Midwinter Hui
8th July 2021: 8:30-3pm
"Rising to the challenge"
This year's Midwinter Hui had a slightly different format of four exciting day-long workshops held in different locations. This allowed our staff across our Kāhui Ako to dig deeper into an area that interests them.
The four workshops were based at the following kura:
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St Bernard's School, Brooklyn
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St Catherine's College, Kilbirnie
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Cardinal McKeefry School, Wilton
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St Mary's College, Thorndon
Staff had a fantastic day and we are very grateful to each of our presenters. Have a read of the amazing topics that staff were able to tap into below!
“Wellbeing:
Take charge of your wellbeing - moving from awareness to action”
KATH DELAHUNTY -
CORE EDUCATION
“Restorative Practice:
forming strong learning relationships, based on mutual respect and understanding”
GREG JANSEN & RICH MATLA -
LEADERSHIP LAB
“Effective Evaluative Practice:
How do we know we are making a difference?”
BEN LAYBOURN - EVALUATION ASSOCIATES
“Culturally Sustaining Practice: How much change are we really prepared to make?”
ANN MILNE
Outline of the four sessions:
“Wellbeing: Take charge of your wellbeing - moving from awareness to action”
KATH DELAHUNTY - CORE EDUCATION
A lot of research and public health messaging over the last few years highlights the importance of knowing about and ensuring we attend to our wellbeing. Sometimes our day-to-day realities challenge our best intentions in this wellbeing space, our knowledge does not always result in tangible wellbeing-boosting action! During this workshop we will explore three areas: A, B, C - Assess, Boost, Create - to help us move from wellbeing awareness to personal wellbeing action.
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Assess: Identify and explore how and when you use your strengths.
Explore some tools/frameworks to help you take practical action in areas of your life where you are feeling depleted or stuck. -
Boost: An opportunity to explore some activities that relax, reset & recharge you.
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Create: Use the information you gather in Parts 1 & 2 to create a personal wellbeing action plan. Your practical plan will guide you to ‘rise to the challenge’ of continuing to take small steps to boost and build your wellbeing in 2022 and beyond.
This workshop will provide opportunities to:
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work as a whole group
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have small group and partner kōrero (discussion)
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work /reflect by yourself
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learn about and trial some practical tools and frameworks
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choose activities that interest you to boost your wellbeing
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develop an action focused personal wellbeing plan
I look forward to working with you, during this day of supporting and boosting your wellbeing in specific, practical ways.
“Restorative Practice: forming strong learning relationships based on mutual respect and understanding ”
GREG JANSEN & RICH MATLA - LEADERSHIP LAB
Restorative Practice is a relational approach to managing school life grounded in beliefs about equality, dignity, mana and the potential of all people. This day will provide the Kāhui Ako with an opportunity for all participants to explore and deepen their understanding, experiences and skills of Restorative Practices, and how these help grow highly effective Relational Learning Cultures within their kura.
The structure of the day will provide sessions where we are learning together, connecting, sharing practice and experiences of restorative practice, and learn at a level that suits your background in this area.
For those newer to Restorative Practice we will explore the foundational components, philosophy and frameworks that underpin the practices and the everyday practical applications. For those who have existing experience and knowledge we will have sessions to deepen their practice and wrestle with some of the complexities and challenges of Restorative Practice moving forward.
Session 1
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Whakawhānaungatanga
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Reflecting - looking in
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Sharing Experiences - the good, the bad, and the ugly
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Creating a common language
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Relational Environmental scan - exploring our school / center contexts
Session 2 (Split Plenary)
Restorative 101
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Unpacking the Restorative Matrix & exploring scenarios
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Reflecting on the personal reactions - our defaults & drivers
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Moving from Telling / Answering to Asking
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Understanding the Pyramid of Restorative Practices
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Strategies for keeping the small stuff small
Session 3
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Strengthen our common language - reciprocal learning; 101 - 201, 201 - 101
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Restorative Conversations - using scripts to guide practice
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Transactional Analysis - Staying in the Adult
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School / Center reflection
Restorative 201
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Exploring the What / How / Why of Restorative Practice
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Understanding the triggers of our default positions
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Supporting our staff into best practices
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Restorative Audits - What shape are we in?
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The Restorative Archway - supporting integrity & fidelity of our practice
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Troubleshooting more complex situations
“Effective Evaluative Practice: How do we know we are making a difference?”
