School Magazine Page - Canva

This year we have been asked to use Canva to create our pages for the 2022 School Magazine. I've used Canva in the past and find it pretty easy to navigate. I've had some input in the WIMS Netball page - recrafting the blurb a student had written and uploading photos to be included. Thank goodness a mum who accompanied us to WIMS Netball took photos of the year 7's as they played because I mostly had pictures of the year 8's and a lot were terrible/blurry.

I'm happy with the page for Soft Materials. I would like to add a few more photos as classes progress this week. However, time restraints are not on my side!

Here's an image of what I have done so far...

20/9

Updated image - I've now added an Extension Fabric page. I have these students tomorrow and will add pictures of their work. At least four should finish tomorrow and I can't wait, they look so good!

Staff Meeting - EOTC Pirongia

Kate Parr – First Step Outdoors

On site activities at Pirongia Lodge - Zipline, Rock Climbing, Camping & Bivvying, Inground Trampoline, Abseiling, Archery, Orienteering

Off-site activities – Caving at Karamu, High Ropes and Kayaking at Karapiro.

Great opportunities for students/staff/whaanau! There is also the opportunity to learn more about the conservation efforts, investigate the eco-systems with experts and to tie into the new Aotearoa History curriculum.

 

Preparing Pencil Case Fabric

I've cut all the remaining rolls of fabric up (5 different prints) to cover the final 140+ year 7s in cycle five - including the final two Outside School classes too. 4-6 pieces of each print is placed into class piles with a range of coloured zips. Ensuring each group has a range of the prints to choose from. Left over fabric has been cut up to use for the 1.5cm seam sample and on some rolls, there was enough for a few drawstring bags. 

PB4L-SW PD

 PB4L with Sheryn Hobbs

Can I have a specific SHINE Matrix for the Fabric room – language and consistency? Showing Respect, by caring for the environment - how does that look in the Fabric room? 

Universal; Targeted; Intensive

Does the language used in our SHINE folder matrix need to be reviewed and 'tweaked'?

Student's can recite the SHINE values, but what does that explicitly mean? How is this unpacked in our classrooms?

Do we have consistency across the school?

When we're doing duty, we need to remind ourselves it's Active Supervision. Seek out those kids we don't have relationships with and work on prosocial baseline behaviours. As a staff, we have talked about active supervision in the Bronx area and how this could be changed because this is a hard area to supervise. Quite often when we move from the playground to rooms 17-18, students engage in dangerous behaviour. Moving, scanning and interacting. Setting the students up for success in the playground and when they head back to the classroom.

Management features for non-classroom areas - "Choose the smallest change that will have the biggest impact"

Do we have any of the SHINE folder in Te Reo Maaori?

Keep prompting and teaching - positive forecasting.

Teaching expected behaviour - they must be taught and retaught, and retaught! How many different ways can we teach it? Multimodal. 

Acknowledging expected behaviour - reward systems; encouragement; positive feedback - verbal (the vocab we use). Why use reinforcement? A neutral redirection has the same effect as a negative redirection. 

Recognition - the need for recognition is fundamental to optimum human performance.

Discouraging inappropriate behaviours - we need to follow our flow chart - Does our flow chart currently suit the school?

Use our teams and get the support of experts - do we clearly understand the steps on our flow chart? How do we support each other?

Consistency is important.

Data helps place the problem and the context - don't personalise the problem... Do we have positive behavioural data?

Sheryn directed us to the PBIS World Book website that gives you strategies for managing a range of behaviours using PB4L. 
In the last week, I've dealt with stupid or inappropriate behaviour from multiple boys. One who persisted with me and I shut the conversation down. As he walked away, he commented that I should look in the mirror - insinuating I'm fat. I struggle to be positive with this student and this comment almost pushed me over the edge. I had to remind myself that I'm the adult and I can use self restraint and stay calm. Sometimes this is really hard to do, and I am only human - I have bad days too!

I enjoyed the PD alongside this group of colleagues. Sheryn is clearly knowledgeable and supportive. At TAI, I think we do a good job of implementing PB4L. We have processes to follow and we have supportive management. However, I would like to see more positivity or positive reinforcement from the top down and more ways to celebrate success amongst/with colleagues.
Something I will take away from this PD, is how positive reinforcement is so beneficial to learning. students learn more when they have fun! How can I make learning fun in my class? How can I focus on the positive behaviours of students in the Fabric room? 
I like the idea of having a sign in my room that refers to the 5:1 ratio as a reminder to me.

Year 8 Hoodies

 Yay for Year 8’s finishing Hoodies!!

Outside School's Hoodies

This was a group of 11 Year 8's from Ngahinapouri and Te Pahu School. They had seven lessons to cut out and make a Hoodie. I decided to remove a few a tasks, such as the construction journal to ensure as many of them could finish their Hoodies. 

Below are the students who finished. The remaining students either had the hood and sleeves to attach or just the hood. I was so proud of this group! They worked really hard and the ones that finished early, helped others by cutting out and preparing their hoods or supporting them on the sewing machine when I was busy with someone else.

