2024 MPI

 Day 1 : Maths is Core to Learning

The first cohort for Mathematics Practice Intensive launched today!  We had a very full day learning about how maths is core to learning and getting a good understanding of where we are headed in this professional learning adventure.

We began our day with introductions and learning a little bit about each other.  Due to the fact that it is a Manaiakalani initiative and I am in my fifth year of teaching in a Manaiakalani school, some of the names and faces were familiar.  Dorothy shared some of Manaiakalani's Kaupapa and Shared Pedagogy, which is always a good reminder of where this all started and how lucky we are to be on this journey together.  Something that has stuck with me from this is the fact that we need to get these students learning, we need to find out how to do this in the best possible way and we need to do it now.

We started with thinking about what the profile is of a good mathematician.  The attributes were then shared with us which included wonderful vocabulary such as creatively, critically, logically, structure, organise, processing, investigate, understand and the list goes on.  I was thinking about how lots of these are how we could describe what we want from all areas of the curriculum.

Looking at Mathematics across the Curriculum was very interesting.  A wee bonus was finding out that all along on NZ Maths there have been resources, lesson plans etc. that are well thought out series of lessons that do just that - link maths across different curriculum areas.  This will definitely be something I will revisit as I get the big picture of where I am headed sorted.

We had several texts shared with us to choose one to read.  I chose to read Making Connections Strengthens Learning/Mathematics Framework. 

Unless we focus on making connections, “students may view their learning of maths as the accumulation of unrelated and discrete ideas.” (Project Math).

So essentially we need to be helping students make connections between not only maths topics and concepts but also between maths and other curriculum areas, and maths and everyday life. (This reading also included some really simple ways to make connections.)

As I head away to digest the day's material I am very excited about the rich and informative content that we have had shared with us today.  

Looking back at MIT 2023

This year I was very fortunate to be a part of the Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers 2023. I was one of five other teachers from around New Zealand to take part in this project this year. 

We began our journey in Omaha, getting to know each other and starting with a Design Thinking Process to help us make a start and to work out what we might want to work on for the duration of the year.  We achieved so much in these couple of days and we felt excited and ready to get started on our projects.  Each term we met in Auckland at KPMG to share our progress and work through any issues we were having with our fellow MIT colleages. 

At the beginning of the Term 3 holidays we headed to the Bay of Islands to present our projects to the Bay of Islands Summit attendees.  Then a few weeks after that we were on stage again, this time presenting at the Principals' Wānanga.

My project was focused on oral language and my tool is called Talk the Talk and includes lots of ideas for oral language activities that can be used in the classroom. 

Click on the speech bubbles to look back at my journey and to also see my Talk the Talk tool.

Bay of Islands Summit 2023

The summit, where we would present our projects, had seemed almost like a surreal, something in the very distance, event.  Then all of a sudden it was the end of Term 3 and we were all travelling to the Bay of Islands to be part of the Bay of Islands Summit and present our projects to the world...well at least to the summit attendees! 

We were lucky enough to travel to the Bay of Islands on the Saturday and stay in Paihia, which was very central to everywhere that we needed to be.  We did a bit of sightseeing as well as helping with some administrative jobs for the summit.  We also had a run through of our Pecha Kucha presentations.  A Pecha Kucha is a presentation where your slides automatically change every 20 seconds so you have to be pretty direct with what you are sharing, no waffling!

We were also able to attend some of the workshops while at the summit.  I attended Creating Animations in Photopea with Hannah and Kelsey, Getting Creative with Mathematics and Statistics with Donna, DFI Reboot : Media with Vicki, He pepeha matihiko with Makaore and He aha Mahimaina?/What is Minecraft? with Vivian.  The pepeha workshop with Makaore really stuck with me and I am going to use what he shared with us at the beginning of next year.  Another way for students to represent themselves, their pepeha and places important to them.

On the Monday afternoon you could choose a visit or activity of some sort and I selected the visit to Waitangi.  Wow!!  It was such a valuable experience and I feel very lucky to have been able to do this.

Day 2 of the summit was the day for our presentations.  We were all pretty nervous but excited that the day had finally arrived where we could put our public speaking to the test.  Matt had ensured we were very well prepared and rehearsed.  It was something that was outside my comfort zone but I do feel pretty proud of myself for having achieved it.  There were such lovely attendees at the summit and we received such a lot of positive feedback, so that made it so worthwhile.  You can view my presentation here if you are interested.

Thank you to the Manaiakalani Network for the experience that comes with being an Innovative Teacher.  It has been such an amazing journey and I have loved it.  Next stop the Principals' Wānanga in Auckland where we do it all over again! 

KPMG Hui #3

It's the highlight of my term, meeting up with my Manaiakalani buddies once again.  Our usual meet up at Lawn Cafe for our breakfast before heading to KPMG for our Term 3 session.  As usual the lovely Justine caters to our every whim, with cheese scones and coffees, followed by a delicious and nutritious lunch.  

