Welcome
This this issue we highlight innovative practice happening in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
On the podcast, Rob (ex Apanui School) talks about Maker Space as a uniquely New Zealand practice that emphasises relationships and community. Photos of the Maker Space are filtered through this issue.
Whispers from the frontier picks up on hints of a shifting educational perspective
Theories of motivation have been on Bevan’s mind
A book about the underground gives Bevan an enjoyable metaphor through which to think about what’s bubbling to the surface and worth saving
Greet from Nukuhou School is this month’s guest writer. She writes about learner agency and what’s worked for her Year 7 and 8s.
The live-chat roundup highlights some food for thought about distance learning and equity.
Whispers from the frontier
It’s taken time, but I get the feeling of a creeping weariness around the dominance of devices and apps in this distance learning world. If you’re feeling exhausted from all the video meetups, National Geographic explains why that might be the case.
Distance learning doesn’t have to be digital learning though.
Jessie Moss recounts the powerful learning she saw in her 5 year old daughter, once she took the time to notice - is one of your roles as a teacher artriculating to parents the curriculum learning evident in kid’s play?
Peter Grey argues distance learning offers a great opportunity to reinject adventure and family connections into the learning.
George Greenbury wonders if we’re missing something when we think education only happens in classrooms.
Dr Martyn Reynolds suggests more thought needs to be given to how Pasifika perspectives disturb existing education narratives.
Jacoba Matapo tells a personal story of distance learning from a Pasifika perspective, both as an educator and a parent.
Theory on my mind
I’ve been thinking a lot about immersion and motivation over the last month. I know many educators have, with an accompanying worry that kids are beginning to miss out on valuable learning time - that without being immersed in the world of school their learning is suffering.
But I’ve been watching my kids. And it’s making me wonder. You see, I can’t claim either of them have been particularly ‘immersed’ in the learning that’s been offered by their teachers. That’s not a reflection on their teachers - they’re doing their best in difficult times, and sometimes they’re hitting the mark with what they offer and I really appreciate their efforts. The trouble is, my kids have had the time to do what they want, and they’re taking it. They have been driven to do the things that interest them, they’ve immersed themselves in those things, and they have been learning. Intrinsic motivation, you might say.
I’ve also been thinking about how I have used this time, of which I have had oodles. I’ve had no-one telling me what to do, no boss on my case, no deadlines to meet. It’s a ripe recipe for a whole bunch of nothing to happen, right? Yet, it hasn’t. The uncrowded time has allowed me to get stuck into something that’s really been exciting me - the development of the Smata app. I’ve been back and forth with the developer; reading volumes about business models and start-ups; connecting with people who know a thing or two about the software world; working on ideas; dealing with lawyers to understand my legal obligations and the nuts and bolts to do with privacy; dealing with numbers, spreadsheets, forecasting. I’ll stop there with the list of things ‘done’. Suffice to say I have been immersed in that world. Amongst all that though have sat what are quite possibly the key drivers of my motivation: excitement, and with that imagination. I’ve seen both of those ephemeral ‘states’ in my kids too as they’ve dived into their areas of interest. And I’ll tell you what - boy have we been learning.
My educational psychology textbook says that
“Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and difficulty [ZPD anyone?], relevant to personal interests, and providing for personal choice and control.”
and goes on to say, referencing the American Psychological Association,
“Curiosity, flexible and insightful thinking, and creativity are major indicators of the learners’ intrinsic motivation to learn, which is in large part a function of meeting basic needs to be competent and to exercise personal control.
Intrinsic motivation is also facilitated on tasks that are comparable to real-world situations.”
I’ve felt, experienced, all of those things these last 2 months. I’m pretty sure my kids have too. That phrase ‘optimal novelty and difficulty’ is interesting isn’t it. Who’s the best judge of this in your opinion? I know for me, it’s me, and what I find really interesting about that is the judgement comes from my gut: it’s something I feel. I have a colleague, Ann Langis, who speaks often about the importance of developing this ‘gut intelligence’, that only the individual can feel it, and like any intelligence it gets better the more it’s used. As I’ve thought about my experience over the lockdown period, I’ve thought about how closely aligned this idea is to motivation. My excitement has driven me though the difficult stuff. It’s helped push me through things I normally wouldn’t, therefore extending my ZPD one might say. My gut has taken my mind places it couldn’t go on its own. My mind wants more.
Equally, I have not had someone say, ‘No, not yet. You’re not ready for this. Do this first. This is the right order.’ I’ve had control of the process, and my learning curve has been steep but fun. I know if someone had taken control of proceedings I would not have learned as much.
I’m not about to launch into telling you to get out of the way of your students, or lecture you about what to do as you teach. That is not the point of The Smata Bulletin. However, I think these ideas about intrinsic motivation are worth mulling over, because if you want students who show initiative, who are self-directed, it’s intrinsic motivation you’re after. There’s a lot of research about the conditions that foster it (see the smata-note on 25 May as a starter). Equally, there’s your personal experience of when you too are driven, when you’re motivated to do, when you’re self directed. I wonder how many of those conditions and experiences can be adapted and brought into your context?
