Use of Language - David Keane's course (The Art of Deliberate success)

Through using the App version of The Art of Deliberate success I've come across some excellent Podcasts focusing on how the language we use affects our attitude to our day. I've listened to Oprah interview some really interesting people and have followed up on borrowing related books by these people from the local library. Currently on my reading list is 

• The 7 habits of highly effective people (I used to own this book but got put off by the word PARADIGM which makes my train of thought grind to a halt as I find it hard to envisage what a paradigm is!). I'm having another go.
• an analysis of effective leaders
• a text by Iylana van Zant on forgiveness

The biggest impact I have experience from Oprah's podcasts so far is her statement "when you you better you do better" as in - forgive yourself for doing/acting/saying things in the past that you were doing your best with at the time. For me this also extends to how I interact with my colleagues and operating from a point of grace rather than judgement.

Everyone is going through something in their lives which may be impacting on their efforts/attitude at work.

August update on PDA goals

Identified inquiry context: What will the inquiry be centered around?  What is the evidence that has helped to identify the context and the priority learners?

Does Stile as an online platform prove to be a useful/motivational/optimal tool when working with LA students on Big Picture ideas such as careers, aspirations, interest areas, community links for shadowing opportunities How effective can Stile be when regularly engaging with LA students about BP concepts

Set Goals:

What is the planned outcome/s from this intervention? (ie the intended impact on both teaching and learning)

• By focussing on the student’s interests and community links and ideas on job/career areas we can foster student agency in their learning and wellbeing – help the students develop a “future possibilities/future vision” for area(s) of interest which may then relate to career areas. To help students see that their agency is the driver for their direction and pace of success. By engaging whanau in this conversation we can build on the support for our student’s learning.

Mid year update:

I will be moving away from using Stile as the online forum I was aiming to use for student engagement as it can’t be used in a synchronous manner.

I will be shifting my focus on to using live/synchronous online chat sessions on Growth Mindset as means of engaging students, and will continue to work on encouraging my Learning Advisory students to attend these sessions. I have one regular LA attendee and his mum is very positive about Conrad’s attendance.

I am enthused about developing my own understanding of Growth Mindset and sharing my learning with students as I feel this underpins the issue of engagement. As such I have attended 3 webinars so far in the last 3 months – 2 hosted by Prof Jo Boaler at Stanford University (incorporating the latest research on the effects of Growth mindset in education, citing Carol Dweck’s research), and one run by Cassie at Create-abilities about fostering a growth mindset in your classroom. Cassie has a Masters in Instructional Design and comes from an angle of Primary teaching – the skills and attributes are entirely transferable to secondary students!

Professional learning - sharing the E-love

I’m sharing my various blog posts with the team I work with; having followed the advice of a very organised colleague I began blogging as a record of my Professional development and reflections on how my teaching practice alters/changes/improves as a result. So today I am demonstrating an example of professional learning, and supporting colleagues in their professional practice too  Not bad for 1 day before the end of term! 
26th September - transferred across from previous Blog site.

Mid year update on PDA 2019

I will be moving away from using Stile as the online forum I was aiming to use for student engagement as it can't be used in a synchronous manner.

I will be shifting my focus on to using live/synchronous online chat sessions on Growth Mindset as means of engaging students, and will continue to work on encouraging my Learning Advisory students to attend these sessions. I have one regular LA attendee and his mum is very positive about Conrad's attendance.

Whole office Tikanga sessions

Since our mandatory whole office Tikanga sessions began we've covered a wide range of topics including the importance of Wairua, the background behind family traditions in naming children, the relationship between the lunar calendar, gregorian calendar and activities such as planting, harvesting and the calculation of when Matariki begins.
Our latest activity was learning how to play Mu Torere - a board game involving strategy, similar to Othello.

Scotty's Continuers

A small group of us in the Hamilton office are still meeting weekly to work on the 2nd book in Scotty Morrison's Te Reo series.
It's getting pretty technical! We're looking at tenses of a action sentence, and negating these sentences, and are currently practicing the possessive pro nouns involving self, others, groups of 3 or less and groupos of 4 or more. Things got really confusing when the concept of ownership or superiority was introduced here with oo and aa, too and taa (sorry, no macrons!) but we consulted with one of the Te Reo teachers who said just leave it with the "too" version while we're learning as the idea behind knowing which pronoun to use is a whole day wananga in itself.

AT our current pace we hope to have book 2 completed by the end of the year. Another goal we are working on is to memorize a simple karakia kai.

Growth mindset - the power of YET

From a recommendation in the NZ Bio & Science teacher Facebook groups I started to look into PD and resources offered by an American teacher who has a post-grad degree in Instructional design. I was so lucky to discover an upcoming webinar on fostering a growth mindset with students, and it was free!

The timing worked and I attended for an intense hour online, and was so enthused and inspired that I purchased a set of teaching resources so I could begin using this approach with my students.

In Term 2 I started offering 2 online sessions per week (via YouseeU) for any student who was interested in what a Growth mindset was about. Each session I introduce 1 aspect, in the form of a question for the students to think about, and then tie their answers back to an aspect of Growth mindset - positive self talk, how success feels physically, what attributes (like attitude, persistence, problem-solving) are involved. SOme of the questions I have covered so far are: is there something you have succeeded at that you first found difficult? If you didn't watch TV/a screen for 1 hour a day what would you do with this time?

Below is an example of the on-screen prompts I have up for a session:

Welcome to the Growth Mindset session!

1.     Have you checked in to register your attendance?

<image of CNR onliners check in button> 

2.     A bit about me: Fiona Moore

 <webcam screen shot of me>

3.     Why Growth mindset?

4.     Thinking about your Growth Mindset

Today’s focus question:

When do you do your best work? What is the perfect environment for you to succeed in?

5.     Any questions – type or speak or chat afterwards if you wish