Celebrate the shifts

Celebrate the shifts that your students make.

 Some make bigger shifts than others.  Still celebrate the shifts. Some may not shift, however they haven't regressed either. Celebrate the fact that they have managed to maintain where they're at. 

I'm not saying to be complacent and not strive for students to be better and do better.
What I AM saying is more often than not, shifts are being made that a standardised test won't recognise.

 As a student,  I remember feeling I was only valued by my test scores. It didn't matter how much my confidence had grown...how I improved with how much I was participating in group discussions or that I worked really hard to do my best. That test at the end of the term was all that mattered. If I didn't pass the test with flying colours then I couldn't have done my best...*sigh*
 It can leave one wondering if the sum of all their efforts is just reduced to only a number.

A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a person is problematic. Is it any wonder why later on in life we tend to define ourselves by how we look, the occupation we hold, how much we make... etc.?

We have to look a certain way or others will think.... 

If we don't look the part then we must be... 

We must have this type of job or else people will think...

 If we don't hold a certain job then we must be.... 

Because we make (or don't make) ____________ per year then we must be ..... 

Success looks different to everyone. 

There are a lot of people who have degrees who are currently working for the owner of the company who dropped out of school.  Let that sink in. 

Celebrate the students who raise their hand to answer questions in class who didn't before.
Celebrate the students who come to school everyday this month who were absent for most of last month.
Celebrate the students who now work as active members in a group during those DMIC lessons. Celebrate the students who you noticed showing Manaakitanga to someone when it would've been so easy to turn a blind eye.


I am still learning how I choose to measure the constructive shifts is my life is ever changing.

Year 2 PCT course at Kohia

Went on a provisionally certified teacher course. Our mentor was Sarah Valentine. This is part of what I experienced.





One of the points mentioned yesterday was that all of the pressures of the job can make you forget what inspired you to become a teacher. So with that, we were asked:

"Why did you decide to become a teacher?"

I became a teacher because I like working with and helping people, both adults and children.  I also like to build on my knowledge. Being a teacher seemed to involve all of those things.


Here are some of the things that we wanted our students to learn from us.

• Values
• Build esteem, self , community citizenship
• Build relationships, respect
• Learning from mistakes
• Confidence self efficacy
• Creative positive generation
• Initiative and common sense
• Thinking about thinking
• Self awareness

I enjoyed this. I didn't realise how much I forgot why I became a teacher. Being around other teachers sharing their philosophies and goals for their students ( beyond reaching level 4) helped to put me in  a positive/growth mindset.

We were then asked to answer these questions.

1. What's going well.
2. What has been tricky.
3. Is my teaching philosophy evident in my classroom practice.

It's funny how I immediately jumped out at me. Managing my workload effectively has be challenging and has taken away from remembering why I chose to become a teacher. 

Today I chose to write more about What was going well and whether my teaching philososphy was evident in my classroom practice.

What's going well

I am learning a lot from my students. Yes, I am learning about where they are in academic wise but I was thinking more about who they are as people. What their interests are and their personalities. At times I want to learn more about them but I get caught up in being all about the academics not stopping to realise that although it is important, building positive relationships with my students can help me, help them to progress in their learning. 

Is my teaching philosophy evident in my classroom practise?

It is a little bit. I am working towards creating an environment where all of the students feel safe to make mistakes because they understand that it is a part of the process in order to improve on their learning.  I am also working on teaching  my students that everything we do has a purpose. Right now I believe they see Reading, Maths, Inquiry, Writing as isolated subjects. They don't understand that I would like to learn how to teach the subjects in a way that ames them passionate towards learning and understand WHY we are at school and 

We are all on a learning journey

• Expect to make a few mistakes along the way.
• Be open to advice and support.
• You don't have to have all the answers.

It can be hard to remember the above statements when you are in the heat of it all. 

Some helpful tip for managing your workload.

I found these helpful. 

This is important. I found myself reflecting on environments I have been in and measuring these statements against them.

