Week 4 - Term 2 - 2020

“E hara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takimano, takitini”

Success is not the work of one, but the work of many.

Week 4 4 Haratua - 8 Haratua Emergency Remote Teaching Continues	Week 5 11 Haratua - 15 Haratua Emergency Remote Teaching Continues.
Assembly/Ako Meet with Ako Class Virtually - Wed 6	Assembly/Ako Meet with Ako Class Virtually (TBC) - Wed 13
Meeting  Departments as needed - Tues 5	Meeting  Teaching and Learning - Tues 12 @ 3.30pm

Information for Staff

1. Possible articles that you may be interested in reading:

a. The first is a new research paper that has been recently published –School-led-learning at home: Voices of parents of Māori and Pasifika students. Dr Melanie Riwai-Couch and a team from Evaluation Associates with Tufulasi Taleni (University of Canterbury) carried out the research.

This paper reports on the results of a survey that sought the views of parents of Māori and Pasifika students on their experiences of the first week of school-led learning at home. 134 parents responded to the survey. These parents represented at least 105 primary and 79 secondary students from throughout New Zealand in English and Māori medium settings.

Their perspectives are shared in the hope that they might help schools provide equitable programmes whilst the restrictions on attending school in-person remain. But, perhaps even more importantly, the parent voices provide insights that could help refocus education in the longer term. The intent is to seize the opportunity afforded by the current disruption, to work more closely with parents and whānau to rethink how public education can best be provided to meet the needs and aspirations of all New Zealanders. 

Within the paper are sets of questions that have been developed for reflection and planning that can be used by teachers, kura/schools, and education decision makers. We believe that these will support enhanced design, delivery, and home-school partnership with Māori and Pasifika parents.  The paper can be accessed at: http://www.evaluate.co.nz/key-readings/school-led-learning-voices-of-parents-of-maori-and-pasifika-students/

b. John Hattie has also put together a discussion paper on 'Visible Effect Sizes when Schools are closed: What Matters and What does Not"

2. What is Education 3.0?
Interesting to watch this now and think about the changes to how teaching is currently occurring and where you might be with regards to Education 2.0 and 3.0.

Week 3 - Term 2 - 2020

He tina ki runga, he tāmore ki raro

In order to flourish above, one must be firmly rooted below

Week 3 27 Āperira - 1 Haratua Anzac Day Observed - Mon 27 TOD - Tues 28 - no online meets with students - time for them to catch up on work. Staff able to access CGHS for resources (see doc for sign up) - Tues 28	Week 4 4 Haratua - 8 Haratua Emergency Remote Teaching Continues.
Assembly/Ako Meet with Ako Class Virtually - Wed 29	Assembly/Ako Meet with Ako Class Virtually - Wed
Meeting  HOD and HOLA - 1pm Tues 28 Dept - 2pm Tues 28 (if required)	Meeting

Information for staff

1. Whew - we have come to the end of our first full week of 'Emergency remote teaching'. I use this phrase deliberately, as even though the terms of 'online learning' are used everywhere, it actually takes a long time to try different things online, find out what is working best and find the balance with what works for you as the teacher, and what works for our learners.  Earlier this year, I shared with you the diagram below, and the reality could not be more true!

On Tuesday, we had a Learning and Teaching meeting, and HOLAs/HODs were asked to let us know 'what is on top/ working well' and feedback any concerns/ issues or questions.

The following was provided as feedback:

The L&T team expressed how well staff had collaborated to share ideas and resources, how many had embraced and engaged with PLD in a very short space of time, how staff were willing to give things a go and embrace the current normal - which means doing the best you can with the current circumstances. They also expressed a gratitude for the many collegial conversations.

Feedback regarding issues were around staff working with young families, and how this is a juggle, an increase in workload, number of emails, behaviour issues that are creeping in online, establishing routines, working out best practices, the nocturnal rhythms of the teenager.

This has bought to mind the 'implementation dip', the time where we are all working out what the right balance is for both us as teachers, as well as the needs of our students.

Feedback from students - is overwhelmingly about the 'amount of work'. It is not the face to face check ins, but if an online meet takes a whole hour, it is the work that is then set after this. A chunk of learning, that takes 1 hour of class time under normal circumstances needs to be thought of as now taking 2 hours in our 'emergency teaching phase'. We cannot stress enough to be flexible, you do not need to stick to the same number of standards or time frames. Think about what can be taken out, trimmed down and changed. Not only will this reduce the workload for the teacher, but also the workload for the students.

2. Adding to our tool kit - have a look at the following:
a. NOD Chrome extension - this extension adds emoticons to your Google Meet so students can raise their hand & other emojis. For it to be fully useful, all users in a meet would need to have this extension installed. I will send this out to the students today to add it if they can.

