The Future of Learning at MAC

Recommendations for Year 9 Classes 2009

Teacher Only Day – 14/10/09

The Proposal:

Integration of subjects be changed from the current English/S.Studies foci to a programme of work written around the Science, Maths and Tecnology curriculum.

English and Social Studies will obviously still be taught but will be adapted to the new units. There may be a need for the odd unit such as Algebra, a novel study or an important aspect of Social Studies to be covered in isolation, but these would be grouped together in a block of work in a traditional management structure. This period of time could be seen also as a

Art, Drama and Music would be a three period/week option line for a third of the year.

The two languages Maori and Spanish would be a 2 period/week option line for half the year.

Phys. Ed/Health – 4 periods/week. Given this period of rapid physical growth and the changes that occur with puberty, we feel exercise is an important consideration for this age group.

Key Consideration:

Staffing. Enthusiasm for the concept is a prerequisite. There may be some staff capable of teaching several of the traditional subjects with one class. Another option would be a specialist such as a Maths teacher who teaches the whole year group. It would be desirable for staff numbers to be smaller so that a team focus can be achieved both for unit development and pastoral care.

Space. A homeroom for classes is essential with staff traveling to that homeroom rather than the current room allocation to a staff member.

Timetabling. Blocks of time rather than a period by period timetable.

Year 10 & Year 11:

Year 11 Workshop 1:

-       2 year NCEA programme – with practical learning option – motivation is key

-       Buy in from students and parents a must – themed approach

-       Direction needed from guidance people and deans to ensure learning styles catered for and students not cutting themselves off from option/pathways in the future.  Needs to have assessment pathway.

-       Scope for students to achieve at a higher level than they would in the classroom, as its an in-depth study that they are motivated by.

-       Anyone can potentially do this course, while it will be targeted at certain students it has potential to be offered to all – maybe down the track (long term) – will focus on bottom group for now to trial this, see is it going to work

-       Will look at where Snr School integration is heading

-       Marketing will be key so it is not tagged with the “cabbage class”

-       Theme ideas – OP focus, Events – production, stage challenge, Trades

-       Maybe two groups – two themes – they buy into which one they want

-       It would suit these students to have 1 facilitator (similar to homeroom)

-       Different theme or project each term, year??

-       First half of year directed by teacher, second half by student projects?

-       If a project is development and school does not have the skills resources of the community may be needed – not just teachers working with these students

-       Technology at the centre – food, materials, wood, design, ICT – and core skills come out of that.

-       Start small to get a programme in place.

Year 11 Workshop 2 – Specific outcomes:

-       Year 11 continues as is, apart from 15-20 students Hamish and Greg have been looking at.

-       This alternative programme will need good marketing – good name – to hook them in.

-       Students time split – 13hours in a core integrated area – which will cover PE, Life skills, Science, Maths, Trade/Project or theme Work Experience & Business.  Then for 12 hours they are in class with their peers doing English (literacy) and 2 options.

-       Theres lots of trade type certificates out there to look at and model from (Marcus examples)

-       Will be by invitation and interview – if not performing will get taken out.

-       This course needs progression so they can fit back into mainstream if they choose to, as their options and pathways may change.

-       Timetable at some point would need periods 3, 4 and 5 maybe on a Thursday to allow for work experience or project work.  Not a Friday, as some workplaces not as structured on a Friday.

-       Who would teach this core course? – Simon, Hamish, Rob, Alistair, Marcus, Kay, Joss,OP people – others could come and teach specific areas?

Year 10 Workshop 1:

-       Through YPP core/collaborative planning.  To look at teaching orders so skills covered when need eg % in maths when economics needs them

-       Have a shot at a theme type integration project?

-       Look at what year 9 is doing.

Year 10 Workshop 2 – specific outcomes:

-       Through YPP core/collaborative planning.

-       Look at what year 9 is doing.

-       Mini version of the Year 11 alternative programme – for Year 10’s identified to run in term 4 when seniors are gone.  It will be a taster – 4 week programme covering farming, building, plumbing, hospitality etc

-       To trail this year in week 6.

Teacher-Only Day Proposed Schedule
Wednesday 14 October

RATIONALE:

This day-long meeting is a follow-up to one held earlier in the year where the New Zealand Curriculum was considered by the assembled staff. Since then the Future Learning Action Group has considered the results of that day and have clarified the school’s focus for the next 18 months.

