Wairua in Wānanga

Week six term one 2022: 

Figuring out meditation and mindfulness:

I was sure I would NOT be teaching high school kids to meditate when I chose to take up the wero of a Wānanga class on the back of five years of Deaning. It really did not sit comfortably with me at all. I had walked into a wānanga class at HHS by accident where a teacher was earnestly trying to get lads to try yoga and it was odd to me. Beyond my comfort zone.  

However, I was urged to keep an open mind by friends who are colleagues and are well versed in the Junior Wānanga setup. They wore me down assuring me it can work in the year 7 - 9 programme and it could very well work for the 10 and 11's with persistence.

We have begun with two-minute meditations from Headspace (better for teenagers) and Calm on youtube. They are published for free. This has taken some training up - we always use Wednesdays. This is to create consistency. Without missing a beat, I need to go and collect a group of boys from another teaching space and bring them into mine because they are not good at being in my Wānanga class, let alone doing this. So it is a bit forced. I spend time each lesson explaining that I want them to have headphones off, and show respect to allow everyone the opportunity (including their own selves if they ever felt ready) to participate. So far, our behavioural issues have been minimal, but it is still hard mahi to not give in. 

Problematically the sound bar in R7 is appalling and has inhibited our consistency because it is either 99 dbh or muted... I wait for this issue to be resolved. Some attempts have just been awful. 

I'm doing this because I believe there is a need for it. I'm not a spiritualist. I am not religious. I am a mum with a need to see well-being front and centre of my own young person's forward planning and future. If they don't have this then they don't need any other skill, content, or meaning they learn at Kura. Very soon, I would like to have built up to 10 minutes of meditation. During lockdown in 2020 we found ourselves highly dependent on Headspace as an app and mindfulness, breathing strategies and affirmations to get through the isolation. It all made a difference. 

Week nine term two 2022:

I believe the class is ready for a good solid 10-minute meditation... I notice some class members one would not expect, taking this experience quite seriously. I keep trying to link it back to te Whare Tapa Whā, but I know I need to be more explicit with that link and keep repeating myself, even though I feel like students have heard me say it a million or so times, so surely know. Surely I sound like a broken record? Clearly not. I still retrieve students from another teaching space each lesson. But not every time. Consistency works eventually. 

Week two term three 2022: 

We recently had a change of learning space, so that my class could cook without disrupting another class on Mondays and make hot drinks from the kitchen which no one else seems to be using a lot with their kids. But it exists and is well used in the other two kahui buildings so why not ours. The kitchen in our kāhui is adjacent to a learning area without a wall. It was a bit unfair to keep walking through and then making yummy smells for that class who were not benefitting from it! So we negotiated a shift. The cooking is a separate story, but it has created a bit of togetherness, and buy-in so it is something we will keep at. 

That has changed how we do things; space does influence the way it is done. 

Previously we were building up to our 10-minute-a-week meditation in R7 and it was not too bad. Now in R9, it is a train station. We have better seating because we can configure ourselves to not have our backs to anyone without having to do a full furniture move of too many desks in too small a space. And then back again in a heck of a hurry before the bell goes for the next lesson. But we are interrupted too many times.  It is less private and we can be seen a bit more. Teenagers don't like feeling exposed. I suspect adults doing this would not like that sense of exposure either though. 

I have made some signs and one of my boys who doesn't want to engage with the actual meditation helps me put them up (and lock the doors and explain to staff who try and walk through without reading them to please use another door). We are up to 10 minutes each time regardless. 

There are no less than five ways into our space. Of course, I only printed four on the first day we used the signs. 

I think my process looks like:

• Introducing te Whare Tapa Whā - making sure Wairua is a clear components
• What is meditation? Explicit teaching around what it can do and why. Both before and after each and every time we do it
• Choosing a meditation that is appropriate for the audience. Some have been fails. Usually, the Headspace brand works quite well. 
• Positive reinforcement following it, even when it doesn't feel so successful (usually it is one learner who doesn't cope that day) 
• reinforcing that you can choose to opt-in on any Wednesday and the links are right there to practice at home if you want as well. So long as you remain respectful and find yourself a comfortable position for the duration. 

