Writing observation

6/9/2018

WHAT?

On Thursday,  I was able to watch a colleague teach writing. Her manner was direct with the children, she had all her exemplars ready. She used an exemplar from a magazine and showed the children the article that it came from. By doing this she is making the children realise how writing is used in context. She asked a child to read out loud the exemplar. The exemplar had some very unfamiliar words and words that made the child stumble somewhat. I realise now that this was intentional as her lesson was around choosing the best word, one that says what you want to say.

She then asked for clarification of the words used in the exemplar. Some of the children were very forthcoming, asking for the meaning of words they didn’t understand, being prepared, she had found the meaning of some the words and had given definitions of them. She also explained words that she was asked about.

Her next direction was around finding the number of paragraphs and how as readers we can identify them. She used a graphic organiser alongside to make the children think about the way the exemplar has been written. The children were asked to discuss whether or not the paragraph was written to inform, entertain or persuade. While the children discussed the exemplar, she readied herself for the next part of the lesson.

After 2 mins, she brought them back, with clapping, then went through what they thought. She also asked them to explain their reasoning for their ideas. She asked the children to think about previous text that the children hand worked with before and ask what the purpose was. She explicitly said, “What was the purpose of that text?” The children shared back the language features that they had used before and made connections to previous learning. She went on to explain the reason why the author had used a paragraph to entertain and a paragraph to inform, and she used a fact that she had found, about what you need to do to keep the reader reading.

She went on to explain to the children that she had written a paragraph using the same scaffolding as the article had used (an enlarged copy of the exemplar was attached to the whiteboard). but using Think Aloud, she voiced her thoughts around the structure used in the exemplar, and what she had written. The words that she wrote on the board following the exact same structure as the exemplar, replacing words for like, such as year round for in the summertime (when), slaters for ladybirds, and what she did next was to pause. She talked to the children as much as herself, saying that the next part of the writing was tricky as she want to choose the best word to say what she wanted to say. She also mentioned that it didn't need to be the posh-ish word, not a word to impress but the best word that that said exactly what she wanted it to say, she rattled off 5 other words but always said, "That's not what I wanted, it wasn't going to say what I wanted it to say."

Next she reaffirmed the children's contributions and always referred back to the language features they used and what was written in the exemplar. She deliberately went back to the exemplar indicating where she found the structure and voiced that her writing was going to have the same ideas but she changed words to fit with what she wanted to say. She wrote the word 'clandestine', again voicing that she was proud of her word choice. The children were calling out what does that mean? She then went on to inform them of the way she had thought of the word secretive but it wasn't really that impressive so she needed to use a tool, the Thesaurus, the children were familiar with the online tool and she showed what she had done to find the best word for her writing.  She again went back to her piece and shared how she had done the paragraph, and then set them to write a similar piece on worms.

The success criteria for their writing task, was to use the word to say exactly what you mean. Before she made go and write she asked the children to close their eyes and she read out prepared questions, and told them to think abut the experience that they had when they collected their worms. The questions were directed linked to the where, what, how, what they were reminded of. This took all of 2 minutes max, then she asked them to share with a buddy what was in their mind about their worms. Again this took all of a minute no more. They children were given an opportunity to share, but before a child shared, she told him that she was going to ask him some questions and was he happy to answer. He said yes, so after he shared, she asked about the tone of the ideas. She discussed types of tone - happy, sinister, excited. She explicitly told him to keep the tone throughout the paragraph.

Another child was given a chance to share, her word was simple but was a word that told the reader exactly what she wanted to say. My colleague  had prepared a slide show with some words about worms. The children were set the task to write for 10 minutes and then they would share what words they had used to say exactly what they wanted to say. She re-voiced what steps the children needed to get the perfect word and the task of writing an opening paragraph using the structure within the exemplar.

SO WHAT?

• By using an article from the real world, she gave the children the reason for writing.
• The aim of the lesson was all in the exemplar - improving the choice of  vocabulary to say exactly what you want to say.
• Although the lesson was about words she clearly made reference to paragraphing a number of times and scaffolded that thinking about the elements of a paragraph.
• The connections that she made continually to the children previous learning and language structure kept the children aware of what they were trying to achieve with their own writing. 
• Throughout the lesson, she used Think Alouds to voice her thinking so that they children had a scaffolding of the thought process needed to write a similar piece. 
• By referring back to the exemplar she gave them the structure, she used as well as her slide show to support and give the children something to refer back to.

