largest ant (not sure how I feel about this - sounds like a horror movie theme if you ask me).
• The total weight of all the ants in the world is the same as, if not larger than the weight of all the humans in the world (fearing a takeover anyone??).

Be Inspired, I Am

My brain is feeling a little tired tonight.  More than a little inspired though.  I attended my very first educamp today.  #educamprotovegas.  A room of such amazing talent.  I was so inspired.

A network of professional learning partners - in the form of Twitter, or face-to-face - is so incredibly powerful.  Such power to change, to motivate, to support, to learn.  There is truly nothing else that comes close.

I put my hand up at the end of last year to run our region's Year 4-8 Teachers PLN.  It's a little daunting, but I'm also dreadfully excited.  I ran this same group a couple of years ago and hadn't yet experienced the power and beauty of a great PLN, but this time will be different.  Connecting with my neighbouring colleagues is something I've always been passionate about.  We share a common catchment of students, experience a lot of the same hardships, challenges, celebrations and successes.  Who better to meet with on a regular basis and hash things out?  What untapped talent is lurking just below the surface in our group?  I am dying to find out.

Attending #educamprotovegas today gave me a lot of ideas of how to establish, support and grow this PLN baby, to nurture it into a strong connected group of like-minded educators with a passion for making a difference and collaborating for the goal of student success.  Top of my to-do list is providing a warm and inviting environment for us to meet in - my classroom (best I get tidying!!), establishing a sense of mutual trust and respect, giving opportunities for everyone to share (or to just listen if that is what they need), good food (a must-have in my book!) and hot coffee.  It will be our first meeting of the year and I want everyone to leave the room as I left educamp today... wanting more.

More connectedness, more learning, more collaboration.  More.

Did I mention that I was excited?  Inspired?  I am.

As a side note... to all those I met today face-to-face at #educamprotovegas - you inspire me daily on Twitter and you have now inspired me in real life.  I was in awe of the talent and sheer passion that exuded from the room.  Thank you.

Ladders Not Ceilings

I was lucky enough to watch the leadership team from Summerland Primary School in action at ULearn14. They talked about some very powerful stuff. One thing that really struck a chord with me was that you need to give teachers a ladder, not a ceiling.

In an environment where we encourage students to reach for the stars, that anything and everything is possible - how often do we allow our teachers the same open space to really fly as professionals?

A previous Principal of mine used to say that we were not to get too far ahead of everyone else on the teaching staff (mainly in the digital arena) or else we'd have the snap back effect. He likened it to a bungee cord that we were running away with, there was only so much stretch before the cord was too tight and either snapped or we would be jerked back where the others were. I didn't like this.

So I wasn't allowed to stretch myself for fear of getting too far ahead? I wasn't allowed to push myself to new heights because others weren't ready? This didn't sit well with me. Tall Poppy Syndrome for adults.

University of Canterbury researcher Louise Tapper thinks we have an unhealthy tall poppy chopping culture here in New Zealand. She says "Expectations in New Zealand are that we want people to be the same, rather than excel". We all know that we need to stop having those expectations with our children, but what about with our teachers?

By placing rules and restrictions around people you also create a ceiling for people who could have been better. People who could have pushed through and created amazing things if they were allowed to, encouraged to even. We need to chip away at the practices that create the bungee cord in the first place and allow for ladders for people to climb up past the ceiling. To grow into what they could be. To soar and become the very best they can be.  

What else could you aspire to if you were given the chance? The scope to believe that anything and everything was possible? We give the stars and sky to our students to reach for, let's start giving it to our teachers.

I'll finish with a quote from Ben Young (New Zealand Herald - November 11, 2009). He says "Success is a hard road to follow, it alone is going to naturally select winners and losers. Why should we make it even harder? Or worse knock out natural leaders at a young age? Shouldn't our aim be to maximise the amount of people rising their head above the rest? And in turn create a pool of tall poppies? In a global knowledge economy this is a big win".

Reframing the Loss

Change.  It's everywhere.  I found this quote by Deepak Chopra and it really reasonated with me.  All great changes are preceded by chaos.  It reminded me of something I heard last year that changed the way I feel about change.  And the way I deal with others going through it.

