This was a thought going through my head while out walking my dogs, looking out upon my current surroundings, my place, my home.
This time of isolation only reinforces why it is dispositions we need to be fostering in school, not narrow academics. It is so apparent right now what dispositions will be important for our children, as they are right now for us. Empathy, kindness, patience,resilience, innovation, flexibility, trust, the ability to know when to lead and to know when to follow, creativity, independence, humour ...I could go on and on.
Human beings with these dispositions will always seek understanding and knowledge, but human beings raised amongst a culture of competition, measurement and knowledge may not necessarily develop these dispositions.
Play all the way! Arts all the away! Relationships all the way! When we get back to our schools let us all be on the same wavelength for the good of us all."
Below are 20 strategies that I have been sharing daily on my facebook page. Not an exhaustive list, but a pretty good start.
Strategy one...
Make it feel/look/sound more like homeschooling done well.
What do I mean by this?
Well think how it feels to be absolutely invested in your child's learning. To know their passions and have the time to shape an environment that allows them to do so. Imagine an environment where the journey is the important part, data means little and it is the progress that is important. Imagine the freedom to shape each day as it comes...to work in an environment that feels nurturing and safe. To truly know each child, for who they are. To have time to let their quirkiness guide you. To have the freedom to down tools and follow imaginations. Imagine just having the time to be learners together and feeling that sense of satisfaction. Imagine just letting curiosity guide you, letting it absorb your day, free from timetable or narrow testing...that is what I mean, and that is why I have listed it as strategy one in transforming education. If we were capturing the essence of this in every classroom, we would be getting something very right.
Strategy two...
Really appreciate that relationships and connections are where it is at and be guided by these.
What do I mean by this?
Actually spending time to get to genuinely know children. Prioritise this above anything else. Understand trauma and know how to interact with children that come to school in a traumatised state. Stop seeing behaviour and start seeing need. Meet children where they are at and be prepared to guide them gently, from alongside, not in front.
Strategy three...
Let children be your PLD...
What do I mean by this?
Well I believe the best professional development comes from real nuts and bolts teacher inquiry, and that starts with the children. Let their needs, strengths, interests guide your development as a teacher. I am not a fan of 'all you can eat' PLD, where we take a bit from here and a bit from there but never really consolidate anything. I also believe that children should be given the opportunity to run PLD sessions, how often do we ask our Year 6 children what it is they think encapsulates a good teacher, great learning etc. How often do we ask them what they genuinely think we need to get better at?
Strategy four
Get rid of end point assessment...
What do I mean by this?
Assessment is only useful if used within the teaching and learning process. End point assessment causes stress, anxiety, extra work and presumes a ‘standardised’ child. Using assessment as part of the learning process still allows us to know where a child is at, it also gives children many ways to show us where they are up to and what they know.
Strategy Five
Ditch all teacher directed timetables.
What do I mean by this?
For learning to feel natural, authentic and connected each day must flow. timetables make it appear that 'subjects' stand alone, when really everything is connected. The daily rhythm should be directed by the children, their interests and urges. While as a teacher we can have 'need to do' items in our head, where these fall in the day need not be timetabled, they should just fall where it falls naturally in the day.
Strategy Six
Base your days on the growth of dispositions rather than narrow curriculum areas.
What do I mean by this?
Instead of 'setting outcomes' that are knowledge based, frame what you do around developing and actually 'seeing' dispositions in action. Play is perfect for this, it allows you to observe and see these dispositions in action. It also gives you an authentic vehicle for 'teaching' them or making them visible to everyone. Choosing to make these a focus allows us to genuinely know a child. I have attached our school ones to this post. This is just one part of a set of frameworks that guide us.
https://drive.google.com/…/1tSKek1_eoylfgt2DNDEpvm8bw…/view…
Strategy Seven
Embed play at all levels of schooling
What do I mean by this?
Play is vital at all levels of human development. Play should be part of every child's day at school. Play is not defined by adults, it is not beautiful activities with question cards directing children's attention, it is not choosing from teacher selected activities, it is not just craft activities...it does not just happen at morning tea and lunchtime. Play is self-chosen and self-directed and largely adult free. Play is not frivolous and it is important. Play is a vital part of brain development and the best way for children to develop healthy dispositions. It is crucial for emotional regulation.
