Number Agents

Gosh I have absolutely had enough of this word acceleration.  Such a insane term, that means absolutely nothing and makes no sense for people that absolutely understand how learning actually happens. Why does our system have an obsession with meeting certain standards by a certain time, who invented these standards and what do they even mean in terms of learning. So what if a six year old is reading at a green level, what does this even mean, does this make them a better learner than the six year old who has not started reading yet, but just happens to be resilient, curious, creative, happy and able to come up with their own big ideas. So what if they are 'green' if they can't generate their own thoughts, questions or wonderings.  So what if they are green if they are totally dependent on a teacher defining learning for them.  What benefit is there to the child, so they were green at six...by the time they are eight their peers who had not started reading have eit...

Dear Education System I am writing to you after many previous attempts at communication.  My first communication with you was 29 years ago and followed on from my mother's communications of 65 years ago.  You failed to reply to either of us then and little has changed since.  My daughter tried to communicate with you a few years ago, her voice went unheard, so she has since ceased further attempts at meaningful correspondence. My letter seeks to bring your attention to those within your walls that you seem to have missed.  I would hate to assume here that you just don't care enough about these souls, but after many years dealing with you in different roles I have to say, although harsh, this could very well be true. My letter is a plea on behalf of all those you leave behind, push out, or simply choose not to see.  It could be that you just need to look through different lenses because I am sorry to say, you are missing out on so much. I would like t...

So this post follows on from my last one on ditching the timetable.  If you have read that blog, you will know that I am not a timetable fan and I am not a fan of pre-teacher planning, other than what could be called the 'bones' of what we want to achieve. If you have read through this blog, you will know we are a 'competency' or 'dispositions' based school.  This means we believe that we a doing our best by children for their future if we are working on developing dispositions, rather than creating consumers of knowledge. I also believe this type of planning and the following of interests and urges is possible across all year levels. This way of working places the children as the curriculum and makes their voice the most important planning tool in the classroom. I did want to do a bit of an update, because I often get asked about how I make this all work. Firstly, I don't want people to think there is nothing sitting there planning wise...indeed t...

We are in a time of much needed change.  For some years now, schools have been charged with and given permission to design their own local curriculum.  Sadly many have not taken up this opportunity and as a result there is a continued set of prescribed topics and themes  pervading our classrooms. Of anything, coverage and the need to meet the 'requirements' of the curriculum, seems to be the biggest hurdle put up in the way of true transformative practice in our schools. It seems to be ingrained into us, that the achievement objectives and learning areas outlined in the curriculum need to be delivered to the 'consumers' in our classrooms.  I'd like to put it out there here and now, this is not the case and in fact is the enemy of real learning.  It is possible to 'power share' learning without being constrained to narrow criteria. Firstly I'd like to say that the back end of the curriculum is a carry over from the past.  A past that required us to ...

As a school over the past five to six years we have been working hard to understand what Engagement and Motivation looks like and how it is achieved for all children. Over this time we have refined our practice, using approaches like Mantle of the Expert and Play to increase student agency and in turn increase the level of engagement and motivation without the need for dangling carrots. This journey has been huge for us and I have been so glad that I have written about it along the way, because there has just been so much learning going on. Over the past few years I feel like we have really started to nail this, but there has still been a niggling group of children, that despite our best efforts have remained not disengaged, but definitely not as engaged as everyone else. Now we could have accepted that we can't reach 100% of the children 100% of the time, but that wouldn't fit with who we are. These children were a conundrum, and there is nothing that sparks an inquiry mor...

Throughout this journey into play over the last five years, one question comes up often, it has been one I have struggled to answer and actually have felt ill equipped to answer. The question is around those children that just cause absolute chaos in a play based class, that break things, fight, basically run riot. Those children who are oppositional and rebuff our attempts at forming strong relationships, basically seem to undermine everything we do.  What do we do about these children?  I have not felt able to answer this question, because I am incredibly lucky to work in a school where children usually come in with the ability to auto-regulate or to regulate with support from an a trusted person (co-regulate.) Don't get me wrong, we still have children who come in with obvious issues with regulation, due to early trauma or otherwise, but we don't usually have groups of them, we have one or two who we can work effectively with and help to self-manage. After reading this...

