Developing a positive culture at a high school is an ongoing task. Transience, cohort changes, workload, personalities, religious beliefs and perceived racism, perceived sexism, competence, home life, mental health, physical health, systemic change, leadership styles can all influence the "mood score" of a school.
Most schools are currently grappling with the Aboriginal cultural standards framework. Some schools will be grappling with societal changes (eg. changing the way the issue is viewed in society) as they will have few, if any Aboriginal students in the school. There will be many people in these environments that believe the whole project is a minor inconvenience that can be for the most part ignored.
In our environment this is not true. How we embed these ideas in the school will impact the mood of the whole school. We're probably a little bit ahead of the game, which allows agencies to think we are a solution that will work for at-risk students. Unfortunately that is not always true as these interactions require intensive support for success, support that is already stretched between the competing needs of the school.
There is that balance in resourcing for us that needs to examined as individual students can disrupt the learning of large number of students. Although, through the framework we can assist these students, over time, in some extreme cases (like with any other student from any other nationality) the needs of the individual exceeds the ability of a school to respond to their needs and external help is required. For these students, the ping pong between agencies begins as they see the best solution as a child in a school, but the school sees the situation as untenable as they put students, staff and themselves at risk when they enter school grounds due to their current circumstance.
The ability of teachers to deal with the individual needs of a student is not equal across a school. Identifying new areas of challenge(weaknesses) and then working with teachers to resolve them is a delicate process, challenging established practices and then examining and redirecting to develop alternate practices. Trauma informed practice, culturally informed practices, perceived racism in practices, perceived favouritism toward students, perceived sexism in practices, gender related practices (a relatively new phenomenon to deal with) all require a delicate touch, to confront someone after a complaint to challenge the way they teach can go as deep as personal identity which can result in emotional and aggressive responses.
Although teachers are relatively static in a school, year 12 cohorts leave and year 7 cohorts enter each year. This results in a leaving of the leadership of the school, the most competent in a school leaving each year and a whole new group becoming embedded in the culture. With the varying skill levels of teachers in year 7, this can impact the school for a significant period. Students transitioning to school have siblings in feeder primary schools and this, more than any other factor, impacts on the enrolments at a school. These are the parents giving feedback to new parents in each feeder primary school. No amount of marketing will overcome the response of existing parents leaving the school or repeating that the school has an issue with fighting, bullying, drug use, poor teaching practices etc.
The one line budget has put significant strain on small schools, struggling to maintain ATAR classes, struggling with high class numbers and struggling to provide high levels of support to students with all the issues that low-socioeconomic areas bring in financially struggling, high levels of mental health concerns, limited parenting, low support for education, high levels of drug use in the home, and with considerable parts of welfare dependent cohorts. Many of these categories are not covered through the one line budget outside of broad groups such as EALD, Aboriginal and Islander students, and Intellectual disabilities. The use of one line funds to maintain additional school Psychologist time in particular is one drain on a budget. To fund extra class resources, Professional Development is being done in-house as much as possible, external agencies are being brought into schools in an increasing rate (which feels a bit like money shuffling as all the money comes from the same place), requiring additional management time to do properly.
The story here is only the beginning which shows how complex and underdeveloped my understanding is of the issues we face. I suppose the point is that school culture changes glacially as nothing seems to occur in a vacuum and very few simplistic solutions can have an impact across a school - all we can do is look for wins in certain areas, make sure they don't move resources from something that is already working and measure the effect. A school has a simple goal at it's heart ("teaching kids well") but have allowed themselves to become much more and we may need to reconsider some of the roles that schools play to gain traction again with the idea that "high care, high expectations, high results" is narrow enough in its scope to do well.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Back as Deputy again... .. and the NCCD list
So that little sojourn back as Dean of Studies lasted all of two weeks and I'm back as deputy again, this time under the new Principal. This is the fourth Principal in 12 years, each having their own quirks, and I imagine wondering what the hell is this upstart talking about now and why do I have to deal with him.
A pet hate has always been implementing things just to tick a box or because an actual solution likely to succeed is too hard. It becomes quickly evident through my body language when I feel this is the case. The current solution for "students identified through NCCD requiring additional support" may fall into this category, although the verdict is still out on the current solution. Students were identified and then pedagogy based solutions written up in documents outlining what will be done for them. There is acknowledgement in staff that the current solutions are not working and more needs to be done to engage them.
My only beef with the current solution is that it appears more about documenting the existing modifications that are "good practice and good teaching" and should be done (regardless of being written up), rather than identifying strategies that will make a difference to a particular student different to the general needs of the group as a whole.
To my mind (as little as it is), the problem requires a multidisciplinary approach. As a teacher I do not know the ins and outs of every intellectual disability or behavioural challenge (and in many cases I don't care about the diagnosis), I just want to know how to work best with my kids. This knowledge is held by school Psychologists and Paediatricians and then provided to me through the school Psych, Student Services or a Deputy. Best practice would say that it then goes into an IEP in conjunction with teachers of other LA's to make a consistent approach where possible.
With the NCCD kids, they may not have a diagnosis but we (as teachers) suspect that something is going wrong. My issue with the approach on Friday at our PD day was that we were asking teachers for solutions - in most cases they had already tried what they knew (and thus indicated that something was wrong that required additional assistance). A better approach (to my mind) is to look at standardised testing results, class results, psych files and then work with the care team to identify possible solutions for the student in the context of the whole class. Working on individuals does not create a workable solution in a class as it does not take into account class dynamics, the biggest factor outside of appropriate content in engaging students. This means that you will be looking at the whole class at once and developing IEPs for groups of students. The class that I am thinking of had 85% of students on the NCCD list, a class that had come together from multiple primary feeders, each indicating that these students faced challenges in learning.
It also did not address the content issue. By putting together teachers from multiple LAs, it did not address whether the student could access the curriculum or more specifically the modifications to the syllabus to allow them access to the curriculum. When a student is 4-5 years below the year level achievement standard, modifications to pedagogy alone are insufficient to engage a student. There it is, "the elephant in the room". You cannot deliver a Year 7 syllabus to a student operating at a year 2 level. They will be disruptive, bored and no amount of reward programs and pictorial representations will give them access to concepts that require years of scaffolding.
It does not address the workload issue. Current estimations are that 25% of students or 100 students in the school need to be placed on the NCCD list. Staff are querying how IEPs can be written, maintained and followed for all 100 students. I too am worried that the current approach is not sustainable.
What's more, having 21 IEPs in a class all different without significant (eg. bodies to assist the teacher) assistance is not going to set up a positive learning environment and put significant stress on the educator in the room. The picture that is created must identify which IEPs align and then create workable groups after classroom cohesion has been constructed through success, rapport and them having belief that learning is possible. I'm not sure this was understood during the session.
So the challenge going forward is to measure the impact of the PD (I would love to be wrong and see engaged students as a result of the PD) and then if it fails, identify the positive parts and then try some of the things listed above that did work during a trial earlier in the year. One of the nice things that happened recently was an acknowledgement that a role of the Wellness team was to identify classes or teachers that were not operating to capacity and allocate support to these teachers (rather than solely relying on ad hoc support from deputies, HOLAs and through performance management). This has the potential to be an avenue to implement some of the more holistic approaches listed above outside of the current NCCD process and get further support to these students in need.
A pet hate has always been implementing things just to tick a box or because an actual solution likely to succeed is too hard. It becomes quickly evident through my body language when I feel this is the case. The current solution for "students identified through NCCD requiring additional support" may fall into this category, although the verdict is still out on the current solution. Students were identified and then pedagogy based solutions written up in documents outlining what will be done for them. There is acknowledgement in staff that the current solutions are not working and more needs to be done to engage them.
My only beef with the current solution is that it appears more about documenting the existing modifications that are "good practice and good teaching" and should be done (regardless of being written up), rather than identifying strategies that will make a difference to a particular student different to the general needs of the group as a whole.
To my mind (as little as it is), the problem requires a multidisciplinary approach. As a teacher I do not know the ins and outs of every intellectual disability or behavioural challenge (and in many cases I don't care about the diagnosis), I just want to know how to work best with my kids. This knowledge is held by school Psychologists and Paediatricians and then provided to me through the school Psych, Student Services or a Deputy. Best practice would say that it then goes into an IEP in conjunction with teachers of other LA's to make a consistent approach where possible.
With the NCCD kids, they may not have a diagnosis but we (as teachers) suspect that something is going wrong. My issue with the approach on Friday at our PD day was that we were asking teachers for solutions - in most cases they had already tried what they knew (and thus indicated that something was wrong that required additional assistance). A better approach (to my mind) is to look at standardised testing results, class results, psych files and then work with the care team to identify possible solutions for the student in the context of the whole class. Working on individuals does not create a workable solution in a class as it does not take into account class dynamics, the biggest factor outside of appropriate content in engaging students. This means that you will be looking at the whole class at once and developing IEPs for groups of students. The class that I am thinking of had 85% of students on the NCCD list, a class that had come together from multiple primary feeders, each indicating that these students faced challenges in learning.
It also did not address the content issue. By putting together teachers from multiple LAs, it did not address whether the student could access the curriculum or more specifically the modifications to the syllabus to allow them access to the curriculum. When a student is 4-5 years below the year level achievement standard, modifications to pedagogy alone are insufficient to engage a student. There it is, "the elephant in the room". You cannot deliver a Year 7 syllabus to a student operating at a year 2 level. They will be disruptive, bored and no amount of reward programs and pictorial representations will give them access to concepts that require years of scaffolding.
It does not address the workload issue. Current estimations are that 25% of students or 100 students in the school need to be placed on the NCCD list. Staff are querying how IEPs can be written, maintained and followed for all 100 students. I too am worried that the current approach is not sustainable.
What's more, having 21 IEPs in a class all different without significant (eg. bodies to assist the teacher) assistance is not going to set up a positive learning environment and put significant stress on the educator in the room. The picture that is created must identify which IEPs align and then create workable groups after classroom cohesion has been constructed through success, rapport and them having belief that learning is possible. I'm not sure this was understood during the session.
So the challenge going forward is to measure the impact of the PD (I would love to be wrong and see engaged students as a result of the PD) and then if it fails, identify the positive parts and then try some of the things listed above that did work during a trial earlier in the year. One of the nice things that happened recently was an acknowledgement that a role of the Wellness team was to identify classes or teachers that were not operating to capacity and allocate support to these teachers (rather than solely relying on ad hoc support from deputies, HOLAs and through performance management). This has the potential to be an avenue to implement some of the more holistic approaches listed above outside of the current NCCD process and get further support to these students in need.
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Named a Paul Harris Fellow!
This week was shaping up to be a shocker.. 6 fillings, four hours in the chair, another hour getting my ears cleaned out, 4 plumbers trying to find a leaky hot tap under the house, stood on a nail, kicked in the knee, hours writing 52 pages of content creating a course beyond my level of expertise (I really am clueless below year 7). Trying to get back some mojo after returning to my substantive role as 11/12 coordinator.
Well.. that turned around fast and came out of the blue.
Last year I was asked to attend one of the changeover nights with the Rotary club that partners with the school. We've worked together over the past 5 or so years and they have done wonderful things with our kids. I've sat in the background and helped where I can. They're more friends that colleagues now.
The changeover night came around again and I was asked to go. It's a small thing to attend and a fun and jovial evening. They're genuinely nice people and it is always great to associate with them.
They asked that I speak about our Interact club with some students and the outgoing Principal (which I did with pleasure as it is a great thing) and about the other things that Rotary has done in the school. The kids spoke well as they always do. When I had finished, they asked that I stay on stage and then the club president proceeded to name me a Paul Harris fellow for doing what I do at school. I was presented with a badge and a medallion.
To say I was shocked was a bit of an understatement as I enable stuff, typically I don't have a lot of time to actually do stuff. To nominate a fellow they have to donate $1000 US to their Rotary charity (which is no mean feat) for someone that turns up to their events twice a year. The people in the club that have been nominated, generally have a lifetime of service behind them. Those wearing their medallions were generally club past presidents. I'm not even a member!
I felt a little bit of a fraud but very thankful for their thoughts and best wishes.
So there you go.. recognised for what I do with the kids. A very cool thing and thank you Heirisson Rotary. You have certainly put wind in my sails.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
One person can make a difference
I've had "One person can make a difference" written on my door for the last nine months. It's a reminder that much that is done in a school starts with one person. It's a statement supported by Hattie in his indication that teacher impact has the largest effect on student learning. My latest project shows the power of one person running with an idea.
With my current period as Deputy, returning to my role as 11/12 coordinator and with the start of a new Principal, it's important to find the next thing that keeps you motivated. Schools aren't a place where you can rely on your line manager to identify what that might be, so it's important to be on the lookout for it.
For me, the main thing that will change is the return to the classroom for four periods a week, as I haven't taught whilst being Deputy, other than the odd bit of tutoring students that come to my office. I've been given a dysfunctional Maths class, the most challenging class in the school and one that needed further assistance. I've had some practicum students who have been observing them for me and we have a great team generated and some defined outcomes that we seek to achieve.
It's something that I would suggest to any educator that has more than three years of experience. Find a project, if one comes to an end, find another project - something that will drive your motivation and keep you engaged. It's a great way to be noticed in the school and can create some great collaborative activities that keeps the mind working and prevents you becoming stale in your role.
Better still, if you can make something that has a lasting effect beyond your involvement. I've been lucky to have had a few of these, maths summer school, mathematics academy, ICT committee, this blog, after school music classes, the boys group, the interact club - but I've also had my set of failures to go with them, projects that have died a slow death. Don't become disheartened if your project does not have the take-up that you thought it would. Be supportive of others if they are trying to get their project up and running.
This current project is a doozy though. To think I could go in as a teacher and just fix things based on my teaching experience would be fairly egotistical and prone to failure - after all they have had an experienced teacher all year. To succeed we need to try something different. I've had a bee in my bonnet about "imputed disabilities" and reporting to "year level achievement standards all year". Ann eMarie Benson at SCSA made the comment to me that if 2/3 of the students at your school cannot meet year level achievement standards, then your school is doing something wrong, and it is something that has stuck with me. We have some intervention work to do.
I was lucky enough to do the SEN reporting at the start of the year and discovered a tool that might be able to provide the glue for the project. Coupled with the SCSA K-10 scope and sequence document, it provided the broad brush to create IEPs for the 25 students in the class. By using PAT tests and NAPLAN results I was able to identify where the class was and with help from the Semester 1 teacher I laid out a programme of work for term three that complemented work done in Semester 1. My practicum students observed the class over the past three weeks and collated their predominant behaviours and attention spans across different learning areas and noted in which classes they were most dysfunctional. The school Psychologist is working closely with me for the first week to identify desired classroom behaviours. We created seating plans and a list of desired behaviours.