We went from 2 up to 5, up to 10 minute in length over the course of two terms. it was deliberately slow as it was only on a Wednesday. Repetition and familiarity were our aim there. 

This is a smaller part of my inquiry as a whole in 2022.

Week nine term three 2022

Week two term four 2022

Week nine term four 2022

Update of some thinking and creating around Teaching Inquiry 2022

 Wānanga for term three has a more independent focus with more of the same included. 

What this means for CeR:

After a hard start with a class I wasn't expecting to teach in 2022, and thought would initially be with a completely different group of learners, we have developed a way to 'be'. 

Te Whare Tapa Whā has been our guiding light. It has provided structure and meaning as it is so clearly directed through the Hornby High School Health Curriculum. All of our learners know and understand it's foundational principles.

From this we have developed some themes for certain days:

Monday - Whenua, roots: reflecting on your weekend and forward planning with our journal writing - we use a specific format for this now, we cook or bake and share kai that we make, rather than are given. We are lucky to have the kitchen 

Tuesday -  has become Taha Tinana - but we are still stepping this out and it begins with 10 minutes of silent reading

Wednesday is  -Wairua; mindfulness and meditation

Thursday - Taha Whānau; still a bit loose, but Altruism and self before others. What would we do for Whānau well-being if we had to?
giving back is the general theme

Friday - Taha Hinengaro; we reflect on our week. 

For each lesson we have a Learn/Ako task as a 'do now' - this is generally 10 minutes, and relevant to our theme or at least the expectations from our Wānanga leads in the above slide show. 

We then complete a create/Waihanga task (which will involve elements of learn and share, but it simplifies things to categorise it on our daily plan) for 25 minutes. This part is based on feedback I voluntarily collected from my class and have shared with the rest of our Wānanga advisors. For terms one and two, my class HATED Wānanga. One of the factors contributing to this was a complete lack of choice. They had not chosen to be in Wānanga, had not chosen to be with me as their teacher (and we know our learners very often will select classes based on that factor) and then I came into their lives and said we are doing reading, writing and unit standards you weren't expecting to do, on financial literacy, visual texts and so on. In retrospect, I'm not fully surprised I have had to work very hard to create a sense of buy-in. 

If our learners complete both of these portions of the lesson, they get Wā Hauora time. They call it free time, but it must be varied and they must be able to show me or talk to me about how this affects their sense of happiness. 

For each lesson that students manage both tasks, we have our sticker chart. Learners can accumulate 10 and they can then have one hour of Wā Hauora time provided they have a plan for it. The sticker chart has proven ridiculously popular. Sticker types are a competitive thing and we are making good ground in coming together. 

Inquiry 2022 Whānau communication to enhance student relationships in the classroom

Research into engagement of students through engaging whānau

2021 UBRS

 Understanding Behaviour, Responding Safely

Three modules.

- understanding behaviour - school wide

- creating supportive learning environments - school wide

- responding early and effectively - escalation cycle. - targeted students

Module one: Understanding behaviour

Three recalls

What is it about a good teacher that makes them so? Key attributes. 

how the brain grows, develops.

how adrenaline and cortisol affect the brain

Two insights:

That it takes time for the cortisol to calm, and there will be moments when you think it is, but its too soon

That even exposure in utero to cortisol spikes will affect a child's ability to process cortisol spikes as they grow. 

One question:

Do I fully use a pause and reflect tactic with my learners? Have I compartmentalised this to be a staff-based peer to peer technique?

Module two
three things that are positive to focus on for 2021:

1) Slow down - pause and reflect, slow down my voice when I'm aware escalation is occurring

2) Learn all junior names within two weeks - kamar photos.

3) Being aware of my space with students and whether they have an exit.

Module three reflection: in my practice - 

Stop doing: filling in silences with continued explanations (my fear that a student doesn't understand hence the silence and they are likely just processing info), 

Start doing: putting everything back when I'm done from a class to help maintain order and structure more regularly, monitoring my tone and pace of speech in class.