NOW WHAT?

My next steps when teaching writing is to be more deliberate with my choice of the exemplar and how it fits with what I want the children to achieve. I really need to be more mindful when reading myself of the language conventions used and how it could work for the children in my class. Currently we are writing storylines for our Postmodern Picture Books. I can use some ideas from books within the class as a scaffolding for this. As well as that, I have been getting up to date with where the children are at using our school's writing rubric but this has a few pit falls in it for how I want to mark what they children have written. But it does give me a start for the needs in writing in my class.

I also need to be more explicit and intentional when using Think Alouds when teaching writing. By doing this I am giving the children the scaffolding they need for the thought process when writing their own piece. I really like how my colleague told the children she had stolen their author's ideas and made it her own, my boys would like that.

"A word after a word after a word is power."--Margaret Atwood

Post Modern Picture Books

Part One: What is a picture book?

It will have pictures, and simple texts. There are even picture books without text - wordless picture books. For most of the century the picture book was created for enjoyment of an audience of young people with the object of engaging them in a pleasurable experience.

32 pages - because of the binding of booklets of 8. 4 groups of 8 being sewn together. 

A picture book combines 2 forms of communication both visual and verbal. The ability to tell 2 stories at once. The marriage of text and illustrations.

Postmodern Literature - Questions what a picture book is - using these will create critical readers. What could happen differently??

Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the factors that shaped modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by reactions of horror to World War 

Postmodernism is a broad movement that developed in the mid- to late-20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture, and criticism and that marked a departure from modernism. The term has also more generally been applied to the historical era following modernity and the tendencies of this era.

Ontological plurality - not one way of doing anything

Postmodern Picture books

Revision a traditional tale - using a range of font, shape size 

(what will it look like in your own planning), multiple points of view, perspectives, 

breaking boundaries in genre, typographic exploration, (words), parody

Book list

Seven Blind Mice - Ed Young
The Book Just Ate my Dog - Richard Byrne
Wacko Kakapo - Yvonne Morrison
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs - Jon Scieszka
Do not Open this Book - Michaela Muntean
The Three Little Lambs - Sher Foley
The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-Be - Mini Grey
Shhh! - Sally Grindley
The Jolly Postman and Other People’s Letters - Janet and Allan Ahlberg
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors - Drew Daywalt
Help the Wolf is coming - Ramadier and Bourgeau
Help, We Need a Title - Henri Tullet
Dear Mrs. La Rue. Letters from Obedience School - Mark Teague
Trev and the Kauri Tree - Chris Gurney
Voices in the Park - Anthony Browne
The Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Tales - Jon Sciezka
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book - Lauren Child
The Wolf’s Story - Toby Forward
The Boring Book - Vasanti Unka
Little Mouse’s Book of Big Fears - Emily Gravett
The Three Pigs - David Weisner
Battle Bunny - Jon Scieszka
December 2017 choices
Tickle my Ears – Jorg Huhle
Help the Wolf is Coming - Cedric Ramadier and Vincent Bourgeau
I am the Wolf and Here I Come - Benedicte Guettier
Donkeys - Adelheid Dahimène
Wolfy - Grégoire Solotareff
Luther and the Cloudmakers – Kyle Mewburn