Number Agents is not play, it is playful, but the flow of agency is selected by the teacher. However it does become play when the children take it outside of agency time, come up with their own problems, their own characters and their own flow.
I have learned more about child development and learning by observing play then I have ever done by reading books or taking part in professional development.
Strategy Eight
Teachers, leaders and anyone involved in education (think ERO) need to have a deep understanding of the learning process, how it actually works and what is important in the development of literacy and numeracy in particular.
What do I mean by this? (sorry could go on forever here, but have been as brief as possible.)
Everyone involved in education needs to go through training that allows them understanding of how the brain develops sequentially. They need to understand that pushing academics on a child that is not ready is causing more damage than good. Everyone needs to understand how the brain learns to read, the science of reading. We all need to be trained in a deep understanding of phonics and multi-sensory teaching. Maths needs to be taught in an open way.
We need to think patterns, multisensory learning, spending longer developing number sense. Maths is authentic and beautiful and we currently turn it into a narrow, boxed area of learning.
Learning differences need to be made a priority in everyone's training and how to make a classroom memory lite is an important first step. Everyone needs to understand that making a classroom learning difference friendly benefits all. We all need a deep understanding that age related standards before the age of 8 or 9 can be a load of rubbish, even after for some children, they are not a useful guide. Developmentally appropriate practice needs to extend from ECE to high school. A child in Year 6 may have an actual age of a 5 year old, catering for this as a collective needs to be a priority. This is where social and emotional understanding comes in. We all need an understanding of regulation what this looks like and how to teach it. Deeply understanding trauma and the impact on the brain is also vital, behaviour management strategies need to be a thing of the past, instead we need to be thinking of behaviour as a need and providing for it appropriately. Attachment theory is something we all should know about and understand. Teacher training needs to be changed to match all of the above. It saddens me to see students learning what I learned...which frankly wasn't a lot. Students need to experience a practicum in ECE, primary and high school, and I think teacher training should be longer. ERO need to spend two years in ERO then go back in the classroom. They need to join ERO because they have been shoulder tapped as top practitioners. Any ERO officer who has been out of school for an extended period, should not be passing judgements on the current environment and teaching. Principal's should be regularly teaching in rooms.
Finally acceleration as a term needs to go, it does not fit with anything I have said above and totally goes against how the learning process happens.
Strategy Nine
View a school journey as a collective across the six year
What do I mean by this?
Even within schools we can become quite silo like in our classrooms or syndicates, or similar. We have for a long time viewed children according to their chronological age and year level. We have failed to view children at their developmental age. Working in this way leads to some failing to meet the 'expectation' for that age or year level. If we open up the way we work, view this journey as a collection of years and the current year just a point on that journey, we will start to see progress rather than attainment. All children progress, but this progress needs to be compared to where they are at and where they have progressed to, not where we believe the progress should be. Teachers working as a collective then will understand how far a child has come in the year before and stop viewing it as 'what the teacher didn't do.' It will open up honest discussions and allow us to stop putting such a narrow timeline on attainment. If we all understand each child, if we have open discussions across year levels, if those year levels work together, we start to see each child as an individual that we each can play a part in assisting.
Strategy Ten
Trust is key
What do I mean by this?
Trust in ourselves and in children. Trust is vital if a school is to operate as a cohesive team. Productive discussion is great along with productive questioning, but ultimately if we do not share a common vision, we will undermine each other. To really bring play to life, real self-directed play to live, we must trust children, we must trust their competence and ability to drive their own learning. We must trust the copious amounts of research that tells us play is the way, that tells us children want to and will learn at their own time, that tells us that children are innately curious and can drive their own learning. We must trust ourselves, our own judgements and observations. We must trust ourselves to try, to fail and learn from our mistakes, just as children do. Trust is key.
Strategy Eleven
Real world, authentic learning is where it is at
What do I mean by this?
Basically we need to be keep learning as real and authentic as possible, based on what the children are interested in and where their passions and strengths lie. Yes we will need scientists, inventors and mathematicians in the future, but we will also need farmers, supermarket workers, market gardeners, chefs...and the list goes on. This has never been more apparent. We need to give children life skills, skills that allow them to be self-sufficient and experiences that allow them to embrace and follow their calling or passion, whatever that may be.