The Professional Learning plan for implementing T-shaped Literacy in Visual Arts

I have spent some time thinking about how we are going to do this and I havent shared it with my department at all before this. There is a concept called re-profesionalisation and transformational professionalism (Poskitt, 2005). 

“... characterised by ‘inclusive membership, public ethical code of practice, collaborative and collegial, activist orientation, flexible and progressive, responsive to change, self-regulating, policy-active, enquiry-oriented and knowledge building’...” (p. 16). Sachs, 2003.

It is a good fit for a future-thinking direction in education, given the fast pace of change in society, for example apps and social media. The introduction of T-shaped Literacy and developing it as established practice in Visual Arts through the LCS Inquiry framework is a re-professionalising action. It is hoped that what the Visual Arts department does is alway based upon this definition.

The following three points are appropriate tools and reflections that will positively affect progress with the department for the betterment of the learners:

 

1 - Video recording of a teachers teaching

 

Filming oneself in the act of teaching is to "confront one's image of teaching with ones' actual teaching" (Tripp & Rich, 2012, p 729). There exists a precedent for filming oneself teaching over the past four decades, with Schon in 1983 setting in motion the concept of a 'reflective practitioner'. The ongoing improvements to capturing moving images until the present is not only astounding, but sharable at the click of a button, and available immediately for reflection. It is only natural then that the capability of filming oneself for reflective practice becomes a norm within a school setting.

 

Rich and Tripp cite the following points as advantages to the process in their 2012 study:

●  Enabling the identification of patterns in practice

●  Identifying gaps about teacher's perception and the reality of practice

●  Helping to identify what a teacher believes they are implying in their actions towards learners and whether this is visible, therefore useful

●  Allowing teachers to notice aspects they were unaware of and analyse these

●  Assessing strengths and weaknesses, in a rewindable fashion, without needing an expert observer to retell, reframe and possibly inaccurately reconstruct events

The filming of teaching sequences can be made visible and therefore, transparent for outside analysis. The usefulness here is that these points fit the pedagogy of the Manaiakalani Education Trust - Learn, Create, Share; making visible a ubiquitous, rewindable, empowering learning process.

 

2 - Inquiry based model of applying T-shaped literacy as a visible and understood practice architecture (Edwards-Groves & Kemmis, 2018)

 

According to the theory of practice architectures, all knowledge is learnt by ‘doings’ ‘sayings’ and relatings’. These three components are not sitting within a vacuum, they are influenced, interfered with and interacted with outside world knowledge and values. They are also inseparable from each other for true learning to occur. By establishing our own current practice architecture on teaching literacy before, during and after the process, (see previous post on T-shaped Literacy) one is hoping to see growth and have another tool to be able to reflect upon for the betterment of the learners. It sits neatly within the Inquiry cycle (inside the ‘create’ section of the LCS model) as well as beyond Inquiry. Hardy (2014) aligns the doings, sayings and relatings with the overall inquiry process, however, the writer feels that is too simplistic.

 

“...The research reveals the Inquiry Cycle approach as characterised by specific actions, dialogue, and relationships – “doings,” “sayings,” and “relatings” – productive of the development of a learning culture focused on significant curriculum reform; overt support for whole-school “explicit” approaches to teachers’ pedagogies; and active/robust critique of data-focused assessment processes…”

 

Regardless of whether a practice architecture can fully encompass all of the nuances and directions of a full and rigorous TAI, the end point of attaining a tele affective formation is still the ultimate purpose. In this instance, somewhat discretely as T-shaped literacy.

 

“... the most fundamental task of a teacher is, and always should be, to change lives, through initiating people into practices…” Edwards-Groves & Kemmis, 2018 - pp115.

 

The theory of ‘practice architecture’ as explained by Edwards-Grove and Kemmis in “Understanding Education” pp 115 - 158, as a way of making visible the interactive process that occurs and is required to make connections and new meanings in learning - through “doings, sayings and relatings”. By making this visible throughout the duration of the Professional Learning programme, one hopes that a greater clarity of one's own process of teaching successfully is developed. The intention is strengthening the Inquiry cycle with a process that the 'Learning', 'Taking Action' and 'Checking' aspects of Timperley’s revised model are directed for the teacher with rigour. By seeing the overall impact of the Inquiry model as a practice architecture, one can see how this should become embedded across education as established practice, where it is not already. The doing, saying and relating concept works well in modelling and generating base, progress and end data from a qualitative point of view.