To install - go to https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/nod-reactions-for-google/oikgofeboedgfkaacpfepbfmgdalabej?hl=en

b. Meet Attendance Chrome extension 
If you are like me and taking attendance at the beginning of your meet, this extension creates a google spreadsheet that automatically takes the roll of attendees in a meet at any given time when you access the attendees list. 

To install go to: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/meet-attendance/nenibigflkdikhamlnekfppbganmojlg?hl=en


c. After marking an NCEA question the other day, I was reminded of a tool to add voice comments in google doc. To speed up your marking, you should install the Mote Chrome extension. Once installed (and page refreshed), you are able to add voice notes in comments for feedback on student work and a voice comment on your Classroom stream, it also transcribes what you have said. 
You will need to up with your School google account. Instructions can be found at -  

To install go to: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mote-voice-commenting-for/ajphlblkfpppdpkgokiejbjfohfohhmk/


3. If you have time, the video below was sent from a recorded webinar on Facilitating online meetings.

Enabling E-learning event- Facilitating online meetings from a distance from CORE Ministry Video on Vimeo.

4. You can also sign up for the webinar below which is on Tuesday 28 April.

Harnessing and enhancing assessment in schools You are invited to join Professor Stuart Kime to discuss the role of assessment in teaching and learning with a particular focus on how teachers can approach assessment during this period of distance learning. The webinar will include a number of practical strategies for how teachers can enhance their assessment practice and embed effective assessment into their day-to-day teaching. Please join us for this FREE webinar for school teachers. As always, there will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions.  Ngā mihi nui, Dr Nina Hood – The Education Hub Founder

REGISTER NOW FOR THIS WEBINAR >

Week 2 - Term 2 - 2020

Whaowhia te kete mātaurangaFill the basket of knowledge.

When you stop learning, you will stop growing. Becoming mature not only entails your age, but it should also speak highly of how much you have learned through the years. Seize every chance to learn. Read a book. Listen to people. learn te reo. There are a lot of ways to learn and life is but a huge classroom.

Week 2 20 Āperira - 24 Āperira	Week 3 27 Āperira - 1 Haratua Anzac Day Observed - Mon 27 Possible TOD - Tues 28 ????
Assembly/Ako Meet with Ako Class Virtually - Wed 22	Assembly/Ako Meet with Ako Class Virtually - Wed 29
Meeting  Teaching and Learning - 3.30pm - Tues 21	Meeting  TBC

Information for staff

1. Welcome back to Term 2 - what a different start to the term this has been. There has been some amazing creative work being produced by everyone and the students are very appreciative. There is an L&T meeting on Tuesday and we have asked HOLAs to bring along some information regarding how things are going so please pass on any information you might want to discussed. More information regarding Level 3 and what this might look like will be made available from Christine once official information has come out from the Ministry.

Just a couple of quick reminders - please only schedule your face-to-face meetings during the time you would have seen the students during a regular scheduled timetabled lesson in order to avoid students needing to be in two places at once (also a request has come through to end on time as well to avoid 'lateness' to the next class). Secondly, a reminder to have meetings or discussions with students 'within a school day'. We are allowing the students to work asynchronously on work set but this does not mean that they can request or have a 'discussion' regarding content/learning at 8pm in the evening.

In this weeks newsletter, parents are being reminded about rules for online safety and introduced to the new tool put out by the Ministry and N4L to allow safe internet use at home - Switch on Safety - https://switchonsafety.co.nz/ 

2. A little starter diagram that you could use with your students - where are they at for their learning today?

3. Feedback from Surveys - A few staff were asking to see the feedback coming in from our student 'check-in' survey that was sent out to our students at the end of last week.

You may be interested in the following graphs for the different year levels regarding how confident they are around their online learning and how they feel about the workload. This information is based on the work from the end of last term and over the holidays, so it will be an interesting exercise to repeat and see if there is a shift either to the left or right.

Do you feel confident with online learning 1 -  Not confident and 10 is confident
How are you feeling with your workload - 1 not happy and 10 is all good and happy with what is provided.

Year 9

Year 10

Year 11

Year 12

Year 13

4. After filtering out what might be useful from the many emails coming through each day - you might be interested in the following....

a. Supporting the wellbeing of teachers, students and parents You are invited to join clinical psychologist Dr Natalie Flynn to discuss the research behind the importance of supporting the wellbeing of teachers, students and parents during this period of school closures as well as practical strategies to support wellbeing and mental health.  Natalie is the author of the book Smart Mothering and, alongside Nigel Latta, is the co-founder of Parentland, a revolutionary new parenting app.  Please join us for this FREE webinar for school teachers. As always, there will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions.  Ngā mihi nui, Dr Nina Hood – The Education Hub Founder

REGISTER NOW FOR THIS WEBINAR >

b. CORE Education, in partnership with Microsoft New Zealand, is offering six FREE Minecraft: Education Edition virtual training sessions.