Outside Schools Year 7 & 8

Outside School’s come to TAI us on a Thursday. We’ve slightly changed the timetable this year to ensure the students are successful in each Tech subject and complete one subject at a time. Last year they would spend time in two subjects - one each block. The one downside, is that student who miss a day miss two lessons each time. 

So far I've had two groups of year 7's and I'm currently with a group of Year 8's, making Hoodies. I feel like the double block ensures more work is completed and their memory retention is much better - rather than going to two subjects and having to remember the skills and knowledge they are taught each week. This also makes it easier to build relationships with these students because we spend a longer period of time with them uninterrupted.

The first two groups of Year 7's were almost test subjects! Trying the current programme I teach and seeing what they could achieve in the time given. The first group made felt monsters and a pencil case - only just finishing the pencil cases in the final lesson.

I had two boys that didn't quite complete their monsters. One who mucked around for the whole of the second lesson and then hid his monster in the scrap material container. I let our DP know that the monster and features he had cut out had disappeared as soon as I checked books in order to notify his school - I wanted to know asap where these had gone. In the following lesson, he admitted to getting rid of these, as well as cutting the monster into a strange circle shape. He found the bigger pieces in the scrap bin but couldn't locate the features as they were quite small. He was given one and half lessons - nearly 2 hours - to hand stitch basic features on. The second boy had missed the first two lessons and did his utmost to complete a very simple monster - the large pieces were cut out for him. He was doing absolutely fine, until the end when he randomly jumped from where he was stitching nicely, to the opposite side and ended up tangling the thread and making a real mess.

I spent at least half an hour fixing both of their monsters and tidying them up, stuffing them, and stitching them closed so they had something to take home.

The second group of year 7's did so much better. I cut out a couple of tasks that I thought they could do without - identifying equipment ( a cut and paste, fill in the blanks task) and didn't set any goals. They got straight into designing their monsters, learning how to cut out correctly, and how to thread a needle and tie a specific knot.

This group overall, just seemed more on to it and picked up the techniques I teach a lot quicker and retained that information/the techniques in the subsequent lessons. They made pencil cases and then with a 7th lesson (rather than 8 because our school was closed for four days due to teacher's having to isolate), they made a drawstring bag. Each student was so close to finishing these, with only the top to top stitch and insert ribbons for the drawstrings. I ended up top stitching each of their bags - I believe their were 10-12 - as they packed up their machines and popped chairs away etc. Overall they were a much happier group to teach and I was a happier, less stressed teacher! Here are a few of their felt monsters.

Staff Meeting - Professional Growth Cycle

The Professional Growth Cycle, Appraisals Attestations, Observations, Checklists, and Setting Goals.

These are all a part of teaching that I really dislike and wish I didn't have to do. In order to retain my job/position, I'm required to complete certain 'paperwork' to prove that I am meeting criteria that the Teaching Council set- Our Code Our Standards.

Sharpening Shears

The Dress-making Shears need to be sharp for the students to be able to use them correctly. When I arrived in 2020, I was appalled at how blunt they were and could see the students struggling to cut out thick layers of fabric. 

Thank goodness there's a mobile sharpener around the Waipa and he is awesome! I usually take 25 shears to him during lunchtime and he kindly brings them back to school for me after 3pm.

Preparing Fabric for Slouch Beanies

I’ve been preparing (cutting out to size) a range of Polar Fleece colours for Slouch Beanies. This has taken me over two different release periods to finish preparing with 6-7 different colours cut out. As each student needs two different colours to make their Beanie, this is very time consuming. There are three different camo prints students can choose from and 5 block (plain) colours - maroon, fluro yellow, black, pink, and green. If they want to use a camo they then get to choose a block colour. In the past, some students have chosen 2 of the block colours rather than a camo. I'm excited about the green as it really pops and would be easy to spot when worn - it's just a thicker fleece and may prove harder to stitch. 

I will take pictures of finished Beanies asap.

                             

Relieving in Room 6

 10-10:20

These students were all on chromebooks working on Google Classroom tasks, mostly on Education Perfect Literacy or Numeracy.

I did a quick walk around to see what they were all up to and invited students to the teacher's desk if they needed a hand. One student was already seated by the teacher's desk working on a measurement task. He showed me how to look at your ranking and I asked everyone to have a look at their current rank/points to compare at the end of the day. I then got them to have a quick brain break - stand up touch your toes and then buddy up. Facing their partner I asked them to use their right hand to touch their partner's right shoulder. Quite amusing how long it took some student's to figure this out and others who got it straight away. They then did Paper, Scissors, Rock best of three and back to their work on Chromebooks.

I liked reading some of the quotes Mrs E had on the wall.

Culture, Identity, and Language Workshop

Culture, Identity and Language in an Intermediate/Middle School Context.

A Wero – A Challenge – A Disruption to thinking and Practice. 