3 - Moving from the work to implement to a product for innovation

 

Timperley, H., Kaser, L., & Halbert, J. (2014), speak extensively about innovation coming from rigorous Inquiry processes. An inquiry should not ‘finish’, it should by its nature lead to where-to-next type questions. There is a risk in placing a defined outcome at the end of this process as limiting the creative opportunities for where-to-next, but there is also something that can be aspired to also, as an MIT participant.

We have been observed by Woolf Fisher research independently, twice a year since beginning with the outreach. This year, their contract comes to an end and Manaiakalni Education Trust takes up this wero. The whole department is adept at screen-recording themselves for aspects of their teaching sites to assist with the learning process. Generally, as a planned activity, recording instructions to employ in future teaching sequences, rather than a record of what has happened. This Kura’s open setting, where the practice is exposed to anyone passing by, and the numerous high-coverage security cameras that are reviewed for disciplinary reasons frequently means the fear of seeing oneself reflected as a recording is lowered. The whole Kura and cluster have engaged in a Teaching as Inquiry model as an expectation of appraisal for the past two years, including across cluster Professional Learning Groups with a thematic focus, with mixed results, so the language of inquiry already exists and is not new. As a school with an emphasis on creativity - A "Centre of Creative Excellence", the concept of a product developed from an inquiry is not left field but does represent the innovation expected at Hornby High School currently. We have the option of submitting the plan and intention for the development of a product to the Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher (MIT) programme (Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers, N.D). The full direction of such an application will come to light towards the end of term three, 2021, in time for application closing dates for the 2022 cohort (traditionally week one of term four - TBC for 2022 cohort).

 

Professional learning plan:

Colour Key for the checklist:

Learn:
Create:
Share:

 

 