Now, as I said - it is not about just going into the class and doing good teaching, they have had that. It's about intervention, which by definition is something different. The next step was to identify resources that were available to assist driving learning. The school has no new resources available at this time of year (thus I'm being deployed to the class as the best available resource), I have the semester 1 teacher remaining with me, but have identified a couple of ex-students studying teaching that have agreed to come in and work. The local university has also pledged teaching students to pop in and assist as my skills in k-7 teaching are limited and I will need to do some heavy lifting to get up to speed and assist them assist the kids.
In any success driven class we need strong feedback loops indicating the level of success achieved. For this I have gone old school and printed A1 posters for the wall indicating each student has 14 tasks to overcome this term and bought gold circles to paste up. Some would see this as public shaming, but the 14 tasks are individualised and noted in the IEPs - if we have set the outcomes correctly, then this could drive a little competition and could be a strong success indicator to kids. We also used the observations done to drive classroom behaviours through a four point behaviour poster which controversially uses some negative language (the PBIS language is missing, but has been ineffectual in semester 1 anyway), it's something I will need to monitor to see if it works. If the posters don't work - it's ok! We just rip them down. I've put the IEP in student portfolios so that they know what we are trying to achieve - and each assessment goes in there so that it can be looked back at as a path from what they knew to what they know now. NCCD quality teaching ideas can easily be embedded in the interventions for each student attempted by myself or associated teaching staff. Staff from outside the class that have seen that these kids are at risk have pledged their support. We have pens, books and other resources to limit avoidant behaviours. They have watched me suspend students all semester - so I come in with authority, now I need to develop a caring rapport to match.
I have worked with the English HOLA and Principal to indicate that this is a model that does not have an overhead, uses resources that are available, lives with the student (SEN reports can be used and progress from 8-10) - it is a low risk project that can be supported. I'm not sure if this is destined to be a failed project or a success - but I'm keen to attempt something that has not been successful in the past and create a new string for the school that parents and the school can crow about. It's important that communication to parents from the beginning is strong and continuous - especially as much of the contact to date has been behaviour related and class reports were for the most part indicating limited progress and students that are behind. Here is the potential for the school response to be vigorous and effective (and maybe even recognised as a good solution for others to model).
.. and if you have a chance to work with practicum students, do it. Yes you will get the occasional plonker, but on the whole they can fire you up and help you achieve work you cannot do on your own. The current pair have certainly done that and can run with an idea (and generate some great ones through observation) once it is seeded and hopefully get a good appreciation of what is possible. Without them, we wouldn't be this far down the track without teaching a lesson. Yay!
With my current period as Deputy, returning to my role as 11/12 coordinator and with the start of a new Principal, it's important to find the next thing that keeps you motivated. Schools aren't a place where you can rely on your line manager to identify what that might be, so it's important to be on the lookout for it.
For me, the main thing that will change is the return to the classroom for four periods a week, as I haven't taught whilst being Deputy, other than the odd bit of tutoring students that come to my office. I've been given a dysfunctional Maths class, the most challenging class in the school and one that needed further assistance. I've had some practicum students who have been observing them for me and we have a great team generated and some defined outcomes that we seek to achieve.
It's something that I would suggest to any educator that has more than three years of experience. Find a project, if one comes to an end, find another project - something that will drive your motivation and keep you engaged. It's a great way to be noticed in the school and can create some great collaborative activities that keeps the mind working and prevents you becoming stale in your role.
Better still, if you can make something that has a lasting effect beyond your involvement. I've been lucky to have had a few of these, maths summer school, mathematics academy, ICT committee, this blog, after school music classes, the boys group, the interact club - but I've also had my set of failures to go with them, projects that have died a slow death. Don't become disheartened if your project does not have the take-up that you thought it would. Be supportive of others if they are trying to get their project up and running.
This current project is a doozy though. To think I could go in as a teacher and just fix things based on my teaching experience would be fairly egotistical and prone to failure - after all they have had an experienced teacher all year. To succeed we need to try something different. I've had a bee in my bonnet about "imputed disabilities" and reporting to "year level achievement standards all year". Ann eMarie Benson at SCSA made the comment to me that if 2/3 of the students at your school cannot meet year level achievement standards, then your school is doing something wrong, and it is something that has stuck with me. We have some intervention work to do.
I was lucky enough to do the SEN reporting at the start of the year and discovered a tool that might be able to provide the glue for the project. Coupled with the SCSA K-10 scope and sequence document, it provided the broad brush to create IEPs for the 25 students in the class. By using PAT tests and NAPLAN results I was able to identify where the class was and with help from the Semester 1 teacher I laid out a programme of work for term three that complemented work done in Semester 1. My practicum students observed the class over the past three weeks and collated their predominant behaviours and attention spans across different learning areas and noted in which classes they were most dysfunctional. The school Psychologist is working closely with me for the first week to identify desired classroom behaviours. We created seating plans and a list of desired behaviours.
Now, as I said - it is not about just going into the class and doing good teaching, they have had that. It's about intervention, which by definition is something different. The next step was to identify resources that were available to assist driving learning. The school has no new resources available at this time of year (thus I'm being deployed to the class as the best available resource), I have the semester 1 teacher remaining with me, but have identified a couple of ex-students studying teaching that have agreed to come in and work. The local university has also pledged teaching students to pop in and assist as my skills in k-7 teaching are limited and I will need to do some heavy lifting to get up to speed and assist them assist the kids.
In any success driven class we need strong feedback loops indicating the level of success achieved. For this I have gone old school and printed A1 posters for the wall indicating each student has 14 tasks to overcome this term and bought gold circles to paste up. Some would see this as public shaming, but the 14 tasks are individualised and noted in the IEPs - if we have set the outcomes correctly, then this could drive a little competition and could be a strong success indicator to kids. We also used the observations done to drive classroom behaviours through a four point behaviour poster which controversially uses some negative language (the PBIS language is missing, but has been ineffectual in semester 1 anyway), it's something I will need to monitor to see if it works. If the posters don't work - it's ok! We just rip them down. I've put the IEP in student portfolios so that they know what we are trying to achieve - and each assessment goes in there so that it can be looked back at as a path from what they knew to what they know now. NCCD quality teaching ideas can easily be embedded in the interventions for each student attempted by myself or associated teaching staff. Staff from outside the class that have seen that these kids are at risk have pledged their support. We have pens, books and other resources to limit avoidant behaviours. They have watched me suspend students all semester - so I come in with authority, now I need to develop a caring rapport to match.
I have worked with the English HOLA and Principal to indicate that this is a model that does not have an overhead, uses resources that are available, lives with the student (SEN reports can be used and progress from 8-10) - it is a low risk project that can be supported. I'm not sure if this is destined to be a failed project or a success - but I'm keen to attempt something that has not been successful in the past and create a new string for the school that parents and the school can crow about. It's important that communication to parents from the beginning is strong and continuous - especially as much of the contact to date has been behaviour related and class reports were for the most part indicating limited progress and students that are behind. Here is the potential for the school response to be vigorous and effective (and maybe even recognised as a good solution for others to model).
.. and if you have a chance to work with practicum students, do it. Yes you will get the occasional plonker, but on the whole they can fire you up and help you achieve work you cannot do on your own. The current pair have certainly done that and can run with an idea (and generate some great ones through observation) once it is seeded and hopefully get a good appreciation of what is possible. Without them, we wouldn't be this far down the track without teaching a lesson. Yay!
Labels:
intervention,
low ability students,
teaching
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Vocational vs career teachers
With teacher pay improving over the years, teaching is a competitive career with other professions. A teacher can rapidly be on a six figure salary and be trained on an ongoing basis with career options going ahead.
The profession is changing from one which was fundamentally filled with vocational teachers, who entered teaching because they had a love of teaching and a desire to teach, to a profession with a mix of vocational teachers and those who enter it as a long term career, one of the few that are predicted to last for the next 20 years through technological change.
This is a not necessarily a bad thing, but it does raise a challenge for vocational teachers as they are vulnerable in the system. By vocational teachers not targeting advancement, school run the risk of dissatisfied vocational teachers who are unaware of the gauntlet required for advancement - they will advance slower than career teachers.
For instance, a teacher focuses on their student cohorts and their craft. Over many years they become a passionate and great classroom teacher. They see a career teacher that is not as good a teacher, does not understand the craft required to become truly great at what they do but that has targeted the KPIs that are required for advancement. The career teacher can talk eduspeak, self promote actively, are involved in projects that meet STAR objectives, actively seek promotional positions, understand how to write a CV and answer interview questions, have been at multiple schools over a short period - burn bright but over short periods. Once the balance tips towards career teachers (are we there now? Panel training indicates we are!), this becomes the model for advancement.
The question I ask myself is does this help kids get better in classes? Does this promote better mentoring of young teachers?
There's a little voice in the back of my head that says - "yep, but vocational teachers, the passionate ones can also be the flaky, argumentative, the most painful teachers to manage as they are needy and require constant guidance compared to the focused teachers on career progression." And I hear you little voice, but when I look at exceptional student outcomes, being 50% in doesn't cut it compared to what some of these teachers can achieve. An evidence base shows this over and over again.
Are we, by encouraging a career based approach, turning our vocational teachers away from their passionate, "this is my life", approach towards a more career based (I do this for the wage and the six hour day) sustainable and minimal intervention approach because it is easier to manage and less likely to cause management pain, even if the evidence shows that it has lower student outcomes?
If this is the case, and to a lesser or greater degree I believe it is, we need to re-evaluate how we remunerate teachers and the merit system that in its current form is encouraging a change to a career workforce rather than a vocational one and that where career satisfaction is through advancement, not through student achievement. A teacher for life, cared for by the system, developing their skills, recognised by the community for what they can do, moving passionately with changes in pedagogy required and realising that they are blessed for being involved with a system that guides our youth not for the career progression that they are not getting.
How to get teaching to that point is an interesting intellectual question.
The profession is changing from one which was fundamentally filled with vocational teachers, who entered teaching because they had a love of teaching and a desire to teach, to a profession with a mix of vocational teachers and those who enter it as a long term career, one of the few that are predicted to last for the next 20 years through technological change.
This is a not necessarily a bad thing, but it does raise a challenge for vocational teachers as they are vulnerable in the system. By vocational teachers not targeting advancement, school run the risk of dissatisfied vocational teachers who are unaware of the gauntlet required for advancement - they will advance slower than career teachers.
For instance, a teacher focuses on their student cohorts and their craft. Over many years they become a passionate and great classroom teacher. They see a career teacher that is not as good a teacher, does not understand the craft required to become truly great at what they do but that has targeted the KPIs that are required for advancement. The career teacher can talk eduspeak, self promote actively, are involved in projects that meet STAR objectives, actively seek promotional positions, understand how to write a CV and answer interview questions, have been at multiple schools over a short period - burn bright but over short periods. Once the balance tips towards career teachers (are we there now? Panel training indicates we are!), this becomes the model for advancement.
The question I ask myself is does this help kids get better in classes? Does this promote better mentoring of young teachers?
There's a little voice in the back of my head that says - "yep, but vocational teachers, the passionate ones can also be the flaky, argumentative, the most painful teachers to manage as they are needy and require constant guidance compared to the focused teachers on career progression." And I hear you little voice, but when I look at exceptional student outcomes, being 50% in doesn't cut it compared to what some of these teachers can achieve. An evidence base shows this over and over again.
Are we, by encouraging a career based approach, turning our vocational teachers away from their passionate, "this is my life", approach towards a more career based (I do this for the wage and the six hour day) sustainable and minimal intervention approach because it is easier to manage and less likely to cause management pain, even if the evidence shows that it has lower student outcomes?
If this is the case, and to a lesser or greater degree I believe it is, we need to re-evaluate how we remunerate teachers and the merit system that in its current form is encouraging a change to a career workforce rather than a vocational one and that where career satisfaction is through advancement, not through student achievement. A teacher for life, cared for by the system, developing their skills, recognised by the community for what they can do, moving passionately with changes in pedagogy required and realising that they are blessed for being involved with a system that guides our youth not for the career progression that they are not getting.
How to get teaching to that point is an interesting intellectual question.
Labels:
career progression
Friday, July 6, 2018
Resourcing in a small school
Many organisations have worthwhile programmes that are offered to the school. They want to work hand in hand to deliver a project that they have developed. They have value and for larger schools are easy to roll out and have a target audience. The temptation is to take them all on for the good of the kids.
In a smaller school like ours, that is offered many projects during the year, the need to manage them becomes a resourcing issue. Excursions require a file of documentation, staff willing to participate, students willing to give it a go, a spot on the planner that won't cause disruption to learning and ensuring it's not the same six kids going on each excursion. We need to liaise with partner organisations, work with them and ensure that there is a win-win situation available.
What I have found is that we have had more success with organisations that ask our needs and then seek to help us reduce the issues caused by them. UWA Aspire and Rotary are two good examples of where this can work.
UWA Aspire had a clear goal to raise low socioeconomic student engagement with university and to raise their aspiration levels. We needed support for our Math/Science students and assistance with career activities. They listened and assisted us establish our Mathematics Academy by providing university students that worked with our kids and supported us with resourcing and food to keep them coming. They take our kids on a Leadership camp. They support our summer school with a venue and ambassadors at UWA. They come to the school for each year group and work with developing a career focus from year 7 onwards. We assisted them with developing activities that would fit our students. They assisted raising awareness of modern teaching pedagogy through their education faculty.
Rotary offered to help as a community minded group. They had leadership programmes and science programmes but waited to establish a connection and asked what our requirements were. We needed assistance in developing a strategic plan for the school. They worked with our board and now help lead it through our chairman with our Principal. Our kids wanted to be more involved in the community and formed a Rotary Interact Club. Rotary programmes could be run independently of the school, reducing administrative overhead, increased student involvment - resulting in community events and even trips to Singapore and London for our students.
Both of these are relationships that I have had involvement with. There are others, such as with the Smith Family, ABCN, with organisations within DOE such as SEND:BE and the engagement team which have similar impact.
I'm currently starting a music club after school (as we have no offering for music at the school), running some maths extension classes and building our Achievers club (students that have 4As and no Ds). A good model for external agencies is to pilot a project, have it running for a year or so and then have a model for a partner agency to develop. I hope these develop into something that the school can use for some time, like the Summer school, Interact club and Mathematics academy - each that involve 20-50 students (10-20% of the school).
A well meaning project can take up resources that may be better utilised elsewhere. These usually involve 3-4 students (such as the solar car challenge or a number of local leadership programmes), over an extended period, are expensive, are during school time, require transport (a bus is $300 per day), want access to upper school students and require teacher involvement for duty of care (at $600 per day, a "free" project becomes expensive). If a project can't be accessible to 20-30 students (which is a difficult brief), I think often kids are better off in school, somewhere geared to teaching large groups of students.
Where this is untrue is in the VET space, where small (1-4 students) projects have lasting impact on students but that is for another day.
In a smaller school like ours, that is offered many projects during the year, the need to manage them becomes a resourcing issue. Excursions require a file of documentation, staff willing to participate, students willing to give it a go, a spot on the planner that won't cause disruption to learning and ensuring it's not the same six kids going on each excursion. We need to liaise with partner organisations, work with them and ensure that there is a win-win situation available.