Can you Whistle Johanna? – Ulf Stark
The Noisy Book - Soledad Bravi
The Slant Book - Peter Newell
King and King – Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland
Prince Cinders – Babette Cole
Princess Smartypants – Babette Cole
Promised Land – Adam Reynolds and Chaz Harris
The Paperbag Princess – Robert Munsch
The Royal Heart – Gregory McGoon
Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak
Harold and the Purple Crayon – Crocket Johnson (published 1955)
Journey – Aaron Becker
Lines – Sue Lee
The Story of the Little Mouse Trapped in a Book – Monique Felix
Wolves – Emily Gravett
The Pain and the Great One – Judy Blume
Voices in the Park – Anthony Browne
The Tunnel – Anthony Browne
Willy’s Pictures – Anthony Browne
The Monster at the End of this Book – Jon Stone
Not Now Bernard! – David McKee
Another Monster at the End of this Book – Jon Stone
Parsley Rabbits’s Book about Books – Frances Watts and David Legge
Little Red Riding Hood (Not Quite) – Yvonne Morrison and Donovan Bixley
The Three Little Bears (Sort of) – Yvonne Morrison and Donovan Bixley
Wait! No Paint! – Bruce Whatley
Art and Max – Davis Wiesner
Alice in Wonderland – Suzy Lee
Hide and Seek – Anthony Browne
Automaton – Gary Crew
Press Here – Heave Tullet
Selma - Jutta Bauer
My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes - Eve Sutton
The Conquerors – Davis McKee
The Rabbits – Shaun Tan
Who Needs Donuts? – M. Stamaty
The Red Tree – Shaun Tan
The Arrival – Shaun Tan
The Day the Crayons Quit – Drew Daywalt
Jim and he Beanstalk – Raymond Briggs
When the Wind Blows – Raymond Briggs
Fungas the Bogeyman – Raymond Briggs
Elephant Elements – F. Pittau and B Gervais
Orange Pear Apple Bear – Emily Gravett
Baba Smart Sheep – Mark Sommerset
The Book with No Pictures – BJ Novak
Don’t Cross the Line – Isabel Minhos Martins
Duck’s Vacation – Gilad Soffer
Hello Red Fox – Eric Carle
Help! We Need a Title – Herve Tullet
It’s a Book – Lane Smith
Jim Curious, A Voyage to the Heart of the Sea – Matthias Picard
Mirror – Jeannie Baker
Mix it Up - Herve Tullet
Open the Little Book – Jesse Klausmeier
Plant the Tiny Seed – Christie Matheson
Press Here – Herve Tullet
Previously – Allan Ahlberg
Tap to Play! – Salina Yoon
The Bear Who Wasn’t There – LeUyen Pham
The Hole – Oyvind Torseter
The Other Side – Ivan Banyai
There’s a Moose on the Loose – Lucy Feather
This is not a Book - Jean Jullien
We are in a Book - Mo Willems
What’s that Noise (This Book is Calling You...) – Isabel Minhos Martins
Zoom and Re-Zoom – Istvan Banyai
Do Not Open This Book! – Andy Lee
Please, Open This Book! - Adam Lehrhaupt
This is a Ball – Beck and Matt Stanton
Did you Take the B from my ook? – Beck and Matt Stanton
Bathtime for Little Rabbit – Jorg Muhle

Julia Marshall from Gecko Press 

Possible ideas for publishing a book - Books in Homes

• Whole class to make a whole book, everyone has contributed
• Part of a book , to make a whole book
• With a buddy - illustrator and author
• Section/ section of a page
• Every child to have representation

Great story - beginning, middle and end. 

Each book show trigger emotion, makes you want to read them over and over again. 

Child centred - child sees one thing, an adult sees another thing

You believe it - interact...

A good book is a book you like

Use a range of colour for mood
Use the pictures from a book - using a page form a book and make a book - If I was a banana...
Illustrator helps the book to become the best book it can be...

Think about size - board books, 32, 16, 8 pages long, colour.
Flaps, no flaps. copyright?

Who is for?

Appraisal Review

WHAT?
This week I worked with my DP to go through my Appraisal, it was rewarding and confusing at the same time. The rewards were for the work that I have been given vast amounts of time to (Mindlab) have paid off. It wasn't my intention when I signed up for Mindlab but looking back I can see how my practice has changed, and now how I work to as a more reflective practitioner and continually make more mindful changes with evidence not just hunches. It was great to hear from another person's point of view what they have noticed and where they think I next to place my energies.

The confusion for me is how do I incorporate the suggestion of being more culturally responsive to my pedagogy. This is not being more aware of the Maori culture and practices but being aware of what each individual needs and brings to the classroom environment. We all have our own cultural practices that are specific to each family, household, their background and beliefs.

An example of this - a parent has just enrolled her daughter into a new entrant class and has told the teacher that she will not be buying a book bag as she will not be listening to her child read each night as their life is too busy so it won't be happening. As a teacher this is fairly shocking as one of the ways to improve children's reading is to work on their reading mileage. So the more they can read outside of the classroom instruction, they more they can get to grips with reading. The parent has told the teacher her point of view now the teacher will need to find other ways to ensure the child still progresses in reading without relying on the 'usual' ways. The teacher needs to be responsive to the beliefs of that family and adapt her planning to do so.

SO WHAT?

