The Curioseum

During the second week of school, each class visited 'The Curioseum -  A Museum of Curiosity'. This experience was our emotional hook for our thinking matrix co-construction. Our thinking matrix focus for Term One is 'Curiosity' and one of our significant questions is 'What are we curious about?'  The teachers gathered a range of different exhibits for our museum, including a range of items that we borrowed from Te Manawa.  We set the exhibition up in our art room.  Each child was given a ticket to enter the museum with their class.  While they were at the 'Curioseum' the children completed a ‘See, Think, Wonder’ thinking routine at several of the different stations. The children were highly engaged and loved being able to touch most of the items.  As a result, the children asked a wide range of questions.  The children were able to use their 'See, Think, Wonder' sheets as evidence for their initial assessment on their co-constructed thinking matrix.

Traditional Teaching Style Role Play

When the children in Room 10 and 11 arrived at school on Monday (day three of school), they noticed that their classroom had been set up with rows and rows of desks. When the bell rang, Katie arrived wearing a long kilt and and Clive was wearing an old grey suit. The children were seated in their allocated a desk and the day began. First the roll, followed by the National anthem, handwriting, dictionary skills, reciting Shakespeare, chanting basic facts and even marching on the quad and organised play groups at morning tea time.  Clive and Katie taught the whole block using a whole-class teacher-directed approach.  This meant the children worked independently, silently unless asked to speak and of course they were all doing the same thing at the same time. 

Clive and Katie wanted to roleplay a traditional teaching style with the children as an emotional hook prior to co-constructing their managing self literacy block with the children. The children had started to plan how they were going to arrange the furniture at the end of Week One but they had not considered what learning looking might look like and sound like in their space.

Following the role play, Katie and Clive unpacked this experience with the children. The children responded to a range of statements and questions as part of a chalk talk. For example: Who is responsible for making sure we learn? As a result of this experience and the follow-up conversations, the children were able to explain how they manage themselves during lunch times and in different ways at home. Clive and Katie co-constructed with the children what the literacy learning would look in their space.

The children all wrote a recount about this experience. It was clear to see from their writing that they did not enjoy learning this way!

“The teachers wanted to make the point that we could manage our own learning.”
Year Six child.

The Block Classroom

We started the year with our own version of ‘The Block’ television show!  When the children arrived at school on the first day of Term One, they noticed signs saying 'The Block Classroom'. The furniture was stacked in the corners of the classrooms and the walls were empty. Our goal was to empower the children to be part of the decision making process as they created their learning spaces and established a culture of learning. This was to ensure the children felt a sense of ownership and belonging in their learning environment. The children completed application forms and watched 'Episode 1' of 'The Block Classroom'. Each class was then set the challenge of creating their learning space.

'The Block Classroom' was a huge success! It was the perfect motivation for the children to ‘build’ their own learning space and begin to establish a culture of learning. It allowed the children to have ownership of their learning community because they were empowered to make the decisions. They made decisions about which furniture to use and how to arrange it. In some classes the children decided not to have set desks or enough seats at desks/tables for every child. They created different zones, including quiet zones and spaces where could work uninterrupted. They decided what and where their learning displays should feature on the walls.  The children were involved in the organisation of resources and equipment.  The children named their learning spaces and designed class logos that reflected their learning community.

The Block Application Form

Sixtus Lodge Presentation

We had a staff retreat at Sixtus Lodge for our Teacher Only Days at the beginning of 2015. We shared a presentation about the Future Focussed Education objectives in our Annual Plan. The presentation allowed us to share some initial ideas with the staff about what we would be exploring in 2015. At the start of the presentation, we acknowledged the things that we are already doing across the school to help prepare children for an ever-changing world. We also took this opportunity to explain that we have been exploring some of these ideas in the Senior Syndicate since 2010, before we knew anything about 'modern learning environments'.

Term One Integrated Unit

As part of our planning days, we created an integrated unit to help support our vision for learning and teaching.  Our goal is to empower the children to be part of the decision making process as they created their learning spaces and established a culture of learning.

Our integrated unit for Term One is called ‘Our People, Our Place, Our Story. The Big Idea for our unit is ‘belonging’.

Our Deep Understanding:

People and places have a story. Stories give us a sense of identity.
As curious learners we can explore our stories.
Our story is unfolding...Together we have a responsibility for creating our next chapter.