What I have found is that we have had more success with organisations that ask our needs and then seek to help us reduce the issues caused by them. UWA Aspire and Rotary are two good examples of where this can work.
UWA Aspire had a clear goal to raise low socioeconomic student engagement with university and to raise their aspiration levels. We needed support for our Math/Science students and assistance with career activities. They listened and assisted us establish our Mathematics Academy by providing university students that worked with our kids and supported us with resourcing and food to keep them coming. They take our kids on a Leadership camp. They support our summer school with a venue and ambassadors at UWA. They come to the school for each year group and work with developing a career focus from year 7 onwards. We assisted them with developing activities that would fit our students. They assisted raising awareness of modern teaching pedagogy through their education faculty.
Rotary offered to help as a community minded group. They had leadership programmes and science programmes but waited to establish a connection and asked what our requirements were. We needed assistance in developing a strategic plan for the school. They worked with our board and now help lead it through our chairman with our Principal. Our kids wanted to be more involved in the community and formed a Rotary Interact Club. Rotary programmes could be run independently of the school, reducing administrative overhead, increased student involvment - resulting in community events and even trips to Singapore and London for our students.
Both of these are relationships that I have had involvement with. There are others, such as with the Smith Family, ABCN, with organisations within DOE such as SEND:BE and the engagement team which have similar impact.
I'm currently starting a music club after school (as we have no offering for music at the school), running some maths extension classes and building our Achievers club (students that have 4As and no Ds). A good model for external agencies is to pilot a project, have it running for a year or so and then have a model for a partner agency to develop. I hope these develop into something that the school can use for some time, like the Summer school, Interact club and Mathematics academy - each that involve 20-50 students (10-20% of the school).
A well meaning project can take up resources that may be better utilised elsewhere. These usually involve 3-4 students (such as the solar car challenge or a number of local leadership programmes), over an extended period, are expensive, are during school time, require transport (a bus is $300 per day), want access to upper school students and require teacher involvement for duty of care (at $600 per day, a "free" project becomes expensive). If a project can't be accessible to 20-30 students (which is a difficult brief), I think often kids are better off in school, somewhere geared to teaching large groups of students.
Where this is untrue is in the VET space, where small (1-4 students) projects have lasting impact on students but that is for another day.
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Role models and dreams of the future
It was posed to me who I looked up to as a role model. The example given to me was the queen of England and I was asked to think of one better.
Scary to think that I couldn't come up with one.
Scary to think that we, as a generation can offer no-one up that is both as well known as the queen and as publicly selfless.
We've given this generation narcissism and fame hunger. Sarah Hanson Young and the Leyonhold guy. "Me too", sexual harassment, anxiety, loss of hope, an emptiness hard to fill.
I think about the cold, emotionless education system we've created where a few people doing horrific things to children have destroyed what could be a loving and nurturing environment and turned it into something sterile and with the sole purpose of providing skills and knowledge to survive post schooling. ... and not even doing that particularly well.
As a male teacher, being hugged by a student, places you at risk of a standards and integrity investigation and criminal charges. Being a female teacher now is changing to do the same thing. To protect ourselves we cannot be a role model to students - the barrier of societal trust is not there. Where we once at least had gender appropriate roles that protected the emotional self of a student, strong male and female role models that fulfilled different roles that were ok, now neither can help fill the void created by a society where two parents work and the relationships that help build a whole person are not being supplemented by a society that forgets that nurturing its young is its prime imperitive.
When children need emotional support, there is nowhere for them to turn. There are times when I see distressed students that are seeking emotional support and the best we can offer them is counselling, when they really just want a hug and to believe it will be ok. Those two things are powerful are missing from our education system. It wasn't always this way.
Ten years in teaching and I have not seen this issue addressed in other than band aid modes. Will we look back and think how the hell did we miss this.
I watch year groups robotic in their approch to schooling, lacking a love of learning, of each other or the school system. Seeking to get by to their next step as citizens.
It's wrong.
I don't know how to fix it. It will take brighter minds than mine. Maybe its a call to our generation beyond the teaching fraternity to stand up and be good role models - do great things and become examples for our youth that teachers can point to. Something to aspire to and give belief and love back to a generation feeling lost.
Scary to think that I couldn't come up with one.
Scary to think that we, as a generation can offer no-one up that is both as well known as the queen and as publicly selfless.
We've given this generation narcissism and fame hunger. Sarah Hanson Young and the Leyonhold guy. "Me too", sexual harassment, anxiety, loss of hope, an emptiness hard to fill.
I think about the cold, emotionless education system we've created where a few people doing horrific things to children have destroyed what could be a loving and nurturing environment and turned it into something sterile and with the sole purpose of providing skills and knowledge to survive post schooling. ... and not even doing that particularly well.
As a male teacher, being hugged by a student, places you at risk of a standards and integrity investigation and criminal charges. Being a female teacher now is changing to do the same thing. To protect ourselves we cannot be a role model to students - the barrier of societal trust is not there. Where we once at least had gender appropriate roles that protected the emotional self of a student, strong male and female role models that fulfilled different roles that were ok, now neither can help fill the void created by a society where two parents work and the relationships that help build a whole person are not being supplemented by a society that forgets that nurturing its young is its prime imperitive.
When children need emotional support, there is nowhere for them to turn. There are times when I see distressed students that are seeking emotional support and the best we can offer them is counselling, when they really just want a hug and to believe it will be ok. Those two things are powerful are missing from our education system. It wasn't always this way.
Ten years in teaching and I have not seen this issue addressed in other than band aid modes. Will we look back and think how the hell did we miss this.
I watch year groups robotic in their approch to schooling, lacking a love of learning, of each other or the school system. Seeking to get by to their next step as citizens.
It's wrong.
I don't know how to fix it. It will take brighter minds than mine. Maybe its a call to our generation beyond the teaching fraternity to stand up and be good role models - do great things and become examples for our youth that teachers can point to. Something to aspire to and give belief and love back to a generation feeling lost.
Labels:
love,
self esteem
Saturday, June 16, 2018
Violence in the workplace
My father was a prison officer, so I have a polarised viewpoint when it comes to the judicial system. His viewpoint was biased as he noted recidivism in the system. This has also biased my outlook as once a child enters the judicial system, they become exposed to others in the same system which can normalise behaviours that wouldn't occur otherwise.
So when I was faced with violence in the workplace for the first time in my career where I believed a student intended physical harm to myself, I had to consider what my philosophical viewpoint is regarding children coming to grips with their physicality and using it to influence their environment. Did this need to be reported to police?
I considered that students have maturing brains, are impulsive and will have limited empathy for others. I considered that my actions, as administrative staff, sets the tone for the school and my personal philosophy needed to take into account the norms that the school wished to purvey. I considered societal expectations of what teaching staff were expected to deal with.
Student influences / Context
There are many reasons students become violent. Frustration, domestic violence, physical abuse, peer interactions, sexual abuse, physical development, trauma, self image, helplessness, modelling/culture, attachment, gender confusion, sexuality, mental health, drug abuse are just a few reasons that spring to mind. Any one can make a student respond in a violent manner given particular situations. Schools today are expected to identify issues, manage risk, provide options for counseling and deal with situations that arise when plans put in place fail to adequately cover a violent series of incidents.
School influences
Maintaining a safe workplace is a necessity as a school becomes a melting pot of these issues. How a school responds to the threat of violence, dictates how safe children and staff feel when in the school. The ability of a school to predict where a problem may occur and develop a rapport that prevents violent outbursts is critical to the managing of low socio-economic schools experiencing many of the issues identified above. Staff that can do this effectively are rare as each issue tends to demand a different response and the responses can be personally draining and require high levels of support for students and support staff.
The maximum immediate penalty that can be imposed is 10 days of suspension, a period intended to allow time to improve risk plans, allow time to consider actions, organise support for families and support staff and work with students impacted upon by the violence. Diversion of a student to another location may be attempted, but if different solutions cannot be used, this may only move the violence from one school to another. When a school cannot devise a solution that is likely to succeed (and has likely failed many times with attempted solutions) then, and only then can exclusion be considered - it is a long and arduous process, as it should be, as there is no real solution at the end of it, other than saying school is not for that student.
Philosophical issues
Teachers do not report students to the police often or probably often enough. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being is that (good) teachers see students for who and what they are, not for their aberrant behaviours. In most cases these children are the most needy and require our assistance not our condemnation. I didn't start in education to be a pathway to the judicial system.
The counter is that as a deputy I have a responsibility to provide a safe working environment, with limited resources to deal with violent offenders. Nothing in the EBA indicates that it is ok for a teacher (as a worker for the Education department) to feel unsafe in their environment. Physical aggression, intimidation and assault are not ok and need to be seen to be dealt with for the mental health and confidence of staff, students and parents in the school. In a no tolerance for violence environment, 10 day suspensions for breaches are one part of a two part solution. Consequence for behaviour together with assistance to prevent similar behaviour in the future is key to success.
Societal Expectations
Schools are being asked to be a one size fits all solution to youth issues, increasingly working with agencies to fill gaps where there are no resources to deal with them. Finding alternate agencies with capacity in itself requires resources and deviates from the core business of teaching students the curriculum. In a high care, high expectation environment, schools are required to deal with context and deliver results.
What then?
I still have not in my career referred a student to police for threatening me physically (although I have for student welfare concerns and have restrained students on a number of occasions), I do hope that it remains this way. I must say though in the past five years, I have gone from feeling that students understand that threatening a teacher is unthinkable to now being a threat becoming relatively commonplace. I am more reliant on personal rapport with students than respect for my position to keep me safe. Both in junior and senior school there have been times when I have felt there has been risk I would be assaulted and that dealing with the student situation had a level of risk of physical assault, I may end in being physically hurt. Although schools are supportive when police reports are made over assaults, teachers like myself remain reluctant to ignore the factors that cause the assault in the first place (listed under student influences above) and fail to make a report - our knowledge of why students behave violently is part of why we are teachers in schools like ours.
Mandatory reporting of assault against staff together as suggested by the union (did I just agree with the union??) with protection from freedom of information may be one solution to measuring the issue and to target higher levels of resourcing to support students with anger management issues. Blanket FOI would be problematic (as with NAPLAN) as it would target schools attempting to deal with spikes in violence that occur with particular cohorts. Identifying accurately epicentres of issues, their causes, teachers struggling and then providing schools targeted assistance through existing processes would be a good start.
Violence in schools remains an area of potential conflict between parents, administration and teaching staff, where any action may be viewed as too little or too much, with clear differences in opinion in what is necessary to protect staff in their workplace and students in their high school depending on the perspective of the situation.
So when I was faced with violence in the workplace for the first time in my career where I believed a student intended physical harm to myself, I had to consider what my philosophical viewpoint is regarding children coming to grips with their physicality and using it to influence their environment. Did this need to be reported to police?
I considered that students have maturing brains, are impulsive and will have limited empathy for others. I considered that my actions, as administrative staff, sets the tone for the school and my personal philosophy needed to take into account the norms that the school wished to purvey. I considered societal expectations of what teaching staff were expected to deal with.
Student influences / Context
There are many reasons students become violent. Frustration, domestic violence, physical abuse, peer interactions, sexual abuse, physical development, trauma, self image, helplessness, modelling/culture, attachment, gender confusion, sexuality, mental health, drug abuse are just a few reasons that spring to mind. Any one can make a student respond in a violent manner given particular situations. Schools today are expected to identify issues, manage risk, provide options for counseling and deal with situations that arise when plans put in place fail to adequately cover a violent series of incidents.
School influences
Maintaining a safe workplace is a necessity as a school becomes a melting pot of these issues. How a school responds to the threat of violence, dictates how safe children and staff feel when in the school. The ability of a school to predict where a problem may occur and develop a rapport that prevents violent outbursts is critical to the managing of low socio-economic schools experiencing many of the issues identified above. Staff that can do this effectively are rare as each issue tends to demand a different response and the responses can be personally draining and require high levels of support for students and support staff.
The maximum immediate penalty that can be imposed is 10 days of suspension, a period intended to allow time to improve risk plans, allow time to consider actions, organise support for families and support staff and work with students impacted upon by the violence. Diversion of a student to another location may be attempted, but if different solutions cannot be used, this may only move the violence from one school to another. When a school cannot devise a solution that is likely to succeed (and has likely failed many times with attempted solutions) then, and only then can exclusion be considered - it is a long and arduous process, as it should be, as there is no real solution at the end of it, other than saying school is not for that student.
Philosophical issues
Teachers do not report students to the police often or probably often enough. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being is that (good) teachers see students for who and what they are, not for their aberrant behaviours. In most cases these children are the most needy and require our assistance not our condemnation. I didn't start in education to be a pathway to the judicial system.
The counter is that as a deputy I have a responsibility to provide a safe working environment, with limited resources to deal with violent offenders. Nothing in the EBA indicates that it is ok for a teacher (as a worker for the Education department) to feel unsafe in their environment. Physical aggression, intimidation and assault are not ok and need to be seen to be dealt with for the mental health and confidence of staff, students and parents in the school. In a no tolerance for violence environment, 10 day suspensions for breaches are one part of a two part solution. Consequence for behaviour together with assistance to prevent similar behaviour in the future is key to success.
Societal Expectations
Schools are being asked to be a one size fits all solution to youth issues, increasingly working with agencies to fill gaps where there are no resources to deal with them. Finding alternate agencies with capacity in itself requires resources and deviates from the core business of teaching students the curriculum. In a high care, high expectation environment, schools are required to deal with context and deliver results.
What then?
I still have not in my career referred a student to police for threatening me physically (although I have for student welfare concerns and have restrained students on a number of occasions), I do hope that it remains this way. I must say though in the past five years, I have gone from feeling that students understand that threatening a teacher is unthinkable to now being a threat becoming relatively commonplace. I am more reliant on personal rapport with students than respect for my position to keep me safe. Both in junior and senior school there have been times when I have felt there has been risk I would be assaulted and that dealing with the student situation had a level of risk of physical assault, I may end in being physically hurt. Although schools are supportive when police reports are made over assaults, teachers like myself remain reluctant to ignore the factors that cause the assault in the first place (listed under student influences above) and fail to make a report - our knowledge of why students behave violently is part of why we are teachers in schools like ours.
Mandatory reporting of assault against staff together as suggested by the union (did I just agree with the union??) with protection from freedom of information may be one solution to measuring the issue and to target higher levels of resourcing to support students with anger management issues. Blanket FOI would be problematic (as with NAPLAN) as it would target schools attempting to deal with spikes in violence that occur with particular cohorts. Identifying accurately epicentres of issues, their causes, teachers struggling and then providing schools targeted assistance through existing processes would be a good start.
Violence in schools remains an area of potential conflict between parents, administration and teaching staff, where any action may be viewed as too little or too much, with clear differences in opinion in what is necessary to protect staff in their workplace and students in their high school depending on the perspective of the situation.