How do you provide culturally relevant programmes for all of your learners, giving our diverse they are?

How do you deliberately support your students to make connections with the concepts they are learning through planning and implementation?

These are the questions that I hope to work on as the year progresses. I have been made more aware of the children's each individual needs and and what they bring to the classroom environment through the PEP (Personalised Education Plans) and through the meetings with parents. My task now is to be more deliberate in how I cater for these in my classroom programme. I do have a tricky class with a vast spread of levels with 2 autistic children, 2 ESOL, 2 struggling learners and on the flip side children working at Stage 7 for Numeracy, 3B for writing and reading like 12 year olds in a Year 4 class. I have concerns how I am extending those at the higher levels and not 'dumbing' down the learning using a whole class approach.

Bobbie Hunter states that it comes down ensuring everybody has an opportunity to participate. She says that I must give a voice to the learners and make them realise that they need realise that they have many voices - multiple voices. Where they speak at home, at church, on the sports field, with their mates, during games and competing. It is important for them to learn how their voice fits in the classroom and they can start to learn with purpose, and that success means everybody alongside you gets to understand what you understand. This also works alongside what I want to achieve with embedding more oral language in my classroom programme.

NOW WHAT?
I need to be more aware of and understand both quantitative and qualitative data and collect it in a more systematic way in order to get a 'holistic' picture of the individuals in my class, including:

• student achievement data - achievement data
• demographic data - trends in student population and learning needs, profiles, cultural needs
• programme data - instructional practice
• perceptual data - student, whanau voice, community surveys

Tu Rangatira English 2010 on page 14 has a scaffold I would like to embed in my practice such as being an advocate who promotes the development and implements a range of strategies and plans that help children to realise their potential and to succeed as Maori and as individuals.

Being more deliberate in my planning, making notes on the reasons for using mixed ability groups, Talk Moves and using the children's individual learning goals will help me to get some way to making in roads into be more 'culturally responsive, I hope.

References

Bobbie Hunter: Maths belongs in every culture - E-Tangata Retrieved from https://e-tangata.co.nz/korero/bobbie-hunter-maths-belongs-in-every-culture/

Ministry of Education (MOE), Tü Rangatira: Mäori Medium Educational Leadership sets out a framework for kura leaders, Huia Publishers, 2010.

Embedding Oral Language Across the Cirrculum

What?

As part of an optional PD we were given a chance to take part in a PD session with the gurus of Literacy – Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey. They spoke about the imporatnace of building an oral language filled classroom, where children are encouraged to talk to each other, share their opinions and make statemnet on whethter or not they agree or disagrre with the topic, or others points of view.  They discussed how the evidence of a good oral language programme can facilitate good written language skils.

We were given a variety of ways to incorporate oral language into our literacy programme – through questioning during reading, using ‘talk moves’ and making more opportunities within your learning programme for ‘Think-Pair-Share.  There were  slides showing ideas for using ice blocks sticks to prompt children to repsond to the questions so that you know that they are becoming more ‘active listeners’. By encouarged to be more active when listening will in turn, create more engagement. Some ideas to do this are – Think Pair Share (with a buddy), Think Pair Square ( 2 sets of buddies) or Think Pair Record (using a form of recording the other person’s ideas – graphic organiser, video, Seesaw photo and comment/caption). I also liked the idea of their question tools – photocopied sliders with question prompts, using open and closed question starters.

So What?

The benefits as tracked by Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey with their work in some South Auckland schools, were that the children came to school using one word answers and that by encouraging them to speak in whole sentences, the writing improved.  I could see in the video that many of the children were of Asian, Pacifica and mostly Maori descent, I can appreciate that for ESOL children and for children with background where the language may be somewhat poor, there would be a greater need for the children to speak in whole sentences. 

In one of the videos, a teacher had used a ‘no-hands’ policy, where children could say their point of view but there was no hands up waiting for turns, the children needed to wait for a brek in the conversation and speak. There were time when 2 children started at the same time, and one would stop. There was very little ‘Teacher- Talk”, one class the teacher did interject to pose another point of view and to get others to contribute. It was amazing that the same children weren’t always speaking, was this because it was rehearsed for the video, being a small class of 20, or because the teacher has really worked on creating a classroom culture where speaking and active listening is the norm?

What next?