Reading spotlight
We exist on the surface of the earth, and in many ways we exist on the surface of ideas, swept away by an uncritical lens with little time to pause and reflect.
Robert MacFarlane’s book Underland expresses this idea with a wonderful mix of factual recount, personal journeys to different underlands around the world, and passages of pure poetry. Throughout, he reveals the surface as a place not separate from but intimately intertwined with the deep; the relationship, while largely unthought of, is essential.
“Into the underland we have long placed that which we fear and wish to lose, and that which we love and wish to save.”
I am hearing from many people, and I put myself in this bracket, that the pause forced by lockdown has been a time of reflection and re-evaluation. There are many things peole wish to lose, and also many things people want to save. This applies both personally and professionally.
One thing that I’m hearing as a save is the slowness. It has granted people time to appreciate those ‘little things that really matter’. Slowness seems to be giving more space for love to sprout and grow. I think this idea is important, and I also think it had been forgotten to a large degree in education. Everything was so busy, for everyone. There was little time for a love of something to grow because there was always the next thing coming along. Only the lucky few got to indugle their love for something. But we seem to really value the way we’ve experienced time during lockdown, it’s lack of haste and pressure. How can we save this, re-surface it so to speak, and make schools places where love can grow?
Equally, I bet there are things that you fear re-appearing. I’m sure they’ve been on your mind as the move to level 1 becomes imminent. Perhaps they’re back already.
I loved this book because it showed me something important: there are two ways to get rid of something. The first is to discard it, leave it behind. The second is to bury it. The first way has a sense of ridding oneself of it, with an accompanying desire never to see it or think of it again. The second is different: to bury is not to forget - we bury our dead so we can remember them, revisit them, keep them in our mind. There is often ritual associated with this process. I think this is the right way to deal with those things we want to leave behind. Bury, but not forget. The memory of them can serve as a cautionary tale about what happens when we let the business of the surface dictate our reality. That, I think, will allow us to hold more strongly to the things we love, those things we treasure and wish to save. And maybe help make education a better experience for all.
As McFarlane says
“Maybe this is among the best things we can try to do … to be good ancestors.”
Don’t we do that by making a good world?
Guest piece
My Experience of Powerful Play with Older Primary Students.
I teach At Nukuhou North School, a small, predominantly Māori, decile 3, rural school in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. My class consists of year 6, 7 and 8 students.
I have to admit, when our Kahui Ako decided to look into Play Based Learning (PBL) I could not see it working in my class and felt pretty over whelmed with the idea. I had students who believed they no longer played as they were too old. I could not see how I could add more to an already bulging daily timetable. However, a year and a half later after a lot of trial and error we are on our journey. We are seeing encouraging successes with both academic and the more important “soft skills” (front end of the curriculum).
(Please note our school calls Play Based Learning – Powerful Play)
So what has worked for my students?
Developing whole class ownership of Powerful Play in the classroom:
Right from the beginning I have shared the research and what I have learnt on PLDs with students as well as how and why PBL can help their learning. We also talked about how this was new to me as well and that I would be learning alongside them, that there would be some trial and error along the way.
We developed a Powerful Play contract as a class – how can we make sure we are all getting the most learning from our Powerful Play? The students quickly recognised that RESPECT was the most important aspect to making Powerful Play successful.
Facilitating learning:
I timetable Powerful Play sessions for at least an hour or more several times a week (though students often ask to have more) – I found they need enough time to get into their play so short sessions were not as successful.
During this time we all participate in Powerful Play as we did not find the junior method of pulling out groups to do reading, writing and math worked.
We start each session with challenges/invitations that I set. I choose challenges that I hope will expand learning already occurring – children chose to do a challenge or not. These invitations are often geared around problem-solving tasks, which also allow for extension to learning.
We also start with a brainstorm – I give the kids 5 -10 minutes to think about what they plan to do – whether it is remembering where they are up to in their play from the last session and their next steps, or if they want to start a new activity what will they need. They then share these and I jot them on the board. I do this because it helps me know what is happening and also those kids who are unsure may decide to join a group or may get ideas to build on for themselves.
Then kids head off to start their projects. I then use this time to jot down observations, take pictures, roam, run around and get gear as kids request it. I also use the technique of Spray and Walk Away to extend childrens’ learning – “Have you thought…” “Could you look up…” “Have you tried…” I throw down the idea and literally walk away, letting the kids think about it and hopefully it sparks next level learning.
I also try to let my kids solve their own problems and let them struggle through them rather than swoop in and fix it for them. These can be project based problems and social problems.
Currently I am developing the “Playing Alongside Strategy”, to help extend learning during Powerful Play where I model the next steps by doing it alongside them.
Then I develop Learning Journeys – here I look at how the Powerful Play activity is linked to the Key Competencies, Our School Values and the New Zealand Curriculum Achievement Objectives and what the next steps might be to extend the learning. These are great to show my students and their whanau what learning has occurred.