Strategy Twelve
We need to embrace the arts as a vehicle for learning in and through.
If you have not read my blog post that shared just before this...have a read.
What do I mean by this?
If you have not read my blog post that shared just before this...have a read.
The Arts...and I mean the arts, are the way we communicate. The arts take down the barriers for everyone. If I have physical differences, learning differences etc I can still communicate through the arts. I don't have to be able to read or write either, I can communicate through the arts anyway. In face, the arts are language and maths. We seem to think of the arts as and extra...even as a means of extension, or an area for those that are gifted in a specific area. Sadly we forget that the arts should and can be for everyone, they encapsulate what it is to be human. There is no requirement to have any ability, in fact interpretation is a big part of the arts. Why have they been shelved, why are they seen as an extra. We can teach everything we need to teach through the arts. The arts are all about offering, accepting, relating, reflecting and understanding. In fact self-expression and communication and being able to relate to the expression of others and then comprehend it,makes us human. The arts offer us a far better vehicle for inferring, respnding and comprehending than any other area of learning.
Strategy Thirteen
Stop confining movement to break times. (sorry for the typo in the last post.)
What do I mean by this?
Movement should be a frequent part of every child's day at school. They should have the option of how they work in the room, be it on the floor, standing at a table, sitting etc. Access to the outside needs to be a priority. By now we should all know that movement is linked to brain development. Children twirl because they need to, they roll because they need to, they move, because they need to! In the early years, this is of course how children are building their brain but even older children need to be allowed to move frequently. Thinking this is just something that happens at morning tea or lunch break is thinking that needs to go out with the ark.
Strategy Fourteen
Intrigue and wonder are key components of learning and need to be woven into everything we do.
What do I mean by this?
The key to being learning receptive is actually being interested in what you are learning about. Think about yourself, when do you learn the most? Of course you learn the most when you really need the information, when you have wonderings and questions. Children are exactly the same, we need to build wonder and intrigue into everything we do so that they are in a curious state. In this state, not only are they more motivated, but they also remember what they have learned and crave more. That is what real learning is about. It is also a reason why self-directed play is so powerful and why the learning that comes from it sticks. If you are yet to delve into play but want to have a go at building intrigue, look up mantle of the exert and have a go, it is a fantastic vehicle for learning
Strategy Fifteen
At every opportunity we need to be reinforcing that we are a collective, a team, this being human business is not a solo sport.
What do I mean by this?
School is an opportunity for us to help children learn they are part of a team. We all have a part to play and our individual passions, strengths and interests, but ultimately this life is about human connection. Every opportunity for children to see themselves as part of a collective, to empathise with the needs of others, to explore and appreciate perspectives that are not their own, is learning gold. This world we are currently living in has shown us quite glaringly, that there are many out there that experience the world from a very selfish perspective. They are out for themselves, for what is good for them. They lack an undersanding for the rules and why they are put in place and fail to understand the part they have to play in the recovery of our country and our world. Many have wanted items just because others have had them, even though their family wants for nothing. They don't understand the concept of equity, or that we work for a common good. We do not want this for our children. We want them to have empathy. To be the best person they can be, to have gratitude and to want to give of themselves, for no other reason than that it feels good. We want them to see the part they have to play and to truly appreciate the needs of others. We also want them to see why rules may be put in place for the common good, and the need in times like these to follow rather than question. We want them to understand that there is indeed a time to quesion and advocate, but there is also a time to follow. I have been really saddened by the selfish nature of some, but I do feel sorry for them, it comes from a place of ignorance. There are so many out there doing incredible things and we have much to be proud of. If we can help children to be empathetic, reflective human beings, we can truly help humanity. Yes it is our job, this is teaching. Whakawhanaungatanga❤️
Strategy Sixteen
Embrace learning differences to enhance our teaching.