One thing that I have changed already is that I have stuck stickers on the ends of my ice block sticks so I turn them now instead of taking them out.  After Louise mentioned that one teacher had done that because when the children had been asked about the use of the iceblocks sticks, they said that if the their name had been called then they didn’t need to listen. Another tip that I took was, to use buddy time for my warm ups for maths, whereas before I would call out the question and the children would manipulate the digit cards, now they work with a buddy to improve their number knowledge. It has given me more time to rove and check-in with those who need help.

Also I need to create a classroom culture of more active listeners. To do this I need to make more opportunities for the children to ‘talk’ and ‘share’. I liked the ideas of using moreThink Pair Share (with a buddy), Think Pair Square (2 sets of buddies) or Think Pair Record (using a form of recording the other person’s ideas – graphic organiser, note taking,, video, Seesaw photo and comment/caption).  The sharing part needs to be a bigger focus to create active listeners by telling the children that they need to be listening to what is said as they will sharing their ‘buddies’ ideas.   Using Seesaw and videos such as a news cast on the views of the group – not their own views. I am thinking that I could use this as a platform to create pieces of writing to persuade later in the term to work with our universal theme of conflict.

Another tip - Try One Thing for One Month in One Subject. So let’s see what happens...

Week 32 - Key change in Reflective Practice

Look back and reflect, so you can move forward.

Initially, I was reluctant to give up 4 hours of my precious time to Mindlab for the first 16 weeks and the November start was also a time when I was still on crutches due to a ruptured Achilles tendon that I had done in September.  I travelled by mobility scooter for the first 5 weeks at least. I had signed up with 2 colleagues from school and we are all from different levels of the school, experience and roles – a deputy principal,  a team leader and a recently graduated teacher - a mixed bunch.

Overall, I enjoyed the first 16 weeks of the course particularly the face to face with like minded people and having time to collaborate with them each week. I enjoyed the hands on activities, the laughs, frustrations and celebrations. I enjoyed being able to learn about and try new apps and online web2 tools and trialing some of these in my classroom. I am still on this journey and am looking forward to our schools next couple of terms,  where my team and myself are planning and exploring the universal theme of conflict through games and gaming for our cohort. The self directed part of the course I found very rich and relevant, by having a very clever colleague to work with, who willingly shared ideas and suggested possible changes in my practice and that of my team made this thought provoking to say the least. He has become a great friend and mentor and has helped me navigate through some challenges in my professional life for which I am forever grateful.

An eye-opener for me was the discovery of all the different types of leadership styles and how these can be manipulated through the context, content and the people involved. At one stage, I was put on the spot by my DP, who asked what ‘leadership style’ is needed to get teachers on board regarding the new play-based learning another team leader was trying to make happen with her team. I think I amazed myself with my quick response and my reasons for stating them. Leadership isn’t something that I believe has a label, as teachers were are all leaders of learning and that we all will take on roles on leading the learning with children, colleagues and the wider community, especially with advent of the five potentially disruptive emerging trends.

What is in store for our students in the future? Technology is the way of the future yet adults still view it differently than that of our children. Currently many of our kids are more than happy to use technology for entertainment, much to the dismay of those parents who have forked out for new devices and still want to know what is the learning. Technology is a tool,  I’m sure when we changed from ‘chalk and talk’ the lament was the same – How will they learn? How will it prepare them for the future? It really is scary to think we are teaching students and preparing them for jobs that don't even exist yet or do exist yet struggle to find employees to fill the roles. We, as educators need to be flexible in our approach, be open to up-skilling, be a‘guide on the side’ (King, 1993) and enjoy the ride.

Osterman and Kottkamp’s (1993) states the contrast between the traditional approach resulting in knowledge acquisition versus reflective practice model leading to change in behaviours via self-awareness.  Being reflective practitioner as all teachers are, I  have come to realise since beginning Mindlab  that this has been mostly in my own head. I am now more conscious of when taking part in any PD or reading professional literature, observing another colleague teach or even a post on Facebook that grabs my attention - how important it is for me to record my reflections of my own practice and what I can take from these experiences. There have been times recently that have been able to share my reflections for the benefit of others, I am quite proud of how far I have come with this change in my practice which can only help with the new Our Code, Our Standards (Education Council, 2018) that my school is working on to guide our appraisal process this year.