Labels:
behavioural issues,
violence
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
CMS Training
I've just finished CMS training (a little humourous as I rarely teach, more to train others using consistent terms) and although I question the effectiveness of some strategies for teachers that might be struggling to gain control of their classrooms, there is some good information in there.
Today though was the first time I had to question the delivery of the session and the assertion made during the session. The statement made was that every escalation that led to a student-teacher power struggle was instigated by the teacher. The explanation given (and predicted before it was given) was that it takes two to have a power struggle and that the adult had the ability not to raise it to that level.
I think the simple counter to that was that there are instances where it is in the interest of the school to ensure that certain standards are publicly kept to, especially around safety, intimidating behaviour and agression towards female staff. It's not a PC view, and I know that but I'm willing to defend it.
A no tolerance policy towards intimidation and aggression has to be public. Students cannot be seen to be able to intimidate, physically threaten or assault staff. Students need to know that there is a line they cannot cross. Early in my career, maybe ten years ago, I could stand between two fighting out of control students and know that I was safe with punches being thrown over my shoulders. Today, this simply is not true. Some of this is to do with the mental health issues now processed by schools rather than other agencies, some due to serious drug use, some have experienced war trauma, some due to fewer role models, parenting by screen and lack of care in homes. Students are now 18 years+ when they leave school, some refugee students are older than this, are strong enough to challenge multiple members of the male staff at once.
The maximum practical consequence a school has is the 10 day suspension. Expulsion from a public school is a rare and difficult process. If students are comfortable with threatening staff this is not a deterrent. The ramping of consequences in today's high school teacher -> Year leader/Student Services -> Deputy -> Principal can happen in a single incident.
So back to the original problem. Student verbally abuses a teacher (reprimand by year leader after the child has calmed down). Student verbally abuses a year leader (reprimand by deputy after the child has calmed down). Student abuses a deputy - there is only one step left before Principal and the entire bluff that underpins the system is gone. The student can't be expelled. Here's the line where the processes of de-escalation have failed - the student has had the opportunity to learn how to identify the triggers leading to being out of control. Now a harder line needs to be followed and the power struggle needs to be addressed and is fraught with issues. If the student abuses the deputy, the situation needs to be dealt with there and then. In most cases the deputy has to diffuse or win the power struggle, in many cases with parent assistance. If this fails, like in real life, police become involved. After all, it is not ok for anyone to verbally or physically abuse or threaten to physically intimidate anyone, anywhere. Sometimes it is a very difficult lesson for students to learn. In life someone is always the boss of you unless you live alone on an island or up a tree somewhere!
Otherwise the child is out of control. We are teaching the child it is ok to be out of control, if after best efforts to educate the student otherwise, they continue to be out of control. The deputy in a school stands like police do in the community to ensure safety of the public, staff and students. To suggest that a deputy is wrong to stand for the school in a public exchange where power is involved threatens the fabric of discipline in a school. A deputy is typically a highly trained and experienced member of staff. These are people that understand the role they play and do not seek to become involved in behaviour incidents wherever possible as challenging a deputy is clearly different in scope than challenging another member of staff. It's not advisable to have them dealing with day-to-day incidents as the punishments they hand out are significantly more serious (to deter challenging of deputies) than to other member of staff. Discipline in a school requires them to be a last resort. Deputies are better used developing rapport with students before incidents so that they can assist in post incident support of teachers and year leaders than during incidents themselves.
I've spent a fair bit of time explaining incident management to kids, a) that it is appropriate to surrender control to staff members when in school b) that it is important that students understand that they need to follow instructions without question for safety reasons. a) can take a fair bit of convincing especially for kids that have a level of financial independence or are living independently. b) is more easily understood by students. After an incident, explaining to a student why I acted as I did, and appropriate future actions for a student is more important than the incident itself. A student with limited control of themselves needs to understand where the boundary is, that it must be respected and alternative behaviours that can be learned to deal with undesirable situations. My limited experience indicates that this approach works with most students.
The line that the teacher is a student's 'boss' is a learned behaviour. The line that a student has to follow a teacher instruction is a learned behaviour. The line that a student is respectful to a teacher is a learned behaviour. The line that physical violence and intimidation is not ok is a learned behaviour. The line that consequences escalate if student/teacher/Year Leader/Deputy/Principal relationships are not maintained is a learned behaviour. These need to be taught, we can no longer rely on parents and the community to teach these behaviours to a small proportion of a school.
Getting the Principal involved in a behind the scenes capacity is great as they have a wealth of experience and have met most circumstances before. Keeping them informed so that there are no surprises is a good idea. If they have to get involved in a practical sense it is problematic. They are the last arbiter in a school, if all else fails and they get personally involved, the situation has the potential to escalate, reach media and impact on the public image of the school - especially if they are forced to defend poor staff actions. If they are placed in a situation where they make the wrong decision, it never looks good.
Intimidation of female staff by male students is also a particular bugbear of mine. In the way female teachers are generally better at dealing with emotionally fragile students (the ones that need a hug and affection), male students using their physicality to intimidate female staff is an area that male staff can and (I think) should be used where appropriate. Reinforcement of Australian values towards women, like everything else, is a learned behaviour that is not always modelled in the home. Where culturally women are not valued - this message can sometimes be delivered by male staff and reinforced by caring female staff. Not PC I know, but practical. Some female staff don't want the help or need it, and that needs to be respected to.
I don't think I've explained myself very well, which probably indicates that this requires more thought to work through issues. I think it is probably influenced by my involvement in corporate life where decisions cost money and failure to follow instructions costs jobs. I needed staff that could question and develop ideas whilst being able to follow instructions immediately when required. This made for a healthy and robust environment - something I hope I encourage with processes of escalation and the teaching of respect for authority in our school.
Today though was the first time I had to question the delivery of the session and the assertion made during the session. The statement made was that every escalation that led to a student-teacher power struggle was instigated by the teacher. The explanation given (and predicted before it was given) was that it takes two to have a power struggle and that the adult had the ability not to raise it to that level.
I think the simple counter to that was that there are instances where it is in the interest of the school to ensure that certain standards are publicly kept to, especially around safety, intimidating behaviour and agression towards female staff. It's not a PC view, and I know that but I'm willing to defend it.
A no tolerance policy towards intimidation and aggression has to be public. Students cannot be seen to be able to intimidate, physically threaten or assault staff. Students need to know that there is a line they cannot cross. Early in my career, maybe ten years ago, I could stand between two fighting out of control students and know that I was safe with punches being thrown over my shoulders. Today, this simply is not true. Some of this is to do with the mental health issues now processed by schools rather than other agencies, some due to serious drug use, some have experienced war trauma, some due to fewer role models, parenting by screen and lack of care in homes. Students are now 18 years+ when they leave school, some refugee students are older than this, are strong enough to challenge multiple members of the male staff at once.
The maximum practical consequence a school has is the 10 day suspension. Expulsion from a public school is a rare and difficult process. If students are comfortable with threatening staff this is not a deterrent. The ramping of consequences in today's high school teacher -> Year leader/Student Services -> Deputy -> Principal can happen in a single incident.
So back to the original problem. Student verbally abuses a teacher (reprimand by year leader after the child has calmed down). Student verbally abuses a year leader (reprimand by deputy after the child has calmed down). Student abuses a deputy - there is only one step left before Principal and the entire bluff that underpins the system is gone. The student can't be expelled. Here's the line where the processes of de-escalation have failed - the student has had the opportunity to learn how to identify the triggers leading to being out of control. Now a harder line needs to be followed and the power struggle needs to be addressed and is fraught with issues. If the student abuses the deputy, the situation needs to be dealt with there and then. In most cases the deputy has to diffuse or win the power struggle, in many cases with parent assistance. If this fails, like in real life, police become involved. After all, it is not ok for anyone to verbally or physically abuse or threaten to physically intimidate anyone, anywhere. Sometimes it is a very difficult lesson for students to learn. In life someone is always the boss of you unless you live alone on an island or up a tree somewhere!
Otherwise the child is out of control. We are teaching the child it is ok to be out of control, if after best efforts to educate the student otherwise, they continue to be out of control. The deputy in a school stands like police do in the community to ensure safety of the public, staff and students. To suggest that a deputy is wrong to stand for the school in a public exchange where power is involved threatens the fabric of discipline in a school. A deputy is typically a highly trained and experienced member of staff. These are people that understand the role they play and do not seek to become involved in behaviour incidents wherever possible as challenging a deputy is clearly different in scope than challenging another member of staff. It's not advisable to have them dealing with day-to-day incidents as the punishments they hand out are significantly more serious (to deter challenging of deputies) than to other member of staff. Discipline in a school requires them to be a last resort. Deputies are better used developing rapport with students before incidents so that they can assist in post incident support of teachers and year leaders than during incidents themselves.
I've spent a fair bit of time explaining incident management to kids, a) that it is appropriate to surrender control to staff members when in school b) that it is important that students understand that they need to follow instructions without question for safety reasons. a) can take a fair bit of convincing especially for kids that have a level of financial independence or are living independently. b) is more easily understood by students. After an incident, explaining to a student why I acted as I did, and appropriate future actions for a student is more important than the incident itself. A student with limited control of themselves needs to understand where the boundary is, that it must be respected and alternative behaviours that can be learned to deal with undesirable situations. My limited experience indicates that this approach works with most students.
The line that the teacher is a student's 'boss' is a learned behaviour. The line that a student has to follow a teacher instruction is a learned behaviour. The line that a student is respectful to a teacher is a learned behaviour. The line that physical violence and intimidation is not ok is a learned behaviour. The line that consequences escalate if student/teacher/Year Leader/Deputy/Principal relationships are not maintained is a learned behaviour. These need to be taught, we can no longer rely on parents and the community to teach these behaviours to a small proportion of a school.
Getting the Principal involved in a behind the scenes capacity is great as they have a wealth of experience and have met most circumstances before. Keeping them informed so that there are no surprises is a good idea. If they have to get involved in a practical sense it is problematic. They are the last arbiter in a school, if all else fails and they get personally involved, the situation has the potential to escalate, reach media and impact on the public image of the school - especially if they are forced to defend poor staff actions. If they are placed in a situation where they make the wrong decision, it never looks good.
Intimidation of female staff by male students is also a particular bugbear of mine. In the way female teachers are generally better at dealing with emotionally fragile students (the ones that need a hug and affection), male students using their physicality to intimidate female staff is an area that male staff can and (I think) should be used where appropriate. Reinforcement of Australian values towards women, like everything else, is a learned behaviour that is not always modelled in the home. Where culturally women are not valued - this message can sometimes be delivered by male staff and reinforced by caring female staff. Not PC I know, but practical. Some female staff don't want the help or need it, and that needs to be respected to.
I don't think I've explained myself very well, which probably indicates that this requires more thought to work through issues. I think it is probably influenced by my involvement in corporate life where decisions cost money and failure to follow instructions costs jobs. I needed staff that could question and develop ideas whilst being able to follow instructions immediately when required. This made for a healthy and robust environment - something I hope I encourage with processes of escalation and the teaching of respect for authority in our school.
Friday, December 22, 2017
Mental Health - The unwritten story in WA Education
Mental Health (particularly depression and anxiety) is one of those things that cannot be written about or discussed freely in the staffroom. It adds a level of complexity to teaching children and a level of complexity to the role of a teacher. Being labelled with a mental health issue is not something that is easily moved on. It is an underground issue that can change how a child is perceived and limit the progression and career of a teacher.
2016 was the year of challenges for boys in education. The fear of leaving school was palpable with little in the way of career opportunities for boys, both in the mining sciences through tertiary study, through building and construction or through manufacturing industries. The path to a wage or salary position was unclear, as were pathways to white or blue collar work. Students saw parents in long term unemployment. The number of mental health raised issues rose in schools, as did neglect and behavioural issues in classes. The meaning of why students should seek education as a path to employment was blurred as increasingly specialised schooling did not provide the promise of first jobs and the value of a generalised education for the future was not being sold to students that knew better through observations of society and the freedom of information available. Everyone is an expert in the Facebook and Google age. The validity of information and truth itself became increasingly questionable and fake everything became the norm, fame the object rather than the result of success and narcissism the new black. Add to that students that have achieved D/Es in math for their entire schooling that are progressing at a high level but know that they are not at level though mandatory use of Australian Curriculum grading really did not help. Worryingly recreational drug use appeared to be rising again leading to further mental health issues.
2017 was the year where mental health in teaching staff reached the limit of what could be supported. The question was not who had mental health challenges, but who didn't, who was still able to cope regardless and who had to be nursed through until they could cope again. The demands of an education system with limited discipline support, where engagement was the only real answer, where curriculum was alienating large parts of the student cohort, where curriculum modification required teaching three to four years on either side of the curriculum set, where the teacher had to have the answers or be deemed incapable placed additional pressure on teaching and administrative staff. Tie this together with budget measures increasing class sizes, reducing access to behavioural programmes and diminishing external support (the loss of headspace and other programmes had an effect) was a bit of a tsunami in terms of stress in the classroom. Supporting and managing staff with emerging or with diagnosed mental health issues is often a thankless task.
The positive is that private and charitable organisations are starting to fill the need but it adds an additional level of management required on an already stressed administrative system. Where three to four people in a school now manage staffing, timetabling, behaviour, analysis, strategic planning, marketing, performance management, finance, community standing - it is not always clear how they can also focus on academic performance, course counseling and wellbeing of staff and students - leading to a feeling of a tokenistic approach at times. This was always going to be the challenge of de-centralisation and the independent school system - the same resources to achieve local agendas, a grand but difficult plan to implement.
Engagement of students is always the ultimate aim, in a world where schools drive the wellbeing of the local community, I'm not sure schools are sufficiently resourced, either with adequate trained manpower or financially to achieve societal aims. With the influx of career teachers and the diminishing number of vocational teachers (who are burning out trying to achieve what previously could be done with a little effort), next year could be a tough one both in dealing with the inevitable turnover that comes from time to time and some tough cohorts that are travelling through the system.
2016 was the year of challenges for boys in education. The fear of leaving school was palpable with little in the way of career opportunities for boys, both in the mining sciences through tertiary study, through building and construction or through manufacturing industries. The path to a wage or salary position was unclear, as were pathways to white or blue collar work. Students saw parents in long term unemployment. The number of mental health raised issues rose in schools, as did neglect and behavioural issues in classes. The meaning of why students should seek education as a path to employment was blurred as increasingly specialised schooling did not provide the promise of first jobs and the value of a generalised education for the future was not being sold to students that knew better through observations of society and the freedom of information available. Everyone is an expert in the Facebook and Google age. The validity of information and truth itself became increasingly questionable and fake everything became the norm, fame the object rather than the result of success and narcissism the new black. Add to that students that have achieved D/Es in math for their entire schooling that are progressing at a high level but know that they are not at level though mandatory use of Australian Curriculum grading really did not help. Worryingly recreational drug use appeared to be rising again leading to further mental health issues.
