tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513390705871506031.post4207344747505542394..comments2022-04-24T00:32:17.630+12:00Comments on Back to the Drawing Board: Day 3 #Ignition13Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513390705871506031.post-63916030949665768402013-04-26T08:54:28.856+12:002013-04-26T08:54:28.856+12:00The one thing myportfolio may support with is that...The one thing myportfolio may support with is that it makes learning visible, yet eyes need to be opened. All good things take time! What you want to do is to open the window to a more relevant way of thinking/being for now but also for their future. I believe many at Ignition13 felt they had to do with not so supportive leaders as not all present taught in MLE and recently opened schools. There was not much talk about the students being reticent as such, one person when I asked her said: "my students now know that it is a bit different when in my class!" and this person carries on as her beliefs in what is good learning and how to impart it drive her everyday. There was talk of reluctant colleagues too and that the act of sharing, conversation and inviting to observe for constructive feedback needs to be initiated/strengthened. I understand by being new to an institution getting to know all people takes time too. What I took from Ignition13 is that difficult conversations matter. What I think now is that for them to happen, a culture of conversation must exist first and foremost.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00801568002937562980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513390705871506031.post-64449578632193138502013-04-25T21:45:22.180+12:002013-04-25T21:45:22.180+12:00"If the teacher facilitates learning for the ..."If the teacher facilitates learning for the students by empowering them to own their learning, what if the principal applies the same principles to empower teachers to own their the professional learning?" <br />Absolutely. But for this to work the principal has to invest some professional trust in the teachers.<br /> It's a huge challenge for a visionary leader to change the expectations of their paying parents when all they want is for their child to do better than someone else's. It's not hard to see why a principal of a private school would feel obligated to consistently take the side of parents as it's always the tenuous question of bums on seats. Challenging the mindset of society is a very tall order, particularly when the principal shares the views of parents on what constitutes success.<br />In between a rock and a hard place. Still, maybe I'm expecting to run before I can walk. MyPortfolio successfully in place in at least some departments or with some teachers should help to shift thinking about what learning might look like in 2013. <br />I was thinking today as I confirmed that our textbook was written (or probably just revised) in 1999, if anyone had expected me to work with a 14 year old text when I was learning French in the 60s, I would have been very indignant. I can't believe that students would actually still want to be studying this way when the world has changed so much since then. They're a conservative bunch. They'll no doubt complain that it's boring but at least they'll feel secure and if it's me making the decisions then that leaves them the liberty to complain and be demotivated. When they own their own learning it places a lot of responsibility on them which they are perhaps loath to assume. It's still hard for me to understand, as a person who has always responded much better to the challenge of owning my own learning, and even bucking against learning imposed on me. <br />Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06780963841457241114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513390705871506031.post-45256748180315730422013-04-25T21:29:44.364+12:002013-04-25T21:29:44.364+12:00What if collaboration forever replaced competition...What if collaboration forever replaced competition? <br />I think this is a key question and it's one that drives my thinking. It's perhaps why I feel so fundamentally at odds with my school at the moment. It is certainly a competitive environment where individual excellence and achievement is valued above collaborative activity. And yet I had a chance to observe just what collaboration can lead to in terms of excellence when I helped out with the groups taking part in the regional Shakespeare competition. Drama is one of those wonderful subjects where collaboration is inevitable and the results are often extraordinary and even transcendent. Such was the case last week with the Shakespeare scenes. There was certainly a sense of competition to win the categories (which they did) but they only did it through their collaborative effort and their ability to tune into each other. The teacher is quietly driven for her students to succeed but manages to keep a lowish profile, supporting them with her considerable expertise and judgement. If only French needed to be collaborative. Well it does, obviously, since communication is the core, but the message is taking a while to get through!<br /> Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06780963841457241114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513390705871506031.post-40079616784144533652013-04-25T21:19:22.361+12:002013-04-25T21:19:22.361+12:00"Is this allowing for mastery and autonony? W..."Is this allowing for mastery and autonony? Why not?"<br />Because some schools and particularly their management are paying lipservice to the NZC and any acknowledgement of it is still pretty cosmetic. Consequently when a teacher who believes firmly in the NZC and wants to use it as the philosophical basis for her teaching, attempts to implement it through projects where students decide which language they need to learn for their communicative purpose, she is misunderstood by both students and the wider school and corralled into a more exam-focussed approach, even at junior level. It's so ingrained in the ethos of the school. The students are used to being told what to learn and when to learn it and this is perceived to be my role. It makes me wonder if I would be more suited to a lower decile school where league tables matter less. Then the problem is likely to be a lack of students of French! I think the prospect of an un-conference, which fills me with delight, would fill most of my colleagues with dread. I seem to remember we had some resistance to our French un-conference from various people who I would have thought would be more open to different and less prescriptive ways of doing things. I'd be much more comfortable sharing and exploring, as this is the way I learn best myself, than being the eternal sage on the stage. Trouble is if I leave the stage for the wings, they start to wonder what I'm doing. Maybe it's a problem of communication and I have yet to find effective ways of selling my style. We'll see.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06780963841457241114noreply@blogger.com