Last year I was lucky enough to attend ULearn14 with my colleagues.  It was an experience like no other I've been to in my teaching career.  I happened to stumble upon a really amazing speaker.  His name was Mark Osborne and after I heard him speak, the first time by accident, I went and changed sessions I had already booked to see him two more times during the three day conference.  He spoke a lot about change.  And it changed me.

There are two types of responses to change.  First Order Change and Second Order Change.  Depending on the situation people will fall into either category or some combination of both.  As leaders we need to be aware of these differences and receptive and responsive to both.  We need to have built positive relationships with our staff so that when these changes occur we are able to help each other through them and come out a stronger team on the other side.

Change is difficult.  Sometimes overwhelmingly so.  People often have a lot to lose when something changes and this is extremely hard.  A leader needs to recognise the response to change and to give the person what they need to get through it.

First Order Change is a when a person is learning something new and is open to the change but needs help in managing it.  It might be the addition of new technology into their classroom such as iPads or the change from PCs to laptops.  People going through this type of change need manuals, checklists and helpful tips to get them used to the change and embrace it.  This kind of change is relatively simple.  Just provide the scaffolding and support.  Done.

Second Order Change is harder.  Much harder.  It often occurs when a current framework is changed, perhaps something like moving from a paper system of management to a paperless one, bringing in BYOD in a deviceless school or completely changing the year level that a teacher has always taught in.  A person going through this type of change will feel threatened, scared, or like there is no-way possible that they will be able to manage this new 'normal'.  This response requires kindness, support, a listening ear, reassurance.  There needs to be trust and a supportive relationship to get through this change successfully.

When I think about the times in my teaching career when someone has really dug their toes in about something, I am left convinced that they were going through Second Order Change.  When I think about how I could have helped them more, I wish I had known the things I know now.  While I, or some of my other colleagues, may have needed a manual or a quick demo to learn the new skill, the toe-digger probably needed someone to talk to about how scary this was for them, someone to give them reassurance and guide them gently and patiently through.  Toe-diggers are often seen as saboteurs or dissenters of new ideas.  They are often given the same manual as the rest of the team and told to get on with it.  How well does this really work.  Is the change embraced?  The person left motivated and inspired?  In my past experience, no.

The next time you see a colleague digging their toes in, ask yourself if they have something to lose, if the change is actually overwhelmingly scary and big for them.  Ask them how they are feeling about it and listen between the lines.  Take them out for a coffee.  Build your relationship.  Give them reassurance and offer to guide them through.  You might be surprised how the response changes.  I dare you.

Thanks to Mark Osborne (@mosborne01) for introducing this idea to me, for helping me to learn how to help others through change.  

Pencil Personalities

We all have them in our schools.  The Pencil Personalities.  I'm not sure who crafted this nifty little image but it was based on one from www.teachers.ash.org.au.  I love it.  Hopefully the image is clear enough to read but I will attempt to explain the Pencil Metaphor in more detail below.

First we have the Leaders.  These are the driving force behind change in our schools.  The people who take the bull by the horns and jump in feet first when something new and technologically exciting comes along.  At the 'pointy end of things' as my old Principal used to say.

The Sharp Ones watch carefully to see what the early adopters have done with the technology, they take the best parts, learn from their mistakes and put lots of effort into making sure that their students have the best opportunities available to them.  The Leaders and Sharp Ones are the visionaries in your school.  They need support and time to try new things in a safe environment.  They also need time to focus and consolidate new knowledge and practices before charging onto the next adventure.  A good leader will provide the scope for these people to be creative and enthusiastic but also keep a little tension on the reigns so that they don't end up miles and miles ahead of everyone else thus creating a divide in your staff.

The Wood.  I like this one.  They would use the technology if someone would set them up with it, give them training and keep the programmes running for them.  These are the people who like to think they walk the talk, but really things would fall over if there wasn't someone in the background managing it for them.  The Wood people are usually going through first-order change, they need manuals, step-by-step instructions to help them through the change it's not so much scary as it is work.

The Ferrules are people who grasp tightly onto what they've always done.  They don't really like change and believe that traditional practice serves our students just fine thank you.