The training is aimed at primary and secondary teachers who would like to use Minecraft: Edu as a tool to engage students and ignite their passion for learning while building 21st century skills.

There are three workshop pathways to suit differing levels of experience and the details of each are below:

Beginning: Introduction to Minecraft: Education Edition

Term 2 Week 3: 9.30am-12.30pm on Wednesday 29th April
Term 2 Week 4: 9.30am-12.30pm on Monday 4th May

Intermediate: Lesson Simulation in Minecraft: Education Edition

Term 2 Week 3: 9.30am-12.30pm on Thursday 30th April
Term 2 Week 4: 9.30am-12.30pm on Tuesday 5th May

Advancing: Chemistry & Computer Science with Minecraft: Education Edition

Term 2 Week 3: 9.30am-12.30pm on Friday 1st May
Term 2 Week 4: 9.30am-12.30pm on Wednesday 6th May

The sign up page is located here.

And finally Minecraft Online Course

We are currently working on developing our Minecraft course online. We'll keep you posted when it's ready, but in the meantime you can signup and be the first to know when it's available. This is a free course funded by Microsoft, Thanks Microsoft.

Be the first to know

Microsoft Teams Support

We have funding from Microsoft to support your team to use Microsoft Teams. If you would like to access this, please let us know. We want to help you keep your well-being at the forefront through all of this, so the Teams support will be what you need, when you need it...with some tips and tricks of how to stay sane and healthy while working online.

Reach out about Microsoft Teams

Week 1 - Term 2 - 2020

Ka pakeke te haere, kaua e hemo 

When things are difficult, don't give up

Week 1 13 Āperira - 17 Āperira Easter - Mon 13 - Tues 14 Term 2 Begins - Wed 15 for online Learning	Week 2 20 Āperira - 24 Āperira
Assembly/Ako Meet with Ako Class Virtually - Wed 15	Assembly/Ako Meet with Ako Class Virtually - Wed 22
Meeting  Virtual PLD Session - Sharing Best Practice with online Learning - Tues 14 @ 11am	Meeting

Information for Staff

1. Google Meet - A number of you have been using Google Meet for your online video calls. If you are, please go and add the extension called 'Grid View', this makes the meet feel more like Zoom, and you can see all of your class at once - add the extension by clicking HERE
For more information and to find out how to use it go to https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2020/03/meet-grid-view.html

Other information regarding Google Meet can be found at https://drive.google.com/file/d/12GSnqyXQAdkb_dxqhdvfgmVaBaL6HQtH/view

2. If you have yet to run any face to face (F2F) meetings using a Google meet, read through the tips for online meetings - https://create.piktochart.com/output/45418159-online-class-guidelines

3. Online Teaching and Learning - Some guidelines:

a. We will be maintaining the school timetable - only schedule your face to face meetings in the 'lessons' when you would normally see them. For seniors, you should be planning to meet 2x per week - this does not have to be for a full hour. Even if you are running an extended program, there still needs to be a twice a week check in, so students can ask questions, you can give verbal feedback on where students should be at.

For junior subjects where you see them less, this can be once a week. Make sure that this is the same time each week and let them know when this will be. 

You will need to send out a link to the meetings for them to join. In the flipped lesson, this is when you might give written feedback, check work completion, have videos of worked examples posted etc. Just a reminder that work should be up by 10.30am each day. The flipped lesson can be asynchronous, and both you and your students can be working on this at different times.

b. You need to be using a platform to send out work - this will be either through OneNote or Google classroom. Sending out multiple emails a day is not working for some of our students. Now is the time to get on board, contact Jacky (jacky.young@core-ed.ac.nz) if you need help. Jacky has also provided access to a Google Audit document, you may want to have a look and remind yourself regarding what you do know and find out what you don't.

c. Strongly encourage your students to ask their classmates if they can’t find something/do something/have a question by using the Classroom stream. This requires training - you might need to direct them to the classroom stream if they keep emailing you with general questions. If you can do this you will save a lot of time. 

d. Continue to be culturally responsive online - think about what you are putting up on your platform and how we continue to be inclusive of all our learners.

See the full summary below... (click here to see larger image)

Also made a little video.......

4. PLD from Core-Ed - they have just released their PLD schedule for the remainder of the year. Their PLD has gone online and you are able to register to attend the Webinars. If there is something that you think is worthwhile, please apply for PLD in the usual way so course costs can be covered.

5. The Virtual Learning Network (VLN) also have a number of free webinars - one that could be of interest is called - Developing online programmes of learning for diverse learners - you can register HERE.