The most powerful learning occurred when ‘Powerful Play’ was purposeful and was allowed to evolve. For example a group of girls wanted to start a school Netball squad. My first instinct was to say sure leave it to me and I will sort it. Instead I challenged/invited them to organise it themselves during Powerful Play. They took up the challenge and the learning was phenomenal – they organised meetings, developed, edited and published permission slips, letters and newsletter blurbs, organised and ran practises, wrote to the BOT asking for gear and to fix the court. The learning that occurred was amazing – life skills - Key Competences of: Participating and Contributing, Language, Symbols and Texts and Relating to Others. NZC English: Language features and Purposes and audiences. NZC Health and P.E.: People and the Environment and Interpersonal skills. Our school Values of Perseverance and Respect and many more.
The results so far: I am lucky as I am privileged enough to have most of my students for 3 years. As Powerful Play has progressed I have seen the children develop and transfer these skills, such as: teamwork, leadership, perseverance and problem-solving into every facet of teaching and learning in our classroom. Attendance for some kids has also improved. I feel we have built stronger relationships within the class, both the students with myself and with each other. The class seems more relaxed and children need me less as they support each other more consistently. Risk taking has increased as children feel more comfortable and confident to step out of their comfort zones.
Our journey continues... I look forward to hearing what my students have learnt over lockdown and how this will reflect on Powerful Play in level 2. I also suspect that these heightened soft skills may have played a positive role in the learning that has happened during lockdown, allowing them to cope with the difficulties and issues around distance learning.
Greet Peeters
Senior Teacher
Nukuhou North School
Live-chat roundup
This month it’s been great to have Belle, Deb and Andrew join in and initiate some invigorating and, dare I say it, near philosophical discussions, interspersed with some practical examples. I’ve really enjoyed the chats. The Smata Bulletin’s purpose is to deepen your ‘why’ and build your ‘how’, and I’ve seen that ideal come alive here.
I’d like to pick up on a couple of points. If you’re interested in them, go back and read the chats. If you’re moved to comment on the thread, go for it - all comments will be responded to. While they were ‘live’ for that hour, they are still ‘alive’.
Distance learning only works if the relationship isn’t distant.
Belle made some really interesting points in the chat on 13 May, coming from her perspective as a teacher at Te Kura. She said
“To develop relationships with my students I find I have to be the one who has to be a bit vulnerable and ‘relentlessly persistent’ … At home, if that is where they are, they are very much in their personal private space and I have to earn their trust before I can go there.”
She has to be vulnerable. It’s up to her to earn their trust. So often, the importance of a professional demeanour is emphasised, which automatically demands trust and inhibits vulnerability. It’s the students who must come to the teacher, earn their trust - they must show themselves: vulnerable, exposed; the teacher remains the teacher: protected, safe.
Prior to that, in her pre-Te Kura days, Belle acknowledges just as much
“I had a teaching persona that I developed. It allowed me to slip into role and 'perform'. I held on to the belief that my world was private and not to be shared with my students. I was terrified that my empathetic tendencies would be swallowed if I got to know my students at that level. It's interesting to reflect on.”
While the teacher persona allowed her to feel ‘safe’, it created a distance between her and her students. They, to all intents and purposes, remained ‘students’, regardless of how much she might have asked them about themselves, just as much as she remained ‘teacher’. This is what she has found to be ineffective in her role supporting distance learning on a day-to-day basis. I think what she’s saying is that the further away the student is, the more personal the relationship needs to be if the connection has any chance of ‘going the distance.’
Is this the shift people refer to when they say you can’t do ‘on-line’ what you do ‘in-person’?
Much in education is set up for efficiency, but that doesn’t guarantee equity
Thanks to Andrew, in the chat on 27 May we were introduced to the economics world.
“There’s a modeling concept used in economics decision making that applies here. It’s called efficiency vs equity. Equity, fairness. And the neoliberal environment smashed it out of the way in the area of making decisions. It requires that when decisions are made with a goal of efficiency, it must be considered in terms by of what will be lost in equity, and if it is at the expense of equity it is unjustified.”
Here’s what’s in my head. It’s very efficient to move a whole group of learners through an assessment. In secondary school this is called fairness - it’s said it’s not fair for someone to do an assessment under ‘special conditions’, unless they get a certified exeception no one can argue with.
This is a trick of assumption, isn’t it - assuming something is so because to do otherwise is difficult. This same trick exists in primary schools, especially in the way National Standards were used. It was an efficient assumption to make that literacy and numeracy data told you everything important you needed to know about a learner. It’s a legacy that hasn’t disappeared either - how many boards of trustees evaluate their charter by assuming literacy and numeracy data tells them how self-reliance, creativity and respect are going?
Here’s a slightly provocative thought. All words experience some ‘slip’ in meaning over time. I wonder if the meaning of efficiency has slipped, and now refers to a process whereby things are made easy for those who hold power. If so, it’s not very fair is it.
Guest contact details
If you are interested in what this month’s guests have said, feel free to email them. Doing so will strengthen the collective.
Rob Stevenson: rob@capeeducation.co.nz
Greet Peeters: greet.peeters@nukuhou.school.nz
Thanks for reading this month’s issue.
All the best with your adventures on the frontier. Get in touch any time, I’d love to hear from you.
Bevan.