I believe that learning differences are something we all have. Obviously there are traits we have in common when we have a specific difference, but on the whole the differences we experience are very individual and unique to us. In other words, a strategy that works for one learner, is not likely to work for another. Learning differences teach us about teaching, they are there to make us better at our craft. Forever learning and refining the way we teach to cater for the differences we come across make us a better practitioner. Rather than seeing a learning difference as requiring specialised teaching, how about we all start to think of ourselves as specialised. The more tools we can add to our kete the better for all learners. Taking time to understand learning differences takes us to a place where we begin to understand the learning brain more deeply, that can only be good for all learners.
Strategy Seventeen
Stop worrying about what career a child will have and start facilitating one they can create.
What do I mean by this?
Simply I have a real problem with end point teaching. If we only keep our eyes on the signpost, then we miss the journey and where it could have take us. Children come to us with gifts, gifts they can give the world and we often narrowly box these, or completely miss them altogether. Ok, not all children are going to leave school and create their own self-designed career, but many will and if not, then they will at least be abe to understand the strengths they bring and their own passions if we have allowed them to do so. We always worry about the next step, primary, intermediate, high school...we seem to spend so much time preparing them, we forget to spend time nurturing them, allowing them to be who they are, right where they are.
Strategy Eighteen
Encourage talk, because talk is learning and learning is talk
What do I mean by this?
I absolutely think we underestimate how much learning we do out loud. Not only is oral language and an extensive vocabularly vital for all areas of learning...it is the way we learn. I cringe when I think back to the years where I thought children needed to sit in silence to write, where I valued quiet over talk. We are not meant to be quiet...yes of course we value quiet moments...but when it comes to learning, well it is a social sport and one done very much out loud, and it is certainly not found in worksheets! How often have you solved your own problem, simply by vocalising it to someone else? Too often we value what is written down, basically the final product, but we don't value enough the nattering and discourse that goes in along the way. A person that can share ideas, listen to the ideas of others and expand on these is a person that is learning and growing. Sharing in all areas of learning is critical, cooperative work is vital and talk is the foundation of this. Talking cements understanding and lights a fire under new understandings. Early cultures valued storytelling as a way of passing on knowledge and we should hold strong to this. I hate to hear about principals that wander through classrooms looking for quietly productive spaces, it is the productive talk that we should be valuing. No not noise for the sake of noise and not noise that causes issues for others, just productive talk and good old nattering that gives us such pleasure as social creatures.
Strategy Nineteen
Stop investing huge amounts of money into pristine environments and plastic playgrounds. Junk playgrounds and natural environments are where its at! Our grounds should hold evidence that they are owned by children.
What do I mean by this?
It is pretty obvious what I mean by this one. I love playgrounds that encourage natural movement...but if its just one sad plastic playground all on its own amongst a pristine environment, then I don't so much love that. Our schools need a mixture of items that encourage movement. Junk playgrounds have a big part to play in this. Items children can move, and recreate...items that allow children to make their own playground. Places where children can dig, tunnel and mound. I always walk into a school and look for evidence of children...evidence of play. If I only see strutures created by adults, set away in a designated place in the school, within an otherwise spotless environment, I don't consider this evidence of read, self-directed play. If children are actively creating their play spaces, they will usually be half-finished...in production...there will be productive mess and this will be valued by the adults, so it won't have been cleaned away.
Finally Strategy 20
Time..every good thing takes time. Teachers need time to embed and develop understandings and so do children. Time is crucial.
What do I mean by this?
Schools are pressure cookers. And far too often like a samplers box of chocolates...sampling this idea, that idea, and the one over there, without ever doing any justice. It has always been my habit to take three to four years when introducing a new understanding or practice. One year to find out about it, one year to have a go, one year to consolidate...or two if it takes that long to ensure everyone is on the same page. Teachers need to be given time to breathe, think about and apply new understandings, without the fear of rushing onto the next new initiative. All of the PLD that happens in schools are a giant stressor. Hardly any of it is getting done well, and three or four years after that PLD, you can doubt an impact has been made or a habit established. When we don't give people time, you run the risk of them not bothering at all, or quickly claiming whatever it is doesn't work. Time is also a factor for children. They need time to breathe, to think, to reflect...to learn. Breathing space and days that are not jam packed with content. Time is actually one of the most critical steps of all.
I really hope that some of these steps have given you cause to pause and think...each one is intended to challenge, because we grow out of challenge....and we grow when we have time to ponder and accept this challenge without fear of being judged.
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