The values of Excellence and Innovation will come into focus through this time, as will the pedagogical strategy of Learning Integration. Minutes of the FLAG group’s meetings and the discussions and documentation surrounding these can be found permanently via the address: http://www.chris.net.nz/futurelearning

This day will focus on these aspects of the curriculum with a clear focus on decisive outcomes that will offer teachers a clear mandate to implement any new learning programmes and projects commencing in January 2010.

The Sequence of the Day

9:00am: VALUES and VISION:

Wayne will run a short session that will clarify the place of values in a school. Within this he will identify the values as defined in the New Zealand Curriculum as being adopted by Mount Aspiring College and he will also spend some time communicating the vision of the school as it currently stands.

9:30am INTEGRATION – An Introduction:

Dawn and Chris will present a quick overview of the notion of Integration as it applies to leaning pedagogy which will highlight successful forms of integration currently implemented in the school and some of the rationale for developing this further.

• Dawn will present the “Four Integration Models”
• Greg will outline the programmes in place at Wellington High School
• Chris will explain the programmes run by English/Drama/Media Studies in the senior school
• Karen will give an example of a ‘school-based diploma’ in the Enterprise domain.

10:15am BREAK ONE

10:45am WORKSHOP ONE: Match Models to Learning Levels

The assembled staff will then break into smaller working groups – divided by learning level – where the various models are explored. The intention of this process is to reach a consensus about which approach to integration would be appropriate for each Learning Level group.

Workshops will be facilitated by the following crew – a PMI type approach in relation to each integration model might be a good starter activity here. Teachers are free to work at one of these levels or roam.

• Years 7-8: Johanna and Wayne
• Year 9: Dawn and Jane
• Years 10-11: Karen, Hamish and Greg
• Years 12-13: Chris and (Lincoln, Dave?)

12:00am CONSENSUS PRESENTATION

The leaders of each Learning Level Group will present to everyone the agreed model for their group.

12:30pm LUNCH (Provided, yus!)

1:15pm WORKSHOP 2: Planning for 2010

Teachers will then be invited to join a planning group at a relevant Learning Level to their passions and interests. This group will make definite plans about how the Integration of learning can be implemented in 2010. All ideas will be on the table here, and all subjects will be invited to participate – though there is no compulsion that every subject participates at every level.

Results of this planning will be given to the timetabling team and the senior staff for official sanction and mechanical implementation.

Teachers who have chosen to work collaboratively in 2010 will then be free to continue developing their programmes independently.

2:30pm END of Teacher Only Day – back to reality.

Present: Greg, Lincoln, Hamish, KT, Dave, Jane, Angela, Jane, Marcus, Dawn, Denise, Simon, Chris

BOT vision and mission statements for consideration

Board of Trustees draft from their planning day is attached – the FLAG observations are:

• To be the best possible learning community (sounds more forceful or determined)
• To create the best learning community (no need to put the proviso of ‘possible’)
• This phrase does not appear to provide the inspiration that a vision statement ideally would. The intent is approved of, but the wording feels somewhat mundane.
• Perhaps remove the word ‘young’ – all members are learners.
• Remove “Parents” as it is implied by ‘community’.

Brief feedback from groups which have met since last meeting

• Integration Group: Main focus was the Year 9 programme as a pilot for integration. Science and Mathematics were concerned about the need for specialist teaching and learning input at these levels of the school. The classes needn’t be necessarily taught only by one teacher – but the planning could be much more integrated. Year 9 was chosen as a focus as it’s an area of the school where the students appear to be a little lost – and where they lack the skill to generalise their knowledge from one subject domain to another. This is supported by KT.
  • Lincoln was curious about what research supports the idea of need for homeroom – Andrew Fuller’s research can be cited here.
  • Dawn reminded us of the importance of the focus on the educational as well as pastoral benefit
  • Manurewa High School: this ‘homeroom’ notion right through to Year 11 proved to provide measurably improved outcomes.

• Structure Group:

Minutes from this meeting were tabled.

• Values Group: The values identified in the revised NZ Curriculum appeared solid and worth adopting. The group then looked at some of the specific values that we would focus on initially: Integrity, Excellence and Innovation were ones we decided would be worth tackling in the immediate future. Understanding of the notion of what a value is first has to be established in the school before we can discuss these in detail.
  • Some discussion followed about the nature of a value and how we treat values within the school. Questions were asked about whether a value can be fixed and inviolable

TOD Term 4 – Wednesday Week 1; Outline of Day:

• TOD: Values Discussion (A focus on what values ARE, tight and focussed – using the Curriculum values as our model)
• Year 7-9 Integration – including all subjects. (Present current problems; followed by a rationale for change; provide a set of models to work to; discussion and buy-in)

