Viewing the Learning Through Seesaw

Having our families involved in the learning process is  important to us. That's why we started using Seesaw. It's an easy way for our students to share and keep a record of what they are learning. 



This gives 

• You the mobile ability to see your child's learning in real time.
• Your child ownership of their learning journey which they are able to share with you
• The ability to interact and reply to comments made by your child and your child's teacher, in real time, around their learning.
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We're excited about how this allows us (your child and the teacher) to connect you with their progress and achievement across the curriculum. Seesaw is one example of how we are attempting to give you a real look into the learning that happens everyday for your child.

The type and number of posts in Seesaw will depend on a student's age and classroom, but the purpose remains the same across the school; to allow students to keep a record of their learning and to share as they learn.
parents receive notification of posts through the parent app, free to download on any platform.

Passive to Active Learners

We have been spending a lot of time discussing and developing a shared understanding of what it means to be a learner at Ngaere School.

We want our students to 'own' their learning; to know what they are learning and why they are learning it; to know what 'comes next' (learning does not stop); to be able to describe how they are progressing and how they know they are progressing. We want them to be able to say they are in charge of their learning, that they know and regulate their learning progress and pathway.

We need to move our students from 'passive learners' to 'active learners' with the skills and competencies to manage their own learning journeys. We need our students to be partners in learning focused relationships with their teachers.

We are working alongside 'expert' Ben Laybourne from Evaluation Associates as we explore turning this into reality. Ben is also working with other schools in our Kahui Ako (Community of Learning).

Holiday Workshop

A very worthwhile day spent in the company of other teachers from our Kahui Ako (Community of Learning) with presenter Bek Galloway, talking about student agency. We are on the journey to develop student ownership of learning, not just at Ngaere School but across the schools in our community.

Staff Meeting

Yesterday afternoon our Maths facilitator, Kylie talked us through our own learning journeys with the use of 'Learning Maps'. She had used this tool with groups of children from all classes as she helped us gather evidence as to how 'agentic' our learners are.

The Learner maps helped us think and talk about ourselves as learners - who helps us, what helps us, what we can do to help ourselves.

We are all on different parts of our own journeys but ultimately, we are all learners together!

He waka eke noa!

Learner Agency

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend an afterschool workshop for teachers with Bek Galloway, an enthusiastic educational consultant and facilitator. The workshop was around developing learner agency, where learners take ownership, make decisions and drive their learning to the degree that works best for them. This is what we want for our Ngaere learners!
We want our learners to be involved in planning and making decisions about their learning; to identify their needs; initiate new learning; reflect and assess the impact; to be excited about their schooling.
This is the journey we are on... next step - all staff will attend a workshop, initiated through our community of Learning group in the July school holiday break.

from Bek Galloway's website  http://bekgalloway.co.nz/

What do teachers get up to in the holidays?

Last day of the holidays and teachers are looking very relaxed! 

These five, plus the photographer were in attendance at a professional learning workshop in New Plymouth today. 

Paid Union Meetings

This month teachers from our school, along with teachers and principals from throughout NZ met to discuss a number of initiatives to ensure that all children going to school are able to learn the skills and abilities to grow up happy and productive in the 21st century; quality teaching for every child.

Over the past 6 years there has been a 40% drop in the number of people going in to teacher training with a large number leaving the profession within 5 years. This has contributed to a significant shortage of teachers nationwide. If we are to ensure quality teaching for every child then something must be done to make teaching an attractive and sustainable career option for both men and women.

Teachers have huge workloads; ensuring they are planned, ready to teach what children in their care need to learn, with a variety of learning needs and a variety of behaviours, from a variety of backgrounds, as well as keeping up with school expectations and their own learning. There just aren't enough hours in the day nor resources available for supporting teachers to support students with additional learning needs. It has become a daily struggle for some teachers.

"Teachers and principals have consistently raised high workloads, lack of support for students with additional learning and behavioural needs, and undervaluing of the profession as key issues over the last few years. We have tried to address these issues through previous rounds of negotiations and through work programmes.

Although we've made some progress, it has been insufficient to address the deep-seated and fundamental issues facing our profession. This has led to a crisis in recruitment and retention of teachers and principals.

So our Kua Tae Te Wā/It’s Time campaign has been launched to achieve the significant investment we need so that all children can reach their potential, and teaching is an attractive, valued and well-supported profession.

Together we need to build strong community support to ensure the government understands that this crisis can only be solved by major investment."

(from NZEI Website)

So, as a staff, we support the 'Kua tae te wa - it's time' NZEI Te Riu Roa objectives that they will be taking into negotiation -

• to have significant pay increases to address the teacher shortage and retention issues
• to have significant increases to staffing available to all schools to support leaders and teachers working with those with additional learning needs.
• to create meaningful career options for teachers and principals to make it more attractive as a career choice

We appreciate your support. If we want to ensure a world class education for all our children, we deserve to be recognised for providing it! Teachers are worth it! Your children are worth it!