This session was a bit of an exciting one, where we learnt the details for the Bay of Island Summit being held in the next school holidays.  The other side of this was thinking about the fact that we would all be presenting our Pecha Kucha at this summit!  

We began with our usual feeding back and sharing where we were at with our project, had we been using it yet and what challenges we had faced.  I was feeling a little bit behind due to unexpected travel for personal reasons.  

We spent the rest of the day finding out what a Pecha Kucha is (20 slides that you speak to, 20 seconds for each slide, the slides move automatically so you can't get behind, you have to plan pretty much exactly the correct amount of chat for each slide...no pressure!!) and then beginning to draft it out.

Bring on the Bay of Islands Summit 2023!!

Here is the link for my Talk the Talk Oral Language Tool if you are keen to see what I have included in it so far and feel free to let me know what you think.

KPMG Hui #2

It was great to see everyone again.   Once again it was Lawn Cafe for breakfast and then the short walk to the KPMG building where we were greeted by the lovely Justine.  The space that we get to work in at KPMG is such a wonderful environment to be in.  It works so well for the different ways you might want to work, a variety of seating spaces and wonderful big windows, so you still feel connected with the outside world.

Our session was a chance to each share our projects and where we were currently at with them.  Wow, there has been some amazing thought and time going into these solutions.  I am really feeling like I need to give my solution some serious time to ensure I am continuing to move along the path towards it being something that will be useful in my quest to help the students in my class become more confident in the way in which they share their thoughts and ideas.

I shared my prototype with my colleagues at school and I received some positive feedback and then some good ideas on how I could go about creating my toolkit.  I need to keep in mind what solution I am trying to come up with first and foremost.  

Maiken and I got to chat together about where we were on our journey and what our solutions are at this stage.  That was a great chance to see the amazing work that Maiken had already put into her solution.

I must admit I felt quite relaxed presenting to the group.  I feel like we are definitely on this journey together and I always feel supported and know that if the group has any suggestions they will definitely share them with me.

So onwards and upwards, I need to start creating this toolkit, keeping my teaching and my students front and centre.  Keep tuning in to watch my progress.

Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher Project Update

Kia ora, I am Michelle Wilkinson, a teacher at Belfast School in a Year 5/6 class.  I am currently on the 2023 Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher journey.  At the end of last year I applied to be part of the Innovative Teacher Programme.  I was very excited to be successful in my application and at the beginning of this year we started the year long process.

Through our first hui at Omaha, which you can read about in my separate blog post here, we followed a very well structured process that ensured we left at the end of this time with our, "How might we...?" question created.  We were also able to brainstorm ideas on how we might go about creating solutions to answer this question.

My question is:

How might we explicitly teach students to effectively communicate their ideas?

My next step was to create a prototype of my solution to check with a wider audience as to the usefulness of the toolkit I was thinking about creating.  I received some very valuable feedback and some very positive comments about how useful people would find my toolkit.

My major take-away from this process was how big this solution could actually get, so I needed to be careful to be designing the solution for me first.  I also needed to be thinking about how best to organise my resources etc. in my toolkit so that when others are using it, it is easy and clear to find what they need. I am planning to create my toolkit with a range of strategies and activities to get students talking, build their confidence in oral language and make it a normal part of our school day.

I have made a start on my finished product. Here is a sneak preview of what it will look like and what it will include.

Keep checking back for updates and how successful I was in creating my Talk the Talk toolkit.

KPMG Hui #1

Reunited once more!  It was lovely to catch up with the group again at Lawn Cafe for breakfast before our first KPMG session on Monday 27th March.  We were greeted at KPMG by the lovely Justine and shown to the wonderful facilities that we will be using at each of our Auckland - KPMG sessions.

We began with a quick WWW to warm ourselves up and get our thinking on the right track.

• What has emerged to add clarity and confirmation to my thinking? Loving my HMW question to really focus in on what solution I might come up with.
• What has challenged or confronted my thinking?  Is what I am perhaps wanting to create going to be of use to anyone other than me? Are the assumptions I have made correct?
• What HMW question am I currently confirming?  How might we explicitly teach students to effectively communicate their ideas? 

Next we each shared our Prototype Planning slides that we had completed before this meeting.  This included our potential features or how the solution might work, what the solution might look like and checking our assumptions.  It was valuable to share and talk out loud, sometimes the things we have written sound quite different when we actually have to share them verbally.  I am left wondering if my solution actually matches up with my HMW question.

We were then given time to start working on a prototype of our solution.  This will be shared far and wide to get as much feedback as possible before we invest a good portion of the year creating our final product.

I am asking for feedback via this Google Form, if you happened to be interested enough to invest a little bit of your time and let me know your thoughts.😊