2017 was the year where mental health in teaching staff reached the limit of what could be supported. The question was not who had mental health challenges, but who didn't, who was still able to cope regardless and who had to be nursed through until they could cope again. The demands of an education system with limited discipline support, where engagement was the only real answer, where curriculum was alienating large parts of the student cohort, where curriculum modification required teaching three to four years on either side of the curriculum set, where the teacher had to have the answers or be deemed incapable placed additional pressure on teaching and administrative staff. Tie this together with budget measures increasing class sizes, reducing access to behavioural programmes and diminishing external support (the loss of headspace and other programmes had an effect) was a bit of a tsunami in terms of stress in the classroom. Supporting and managing staff with emerging or with diagnosed mental health issues is often a thankless task.
The positive is that private and charitable organisations are starting to fill the need but it adds an additional level of management required on an already stressed administrative system. Where three to four people in a school now manage staffing, timetabling, behaviour, analysis, strategic planning, marketing, performance management, finance, community standing - it is not always clear how they can also focus on academic performance, course counseling and wellbeing of staff and students - leading to a feeling of a tokenistic approach at times. This was always going to be the challenge of de-centralisation and the independent school system - the same resources to achieve local agendas, a grand but difficult plan to implement.
Engagement of students is always the ultimate aim, in a world where schools drive the wellbeing of the local community, I'm not sure schools are sufficiently resourced, either with adequate trained manpower or financially to achieve societal aims. With the influx of career teachers and the diminishing number of vocational teachers (who are burning out trying to achieve what previously could be done with a little effort), next year could be a tough one both in dealing with the inevitable turnover that comes from time to time and some tough cohorts that are travelling through the system.
Labels:
mental health,
reflection
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Professional Development - Connect use in 2016
I was asked to do a Connect beginners session (a social networking/LMS/feedback/calendar/submission portal developed by the department) at the local group of high schools PD session. I said ok, I can train anyone in anything given a little knowledge of the product and how it is applied. Generally speaking, people like the sessions, will sit through them and try to learn.
Connect though is a funny beast. It's reasonably mature and is being used by students and teachers. It works now, it's not a bad time to adopt it as long as there is a commitment to keep developing it by the department. There are issues with it though that have nothing to do with the software.
Firstly, teachers need to understand it does nothing without a commitment to it. By this I mean if you want it to work, you (as teacher) must clearly define what you want it to do in your classroom. When I used a similar portal (Edmodo) successfully I had a clear idea of what I wanted it to do for me. I wanted to extend my reach beyond the classroom to assist students when I was not physically present.
I had a commitment to Just-in-time intervention, a strategy that requires responses when the student requires it. This required my solution to evolve as needs arose. The skill I required as a teacher was to keep these intervention events in the classroom and maximise learning time outside of the classroom.
I started by attempting a flipped classroom and blending my learning with ICT. Edmodo (like Connect can do) provided the glue between the instructional sessions (designed by me a few lessons in advance on a tablet and posted online or during instructional periods in class on an IWB later posted online) and response sessions. I made a commitment to my students that I would respond out of hours (if I was available - generally after my kids went to bed) to provide solutions to problems students experienced in attempting classwork. Simple things I could prompt with short text answers, curly ones I would explore using a graphics tablet and record my voice to show how I explored the question and derived an answer.
Now that they were familiar with the programme I introduced materials from other sources that they could access with new topics, Khan academy topics and mathsonline were great for this.
Then I added quizzes to provide formative feedback, things like exit statements from lessons or readiness percentages for tests and assignments. As other teachers became aware of the success, they tapped in and started answering questions for my students and I did the same for theirs. This also provided prompts to revisit topics where confusion reigned.
The great thing about one of the classes is that my time teaching reduced considerably, the students would ask me to sit down and not teach. I think this was because we managed to plug more holes this way, they started to answer each other's questions more frequently and they were more capable of independently learning, confident that if they became stuck, help was available.
Each step, I explicitly taught to students. They had to understand what it was for - there was no learning by immersion or osmosis - if they didn't know it was there or how to use it, it might as well have been just another useless page on the internet.
Going back to Connect - this is the sort of thinking that has to sit behind it's use. Connect is useless if it has not purpose in (or out) of the classroom. I used all sorts of tricks to get them using a portal initially, but with some perseverance they became the easiest to teach and the highest performing class I have ever had. I'd like to think what I learned could be used by someone else. I know at least one person has it figured out and continues to evolve their own solution.
How do I teach that to 60 people? When I was researching it, my supervisor concluded it was me not the ICT use that was successful. I'm not sure I agree with him, but enthusiasm for teaching is infectious - it could be the forming of a synergistic class/teacher relationship (with high levels of confidence in their teacher) is the result of ICT usage rather than any benefit derived from the usage itself.
I don't know. Wish me luck!
Connect though is a funny beast. It's reasonably mature and is being used by students and teachers. It works now, it's not a bad time to adopt it as long as there is a commitment to keep developing it by the department. There are issues with it though that have nothing to do with the software.
Firstly, teachers need to understand it does nothing without a commitment to it. By this I mean if you want it to work, you (as teacher) must clearly define what you want it to do in your classroom. When I used a similar portal (Edmodo) successfully I had a clear idea of what I wanted it to do for me. I wanted to extend my reach beyond the classroom to assist students when I was not physically present.
I had a commitment to Just-in-time intervention, a strategy that requires responses when the student requires it. This required my solution to evolve as needs arose. The skill I required as a teacher was to keep these intervention events in the classroom and maximise learning time outside of the classroom.
I started by attempting a flipped classroom and blending my learning with ICT. Edmodo (like Connect can do) provided the glue between the instructional sessions (designed by me a few lessons in advance on a tablet and posted online or during instructional periods in class on an IWB later posted online) and response sessions. I made a commitment to my students that I would respond out of hours (if I was available - generally after my kids went to bed) to provide solutions to problems students experienced in attempting classwork. Simple things I could prompt with short text answers, curly ones I would explore using a graphics tablet and record my voice to show how I explored the question and derived an answer.
Now that they were familiar with the programme I introduced materials from other sources that they could access with new topics, Khan academy topics and mathsonline were great for this.
Then I added quizzes to provide formative feedback, things like exit statements from lessons or readiness percentages for tests and assignments. As other teachers became aware of the success, they tapped in and started answering questions for my students and I did the same for theirs. This also provided prompts to revisit topics where confusion reigned.
The great thing about one of the classes is that my time teaching reduced considerably, the students would ask me to sit down and not teach. I think this was because we managed to plug more holes this way, they started to answer each other's questions more frequently and they were more capable of independently learning, confident that if they became stuck, help was available.
Each step, I explicitly taught to students. They had to understand what it was for - there was no learning by immersion or osmosis - if they didn't know it was there or how to use it, it might as well have been just another useless page on the internet.
Going back to Connect - this is the sort of thinking that has to sit behind it's use. Connect is useless if it has not purpose in (or out) of the classroom. I used all sorts of tricks to get them using a portal initially, but with some perseverance they became the easiest to teach and the highest performing class I have ever had. I'd like to think what I learned could be used by someone else. I know at least one person has it figured out and continues to evolve their own solution.
How do I teach that to 60 people? When I was researching it, my supervisor concluded it was me not the ICT use that was successful. I'm not sure I agree with him, but enthusiasm for teaching is infectious - it could be the forming of a synergistic class/teacher relationship (with high levels of confidence in their teacher) is the result of ICT usage rather than any benefit derived from the usage itself.
I don't know. Wish me luck!
Sunday, April 10, 2016
2016 and the move to Administration
It's two or so years since my last post and a fair bit has happened. From Head of Department to Dean of Studies to Deputy Principal of senior school. It would appear that my career has gone from strength to strength.
Perhaps on paper, but it sure has had its ups and downs. The hardest part about the transition to administration by far is the loneliness that goes with it. In a small public high school there are 5-6 administrators, generally dealing with different issues than teaching staff. First and foremost, you are by necessity distancing yourself from teaching colleagues. You now have a line to carry, whether you believe in it or not, in order to provide a united front for the school. Disunity among admin is tantamount to a dysfunctional school. The vision for the school starts here. Managing friendships and management is not easy to do, and it is often more practical not to try and draw a line in the sand. You work long hours with limited contact with anyone other than discipline cases and parents that are highly defensive and in many cases feel powerless to positively change the situation.
Next is the management of staff. Vocational staff are lofty in their ideals and don't mind how many hours they work, career staff are there to collect a wage in order to provide a livelihood for their families. Most teachers fall between these two extremes. The way both staff are managed are completely different and requires a deft touch to massage egos and be mindful of family commitments. Some are purely burnt out, others ineffectual, others outstanding but require careful stroking. To be honest this is where I get criticised because personally I believe we are paid a lot to do a job. The bare minimum expectation is that you do it. I'm often a little too black and white about this and this causes me trouble. Stroking staff is not an attribute that I have been required to develop in the past, and I find it mildly distasteful. We do what we do due to personal motivation, lack the motivation and you are not doing your job. Unlike with students, motivation has always been the problem of staff themselves. There is an element of motivating staff required, but when teaching philosophies are so diametrically opposed, reconciling yourself to saying what needs to be said to maintain a status quo rather than dealing with the issue I find difficult. I feel I am learning, but on this front I appear a slow learner.
Perception is always an issue. People cannot see what you are doing, and judge you based on how well you do their task. Sure it may not be the most important task that needs doing, but it is to them. That student that did not pick up a piece of paper, that is late to class, has not completed homework can be just as important to resolve as the incident where a student has been assaulted. Talk in the staffroom forgets all the good done and focuses on the current issue as if it was the "thing" wrong with the school. Sentiment changes and your popularity with staff changes likewise as policy that is implemented is not always popular. You are rarely judged on how well something is implemented or considered, the only comment I can recall said to me is that "you are a good operator".
The last two years were hard, transitioning from a job that I had done well for some time (as teacher and Head of Mathematics) to a job that was challenging due to staffing constraints (as Head of Math/Science) to a role that I found difficult and was initially ill defined (as Dean of Studies) and now temporarily to Deputy. In each role I assisted the person moving behind me into it by improving process, building a functional team (or improving a dysfunctional one) and providing a foundation to build upon future success.
Physically and emotionally there has been a toll, one that is still being paid. The returns from teaching are harder to find away from the classroom - there is a high from teaching that is poorly understood or recognised. Take that high away and I see little to recommend in the job other than a wage that sends my girls to private schools - somehow from being a vocational teacher, I have become a career administrator. My task now is to find the reward and vocation in the job in other areas; be that strategic development, staff development, staff managment, timetabling, career counselling, student counselling, curriculum development, marketing, behaviour and risk management or the other ten hats a Deputy or Dean of Studies wears.
Perhaps on paper, but it sure has had its ups and downs. The hardest part about the transition to administration by far is the loneliness that goes with it. In a small public high school there are 5-6 administrators, generally dealing with different issues than teaching staff. First and foremost, you are by necessity distancing yourself from teaching colleagues. You now have a line to carry, whether you believe in it or not, in order to provide a united front for the school. Disunity among admin is tantamount to a dysfunctional school. The vision for the school starts here. Managing friendships and management is not easy to do, and it is often more practical not to try and draw a line in the sand. You work long hours with limited contact with anyone other than discipline cases and parents that are highly defensive and in many cases feel powerless to positively change the situation.
Next is the management of staff. Vocational staff are lofty in their ideals and don't mind how many hours they work, career staff are there to collect a wage in order to provide a livelihood for their families. Most teachers fall between these two extremes. The way both staff are managed are completely different and requires a deft touch to massage egos and be mindful of family commitments. Some are purely burnt out, others ineffectual, others outstanding but require careful stroking. To be honest this is where I get criticised because personally I believe we are paid a lot to do a job. The bare minimum expectation is that you do it. I'm often a little too black and white about this and this causes me trouble. Stroking staff is not an attribute that I have been required to develop in the past, and I find it mildly distasteful. We do what we do due to personal motivation, lack the motivation and you are not doing your job. Unlike with students, motivation has always been the problem of staff themselves. There is an element of motivating staff required, but when teaching philosophies are so diametrically opposed, reconciling yourself to saying what needs to be said to maintain a status quo rather than dealing with the issue I find difficult. I feel I am learning, but on this front I appear a slow learner.
Perception is always an issue. People cannot see what you are doing, and judge you based on how well you do their task. Sure it may not be the most important task that needs doing, but it is to them. That student that did not pick up a piece of paper, that is late to class, has not completed homework can be just as important to resolve as the incident where a student has been assaulted. Talk in the staffroom forgets all the good done and focuses on the current issue as if it was the "thing" wrong with the school. Sentiment changes and your popularity with staff changes likewise as policy that is implemented is not always popular. You are rarely judged on how well something is implemented or considered, the only comment I can recall said to me is that "you are a good operator".
The last two years were hard, transitioning from a job that I had done well for some time (as teacher and Head of Mathematics) to a job that was challenging due to staffing constraints (as Head of Math/Science) to a role that I found difficult and was initially ill defined (as Dean of Studies) and now temporarily to Deputy. In each role I assisted the person moving behind me into it by improving process, building a functional team (or improving a dysfunctional one) and providing a foundation to build upon future success.
Physically and emotionally there has been a toll, one that is still being paid. The returns from teaching are harder to find away from the classroom - there is a high from teaching that is poorly understood or recognised. Take that high away and I see little to recommend in the job other than a wage that sends my girls to private schools - somehow from being a vocational teacher, I have become a career administrator. My task now is to find the reward and vocation in the job in other areas; be that strategic development, staff development, staff managment, timetabling, career counselling, student counselling, curriculum development, marketing, behaviour and risk management or the other ten hats a Deputy or Dean of Studies wears.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
2014 Achievements and the IOTY
2014 was a difficult year in that it lacked the proactive measures that we have achieved in previous years. Loss of a valued staff member and the care and ultimate passing of a loved one resulted in reduced capacity to implement measures that were in the pipeline.
We did achieve a few things though:
- research is done for organising teaching observations in 2015.
- the 6th summer school has been organised and is over subscribed again with 48 students.
- Mathematics Academy classes have run for the 7th year.
- new staff are integrating well and capacity is growing in Math/Science.
- the Fogerty leadership programme helped develop stronger planning measures for the school.
- we're looking at a number of fun behaviour management schemes.
- transition went well and numbers are looking good.
- implementation of the new behaviour management policy.
- implementation of the formal streaming process.
- implementation of the ICT plan and rollout of 200 units of ICT across the school.
- made connections with like minded schools to ensure issues faced with small groups are diminished in 2015.
- plans have been presented to further enhance the mathematics programme through an engineering and public speaking focus in 2015.
- Australian curriculum implementation is progressing well.
The IOTY award for 2014 goes jointly to the teachers union, our beloved premier and the media for repeatedly reporting that we were on the list for closure or amalgamation during year 7 and 8 enrollment times. A close second goes to the commonwealth for mandating inflexible A-E grading when it is not appropriate for schools with significant delays such as commonly found in low socio-economic schools.