Throughout our integrated unit, the children will explore the following significant questions:

• What is a story? 
• What are we curious about? 
• What is my story? 
• What is our story? (Class, School, Community, Planet Earth) 
• How can I learn about stories that matter to me? 
• How can we share our stories with others? 
• What impact do stories have on us? 
• What can we learn from others’ stories?

In 2015 we have a school-wide focus on the teaching of science. We are required to teach science for at least three weeks each term.  As a Syndicate, we decided to integrate our science objectives (Nature of Science and Planet Earth and Beyond) into our unit instead of teaching a stand-alone science unit. The unit we have written flows from personal stories, to developing a class story, to exploring school and community stories and then to stories of the land.  

Our Vision for 2015

After reflecting on our visit to Russell Street School we began to develop our own vision for learning and teaching in the Senior Syndicate in 2015.  Ally Sewell from Massey University helped develop the following question to lead our conversation: How do we want children to experience learning and teaching in the Senior Syndicate at College Street?

During this conversation, it was important for teachers to consider how we could make some changes without throwing out what we know works.  At College Street, our understanding and application of effective teaching practice across the curriculum is a school-wide strength. Many of these practices we want to maintain however there are some things we can do differently!  In the case of the teachers involved in the pilot, we needed to consider how might we be able to change things for learning in an environment that has two teachers and 60 children.

Teachers worked in groups to develop their ideas.  When our ideas were combined, the following statements were developed:

Our Vision for Learning and Teaching in 2015

• A community of learners where children are at the centre of decision making.
• A community of teachers where passions and strengths are valued and utilised.
• Teachers and learners who strive for excellence across the curriculum.
• Positive, collaborative relationships.
• Critical and creative thinkers who engage in authentic learning and problem-solving.
• Self-aware learners who drive their own learning. (Valuing student voice, giving children choice and flexibility over their learning, developing agency.)
• Effective use of digital technologies as a learning tool.
• Engaged, creative, motivated, happy learners!

These statements are very closely aligned with our school vision ‘Excellence Through Inspired Participation’ and what we already believe about learning and teaching at College Street.

When the Senior Syndicate teachers arrived in the boardroom for planning day they 

immediately noticed some changes to the environment.  Clive put a leaner and bean bags in the 

room and displayed a range of quotes and children’s artworks.  The board room looked amazing!  

We were trying to model for our teachers some of the things that we would like 

them to consider in 2015.

Visit to Russell Street School

At the end of 2014 we had our Senior Syndicate Planning Days. As part of these two days we visited Russell Street School. Prior to our visit, we met with Elly Warnock (Leader of Poutama at Russell Street School) to provide her with some background information and share our plans at this stage. Elly shared a presentation with our teachers about the journey of Poutama and she explained how they had developed the children’s understanding and application of agency. Following this our teachers visited this space and were able to talk with the children and teachers in Poutama.

After our visit we completed the thinking routine ‘See-Think-Wonder’. Below is a summary:

During our visit we observed students learning individually, in pairs and in small groups in a large flexible environment. Within the building, there was a range of different spaces for the children to learn. We noticed that the teachers were not immediately visible. The children were self aware, they understood which peers and spaces best suited their learning. The children were engaged in learning conversations with their peers and teachers. The children could share their learning with others, including visiting adults. Children shared the way they documented their learning journey on a blog. Teachers were passionate about what they were doing and were happy to share with us.  We were particularly interested in the children explaining their co-constructed wall display that showed the how they worked towards agency.

Some of our wonderings:

• How long did it take to develop this level of student agency? 
• Could our children manage themselves in a space like this? 
• Will it be easier as two classes instead of four? 
• What does teacher planning look like? 
• How would children with learning issues cope in that environment? 
• Are they having any issues tracking children? 
• Should we start in whanau classes? 
• Can working in whanau classes first help with transitioning kids to managing self? 
• How are children accountable throughout the day? 
• What will this look like in a single cell classroom? 

Elly was honest about their journey and our teachers understood that these changes didn't happen overnight! She said we needed a ‘license not to be perfect’. Most importantly, our teachers understood that what they saw and learnt was about pedagogy not the environment.

Our visit to Russell Street School was an inspiring start to our day and provided a valuable starting point for many rich conversations to come. Click the image above to check out Poutama's blog.