The word acceleration has been one that has irked me since it became the catch phrase of the Ministry and ERO. In my opinion it is productive struggle we should be aiming for, not acceleration. I got thinking more about this after a conversation I had with a group of learners identified as Maori and working below their expected stage in mathematics. Our data had thrown up some interesting patterns and I wanted to hear first hand what might be going on with mathematics for some of these children.  If in doubt, I always turn to student voice...I absolutely always learn something and am presented with ideas I wasn't expecting. So I gathered together this group, posed myself as an investigator, wanting to know more about maths in our school and proceeded to ask them about maths.    I was prepared for them to tell me they were bad at maths, found it hard and wanted more teacher support. Not only did these so called 'lower' level learners not do this but they tal...

Some of you may know that we have been on a journey over the last few years to transform reading at school.  Our aims have been and continue to be: 1)To only start reading when children are developmentally ready.  To stop using chronological age as a guide for expected progress.  To see the growth rather than the deficit.   2)To help all children to love reading from the moment they start reading, to be so interested in reading that they largely self-initiate the process and take an active role in driving their own progress. 3)To concentrate on the fact that 1/3 of children won't learn without explicit phonics and that by using this approach we won't hurt anyone's learning, but instead help everyone.  (Neil Mckay) 4)To ensure that within our play-based programme, oral language, visual learning (use of pictures for storytelling and the drawing of understandings) along with lots of stories and shared reading play a huge role.   5)To read i...

I thought I would put together a post that summarises what a day looks like for us now given we have changed and evolved a little.  It is of course pretty fluid, but this would be a pretty typical day for us...not planned, no timetable, just guided by our components of play and our focus for the term. Our bell goes at 9am. *Children come in and play for the first 10-20 minutes.  We do the roll based on the photos that they have moved to indicate that they are present.  During this time we will talk to children, check in with those that need a bit of extra 'care' and maybe catch up with a developmental check in if time. *About 9.20am we will come to the mat and sing our morning songs in Te Reo.  Then we will have our class meeting.  This will revolve around something noticed the day before and will be something recorded in our learning journal.  The discussion will revolve around this. *About 9.30 children will go back to play.  While they are p...

For those that have read my earlier posts, you will know that I am not a big believer in new entrant assessment of any kind, or testing for the sake of testing.  This play-based journey has had a flow on effect for me, it has allowed me to see how assessment (for want of a better word) can be used as and for learning without causing stress or anxiety. Let me start by saying this, I believe that if you are to truly embrace play as a pedagogy and student driven learning our old ways of using assessment need to discarded.  Assessment that 'tests' what a child knows, even when they are not developmentally ready has no place in our classrooms. Basically if we are obsessed with measuring, we will never be able to truly embrace the beauty of individualised learning and developmentally appropriate practice.  There is no way I can embrace play and the ethos behind it and then think it is appropriate to assess a child on print concepts at six, given that in my individualised en...

Before I Start When using play as a pedagogy, the hardest dilemma is in fact what the play may look like and be provided for as children progress through the levels. It is one schools wonder about most often and one reason that play may be used effectively in the first year, but not beyond. This makes it difficult for the children who have flourished in a play based environment to then fit into a more prescribed, directed room. Often leading to frustration and stress for not only the children, but the teacher as well. Relationships in a classroom that uses play as its primary pedagogy are something that come to the fore. Play allows us a deep understanding of interests, urges and strengths, which in turn gives us a way in with children. This is more difficult in a traditional, teacher directed room where children are more likely to go unseen. While this will differ from school to school depending on philosophies and values I want to attempt to capture what it may look like, how ...