The Erasers are those people in your school who like to erase or undo the hard work done by the Leaders.  They are the ones who are stuck-in-the-mud, who don't like change because they have something to lose from changing.  They like to sabotage attempts to develop modern teaching practices and introduce new technology.  The Ferrules and Erasers have something to lose by changing from the status quo.  They are going through second-order change and need a lot of emotional support to help guide them through what to them is a scary experience.

And... the Hangers-On.  These people mean well, they like to attend Professional Development sessions and learn all the latest lingo so they can talk about it, but they never actually do anything with it.  These people need to be motivated.  They need to know the purpose and outcomes for the change.  They need a reason to want to make the leap from talking about the change to actually diving in and doing it.

So... the Pencil Personalities.  They are out there in our schools.  We all fit into one of the categories.  As leaders we need to manage the variety of personalities on our staff and help to guide everyone towards the greater goal of best practice, and provide the best opportunities for our students.

Which Pencil Personality are you??

Unity Is Strength

A little over a year ago my Principal at the time casually suggested that my colleague next door and I try to do some team teaching.  You know, just dip your toes in.  See what happens.  He suggested we start with reading groups.  He didn't know who he was talking to.  Suggesting anything to someone, or in this case two someones, who are competitive, type-A personalities with a bent towards perfectionism, usually ends in a boots-and-all situation.  And this was no different.

It just so happened that we were about to go Google at the same time and this meant that our summer break was spent online collaborating over Google Docs trying to nut out planning, assessments and how this team-teaching thing was going to work.

With our boots-and-all attitude and respect for each other as teachers I just knew that this was going to be a great year.  We delved into the pedagogy behind great team-teaching, researched modern learning environments and arranged to visit high-performing schools utilising the same techniques and practices that we wanted to implement.   We went in eyes open, brains switched on.  Learning at the heart of everything we did.

We had two single-cell classrooms connected through an ordinary-sized door.  Starting the year off we eased the students and ourselves into the team teaching environment, after all this was a mixed age group of two classes - one Years 3 and 4, the other Years 5 and 6.  The parents of the younger students were already nervous about their children being 'seniors' this year, we didn't want to completely terrify them.  The students of course just ran with it.  They thrived in their separate classes and they thrived when we came together for reading, then mathematics, then writing and all other curriculum areas.  Soon we were together all the time.  The students excelled.  They, and their parents, loved it.

Team teaching has so many benefits when done with the learners best interests at heart, for the right reasons and with a good team in place.  Mutual trust and respect are pivotal.  So is having a sense of humour and the ability to be flexible.  Great teams bounce off each other, accentuating and complementing each other's talents and strengths while supporting and balancing each other's weaknesses.  Personnel placement is a huge consideration.  My Principal was chuffed.  This was going better, he admitted, than he had even dreamed.

For one thing, my colleague was male.  Our boys in particular really looked up to him.  We complemented each other in terms of gender, and balanced out the students need for specific response types.  We could play good-cop/bad-cop when we needed to.  They had a soft place to fall and also someone to tell them to take a spoonful of cement when that was more appropriate for the situation.  The biggest unexpected gift I think that came of our teaching relationship that year was that our students had both a male and a female role model who worked together as a team.  We knew that a lot of our students didn't have that modelled for them at home, a positive collaboration between genders, and it was an honour to be able to show them how two people could work together for a common purpose - them.  It just worked.

Lessons I have learned:

• Your fear of being observed will be quickly conquered - you are constantly being observed.
• You will learn how to give constructive criticism and supportive feedback, after all your own teaching depends on the successes of your team mate.
• You will laugh more than ever before in a classroom, with the students falling over themselves laughing alongside the both of you.  This is pure magic.
• If you have a bad day, there is always someone there to pick you up or to take over while you take a minute to gather yourself back together.
• There is a sink next door and an open door through which to quietly sneak your half cold coffees into.
• You will learn to relax, to be flexible, to go-with-the flow - because you have to.
• A high-five is never more than a few steps away.
• The load is shared.  The disappointments halved.  The celebrations doubled.

Simply put, last year was the best year in my teaching career so far.  This team-teaching thing is pretty damn awesome.