PART TWO: We also invite your feedback on the following. Please don’t feel obliged to answer every question if it is not relevant to you or you do not have an opinion on that particular issue. Any feedback would be great. 1. How ready do you feel for the introduction of the revised New Zealand curriculum? Not very ready 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ready and raring to go 8 7 4 10 10 2 9 8 2 5 7 7 7 7 8 A second Teacher Only Day is planned to prepare for the revised curriculum. What format for the day would be most useful for you? Planning of units “Yr 7 -10 very ready. Units of work have already been written that reflect the revised curriculum. Work is needed to be done on the scheme. Level 1, 2, 3 will need some serious work as new achievement standards have been written which will require a whole re think of our current programmes of work.” Working on units of work to address key competencies. work in departments with some motivational focus activity to start Going well “A clear direction from the school in terms of values and vision expectations and timeframe (include guide of where we could be or should be aiming in 2010) workshop to generate creative ideas for the school (FLAG) to consider session in depts to get ready for 2010 Working with department all day. Meeting with year level teachers ( in our teaching subjects ) to plan/adapt units of work See above comment on starting term 1 earlier. Remember what staff were like at the end of term 2 and consider the benefits of a longer break then. Alternate Te Reo ( Tuesdays ) with a “”What’s been happening in, for example, a year level, curriculum subject area – this week. We all seem to be beavering away in our own little lodges. I believe this would add value to us as individuals and to departments.” A curriculum writing day. CLUSTER DAYS WITH OTHER SCHOOLS TO LOOK AT UNIT PLAN DESIGN AND SHARING OF GOOD PRACTICE We need to have all the staff in the department available. – It may be that some departments have their teacher only day at a different time when we are looking at staff teaching over more than one curriculum area. “Even though I am nowhere ready for it, I am excited about the changes it is going to bring about. I would like us to be looking at more integration of subjects to help students see links and be better able to generalise their learning and knowledge. It is time for some change.” we need to decide the direction that MAC will go in implementing the new curriculum,. We have not even decided on our values so how can we develop new courses and resources etc SOme work as a department to prepare hard copy of what needs changing ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————– 2. Do you have any general feedback on the current daily timetable (8.35am start, 3.15pm finish, one hour periods, two breaks, etc) I think it’s working well. So no changes to suggest Good having one period after lunch. The 2 then break then 2 then lunch seems to work well “Keep 2 + 2 + 1 structure. Scrap long whanau classes, they are a pointless waste of time 99% of the time.” The breaks are long Works well. Wouldn’t want any more periods after lunch or shorter periods. A small bell to call for attention would be good. “Cannot answer yes or no universally. Longer breaks are needed between classes. Shorter lunchtime. Periods zero and period 6 and 7 timetablled into the day to provide flexibility in the use of facilities. For the way we are operating at present, the periods work very well, especially having the long mornings and short afternoons. I like having a Whanau group Yes, lets have 6 periods a day, 2 before morning tea, then 4 periods. one of the 4 periods would be lunch. This is the only way that we can make the most use of MACs resources eg computer rooms. We would have students having lunch at different times. The juniors don’t cope with long lunchtimes especially in winter so they could have half an hour, and the other half used for life skills or other activities. One hour periods is good (but we could also have one and a half hour periods for juniors as extra time in the class room.) So basically we are timetabling specialst subjects into the lunch hour. It seems silly to have all the spealialist rooms empty for the lunch hour when we are so room challenged. I prob have not explained this very well but it would work! One hour periods are good. The lunch break between lesson 4 and 5 works well. I presume the length of day is to fit with busses. I wouldn’t mind a shorter day! Not that I’m lazy but I wonder if we could be more efficient? There does seem to me to be some down-time in the system and the day is longer than it used to be here and is at the school I was at last year (8:45 start and 3:05 finish except Wed finish at 2:30!) 1 hr periods fine but for me personally I don’t mind a 55 period. Or even 50 min period sometimes. I wonder if whanau could be streamlined and maybe incorperated into something else? Like for example start 8:45 into P1, then 10:45 have whanau OR house meeting OR assembly… Yet do want to provide a family setting. The long day may in fact not be an issue but it does seem long! I would love it if the comms time started at the same time each day so I can set my watch! Maybe 11:05? Also, I would love it if the warning bell for P3 was 5 min before the period (ie 11:15) rather than 2 min before. That way all warning bells are consistent (5 min) and if kids are late to P3 I can growl them legitimately! ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————– Do you have any specific feedback about the current morning meeting / interval / staff communication time (10.45am to 11.20am) – does the system work okay, or can you suggest any improvements? The morning meeting system is fine also. I would suggest that someone looks at the amount of meetings the staff currently have to attend. Over my time of being here, the meeting workload has increased and a lot of the meetings aren’t really a productive use of time. They are almost meetings for meetings’ sake. I don’t feel the YPPs are working that well and would suggest they focus upon really looking to upskill/enhance students’ education and then implementing this in the classrooms. There is a lot of talk, but not much action. Fine, but increase the formality of them. Keep them snappy. Some staff only give notices this way and are surprised when some staff don’t know the information because they weren’t there for the meeting( 2 experiences of this so far this year). It is good to communicate but if you want people to know the information and act on it email is the best option. Do not allow assembly to interrupt the meeting time. FIRST TIME I HAVE WORKED IN THIS SYSTEM. MORNING STAFF MEETING MAY BE A CONSIDERATION. STRUCTURED ZERO PERIOD FOR SOME SUBJECTS TO RELIEVE AREAS OF SCHOOL THAT ARE IN DEMAND. MORNING MEETING COULD HAPPEN BEFORE SCHOOL. make better use of the tiem from 8.30 to 3.30. One hour periods are great. It works weel except when we have full school assembly and house activities – then the break is too short. I like that we have some morning teas that are used for meetings and that some are used for teacher tuition and that some are long morning teas. Often on the long morning teas it gives me the chance to talk with people face to face about school related things that there isn’t otherwise time for. We don’t have many opportunities to share thoughts, ideas, songs etc as a group. The staff is getting quite disjointed and I like the opportunity to hear from a wide variety of people. Does the staff comunication time need to be daily? It can be hard getting to the meetings when organising for a practical lesson next. I really like it as it is, but open to change/new ideas I think it works fine. More communication is needed when groups of students are away, teachers/spoRts coaches need to ensure lists get emailed around. ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————– 3. Reporting to parents: a. Team Up Conferences: Has this style of meeting been effective in meeting its objectives (three-way communication to learn about student strengths and weaknesses, setting goals for improved student learning)? Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes no yes yes yes yes yes yes Having interviews early on in the year is useful. It’s great to touch base with parents early on and get the ball rolling in terms of their child’s learning programme. I still wouldn’t call them T.U.C though – it is still a parent interview; the parents only want you to talk about how well their kid is doing. So they are quite full-on in that respect It has the potential to be very effective, but the majority of parents forgot their forms! Goals setting with parents and students was powerful There seems to be a better level of understanding by parents of where their students are at. We still meet the good students. A meeting with a staff member should be complusory for all students. Some with dean and other staff that have a mentoring role for the student. Whanau teachers could work if given time. 7, 8 home room. 9, 10 Whanau, 11,12, 13 with specific staff allocated and with the ability to do the job. Goal setting needs to be much wider though to involve the students whose parents do not come to the conferences. Whanau teachers probably could use some assestance to do it better It is much more valid to have students attend with parents. It is a valuable way to find out about student needs. we just need to work out how to ensure the parents/students we need/want to talk to come along. ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————– b. Mid Year Parent Interviews: Is the format and timing of these meetings okay? No yes yes yes yes yes no no yes yes yes yes These are totally unnecessary now that the T.U.Cs are in place. I have found that since T.U.Cs have been in place, there is a more open dialogue with parents. I regularly call and email my students’ parents if there are problems. So then having to have a second round of interviews is totally unnecessary – the same info is covered and it really is demanding of staff’s time. And, as always, the parents that you don’t need to see come in and they expect you to talk for 5 or so minutes when it isn’t required. I believe that if the school is to continue with two rounds of parent interviews, then perhaps the first reporting round should be ditched. Otherwise, remove T.U.Cs and put a reporting round in there. So close to reports, I found that it was not as helpful as it could have been. Only the ‘good kids’ came to see me! Closer to reports would be better and not having the two nights in the same week would be better. “Digital reporting to parents would be good. Don’t see the need for both whanau comment and deans comment – one would be enough and this would speed the process. Minor corrections should be able to be made by dean or whanau teacher and copy e-mailed to teacher whose report was corrected. Bottle of wine for least corrected teacher!” To be quite honest, my most effective meetings with parents have been the ones imediately following a phone call or email of congratulations or concern. They always raise the big picture stuff and almost always have a follow up ( useful ). An email document which must be filed by a certain date, not necessarily the same for all subjects or year levels. Start from week 6 of term 1 with year 13, say Eng, MAS, MAC. Forward comments to Dean/or other proof reader who will edit and send. Week 7, HIS, GEO, ENT. Or something similar. All done by end of term 1. Could do more than 1 year level in one week ( 13 and 7/8 – selected options ). This is just a work in progress idea. Parents want to hear sooner than at present and many staff will have also made contact by then anyway. Consider a template for the email. As we only have to report to parents once a year in written form it would be so good to have another Team-Up Conference in the middle of the year. A much more effective way of communicating to students and parent. They only achieve some benefits for some students. Parents expect different things. However there was a large group of parents who did not request interviewa. Was this because they were happy with the information in the reports. It is much more valid to have students attend with parents. It is a valuable way to find out about student needs. ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————– c. Mid Year Reports – feedback on the process for writing mid-year reports has already been sought and the style of writing reports will be discussed at the full staff meeting on 15 September. Can you suggest any new or innovative ways of reporting to parents for us to consider? The reporting cycle is a HUGE job and places a lot of stress upon staff members. There is a big variation in the style of reports (which I think is quite sloppy) and the Whanau teachers and Deans seem to have more errors to fix than previous years. Like other schools, there should be strict guidelines on the writing of reports that ALL must follow. I guess the question is; are these totally necessary? “email contact with parents. Could admin staff make parent email folders on our gmail so that we can send global messages to parents of whole classes regarding test dates, homework set, project deadlines so that parents can put pressure on their kids from home.” The idea of what needs to be corrected and what can be ignored was good and needs to be reinforced. As staff got tired too much came back that wasn’t supposed to. Reporting should be more frequent but less onerous. the style guide should be clear and it reflects the school more to have a less formal style of writing than our current style A phone call/ email or appointments as needs arise can be more effective. I would like to see us set a goal of emailing reports to families once a term and not all subjects necessarily at the same time.” “I would like to see the Senior students doing an evaluation of their goals to be included in the mid year report. Can the reports be on line for parents – there were a couple of schools whose reprots were in the applications for the hostel that obviously do this, perhaps we can consider this, and teachers could update this regualrly for parents.” None More formative phone calls home on as-needs-to and/or semi-regular basis and less summative formal writing? Or emailing results of each test with one-sentence comment and innvite for them to repsond rather than wait for larger body of info less often? PS would love a fully complete parent email address database ready to go on gmail, sorted into class groups! Would LOVE that. ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————– 4. Use of technology for effective teaching and learning – how can we help you use technology more effectively? By having the technology in place and working. There are massive complications with the computer room bookings now. It is so very difficult to get into a computer room and this becomes stressful. A roving pack of laptops would be terrific and a get aid for students. Data projector in main artroom needed. “Wireless schoolwide. Ceiling mounted projectors. Either pods of computers in classroom or stocks of portable laptops for students.” My only issue with technology is that cameras go out without booking and don’t return for ages. Can we get some more?? Wireless and DP in every room and the odd experiment with interactive boards in classes. Funding needed to update specialist software. More computers needed, both whole room facilities and smaller pods throughout Access to computers a nightmare. Need several in each classroom. There are old ones in the community which could be donated. I have 2 from the vet clinic which have been cleared and set up for use in my room. COWS as suggested by the year 8 council is an awesome idea. ” More PD by Andrew and Steve – homework included and possibly a qualification. “There are not enough computers available for all classes that want or need to use them. This is continually be =ing suggested in the new curriculum, We need to consider having a pod of laptops available for use in rooms other than the computer labs. Is it time to encourage students to briong their own laptops, with some sort of access to the network or macoddle and printing facilities.” By making computers more accessible. More PD to up-skill staff ” I feel that the computing dept are trying to implement ideas but I (BN)would like the opportunity to report to either Wayne or BoT on what we are working on. I feel that we take the flack sometimes from staff for trying to share out the resources but no one knows the efforts that we are putting into all the things we are working on eg wireless, laptop pods, flexi hours, online resources, etc. We work within the budget we are given (and we are actually doing well for a secondary school) but there is room to do much better. Data projectors in classrooms are fantastic. More help with how to share things with students on the computer system – eg websites class notes. This has been offered in group format, but sometimes it would be easier having help one on one when ideas occur. more access – 3-4 computers in my room would be awesome!!! ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————– 5. Property and facilities – please give your thoughts on priorities for the buildings and facilities over the next five years: Make sure there are projectors in every classroom. I teach in many different areas of the school and I have to adapt my teaching. A room for Physical Education and Health…our numbers are growing and we have no identity. “Science Prep room, storage and teachers workspaces between labs. The prep room is currently an OSH hazard. Chemicals, equipment and technician’s work space needs segregation. No fume hood available to the technician in the prep room. Ideally, a separate seated workspace for all staff science staff in close proximity to labs and prep room.” Space for languages and a space for maori “Auditorium Senior Common Room Mucking in days for gardens ( eg room 21, 22, 23, 24 quad ) Car parking/student parking” Multi use rooms. These need to be big enough to accomodate year level meetings and one large enough to accomodate the full school assembly. TEACHING SPACE FOR HEALTH AND PE WITH COMPUTER ACCESS. MOVING AROUND SCHOOL EVERY PERIOD IS VERY FRUSTRATING. OTHER SUBJECTS DO NOT HAVE TO DO IT -WHY SHOULD WE…. “Music Physical Education classroom At least 1 more science room with access to water and gas A space for languages – perhaps a large space which could be divided up into smaller spaces when required An office for Enterprise” “Some small rooms that could be used for small group teaching and special needs would be fantastic! Upgrading R31 so it is more like a classroom than a book cupboard” “common rooms – EG somewhere for the Yr 9 & 10′s, Yr 11 & 12′to hangout, eat their lunch, leave their bags, sports gear etc. With some speakers to play music etc, couches. A Business suit – classroom with 4-6 computers and an office, with board room style tables to give the students and even more real world business experience. It has been the one common theme in the students course evaluations they complete at the end of the year.” “Just a thougt on paving – now that kids have carved paths in the dirt showing us where they walk, why not simply pave where they have made mud? ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————– 6. Please give your feedback on the value of whole school activities / theme weeks – do you feel that these are a useful learning experience? Obviously taking into consideration the projected growth and how the school can effectively manage this. I have no real suggestions. Theme weeks? Well, there was one proposed this year and it was squashed; which was an utter shame. Activities such as theme weeks are hugely beneficial for students; not only do they forge relationships in a vertical manner, but it strengthens student learning in a non-conventional manner. To me, this are far more beneficial than whole school activies, such as; house singing, etc. Not much use as learning experiences but essential the ‘colour’ of the school. Sports days etc are enjoyable traditions. Great togetherness time for a big college! They’re great but timing is essential with NCEA. End of Term 3 start of term 4 are crunch times. practical subject facilities for boys and girls ” I think it ties in with the benefit gained from thematic teaching and is a good idea. this could be trialed in times such as the end of year when seniors leave or the end of each term for a day or 2. Theme weeks for years seven to ten could be useful not only for students seeing their learning as a more integrated experience but also for teachers working across departments gaining an insight into the work of other departments. For senior students it might be useful to have a more formal way of making up time from major field trips e.g if students miss three periods of a subject on a biology field trip they have three biology periods set aside to make up the time they lost. House sports’ days, priceless. Cross country needs to return to a whole school event for participants. Theme days great idea but need staff release time to plan ( and well in advance ). Keep lunchtime house activities short and achievable. House shield challenges need to be for weighty causes.” Definitely! Sustainability Week was very successful and there are still on-going benefits. CAN SEE THE BENIFIT OFF HAVING A DESIGNATED WEEK IN TERM 1 AND 3 FOR PLANNED ACTIVITIES. HOWEVER, AN INTEGRAL ASPECT OF SCHOOL THAT MUST BE SUSTAINED. Theme weeks are valuable but there needs to be sufficient notive given to staff to plan for these especially if they are being asked to do something totally outside their normal teaching area. Yes I do. The students have the opportunity to learn from a variety of teachers, to have their skills put into practise over many subjects etc. A chance for different subject areas to work together. But why are we looking at theme weeks when the staff have a number of times over the years talked about running some year levels in this way all the time? It usually comes at the expense of core subjects. Relys on teacher buy in. Builds school spirit which is nice. I feel they wouldnt take place if they werent valuable to our students. ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————– ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Interruptions to the timetable – please give your objective feedback on the impact of interruptions to the timetable from visits, sporting activities, EOTC trips, etc. Do the positives from these activities outweigh the negatives? Do you have any suggestions for minimising negative impacts? The interruptions to the timetable are massive and sometimes I don’t think the positives outweigh the negatives. In the last week one of my classes has had 3 interruptions which they have had no control over. Perhaps the school needs to make the class learning more of a priority and limit some of these activitites; or, put in place more ‘no interruption’ weeks. These is no denying that these interruptions will have an affect on students’ learning. “From a skill based subject point of view time out of the classroom impacts significantly on students developing continuity in there work and