3:20 - 4:45

Anaru began with us doing our school Karakia and then his mihi. The slides will be shared with us after the workshop.

Section One: Whanaungatanga, What is  MAC, School Vision, Values and Motto, My knowledge and abilities - Te Ao Maaori. 

The importance of knowing who we are - Sharing about ourselves. Where are we from, where we grew up, our first ancestors. our schools/kura. What are we trying to grow at our school. Noo whea? Ko wai? 

We spent about 30 mins with each staff member doing a quick mihi and using a Kohatu to place on a picture of the waka our ancestors arrived on. 

MAC - Maaori Achievement Criteria - an organisation that is in over 20% of NZ Schools.  MAC is about incorporating Te Ao Maaori in NZ schools to raise Maaori achievement. 

The Maaori Sidesteps - NZ . We watched this YouTube clip about place names being pronounced incorrectly and how people pronounce place names to find them on Google Maps. Great irony when the main characters are pronouncing the number 'one' and 'Christchurch' incorrectly. Pronunciation is so important - you can insult people if you pronounce things incorrectly. 

We should be able to share our school values in both English and Te Reo. 

What do I feel confident and capable in doing now in relation to Te Ao Maaori? What would I like to be able to do?

Lastly we watched Jai from Dillworth's speech addressing stereotyping of Maaori and the Maaori culture. WOW

What does it mean to be Maaori? What is the origin of the word? Reflect on what we hear about Maaori - what do we see in the media, what do we hear? What are words or descriptors that come to mind we we think of Maaori? Be honest... is it negative or positive? 

What words describe Maui? How is Maui viewed? What is positive about Maui? 

How well do we know our tamariki Maaori? How well do our tamariki Maaori know who they are? Know their own story? How well do we know the world our tamariki Maaori walk in?

Preparing Pencil Case Fabric

Preparing the fabric for pencil cases is very time consuming and can be quite monotonous. I cut the fabric into 30x40 rectangles, using an electronic cutter that saves me so much time. I am conscious of waste, cutting each piece as approximate as possible and then overlocking the two shorts sides - each piece is overlocked one after the other and then snipped to place in a neat pile. I've cut 24 of each print (5 different prints) to cover 85 year 7s in this cycle and ordered enough zips to cover 66 Outside School (OS) year 7's also. I then place 4-6 pieces of each print into class piles with a range of coloured zips. I find this ensures each group has a range of the prints to choose from, rather than one group taking all the favourites, such as the camo prints. 

I had left over fabric from last year, when lockdowns interrupted the last cycle and I wasn't able to teach the OS's year 7's to use a sewing machine (I had prepared the fabric during the first week of the holidays and we went into lockdown that Thursday until November 17th). I've decided to save these fabrics for the current OS classes because they were all ready sorted into piles of 22.

This is what the Fabric looks like when it arrives...

Outside Schools

 Started with the first class of Outside Schools today - there are now only two schools sending students, when usually there would be four. As a team we went through the student information we were given and split the students into five groups - we now offer digital tech with Mrs. Palmer and still have: Fabric, Hard Materials, Moulding, and Food Tech.

The fifth group has meant that we have been able to split the students into smaller, more manageable groups and hopefully ensure the success of a higher number of students.

The second change we made was to keep the same class with us for a total of eight lessons. We used to see two groups a day, however we discussed the benefits of staying with the same teacher/subject for successive lessons. We have all agreed to trial this and feedback and revise if needed.

This morning I prepared by writing each student's name on a piece of tape - to help me identify and use their names throughout the lesson - and popped a booklet and blue bag by their names. Ngahinapouri on the left and Te Pahu were on the right.

This system worked really well when the students eventually got into my room and I found it really helpful to be able to address each student by their name as the lesson progressed.

Thank goodness we started with all the groups lined up out the front, so we could see how many were in each line and ensure we had the correct students in each group. There were a couple of no shows - either having left the school or not coming today for a variety of reasons. We did, however have a couple of students on our roles that were from Paterangi who had mistakenly been left on the list. 

During morning tea, I popped out with my coffee and said hello to the two ladies who had accompanied Ngahinapouri. One will remain as a teacher aide and the other will come one more time - I believe she was the mother of the student who required the teacher aide. I observed students from TAI and Outside Schools saying hi from afar to an old friend or neighbour - nice to see they were following our guidelines about distance and not physically interacting. It was also nice to see the kids playing a range of games outside!

Overall this was a really great start to Outside Schools and I thoroughly enjoyed having the same group for two lessons. I felt like we achieved a decent amount of work and they were engaged for the majority of the time. A positive sign when they were leaving was loads of thank you's and happy students :-)

Office Staff Request

The ladies in the office called me just before our TOD with a request to help them out with their new shredder - it came with a plastic bag for the shredded paper to fall into, which kept ripping. The plastic bag was held together with tape! I took some measurements and used calico to create a very basic drawstring bag. It fits well, and so far so good. I'm sure I will be called to attend to any repairs as and when needed.