We did achieve a few things though:
- research is done for organising teaching observations in 2015.
- the 6th summer school has been organised and is over subscribed again with 48 students.
- Mathematics Academy classes have run for the 7th year.
- new staff are integrating well and capacity is growing in Math/Science.
- the Fogerty leadership programme helped develop stronger planning measures for the school.
- we're looking at a number of fun behaviour management schemes.
- transition went well and numbers are looking good.
- implementation of the new behaviour management policy.
- implementation of the formal streaming process.
- implementation of the ICT plan and rollout of 200 units of ICT across the school.
- made connections with like minded schools to ensure issues faced with small groups are diminished in 2015.
- plans have been presented to further enhance the mathematics programme through an engineering and public speaking focus in 2015.
- Australian curriculum implementation is progressing well.
The IOTY award for 2014 goes jointly to the teachers union, our beloved premier and the media for repeatedly reporting that we were on the list for closure or amalgamation during year 7 and 8 enrollment times. A close second goes to the commonwealth for mandating inflexible A-E grading when it is not appropriate for schools with significant delays such as commonly found in low socio-economic schools.
Labels:
IOTY,
reflection
Friday, December 20, 2013
The year that was.
My first year as HOLA, although the end to it was disappointing and difficult, was a successful year from my perspective. I'm proud of how my team has responded to a demanding environment and how we were able to turn a bad situation with very low morale into a positive one.
From a HOLA perspective I set a few goals at the start of the year.
From a HOLA perspective I set a few goals at the start of the year.
- Gain a better understanding of the composition of our admission students (investigation of statistics of transition students, investigation of feeder primary strengths and weaknesses).
- Develop effective professional development to ensure we are improving our teaching pedagogy (Attended the MAWA conference, training to become regional transition trainer, continuation of informal teacher in-class observations)
- Commence meaningful performance management in line with AITSL standards (done for maths)
- Develop written programmes throughout each year group and have ownership of these documents distributed throughout the teaching staff (done for maths, work in progress for Science)
- Implemented the online marksbook (done for Maths, work in progress for science, training of all staff in usage)
- Develop learning area plans for Mathematics (completed and operational) and Science (work in progress)
- Develop skills monitoring and developing solutions for BMIS cases (Learning SIS behaviour module, meeting with parents, discussing solutions with peers, ensuring cases are resolved before being closed, developing pathways to reduce BMIS behaviours.)
- Develop the summer school and Mathematics academies into sustainable activities (now managed by non teaching staff and using external tutors. Students now seeking tutors to solve issues prior to assessment. Creation of demand from students for extension programmes during term breaks.)
- Mentor teachers in the Math department, assisting them with creating connections within the school
Incidentally I was able to contribute to the school in a number of different ways
- Part of the course counselling team
- Developed a personal connection with UWA Aspire to create a sustainable tutoring programme for students at the school
- Created connections with students that have left the school to assist them with negotiating issues in first year university
- Contributed as a boardmember of the school, providing insight into the operational aspects, developed a rapport with board members and assisted with developing and monitoring schoolwide goals
- Assisted with development of the business plan and annual report
- Distributed year 7 transition statistics and identified the relative strengths of feeder primary schools
- Assisted with transition programmes at the school for feeder yr 6,7,8 students
- Participated in leadership programmes to raise the community profile of the school and illustrate the relative strengths of our leadership team
- Part of the finance committee
- Developed the ICT plan for 2014 and gained approval from all departments in the school for its implementation
- Completed timetabling training
- Ensured that all classes were in small groups for moderation and assisted teachers locate SGM partners where necessary
Being on 0.7 FTE load, changed how many things I could do achieve as a teacher, but the following occurred:
- Attended a number of school functions including the river cruise, graduation, graduation dinner and school ball
- Delivered the 3CD MAT class with a C grade or higher for all students
- Delivered the 30 strong 8A class to a national curriculum standard gaining a 60% average on their final test
- Worked with two difficult classes to be better able to handle mainstream class expectations with minimal BMIS implications
A favourite part of my year was watching colleagues succeed, especially those that had embraced some of my teaching philosophies during practicum and started using them in classes. It's nice to see ideas passed on and embraced by others and be able to recommend them to positions based on what you have seen work.
Best of wishes to all during the festive season.
Best of wishes to all during the festive season.
Labels:
reflection
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Disengaged and defiant students
Sometimes you take along hard look at how you are doing things and look again at how it can be improved. This time of year is traditionally a good time to examine your teaching practices and see if there are things that you can do to improve things.
We're doing performance management at the moment and one of the things I am asking is "what are some of the successes you have had in re-engaging students?" It's one of those big questions in education as some people are decidedly better at engaging students than others.
The main theme seems to be that there is no one solution for all, but there are solutions that work for pockets of students.
We're doing performance management at the moment and one of the things I am asking is "what are some of the successes you have had in re-engaging students?" It's one of those big questions in education as some people are decidedly better at engaging students than others.
The main theme seems to be that there is no one solution for all, but there are solutions that work for pockets of students.
- Low literacy students in mathematics benefit from reduced content and increased opportunities to seek mastery (meaning that these students require opportunities for extra classes to keep up with the mainstream). They also benefit from alternate grading strategies to ensure motivation remains high (rather than being pounded with E's semester after semester).
- Students like explicit grading. Putting an A on a paper is a big motivator to try harder. Sending this information home via note or email can also be a big motivator.
- Developing a rapport with students can hide a wide range of issues with teaching practices. If a student believes in you, they will try harder regardless of the teaching technique used.
- Deal with the defiant and disengaged students using any help at hand that is available. Allowing them to potato (sit and hide under the radar) in your classes is not a solution that will re-engage students.
- Set high but realistic expectations.
- Encourage students at every opportunity.
- Be consistent in your attempts to re-engage students. Every day is a new day, but repeated and escalating poor performance needs to be dealt with.
- Seek assistance from parents as soon as possible. Call them in to discuss matters with you. Send test papers home.
- Engage in discussions about futures of students. Two of my biggest successes of 2014 related to students that opened up about their career prospects and then helping them see how education could lead them there. This re-opened dialogue about their behaviour and recreated rapports between the students and teachers.
- Competition is not always a bad thing. A bit of friendly rivalry can invigorate a stale classroom environment.
- Take time to plan. A little preparation in advance can give you breathing space that allows you get your head above water when you are drowning.
Labels:
engagement,
engaging students
Friday, October 25, 2013
Another year 12 bunch through.
One hundred thousand pageviews later, Head of Maths/Science and another class delivered into the big world. They're a great bunch - the inspiration for many articles, and my group of yr 12 students will be missed.
A few anecdotes spring to mind about them..
"I'm sorry that I missed you today... but I'm in ER.. had a few chest pains earlier this afternoon, but it's all ok."
"Hahahahahaaa sir, said we'd give you a heart attack!"
The dark cloud, the cattle wife, the quiet one, the vacant/bright eyes, the two vying for no.1 and both achieving it, the firebrand, the crazy one, the one that missed every period 1, the tryer, the 47-50%ers, the ones that drive you insane and the ones that you would do everything for and they still struggle.
I loved the fact that the girls always dressed as young ladies and rejected "skank" as the dominant dress code.
The student that cried any time I was near in the last week.
There were so many of them that could have dropped out and the ball was picked up by someone to get them through.
The boys that succeeded despite many obstacles in ways we could not have expected.
They are a part of a digital world that we have no part of. The valedictory speech was inspired by a google search, their music is too loud, they don't know what they want and that's ok - it will all work out.
Students are innately respectful, it may take hindsight sometimes for them to find it. Now is the time where we let them go, our work done and now they can take their vision of the world and craft it, like we sought to do at their age. It will take too long and happen so quickly.
It's a hard time of year in that we have to disengage from students we have sought to engage for up to 6 years. Today, we walk away from each of them and that student-teacher dependancy is gone in a farewell never to return. Others now take up the banner and mentor them forward.
Congratulations class of 2013. Stay safe, enjoy life, find ways to do good. Drop in and say hello sometime. I'll wear my tie presents with pride remembering a group that were a pleasure to teach and that will change the world.
A few anecdotes spring to mind about them..
"I'm sorry that I missed you today... but I'm in ER.. had a few chest pains earlier this afternoon, but it's all ok."
"Hahahahahaaa sir, said we'd give you a heart attack!"
The dark cloud, the cattle wife, the quiet one, the vacant/bright eyes, the two vying for no.1 and both achieving it, the firebrand, the crazy one, the one that missed every period 1, the tryer, the 47-50%ers, the ones that drive you insane and the ones that you would do everything for and they still struggle.
I loved the fact that the girls always dressed as young ladies and rejected "skank" as the dominant dress code.
The student that cried any time I was near in the last week.
There were so many of them that could have dropped out and the ball was picked up by someone to get them through.
The boys that succeeded despite many obstacles in ways we could not have expected.
They are a part of a digital world that we have no part of. The valedictory speech was inspired by a google search, their music is too loud, they don't know what they want and that's ok - it will all work out.
Students are innately respectful, it may take hindsight sometimes for them to find it. Now is the time where we let them go, our work done and now they can take their vision of the world and craft it, like we sought to do at their age. It will take too long and happen so quickly.
It's a hard time of year in that we have to disengage from students we have sought to engage for up to 6 years. Today, we walk away from each of them and that student-teacher dependancy is gone in a farewell never to return. Others now take up the banner and mentor them forward.
Congratulations class of 2013. Stay safe, enjoy life, find ways to do good. Drop in and say hello sometime. I'll wear my tie presents with pride remembering a group that were a pleasure to teach and that will change the world.
Labels:
graduating students
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Index Laws
I was at a presentation yesterday and was shown the following explanation for the "to the power of zero" law. It used arrays and was a great visual for lower ability students that were unable to grasp the nature of the zero law through subtraction of powers.
It's a short video to help me remember the techniques involved, but thought it might be useful for others. If I get motivated I will extend it to negative indices.
I can claim no credit for the idea, it was presented by the fantastic Pam Sherrard from Curriculum Support branch, who has collected some great ideas. If you get a chance to go to her PD as a lower secondary or primary teacher I would highly recommend it - they're good fun. I've noticed it's not working on my iPad.. I'll work on it.
It's a short video to help me remember the techniques involved, but thought it might be useful for others. If I get motivated I will extend it to negative indices.
I can claim no credit for the idea, it was presented by the fantastic Pam Sherrard from Curriculum Support branch, who has collected some great ideas. If you get a chance to go to her PD as a lower secondary or primary teacher I would highly recommend it - they're good fun. I've noticed it's not working on my iPad.. I'll work on it.
Labels:
teaching methods
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Big discussions in education
There are some big discussions happening at the moment in education. Australian Curriculum, standardised testing, year 7 transition, public private partnerships, emerging social issues, CAS calculator implementation. Each are having a lasting impact on the way education is progressing.
Australian curriculum seems destined to repeat the primary mistakes of OBE in that it is being run to political timeframes, is being introduced without effective assessment policies and guidance is a bit haphazard about its implementation schedule. The one size fits all model, being implemented across K-12 with missing blocks of understanding scattered throughout each year group indicates that the success will be limited to higher SES schools that already approached the norm expected by the curriculum. The curriculum does not support our kids and the enforcement of A-E grading / inappropriate curriculum just ensures the feedback reinforces their position in society. It will take schools to make a stand, change their approach and find innovative ways to smooth the learning curve to help these students succeed.
As schools struggle to reach the norms required they are trying publicly to show they are ready to maintain their competitive position in standardised testing. Being based on averages, even if a low SES school catered well for its higher achieving kids, this result is hidden within the average. To counter this effect small schools are putting vast amounts of effort "teaching to the test", something most teachers are vigorously opposed to. I was hearing an anecdote last night from a friend talking about their kids playing schools and saying,
Year 7 transition has become a non issue. In many public schools there aren't any coming to high school. The delay of the decision to move 7's means that many parents of higher ability students made the decision to send their kids (along with younger siblings) to private schools and get specialist teaching assistance. The remaining kids in many cases lack support at home - many are the most at risk students. Public school numbers that were quite stable at 500 are dropping sub 300 which makes smaller metro high schools unviable and there is no indication that this number will bounce in the next 5 years. Smaller schools can't compete with private education and facilities, lacking a marketing budget or effective USP to drive students to the school. The end result is that more public schools will close and our education system will become more and more dependent on private education, ultimately further disadvantaging and marginalising low SES students.
With smaller schools and reduced funding through lack of scale to minimise costs, our smaller schools will need to increasingly devote time to managing public/private funding agreements to maintain programmes. This is a clear diversion from classroom first (as it diverts resources from the classroom), will bias schools towards areas required by industry or areas easy to support through volunteers. This is an issue in itself as cyclical industries may leave highly at risk generations of kids in geographical areas without employment opportunities, potentially creating ongoing social issues for communities and creating situations for schools where difficult to staff specialist programmes or expensive subjects to teach will become unsupportable.
The marginalisation of the poor is already occurring with accumulations of cultural groups in low SES areas now not integrating with large sections of the community (as those children are in private education), something in the past restricted to exclusion from high SES students in a few independent schools. Without any real hope of employment due to a lack of social support and poor levels of education, some low SES students are now focused on the quick wins available to them through crime and social loafing, others are facing low self esteem, poor job prospects and mental illness. The lack of positive peer support is having a clear impact on our communities and schools. The edges of this is starting to be reported in the media and has the potential to create another drug and alcohol effected generation that will again require large amounts of funding to address.
The last issue is a math issue and one we face right now, but is still related to the issues above. Math itself is becoming marginalised with the cost of participation rising above the level of a growing number of students within the school. CAS calculators at $200, revision guides, course costs and texts can account for 50% of year 11/12 fees. Low participation rates are precluding students from higher study. Able students are now choosing other subjects with lower costs as families cannot pay the cost (costs that may have been able to be found within the school when numbers of at risk students were lower, access to support bars were set lower and more discretionary funds were available). A further question exists about whether we need these calculators as they are creating exams that test the corners of courses to create bell curves rather than teaching students solid mathematics. Many teachers are still struggling with CAS calculator integration and I'm beginning to fall in line with the thought they are not an effective teaching tool, tablet technology in the classroom (not in assessment) may be a better pathway for our high performing students. I'm sure issues like this are apparent in other learning areas.
Public education is beginning to fail the students that it is most needed for, to ensure "the fair go" is still a national objective. I hope we have the courage to address it early, rather than be forced into reactionary measures later.
Australian curriculum seems destined to repeat the primary mistakes of OBE in that it is being run to political timeframes, is being introduced without effective assessment policies and guidance is a bit haphazard about its implementation schedule. The one size fits all model, being implemented across K-12 with missing blocks of understanding scattered throughout each year group indicates that the success will be limited to higher SES schools that already approached the norm expected by the curriculum. The curriculum does not support our kids and the enforcement of A-E grading / inappropriate curriculum just ensures the feedback reinforces their position in society. It will take schools to make a stand, change their approach and find innovative ways to smooth the learning curve to help these students succeed.