Who are the people to build strong professional relationships with?

Thinking before speaking...
(give it a day  or two before you send that email.)

Maintain your professional integrity...
(be careful how you talk about colleagues. If a colleague has shared confidential information with you,keep their confidence.)

Keep your professional challenges with people you trust...
(TT,DP School friend, friend outside, family member) Don't offload on everyone.


I really enjoyed this session. It allowed me to take a step back and look at how I am doing things and what I could be doing differently in order to make the most of my time and practice. Not just for myself but for my students as well.


I am still learning....




Click here to view the slide presentation from the workshop

Never stop learning because life never stops teaching

   This is my first time teaching at the beginning of the school year.  One of the requirements for me as a teacher is to increase my digital knowledge so I can be more effective as a teacher which will not only benefit me but it will also benefit the students in my class. 

There is SO much that I need to learn to the point that I feel like this while my brain currently looks like this!  One word for trying to learn how to use all of the tools that are necessary while learning how to plan appropriately and get organised would be:  overwhelming.

"Welcome to teacher life" ... "Things will get better"... "There will always be things to do"... "Don't worry, you will get there"... 

Those are just a few of the things that I have been told that come to mind at the moment.  While I try to take a deep breath...ok... MANY deep breaths, I wonder if the day will ever come when I look back on how I am feeling now and think ' Ahh yes, I remember when I used to feel like this and things did indeed get better' 

Until that day comes, I talk to other teachers. I try to get feedback on what they do to organise themselves and how they go about doing it.  I get frustrated when I know that I am a part of a team where we are to work collaboratively but instead I feel like I am benefitting from others while they aren't benefitting from me seeing as I am overwhelmed and not giving anything back...at least not at the level that I feel I'm supposed to.

So...what do I do?

STEP 1:

I met with my mentor teacher where I discussed the 2 teacher goals I thought I needed to work on in order to improve my practice.

This was my first goal...

Since having my meeting with my mentor teacher I have spent time going to toolkit PD,  watching various youtube tutorials on the different tools that I will need to learn how to use, as well as meeting with other teachers to ask them questions on things I have been trying to learn.

This was my second goal...

How long is 'too long' to be planning? 

I have no idea. What I do know is that I plan for most of my evening, most of my weekends and that absolutely contributes to my frustration.  

A part of that absolutely has to do with the time that it takes to learn my way around the different digital tools while I am planning and another huge part is looking for resources when planning appropriately for my students. 

Just like my learners, there are some that will understand concepts and learn how to do things straight away, while other learners will either need more time or have things scaffolded to a level that they can understand.  I wish I got this straight away. There is the old saying of  'Fake it till you make it'. The only problem will that is no one can help you if you are faking it.

As teachers, we ask our students to let us know when they don't understand something or if they have any questions.  On a deeper level I realise why students may be reluctant to say they are struggling. 

Onwards and upwards.

I am still learning...

Goals for Maths

My Maths goal for this term is to use the Spiral of Inquiry for Maths to inform planning and teaching to accelerate students learning. Below I have broken down that goal into smaller goals of how I will go about achieving this.

Goal 1 - Knowing who my learners are - Where they are at in terms of the curriculum and                     national standards. Their abilities in class and attitude/personality towards                             learning.


Goal 2 - Select appropriate resources and materials provided by maths PD this year for                       teaching and planning in term 4.


Goal 3 - Set specific target goals for maths groups to achieved. Keep goals SMART!

Goal 4 -  Conference with students on a regular basis during the week about their maths                     goals.

Goal 5 - Collect evidence of student voice and re-evaluate student's progress by using the                  maths target goals @ L4 - this is related to the National Standards. 

I will revise these goals every 3 weeks to assess how I am doing with these goals.

Questions I have thought of to reflect on when I assess are:

• How have I done with implementing these goals?
• What things worked well?
• Why didn't certain strategies or plans work?
• How can I make it better?

Looking forward to this term!

Ready?... Set?... GO!