So, what next? Having more time to invest in my family and my school team, without the bounds of study will be helpful in order to create more work-life balance. Without my patient husband who has been my rock and listened to me wane on and on about Mindlab, I wouldn’t have been able to start on this journey, never mind complete it.  Although Mindlab has peaked my curiosity on what I need to take on as far as my own personal growth. I am very grateful to my colleagues who have I have worked with, supported my thoughts and encouraged me on my learning journey…it is only the beginning.

References

Bolstad, R. & MacDonald,J.(2016). An analysis of participant blogs supplemented by teacher interviews. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

King, A. (1993). From sage on the stage to guide on the side. College teaching, 41(1), 30-35. Retrieved from: https://faculty.washington.edu/kate1/ewExternalFiles/SageOnTheStage.pdf

Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California.Corwin Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.itslifejimbutn otasweknowit.org.uk/files

Ministry of Education (2017). Our code, our standards. Retrieved fromhttps://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards

Week 31 - INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS

What?

My understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness is that we have come along way in my 28 years of teaching but there is still a need for continued improvement of our practice as educators. Being of European heritage, I am embarrassed by the racial discrimination of my forefathers and early settlers, who wanted to create a place like home, and brought their Euro-centric vision to our shores and gave in to racism and 'haves' and the 'have nots'. Although we are becoming more aware of this there is still ignorance and discrimination in our society.

Before the signing of the Treaty, the Māori conflicts with European settlers of New Zealand, caused huge gaps in the understanding of each other’s cultures. Recently, New Zealand has worked overtime to  undo wrong doings and build respect, grow understanding and listen to the Indigenous Māori and Pacific Island people of our land. This began with better understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi to make New Zealand a bi-cultural nation.

The teaching profession has embraced this and states in Our Code, Our Standards (Education Council, 2018) that we will maintain public trust and confidence in the teaching profession by demonstrating a commitment to tangata whenuatanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership in the learning environment.

So what?

Using Milne’s presentation (CORE Education, 2017) outlines the stages of culturally sustaining practice to reflect on where our school is at - we can identify that although we are currently exploring ways to deepen our cultural responsiveness  as educators.  We need to continue to explore ways to assist our Māori children to learn as Māori and encourage them to become experts to lead the learning in our classrooms.  Our school is a school with a developing identity. Our school by sheer number is the primary school that educates the highest number of Māori students on the east side in Rotorua, Our Learning at Lynmore Cirrculum (Lynmore, 2017) states that -

We believe that Māori deserve education success as Māori through:

• realising each students potential

• identifying rich opportunities for success

• providing a responsive education to all learners

• collaborating and co-constructing

• celebrating indigeneity and distinctiveness

It is also important for all of our students, including our Māori students, to

appreciate the significance of tangata whenua by becoming increasingly familiar with tikanga. This develops a cultural understanding for our non-Māori students and support Māori students by further strengthening their identities.

 Milne’s action continuum placed our school when I began to work there 5 years ago in the blue box, which was mainly due to the high decile and being on the “white’ side of town. With a massive change of staff and a willingness to be more  culturally responsive, by being educated with marae stays, courses in Te Reo and the Māori culture, and the employment of a kaiawhina, as well as the local kaumatua now having a position on our BOT, which have all been instigated by our management team, our school is working toward the green box… but we still have a long way to go and it will be a continuing process to get there.

What next?

To continue to move along Milne's continuum we must ensure that we continue to challenge our perspectives and address what we can to be more culturally response. We will work to achieve this at our school by:

·      Caring for all our learners and staff vast cultural backgrounds and make an effort to know about their cultures. 

·      Use expertise for our learning experiences from our vast cultural community

·      Allow our learners to draw on their own experiences

·  Continue to engage with family and whanau and the wider community through our Seesaw and encourage whanau feedback

·      Use constant and timely feedback and feedforward for all learners formally and informally. 

·      Expect and celebrate success of all learners, including staff. 

References 

Anderson, M., Doyle, J., Parkinson, A., & Te Kiri, C. Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki.

Bucher, R. (2008). Building cultural intelligence (CQ): Nine Megaskills. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.

Education Council New Zealand / Matatū Aotearoa (2017). Our Code Our Standards: Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education.

Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved fromhttps://vimeo.com/49992994

Lynmore Primary School – Policies and Procedures Manual (updated March 2018)

Milne, B.A. (2013). Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. (Doctoral Thesis, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10289/7868