on their skill base. International students inserted into classrooms in the second half of the year – the focus part of the year is disruptive (8 internationals in one senior class !!) Some students because of their ability or involvement in extra activities have huge amounts of time out of the class. Hostel student with their op focus in the weekends come back exhausted/run down/sick. What about the non op type students in the hostel – the academics – could they use their weekends to catch up on work – extend themselves academically. limit the number activities some people become involved in.” I have been severely impeded by the OP programme and expected to work around it. The majority of PE students do OP and so I have been losing motre than half of my class. I honestly don’t know how to improve the situation. These activities do have an impact. Some activities could be run outside school hours especially things like netball coaching clinics. Rugby kickoffs should be after school day or just before lunch so that students can support without. OP has a large impact on individual students. Always have a negative impact, but this is outweighed by the benefits for students. Making use of a different timetable such as lunchtimes for classes and catchups afterschool. Blocking out weeks on the calendar from the start of the year OK. Here goes. The longer I stay in teaching, the more I value interruptions. Keep reading, please. Life is episodic and if we look back at the values we want to characterise our students, then without the opportunities to participate in cultural, sporting, other subject areas, we cannot expect the students to be open to new ideas, resilient, self managing, adaptable or non judgemental. We want to encourage a love of learning in as many areas as we can. Certainly, we are first and foremost an academic institution and work hard to ensure the academic success of our students but we all need to retain a degree of flexibilty. Go on a trip with students, take them to the movies, watch them play sport, insist they attend a big band concert and share the experience with them later, take the YEAR 12S AND 13S SKIING – show them we can learn with and from them. What negative impacts?? That’ll do for now. EOTC have to be approved in the first two weeks of the year. Positives are major, provide a focus and excitement for students. It is the unexpected that disturbs . . . polytech visits etc that are ofen unannounced. Managing them. “The variety is a strength for the school. Why do we not have full weeks of skiing for the juniors? Integration of community clubs into the school. Make the activities available to the students.” Block the weeks so all of these experiences are run in single weeks and all others teaching are suspended( senior OP ) Sports events. Provide individual programmes for the skiers. They need to in class or out. Could we all have one or two days a week out of the class. Junior ski days should be scrapped. They serve no purpose. Most students probably ski on weekends anyway therefore we are not really providing a novel experience to students who don’t have these opportunities in their life outside of school. This needs to be really investigated as those of us who seldom take students out of class are continually being penalised by these interuptions. There needs to be a group of people to investigate all the interuptions in 2009. Staff who regularly take students out should have to justify thst number of interuptions they have and we should be looking at ways of combining curriculum areas – eg Geography and Biology. WE need to even consider haveing a maximum number of interuptions per studnet. As much as they are sometimes a pain, if we want students who are well rounded and who have the opportunity to follow their dreams and passions, we have to allow them to attend all the activities that cause the interruptions. As I said earlier, MAC does not respect core subjects. Everyting is more important than acedemic subjects. If we don’t respect class time them how can we expect students too. Interuption is considerable because it is different people on different days for different reasons. The reasons are valid and worthy as the students get a lot of enjoyment and positivity from what they are involved with. However scheduling internal assessments where a number of lessons in a row are needed is difficult, and when a practical it is awkward to reschedule a student. May be there need to be some set weeks each term where trips can’t be planned, so that students can be guarenteed to be in class (barr sickness). Highlights for students are the fieldtrips and events. I do believe some departments need to communicate these absences more clearly. ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————– 8. The Board of Trustees is in the process of formulating a Vision Statement for the college. This should be a succinct statement of where we want to be as a college. Here are some definitions of a Vision Statement from the internet: A Vision is defined as ‘An Image of the future we seek to create’. (http://www.samples-help.org.uk/mission-statements/vision-statements.htm) Vision: Defines the desired or intended future state of a specific organization or enterprise in terms of its fundamental objective and/or strategic direction. Vision is a long term aim, a view of how the organization would like the world in which it operates to be. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_planning) What you are doing when creating a vision statement is articulating your dreams and hopes for your business. It reminds you of what you are trying to build. (http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/businessplanning/g/visionstatement.htm) Do you have a suggestion for a Vision Statement for Mount Aspiring College? “Aspiring to new heights