As schools struggle to reach the norms required they are trying publicly to show they are ready to maintain their competitive position in standardised testing. Being based on averages, even if a low SES school catered well for its higher achieving kids, this result is hidden within the average. To counter this effect small schools are putting vast amounts of effort "teaching to the test", something most teachers are vigorously opposed to. I was hearing an anecdote last night from a friend talking about their kids playing schools and saying,
"And after maths we'll have NAPLAN"Since when did NAPLAN become a formal class in year 3? If we want this to stop, we have to stop publishing these figures. By all means run the tests and direct funding to schools based on test results, but schools are biasing the test so badly I question its relevancy as a standardisation tool.
Year 7 transition has become a non issue. In many public schools there aren't any coming to high school. The delay of the decision to move 7's means that many parents of higher ability students made the decision to send their kids (along with younger siblings) to private schools and get specialist teaching assistance. The remaining kids in many cases lack support at home - many are the most at risk students. Public school numbers that were quite stable at 500 are dropping sub 300 which makes smaller metro high schools unviable and there is no indication that this number will bounce in the next 5 years. Smaller schools can't compete with private education and facilities, lacking a marketing budget or effective USP to drive students to the school. The end result is that more public schools will close and our education system will become more and more dependent on private education, ultimately further disadvantaging and marginalising low SES students.
With smaller schools and reduced funding through lack of scale to minimise costs, our smaller schools will need to increasingly devote time to managing public/private funding agreements to maintain programmes. This is a clear diversion from classroom first (as it diverts resources from the classroom), will bias schools towards areas required by industry or areas easy to support through volunteers. This is an issue in itself as cyclical industries may leave highly at risk generations of kids in geographical areas without employment opportunities, potentially creating ongoing social issues for communities and creating situations for schools where difficult to staff specialist programmes or expensive subjects to teach will become unsupportable.
The marginalisation of the poor is already occurring with accumulations of cultural groups in low SES areas now not integrating with large sections of the community (as those children are in private education), something in the past restricted to exclusion from high SES students in a few independent schools. Without any real hope of employment due to a lack of social support and poor levels of education, some low SES students are now focused on the quick wins available to them through crime and social loafing, others are facing low self esteem, poor job prospects and mental illness. The lack of positive peer support is having a clear impact on our communities and schools. The edges of this is starting to be reported in the media and has the potential to create another drug and alcohol effected generation that will again require large amounts of funding to address.
The last issue is a math issue and one we face right now, but is still related to the issues above. Math itself is becoming marginalised with the cost of participation rising above the level of a growing number of students within the school. CAS calculators at $200, revision guides, course costs and texts can account for 50% of year 11/12 fees. Low participation rates are precluding students from higher study. Able students are now choosing other subjects with lower costs as families cannot pay the cost (costs that may have been able to be found within the school when numbers of at risk students were lower, access to support bars were set lower and more discretionary funds were available). A further question exists about whether we need these calculators as they are creating exams that test the corners of courses to create bell curves rather than teaching students solid mathematics. Many teachers are still struggling with CAS calculator integration and I'm beginning to fall in line with the thought they are not an effective teaching tool, tablet technology in the classroom (not in assessment) may be a better pathway for our high performing students. I'm sure issues like this are apparent in other learning areas.
Public education is beginning to fail the students that it is most needed for, to ensure "the fair go" is still a national objective. I hope we have the courage to address it early, rather than be forced into reactionary measures later.
Labels:
CAS calculator,
daily reflection,
low SEI students
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Screencast on Linear Programming - feasible regions and sensitivity
I do the occasional screencast for my students, sometimes from scratch, other times explaining Saddler examples and then post them on the SLN for watching at home. They seem popular and get watched by students. I noticed the video button in blogger and thought I might see if they are useful to anyone else. They only take about 5 mins to do, have the occasional error in them (which become discussion points in themselves) and have become a fairly positive addition to my available teaching pedagogy.
Here's two on feasible regions and sensitivity that I did the other day. I have higher res versions available for putting on my IWB.
Here's two on feasible regions and sensitivity that I did the other day. I have higher res versions available for putting on my IWB.
If anyone is interested, they are done using an iMac, quickTime and ActiveInspire. They're encoded using the cellular setting for use on smartphones and tablets.
Labels:
3D MAT,
screencasts
Monday, July 8, 2013
It's not about the aha moment.
This was a realisation this week. My teaching is no longer about the Aha! moment. I've come to the realisation that my students now expect an aha! moment any time I teach. What's more, experience gives you the ability to construct these moments at will.
Teaching has become more can I get past the aha! moment to ensure retention of concepts and develop depth in learning. Most teaching points can be taught, creating the motivation required to learn for life, rather than learn for the moment is where my teaching is now going and is starting to drive my thinking.
Where the process of huh?->aha!->embedded is used to scaffold new learning, the embedding is more critical as experience in teaching grows. This is where exam results improve.
I talked with my teaching group this week and was challenged as to why we have exams. I sat down after the discussion and wrote for nearly an hour as to why I believed they were important. Being part of the group that re-embedded them in the school I needed to revisit why I thought they were important.
Teaching has become more can I get past the aha! moment to ensure retention of concepts and develop depth in learning. Most teaching points can be taught, creating the motivation required to learn for life, rather than learn for the moment is where my teaching is now going and is starting to drive my thinking.
Where the process of huh?->aha!->embedded is used to scaffold new learning, the embedding is more critical as experience in teaching grows. This is where exam results improve.
I talked with my teaching group this week and was challenged as to why we have exams. I sat down after the discussion and wrote for nearly an hour as to why I believed they were important. Being part of the group that re-embedded them in the school I needed to revisit why I thought they were important.
- It is a part of the school year that provides inertia for the learning process: teach (learning) -> test (for understanding) -> exam (test for retention)
- It forms a part of the expected scholastic disciplines
- It prepares them for the pressures of performance
- It provides reason for rectifying understanding after initial testing
- It provides summative feedback on student performance
- It identifies if students can select the correct strategy across a broader range of strategies
- It is an opportunity for making consistent judgements across classes
- It is an opportunity to develop revision, calculator usage and note preparing practices in students
- It is how students are tested in the majority of upper school courses
- It identifies areas that require reteaching or more attention in future courses of work
I'm a bit sad because whilst students were sitting their exams I created a more exhaustive list, but in my wisdom failed to save it. Can't win them all.
Labels:
Exams
Reporting Period and Supporting students
Everytime a reporting period goes by we have discussions with parents about how students are travelling. A recurring theme is the support required by students and whether they are receiving their entitlement of support.
There is a community expectation that students will receive homework. In most cases homework does not have a return on investment.
If you are a parent, right now you are likely to be having a conniption..... but hear me out - I too was a supporter of homework once but except under some quite specific exceptions I would argue that it is rarely appropriate in a low SES school, increasingly so in upper secondary.
There is a community expectation that students will receive homework. In most cases homework does not have a return on investment.
If you are a parent, right now you are likely to be having a conniption..... but hear me out - I too was a supporter of homework once but except under some quite specific exceptions I would argue that it is rarely appropriate in a low SES school, increasingly so in upper secondary.
- Students lack academic support at home to complete homework.
- The spacing between learning and practice is too short for measurable effect.
- It takes 10+ minutes out of every lesson to manage effectively.
- When given it is rarely done well.
- Repetitive practice based resources reduce motivation for low ability students.
- It causes unnecessary friction between parents, teachers and students.
There are types of homework that I would encourage:
- Any form of regular reading
- Preparation of notes prior to testing
- Use of engaging online resources
- Delivery of instructional resources via video
- Revision resources driven by student inquiry
- Rote learning of tables, number facts and exact values required for trigonometry
- Assignment work that is being graded
There is a difference between the two lists. One has cause and effect (I do this and I benefit from it) and is possible without significant assistance, the other is I do this (stuff I already know) or can't do this (and have no way to get help) and have little in the way of explicit benefit. Regular homework all too often falls into the latter category.
I have been pleasantly surprised by the response to video instructional resources that I have written as they are universally watched by students. I can't explain the effect (as they're not mindshatteringly interesting) but they do most closely relate to classroom teaching (as they are closest to teaching practices) and are in their preferred mode of learning.
SLNs have provided additional help with students gaining access to each other to get help with revision materials and access to teaching staff out of hours. Online tools like mymathsonline and mathsonline also play their part.
That's not to say our students don't study in their own time. I make myself available three days a week after school for an hour (along with most of my stupendously wonderful staff and support people), and in doing this we ensure students spend in excess of the expected study time. It's effective, collaborative, targeted and supported. It's optional (I tell parents to not force students to come if they do not want to - I don't have resources available for behaviour management) and we have had a clear quarter of the students in the school seeking assistance and not resenting it.
Labels:
homework
Friday, June 7, 2013
Survival
Sometimes teaching is about surviving. Most teachers have war stories about years when it was difficult. At the moment is one of those times for me.
Schools are not a quasi correctional facility and are poorly equipped for dealing with students that cannot be managed effectively. Students now have the ability and authority to disrupt the learning of others - when students reach the don't care/defiance point, there is little left to defend education with. I think it is an area that requires attention in the public system at least.
There are many reasons for finding a cohort difficult. Sometimes it's a class that doesn't settle. Other times it's a student that has behavioural difficulties. It may be the challenge of finding engaging relevant material. It could be students that are not performing under test conditions... or the transition to a new curriculum, adjustment to the changing requirements of a new leader.. skilling up to the demands of a new role. Then you get the flu and it all gets a bit much.
Sometimes it's all of these things. They're the things that get in the way of focussing on the majority of students that just want to do well. When it gets to that point, my solution has always been to sit and reflect. 500 bits of reflection later, we are here.
The things that get you through are your family, your colleagues and the kids that respect what you do. When these fail, then you know you are in trouble. Reflection probably is not enough.
I'm hoping this week has been a blip and not an insight into the time leading to reporting. I love my job, but sometimes think I may have been promoted beyond my ability... I'm a good classroom teacher but an ordinary disciplinarian - I counsel students to death rather than berate them effectively.
My thought has always been if I can get them to care about themselves, then I have hope. The problem that I face at the moment, is that many pointy end kids are not reachable and live purely in the moment - with no real idea or fear of consequence. I envy them that a little, as we all know the time where this can be only exists as a child - even my four year old is passing through this stage. How did it happen that some students are 13 and still struggling with the idea, challenging a system designed purely to help them transition to adulthood?
Schools are not a quasi correctional facility and are poorly equipped for dealing with students that cannot be managed effectively. Students now have the ability and authority to disrupt the learning of others - when students reach the don't care/defiance point, there is little left to defend education with. I think it is an area that requires attention in the public system at least.
Labels:
daily reflection
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Connect and ICT in schools
Creation of ICT is fraught with problems. When government seeks to create applications they tend to be ill focused and narrow in their application. In education ICT has continuously failed to live up to expectations. IMHO the risk in application development is best left with private enterprise in commercial solutions and the government should take a "best practice" approach, being reasonably ruthless in what they ask for when spending each dollar.
Connect is the next generation of the education department portal, seeking to bring data together for use by students and teachers. It is a mixed bag of applications seeking to replicate what is already done by commercial and department applications that for the most part are freely available. I hate to think of the amount of money spent on it.
I think the reason for not using public money is multifold.
1. Replication of software that already exists freely is illogical
2. A created solution will lag features available in larger communities where scale can be applied
3. A small solution does not have access to the required depth of developers and designers
4. Small projects tend to be lead by programmers and technical capabilities rather than by need of users
5. Early adopters get burned. Established applications proven to scale to millions are less likely to fail.
6. Infrastructure is expensive in closed systems and rarely scales well
The Connect solution is experiencing issues that we viewed today at a presentation promoting its use.
1. Connect infrastructure is already struggling. Other solutions use commercial clouds and leverage their infrastructure. Users of connect are already being asked to restrict their storage or are required to use external servers (such as YouTube). This is an issue similar to the current email problem where a small storage limit precludes teachers using email as a silo for information. It seems counterintuitive to say we need a managed private closed solution if we are locating resources (and sending students) to public locations. We watched Connect struggle under load when trying to log teachers into the system, something that would quickly derail a class if used. Timeouts were frequent. Given that this was run in a closed system (within a school) controlled by the department on a day when students were not present does not bode well for the design of the solution.
2. Connect allows communication directly between students and monitors this through sending multiple emails to teachers. This is problematic as it creates spam in teachers email and creates a significant monitoring overhead (something overcome by the approach of other solutions).
3. The interface is suboptimal and has not evolved from 90's thinking (even in the presentation style). The Connect interface is generations behind solutions such as schoology and edmodo (which is expected as Connect is drawing on a much smaller user base of 100 users vs millions of users). Connect needs to move beyond thinking of itself as a portal and think about being a user's experience (eg. an SLN). Students do not need to see "Connect" advertising on the landing page, they need to see what they need to know. If a landing page serves little purpose, put something on it that has purpose, preferably in colours linked to the school (as belonging is a key component in driving usage). If Connect is seeking to be another SLN and use this to drive usage, then this needs to be the "centre" of thinking, not being a content aggregator.
4. It does not do anything better than what already exists and appears to seek to copy or relocate features of existing applications (cynically I would suggest to bloat functionality). There is not a single feature that I could see that was a significant benefit over other already existing solutions (other than they had been aggregated in one place moving administration overhead to teachers). Many features were being oversold (single login, presentation, RTP integration, notice board functionality, submission of work online, access to the ill organised and predominantly useless resource bank, password changes) and features that are lost were undersold (familiar interfaces, access to wider communities, access across school sectors, marking student work online (a feature that is very unlikely to be implemented but that already exists freely in full workflow form), quizzes, online testing, polling, usage statistics, integration with other learning communities, tablet app integration). Little of the actual student benefit (social interaction, making work available 24/7, increase in information flow, connectivity to the classroom, collaborative peer support, BYOD device support) or the requirements of successful implementation was discussed (high levels of teacher interaction, high levels of organisation/preparation, ICT support requirements within the school, deadlines for implementation, staged rollouts, student education).
5. Proposed usage is not timely and demonstrates a lack of understanding of student usage. If a student is stuck at home they can call a friend, facebook them, email them, re-read notes, ask a parent, ask a tutor or wait until class the following day. What they are unlikely to do is log into a portal, navigate to a community, hope that someone sees the message and then wait for a reply. The response time is too slow for this type of approach.
6. Something is good if it is readily adopted and seen as useful. I sat and listened to an early adopter claiming that Connect was a good solution. Once we dug a little further, his actual student adoption with Connect was inconsequential yet he claimed he had great success with equivalent commercial applications (then why change?). It made me laugh as it reminded me of the letter I received from the department saying I was a frequent user of OTLS (complete BS) and thus was chosen to use Connect. Saying something definite does not make it true. What the presenter was really saying was that the commercial solutions was better but if we had to use Connect it was ok and the interface was not unusable like OTLS. We need to use Connect as it overcomes legal issues relating to student data. To this I would say a) success is only success if usage can be shown and that compromising by using connect when better solutions exist because of closed system requirements (that cannot remain closed due to infrastructure requirements and costs) is poor reasoning. If we allow the open internet in schools (and we do - check any library at lunch) with only limited filtering, a commercial solution is viable.