BEN LAYBOURN - EVALUATION ASSOCIATES
In this workshop today you will have the opportunity to answer that question. We will spend the day
delving into evaluative practice and what that looks like for you as a teacher and/or leader. Evaluative
capability is a key component of knowing whether you are making a difference for your ākonga. Where are we going? How are we going? Where to next? These three questions catalyse inquiry and provoke learning conversations which equals evaluative capability. Together we will explore evaluative practices that help you to focus on teacher/leader actions that will lift students’ capability, progress, and achievement.
Session 1: 9.00-10:30 – Evaluating Minute by Minute
The first session will focus on your capabilities to evaluate and check that what you do in your classroom is making a difference. We will be hands on as we explore some examples of students work to help identify learning needs and next steps for teaching and learning. We will spend time discussing the use of assessment tools for a student, a group, or cohort. We will also explore how to figure out with your students if what you are doing is working for them. What sorts of questions to ask and different ways to do this? This will lead us to discussions on how to shape the learning of a student, so they are empowered to engage deeper with the learning, with a focus on their capabilities.
Session 2: 11:00-12:30 – The Power of Observation and Conversation
In session two we will explore one of the key components of evaluation - receiving and responding to feedback. We will model and explain effective practices of how to observe and how to shape your own classroom observation, so it is most useful to you. This will also be linked to a framework of teacher capability. We will be exploring the ‘How are we going and where are we going?’ questions.
Session 3: 1:30-3:00 – Use the tools all around you!
In the final session of the day, we will consider the use of other frameworks, tools, and ways of evaluating practice to identify where to next. You will explore which tools are useful for you in your practice and how they support you to evaluate your students’ progress and achievement.
The outcome of this workshop is that you walk away confident that you can evaluate your practice and student progress or evaluate a specific intervention in learning.
“Culturally Sustaining Practice: How much change are we really prepared to make?”
DR ANN MILNE MNZM, PhD
Dr Ann Milne is a Pākehā educator, writer, researcher, and former school principal whose work challenges the
whiteness of our education system and focuses on a critically conscious, culturally sustaining learning
approach centred on students' cultural identities. Her book, Coloring in the White Spaces: Reclaiming Cultural
Identity in Whitestream Schools, was published in 2016 and Ann’s services to education were recognised in 2020 when she was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Since retiring from her principal’s role in 2016,Ann has established Ann Milne Education and Ann Milne Online to share her long leadership experience in this area with schools and institutions who want to think differently about their practice.
Abstract for the day:
The day will move participants on from my keynote in July 2021. Participants will discuss where their schools and their thinking are currently, where are their white spaces, what is their goal, how can they get there, and what does this look like in practice?
Overview of the day:
As you have planned with your teams for this year, is 2022 looking like business-as-usual or even, with contingencies in place for keeping children as safe as possible from Covid, a tweaked version of that familiar ‘normal’? The truth is that Māori, and the other students we minoritise never have been, and never will be, safe in that normal. For these young people it’s “distance” learning all the time, whether the lessons are coming via an app on a laptop, or Mum’s phone, or directly from the teacher standing in front of you, it’s all disconnected.
When our ‘normal’ Western, whitestream model of schooling is the problem, school leaders and teachers have both the responsibility, and the unique opportunity to lead us away from this practice. But how much change are we really prepared to make? Why are better literacy, numeracy, or NCEA scores simply not good enough? Why don’t our one-off days or weeks, the te reo Māori labels, the murals or carvings dotted around our schools, or our kapa haka ‘improve’ our achievement levels? How does a critically conscious, culturally sustaining curriculum really make a difference? What is it and what is it not?
Session 1:
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Presentation: Leading out of White Spaces (30 - 40 mins)
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a recap of my 2021 keynote as a refresher and for those who didn’t hear it
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Discussion (in groups)
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What is the situation now in my class/school?
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Reporting back – discussion
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Session 2:
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Workshop 1: Swimming with the Sharks – Identifying your White Spaces
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Discussion and action planning
Session 3:
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Workshop 2: How’s your Critical Consciousness?
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Critical consciousness is one of four ‘pou’ or principles underpinning our national PLD priorities (along with Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Kaupapa Māori, and Inclusion). What is it and how is it different from critical thinking?
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How can you change your curriculum planning to embed critical pedagogy and practice?
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