	Staff involved:
Check in with staff re hours to commit	KE - Abi Keene, Full-time assistant Art, CO - Michael Collins, Part-time assistant Art, CE - Rowena Clemence, Head of Department Art, SN - Robin Sutton, Principal.	Week six term four 2020
Request to be sent to relief coordinator and principal to clear these staff from a week of relief duty	❏ CE - HoD – relief-hold request to SN ❏ SN - Principal to OK the plan - meet with him to explain and present this concept ❏ Updating Google calendar for the department to see where Staff are on non-contacts simultaneously. ❏ Book meeting room for times agreed upon. ❏ Dissemination of Learn, Create, Share, inquiry process, aligned with Timperley inquiry process.	Week six term four 2020
Timeframes for evidence and structures	❏ Gathering of PAT data 2020. ❏ Set up of teacher site. ❏ What is T-shaped Literacy? ❏ What is synthesis and critical literacy? ❏ Establish 'Label' for T-shape literacy within google group. ❏ Current screenshots of teaching sites recorded and placed in proximae to PAT results and NCEA data 2020 on teacher site. ❏ Dissemination of “Saying, Doing and Relating” introduced and discussed. ❏ Practice architecture artifact completed ❏ Create a shared understanding of why we will be using filming of teaching as a tool, through the evidence from research. ❏ Unpack ‘heavy coaching style’ (Killion, 2008) with staff at hand, so that clarity around involvement and expectations is set. ❏ HoD to complete ‘how to be a heavy coach’ template, reflect on it and share it with staff. ❏ Construct an agreed-upon template for explicitly using T-shaped Literacy in Visual Arts. ❏ Get feedback from selected students on its clarity. ❏ Get feedback from Kelsey Morgan - Uru Mānuka cluster coordinator on clarity. ❏ Choose three modules/classes each to develop one T-shaped literacy approach using the suggested format. Add to teaching sites. ❏ One public blog post which includes practice architecture artifact completed - 200 - 500 words	Week eight Term four 2020
	❏ Establish a relationship with two other Manaiakalani Secondary Art Departments. ❏ Link February 2021 PAT data with students who have come through from 2020. ❏ Revise when “Learn, Create and Share” happen chronologically in the process of the year.	Term one 2021
	❏ Start each term one unit/module/class explicitly teaching through agreed-upon T-shaped literacy lens. ❏ Collect data from all classes. Include a reference to your perception of their attitude to reading in Art, about Art and to gain understanding with their work - see level five of evaluation plan in part two for why we want this information. ❏ Film class for each teacher, screenshot teaching site, add to teacher google site for T-shaped literacy in Visual Arts - together as a department ❏ Practice architecture artifact completed ❏ Connect with Woolf Fisher Research Centre (or 2021 equivalent) directly for discussion for clarity - record the meet. ❏ One public blog post which includes practice architecture artifact completed - 200 - 500 words ❏ HoD to complete ‘how to be a heavy coach’ template, reflect on it and share it with staff.
	❏ Request three hours in week two of term two for release as a department. ❏ Unpack feedback from students and other departments. ❏ Share results with partner departments in those two schools, gain feedback, evaluate .	Week one - two, Term two 2021
	❏ Reform T-shaped literacy if required. Add to term two t-shapes to google sites. ❏ Screenshot teacher sites beginning and end of term ❏ Update PAT results if there are any new results available.	Weeks three - 8 term two, 2021
	❏ Film class for each teacher, screenshot teaching site, add to teacher google site for t shaped literacy in Visual Arts ❏ ‘Practice architecture artifact’ completed ❏ Update data from students about your and their perception around reading in Art. ❏ One public blog post which includes practice architecture artifact completed - 200 - 500 words	Weeks eight - ten, term two, 2021
	❏ Repeat term two for term three.	Term three 2021
	❏ Begin the application process for the Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers programme (Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers, N.D ) 2022 cohort.
	❏ Repeat term two for term four.   ❏ Apply for Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers programme 2022 - week ONE term four. ❏ Gather the end of year data for PAT, with NCEA internal results, external results if available. Complete analysis. ❏ Practice architecture artifact completed ❏ One public blog post which includes practice architecture artifact completed - 200 - 500 words ❏ HoD to complete ‘how to be a heavy coach’ template, reflect on it and share it with staff. ❏ Share results with Staff and clusters on google meet, evaluate.	Term four 2021
	❏ Investigate app development to select texts based on concept/technique/element/principle/device for Visual Arts. ❏ Summative data on your and their perception of reading in and for Art . ❏ Complete evaluation as a project.	Beyond 2021

So, there you have it. A plan for us implementing T-shaped Literacy over the next 13 months.

There will be gaps and we will right things as we find them slightly wrong.

References:

Edwards-Groves C., & Kemmis S.(2018) Education, Practice, and Practice Architectures. In:

Understanding Education. Springer Texts in Education. Springer, Singapore.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6433-3_4 pp 115-158

Guskey, T. R. (2002). Does it make a difference? Evaluating Professional Development.

Educational Leadership: Journal of the Department of Supervision and Curriculum Development,

N.E.A, 1, 45–51.

Ian Hardy (2016) In support of teachers’ learning: specifying and contextualising teacher inquiry as professional practice, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 44:1, 4-19, DOI:10.1080/1359866X.2014.987107

Killion, J. (2008). Are you coaching heavy or light? t3; Teachers TeachingTeachers, 3(8), 1–11.

National staff development council. www.ndc.org

Poskitt, J. (2005). Towards a Model of New Zealand School-Based Teacher Professional Development. New Zealand Journal of Teacher’s Work, 2(2), 136–151.

Sachs, J. (2003) The activist teaching profession. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Timperley, H., Kaser, L., & Halbert, J. (2014). A framework for transforming learning in schools: Innovation and the spiral of inquiry. Centre for Strategic Education; Seminar Series Paper 234, 1–27.

Tripp, T. R., & Rich, P. J. (2012). The influence of video analysis on the process of teacher change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(5), 728–739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.01.011