7. Parent involvement is overstated. If I said to a parent, I will have grades emailed to you they might say great and read the email when I push it to them at a regular interval. If I say, here is a portal, log in (requiring finding a password) if you wish to check how your student is doing, it is unlikely to be used often (what was my password again?). There is not enough information here for parents to review to make regular use viable. The same can be said for homework review - this would take a cultural change that is unlikely in the near future.
8. It is promising more than it is delivering. It promised better access to SAIS (not available), access to RTP (not available), ability to store resources (but is limited in storage), access to classes (but not all classes were accessible on the day), email attachments to students directly (not available). The "tell us your wants" and we'll make it happen statement is scarily present implying that direction for the application is poorly defined and lacking direction (flexibility in development screams scope creep and cost blowout in public sector application development).
Many of these reasons disappear once we pass through stages of early adoption. I just question whether the need for another portal or SLN exists. I have often been wrong before, but I believe that better solutions only occur if we challenge what is being done. The challenge for Connect is to become an indispensable tool. It still has some way to go.
Connect is the next generation of the education department portal, seeking to bring data together for use by students and teachers. It is a mixed bag of applications seeking to replicate what is already done by commercial and department applications that for the most part are freely available. I hate to think of the amount of money spent on it.
I think the reason for not using public money is multifold.
1. Replication of software that already exists freely is illogical
2. A created solution will lag features available in larger communities where scale can be applied
3. A small solution does not have access to the required depth of developers and designers
4. Small projects tend to be lead by programmers and technical capabilities rather than by need of users
5. Early adopters get burned. Established applications proven to scale to millions are less likely to fail.
6. Infrastructure is expensive in closed systems and rarely scales well
The Connect solution is experiencing issues that we viewed today at a presentation promoting its use.
1. Connect infrastructure is already struggling. Other solutions use commercial clouds and leverage their infrastructure. Users of connect are already being asked to restrict their storage or are required to use external servers (such as YouTube). This is an issue similar to the current email problem where a small storage limit precludes teachers using email as a silo for information. It seems counterintuitive to say we need a managed private closed solution if we are locating resources (and sending students) to public locations. We watched Connect struggle under load when trying to log teachers into the system, something that would quickly derail a class if used. Timeouts were frequent. Given that this was run in a closed system (within a school) controlled by the department on a day when students were not present does not bode well for the design of the solution.
2. Connect allows communication directly between students and monitors this through sending multiple emails to teachers. This is problematic as it creates spam in teachers email and creates a significant monitoring overhead (something overcome by the approach of other solutions).
3. The interface is suboptimal and has not evolved from 90's thinking (even in the presentation style). The Connect interface is generations behind solutions such as schoology and edmodo (which is expected as Connect is drawing on a much smaller user base of 100 users vs millions of users). Connect needs to move beyond thinking of itself as a portal and think about being a user's experience (eg. an SLN). Students do not need to see "Connect" advertising on the landing page, they need to see what they need to know. If a landing page serves little purpose, put something on it that has purpose, preferably in colours linked to the school (as belonging is a key component in driving usage). If Connect is seeking to be another SLN and use this to drive usage, then this needs to be the "centre" of thinking, not being a content aggregator.
4. It does not do anything better than what already exists and appears to seek to copy or relocate features of existing applications (cynically I would suggest to bloat functionality). There is not a single feature that I could see that was a significant benefit over other already existing solutions (other than they had been aggregated in one place moving administration overhead to teachers). Many features were being oversold (single login, presentation, RTP integration, notice board functionality, submission of work online, access to the ill organised and predominantly useless resource bank, password changes) and features that are lost were undersold (familiar interfaces, access to wider communities, access across school sectors, marking student work online (a feature that is very unlikely to be implemented but that already exists freely in full workflow form), quizzes, online testing, polling, usage statistics, integration with other learning communities, tablet app integration). Little of the actual student benefit (social interaction, making work available 24/7, increase in information flow, connectivity to the classroom, collaborative peer support, BYOD device support) or the requirements of successful implementation was discussed (high levels of teacher interaction, high levels of organisation/preparation, ICT support requirements within the school, deadlines for implementation, staged rollouts, student education).
5. Proposed usage is not timely and demonstrates a lack of understanding of student usage. If a student is stuck at home they can call a friend, facebook them, email them, re-read notes, ask a parent, ask a tutor or wait until class the following day. What they are unlikely to do is log into a portal, navigate to a community, hope that someone sees the message and then wait for a reply. The response time is too slow for this type of approach.
6. Something is good if it is readily adopted and seen as useful. I sat and listened to an early adopter claiming that Connect was a good solution. Once we dug a little further, his actual student adoption with Connect was inconsequential yet he claimed he had great success with equivalent commercial applications (then why change?). It made me laugh as it reminded me of the letter I received from the department saying I was a frequent user of OTLS (complete BS) and thus was chosen to use Connect. Saying something definite does not make it true. What the presenter was really saying was that the commercial solutions was better but if we had to use Connect it was ok and the interface was not unusable like OTLS. We need to use Connect as it overcomes legal issues relating to student data. To this I would say a) success is only success if usage can be shown and that compromising by using connect when better solutions exist because of closed system requirements (that cannot remain closed due to infrastructure requirements and costs) is poor reasoning. If we allow the open internet in schools (and we do - check any library at lunch) with only limited filtering, a commercial solution is viable.
7. Parent involvement is overstated. If I said to a parent, I will have grades emailed to you they might say great and read the email when I push it to them at a regular interval. If I say, here is a portal, log in (requiring finding a password) if you wish to check how your student is doing, it is unlikely to be used often (what was my password again?). There is not enough information here for parents to review to make regular use viable. The same can be said for homework review - this would take a cultural change that is unlikely in the near future.
8. It is promising more than it is delivering. It promised better access to SAIS (not available), access to RTP (not available), ability to store resources (but is limited in storage), access to classes (but not all classes were accessible on the day), email attachments to students directly (not available). The "tell us your wants" and we'll make it happen statement is scarily present implying that direction for the application is poorly defined and lacking direction (flexibility in development screams scope creep and cost blowout in public sector application development).
Many of these reasons disappear once we pass through stages of early adoption. I just question whether the need for another portal or SLN exists. I have often been wrong before, but I believe that better solutions only occur if we challenge what is being done. The challenge for Connect is to become an indispensable tool. It still has some way to go.
Labels:
ICT,
systemic leadership
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Why teach?
Teaching in a relatively hard to teach school seems to be a place to test the mettle of young would-be teachers. We get a fair amount, they are generally very good and we have to weed out a few. The first difficult question I ask a wannabe teacher is "Why do you want to teach?"
It's a valid question and one that I still get asked weekly - both by students, friends and acquaintences. You can predict the failure of a teaching practicum with a fair degree of accuracy with this question.
If the answer is I don't know, or it was all I could do, the motivation to overcome adversity will likely not be there and the student will struggle until they can answer it.
If the answer is I love students, they might make it through, but the "teacher as an entertainer" model better really suit them because teaching for love is a pretty stupid reason that hits a hurdle with the first class that doesn't like you. You won't be doing what kids want to do most of the time (unless you have thrown the syllabus out the window from a math class) and in classes of 30 it is rare to achieve this.
If the answer is that I love learning or I think I could do a better job than my teachers, then there is hope. It's not the answer that I'm looking for, but young teachers can get by with either. One is based in the idea that I can learn to be better (reflective practice) and the second is based on a pre-conceived notion of what not to do. Strangely enough either of these can work and lead to successful careers in teaching. I feel for these teachers through, as the end product tends to be unhappiness, as learning is only one component in teaching and competing with a bad memory is hard to sustain.
The answer to my mind is I need to teach. It is my vocation and my desire, it dominates my thinking and I get a real buzz out of seeing others achieve. It gives you your connection to your students. When you find the kid or mature age teaching student that understands that teaching is at its heart a vocation, mentor them, harden them up and find a way to get them through. The concept is based in a selfless desire, a fire in the belly that keeps many of us going even when we're battling to get students through and our own personal dilemmas.
Hand in hand with this idea, my grandmother taught me that the gift is in the giving, whenever I feel down, I look for a way to help others. It's a key element to teaching and ties to teacher motivation.. She also taught me not to be a patsy and that goes together with it.
A more involved question is "why teach in a hard to staff school?" The elephant in the room is that many will assume you're not good enough to teach elsewhere. For some it is about ease of access to the rewards of seeing students fly (they've got further to go so it is easier to make happen), for others the ability to right a social wrong, for others the lack of teaching demands and for others it is returning to the community the time put into you.
They're a gutsy choice for young teachers, as they are far from the easy option. With the right support though it is both rewarding and contributes to society in a way leafy green roles can't. There is something special about watching a family escape poverty cycles through education. Low SES schools are not for everyone but are the home for many of us that seek to make a difference.
It's a valid question and one that I still get asked weekly - both by students, friends and acquaintences. You can predict the failure of a teaching practicum with a fair degree of accuracy with this question.
If the answer is I don't know, or it was all I could do, the motivation to overcome adversity will likely not be there and the student will struggle until they can answer it.
If the answer is I love students, they might make it through, but the "teacher as an entertainer" model better really suit them because teaching for love is a pretty stupid reason that hits a hurdle with the first class that doesn't like you. You won't be doing what kids want to do most of the time (unless you have thrown the syllabus out the window from a math class) and in classes of 30 it is rare to achieve this.
If the answer is that I love learning or I think I could do a better job than my teachers, then there is hope. It's not the answer that I'm looking for, but young teachers can get by with either. One is based in the idea that I can learn to be better (reflective practice) and the second is based on a pre-conceived notion of what not to do. Strangely enough either of these can work and lead to successful careers in teaching. I feel for these teachers through, as the end product tends to be unhappiness, as learning is only one component in teaching and competing with a bad memory is hard to sustain.
The answer to my mind is I need to teach. It is my vocation and my desire, it dominates my thinking and I get a real buzz out of seeing others achieve. It gives you your connection to your students. When you find the kid or mature age teaching student that understands that teaching is at its heart a vocation, mentor them, harden them up and find a way to get them through. The concept is based in a selfless desire, a fire in the belly that keeps many of us going even when we're battling to get students through and our own personal dilemmas.
Hand in hand with this idea, my grandmother taught me that the gift is in the giving, whenever I feel down, I look for a way to help others. It's a key element to teaching and ties to teacher motivation.. She also taught me not to be a patsy and that goes together with it.
A more involved question is "why teach in a hard to staff school?" The elephant in the room is that many will assume you're not good enough to teach elsewhere. For some it is about ease of access to the rewards of seeing students fly (they've got further to go so it is easier to make happen), for others the ability to right a social wrong, for others the lack of teaching demands and for others it is returning to the community the time put into you.
They're a gutsy choice for young teachers, as they are far from the easy option. With the right support though it is both rewarding and contributes to society in a way leafy green roles can't. There is something special about watching a family escape poverty cycles through education. Low SES schools are not for everyone but are the home for many of us that seek to make a difference.
Labels:
daily reflection
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Ideas vs proven methods
In any organisation my voice will be heard. I don't fear offering an opinion and over time people learn how to use my opinions effectively. I'm sure as hell not always right, but can be a good sounding board for ideas.
It always amuses me when someone argues a position and then gets sad when my position moves closer to theirs, undermining their argument. I'm not as fixed as I should be, although probably more fixed in my ways than when I started teaching.
If someone has a better idea, I try to welcome it and embrace it (it is hard to give up an idea that has taken time to develop). If someone attacks one of my ideas/ideals/opinions in the spirit it is given, then it is a welcome discussion - it can only create a stronger position (if only to better understand the counter argument). The only time I really get frustrated is when ideas are attacked purely because of the person that is giving it. I've been on both sides of this and get frustrated with myself when I catch myself doing it. A colleague generally taps me on the shoulder to reconsider my position (and if they know me well enough) can snap me out of it.
The ability to offer an idea without fear of reprisal and the ability to develop ideas through dialogue is important to an organisation. Developing ideas before implementation will increase the chance of success significantly. Developing ideas in a vacuum can be a frustrating process of reinventing the wheel.
I feel to some degree I am doing this at the moment. In developing better support for teachers, I am working with teachers with many years more experience - offering an opinion can either scratch wounds, state the obvious or sound naive. Many of my ideas feel simplistic, to counter this I am actively looking and listening to successful strategies currently being used in our school in other learning areas and in other schools where I have colleagues in similar circumstances.
Creating a Math/Science department is also problematic, as I am trying to bring two teams together and I lack science experience. Gaining knowledge of the needs and wants of the science team is drawing attention from the math team, also needing help, development and guidance. I remind myself that I'm 10 weeks into a new job and can only do so much - yet it's obvious I need to do more to get the job done, and new responsibilities are on their way shortly.
I need to keep thinking about what I am doing, and do it better. It sounds obvious, but if I keep focus on the big picture over time our learning programme will improve further.
It always amuses me when someone argues a position and then gets sad when my position moves closer to theirs, undermining their argument. I'm not as fixed as I should be, although probably more fixed in my ways than when I started teaching.
If someone has a better idea, I try to welcome it and embrace it (it is hard to give up an idea that has taken time to develop). If someone attacks one of my ideas/ideals/opinions in the spirit it is given, then it is a welcome discussion - it can only create a stronger position (if only to better understand the counter argument). The only time I really get frustrated is when ideas are attacked purely because of the person that is giving it. I've been on both sides of this and get frustrated with myself when I catch myself doing it. A colleague generally taps me on the shoulder to reconsider my position (and if they know me well enough) can snap me out of it.
The ability to offer an idea without fear of reprisal and the ability to develop ideas through dialogue is important to an organisation. Developing ideas before implementation will increase the chance of success significantly. Developing ideas in a vacuum can be a frustrating process of reinventing the wheel.
I feel to some degree I am doing this at the moment. In developing better support for teachers, I am working with teachers with many years more experience - offering an opinion can either scratch wounds, state the obvious or sound naive. Many of my ideas feel simplistic, to counter this I am actively looking and listening to successful strategies currently being used in our school in other learning areas and in other schools where I have colleagues in similar circumstances.
Creating a Math/Science department is also problematic, as I am trying to bring two teams together and I lack science experience. Gaining knowledge of the needs and wants of the science team is drawing attention from the math team, also needing help, development and guidance. I remind myself that I'm 10 weeks into a new job and can only do so much - yet it's obvious I need to do more to get the job done, and new responsibilities are on their way shortly.
I need to keep thinking about what I am doing, and do it better. It sounds obvious, but if I keep focus on the big picture over time our learning programme will improve further.
Labels:
leadership
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)