AS, BY, EL, LO met on Monday, 14/9 – We would love you to join us! These are our initial thoughts and we would appreciate your feedback as there will be many other issues that should be discusses that we have not covered as yet.

Group Goals:

* To support innovation

* To rid our programmes of curriculum overlap

* To introduce learning at greater depth

* To investigate the effect of social skills and pastoral care on learning

* To consider the current curriculum structure as being the most appropriate for the future at MAC.

* What is the scope of structure at the college?

* Curriculum

* Time Table

* Big Picture

* Staffing

* Meetings

* Classes

* ‘The vehicle for learning and teaching.’

Some initial thoughts

* Modules/Options Y7-9

Can we look at future organisation in terms of avoiding a fragmented programme for the students?

Can the discussion firstly concentrate on what is repeated and as a student, how can the programme they receive be shared by all. We value the input of all learning areas but instead of discussing structure which looks at every module as an individual entity can we approach it from a ‘whole programme’ perspective?

This group is keen to support the innovative suggestion recently tabled concerning Year 9 Integration. We suggest that priority is placed on staffing Year 9 in 2010 to allow for an integrated approach to curriculum delivery.

This combination of subjects does not have to be restricted to so called ‘core’subjects only.

We suggest that staff that would be interested in teaching 2-3 learning areas to a Year 9 class indicate their interest to this group.

Planning for these classes should be shared with expert learning area advice through HOD’s/Staff.

YPP meetings need to continue toward being planning vehicles.

* Can learning programmes fit around Global Themes?

* What learning spaces are best suited for students taking more responsibility for their own learning?

MAC VALUES DISCUSSION GROUP Thursday 10/9

• Recognised our group was going to discuss the values of the college from the position as the educational professionals. We are to consider the staff and community feedback in deciding what matters most to our people and evaluate at these in relation to the impact that these have on teaching and learning.
• We accepted the NZ curriculum’s values as we felt a lot of work had gone into the establishment of these nationwide. We will then choose values to highlight as the need is identified. The values are:

• excellence, by aiming high and by persevering in the face of difficulties
• innovation, inquiry, and curiosity, by thinking critically, creatively, and reflectively
• diversity, as found in our different cultures, languages, and heritages
• equity, through fairness and social justice
• community and participation for the common good
• ecological sustainability, which includes care for the environment
• integrity, which involves being honest, responsible, and accountable and acting ethically and to respect themselves, others, and human rights.

• We need to be overt about the things we value as a staff. There needs to be a front of mind awareness of what we value and ways of reminding staff of these. This provides us with clear reasoning for changes and parameters for exploration of ideas.
• Wayne is to take a session with full staff looking at values. Why they are so important and how they will guide us.
• Values are to be modelled by staff as they are important for all members of the school.
• Recognition of 2-3 strong values at the school, which we have a historical mandate to pursue
  • Integrity is something which is done well and needs preserving. Staff and students currently behave with integrity and honesty and the ongoing support and modeling of this value is important
  • Creativity and Innovation in a joint pursuit with Excellence. The school is in a strong position to continue to approach learning in a creative and innovative manner in its pursuit of excellence. We still wish to continue to value this, recognising that along with innovation comes mistakes. There are times when we get it right and others when we don’t. This implies that there is a culture which tolerates mistakes if they were made in the pursuit of excellence as this is how we learn. In all cases we look to learn from the experience and continue to innovate. Put from the students’ perspective this is encouraging them to learn from their mistakes as they strive for excellence in a creative and innovative way.
• We need to make these values overt.

We were then tasked to create vision statement and feed this back to Wayne.

AS, WT, RO, CB, BD and TH met and discussed possiblilities. We began by watching a presentation from Sir Ken Robinson “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” on You Tube . Watch it if you have a spare 20 minutes.

We got on to discussing what we would like to see happening at MAC with respect to integrating the curriculum and this is what we came up with:

• Year 9, 2010 to be taught as 2 homerooms with integrated programmes, using teachers who have a strength in this style of teaching and who can cover a variety of curriculum ares. (No particular preferences of subject combinations)
• The objective is to provide a stable and cohesive learning envioronment where one teacher follows the progress of their students.
• Planning for students’ learning would be cooperative done with these teachers and the rest of the year level teachers plus HODs to ensure coverage plus as much integration as possible.
• It would not be necessary to integrate all learning area content.
• If anything content would be reduced and directed at student need and interest.
• Focus on Key Competencies and the Future FOcussed areas in the NZC (see p39 of NZC) These key areas are Sustainability, Citizenship, Enterprise and Globalization.
• Another model for themes and ideas could come from the Rich Learning Tasks inthe Queensland New Basics Project (see http://edcation.qld.gov.au/coporate/newbasics)
• YPP meetings should be a vehicle for planning
• Timetable will need a major overall – creative problem solving required here.
• Could extend into Year 10
• A trial run in last weeks of Term 4 proposed (Maybe with all year levels)
• Aim to begin at the start of 2010 with Year 9 at the very least!

There is still much to discuss – WHAT DO THE REST OF YOU THINK??