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He ako whakaaweawe, he ako whakatere | Effective Teaching, Accelerated Learning

Monday the 14th of September 2020, was a momentus day for the education community in Ōtaki. We held a Teacher Only Day with over 100 teachers from across the community coming together to learn - a first for our community. Teachers from Ōtaki College, Ōtaki School, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rito, Te Kura-ā-Iwi o Whakatupuranga Rua Mano, Te Horo School and  Waitohu School.

There were two key goals for the day, the first was to support our educators in professional learning around the kaupapa of He ako whakaaweawe, he ako whakatere | Effective Teaching, Accelerated Learning. The second was to create a feeling of connectedness across our schools. Though we might be close geographically there are many of our educators who don't know each other. 

This second goal was a real challenge for us, our first scheduled date for this TOD was during the first lockdown when we were in Covid Level 4 and then this date when we ended up being in Level 2 with gatherings limited to 100 people we needed to think outside the box in terms of how we could still make this a successful day. 

One of the key things we did was to create a Google Site where all information, links and anything you'd need to know was held in one place. Everyone had the access to the content, regardless of where they were physically sitting. 

We also utilised Google Currents (formally Google +) to try and create a space for our teachers to connect with one another, to share key ideas that spoke to them, or highlights from the sessions. Before we started this TOD, we had 35 members of our Currents Community, we now have 67 and approximately 20 people used this as a place to share during the day. We also incentivised people joining and commenting by including several coffee draws throughout the day.  As always with a group of teachers these went down well! 

I hope that this Currents Community is able to be used beyond the TOD as a way for teachers to remain connected across the community. 

There was a lot of really positive feedback from our teachers and tumuaki after the day. It was a great way to see that we can connect and have professional learning opportunities even if we couldn't meet face to face on the day. 

Week 22!

 This week in Ōtaki there is a very tired feel around the education community. After Term 1, and then Lockdown and now Term 2, without a break everyone seems to have run out of steam. 

Kids are tired, teachers are tired... everyone is ready for a break. 

Leveraging the Manaiakalani Kaupapa

The kaupapa of Connected, Ubiquitous, Visible, & Empowered has been a catalyst for change in the weeks following lockdown. For some schools and teachers there has been a real embracing of this  kaupapa. It is now becoming what they do, as part and parcel of learning in their kura. 

What lessons have schools in your cluster taken from the distance learning experience to enhance or improve the face to face schooling experience? 

There is far more collaborative practice -  teachers working together to support one another, especially at one particular school where teachers sharing resources who would never have shared before!

The value of ubiquitous learning - available anytime any where at any pace from anyone. We gathered feedback from students once they had returned to school after the lock down and this was by far one of the things they enjoyed the most, especially in a secondary setting, being able to complete things at their own pace, choosing which subjects work they wanted to focus on and not having to stop because the bell had gone. 

Lockdown has really shown us the value of ubiquity. 

We have also seen an increase in independence - and whānau involvement with learning. It was so heartening to join in class Google Meet sessions and see whānau supporting students. 

Time for a well deserved break I think!