Senior Projects

Term 1 2018

The context for the majority of our learning in Term One has been our big idea of ‘Community’. As well as the posts below, this learning has also involved:

• Exploring the Treaty of Waitangi.
• Children identifying the communities they are part off.
• Children exploring and defining what makes a community successful.
• Children completing an inquiry about a community of their choice by following through the research cycle.
• Children completing a project about making a community a better place.

Throughout this time, the children have also completed a wide range of other literacy and numeracy learning tasks.

Throughout the term, our children have also all actively participated in…

• Weekly Sports Rotations.
• Weekly Syndicate Singing.
• Senior Syndicate Triathlon.
• Overnight Camp at Rangi Woods.
• Water Safety Programme at the Lido.
• School Powhiri and School Assemblies.
• Life Education Sessions.

Building Routines and Expectations

We believe in empowering children to manage and lead their own learning.  In order for children to do this successfully, we have to build routines and set high expectations for learning and behaviour right from the start of the year.

This learning has involved:

• Supporting children to make the best choice for their learning. For example: Where is the best place for me to learn? What learning should I complete first? How can I ask for help with my learning? What do I do when I think I have finished?
• Exploring Digital Citizenship and developing a ‘Digital Citizenship Treaty’. Given that our spaces are 1-1 digital, this is crucial for ensuring the children understand they are trusted to make good choices when they are using a device for their learning until we have a reason to believe otherwise.
• Developing children’s knowledge and ability to use Google Apps for Education. Our spaces do not function effectively without this software. This is how our children access and complete a range of their learning tasks.
• As the year has progressed, children have learnt how to plan their day on their own weekly timetable. This allows children to have the choice about when and what learning tasks they complete. (This was not new learning for all children.)
• Children are developing an understanding of the workshop model for new learning. This approach gives children the opportunity to be self-directed learners, by choosing to attend the workshops that are best for their learning. (This was not new learning for all children.)
• Co-constructing the Writing Process and the Research Cycle as children completed their first inquiry for the year. These processes are explicitly taught in Term One so children can apply this learning throughout the year.
• Getting ready for learning and systems for cleaning up at the end of the day.
• High expectations have been clearly communicated to learners. Our goal is for all learners to make one year’s progress in one year. This goal is personalised to every child’s current achievement levels. For learners to achieve this they need to be giving their best every day.

Building a Learning Culture

We strive to create a culture in our spaces that has a focus on learning. We explore the concept of learning, what it means to learn and how we learn best. The children have been actively involved in establishing the learning culture in our spaces. By ensuring the children are part of the decision making process, we create a learning community where our children feel a sense of belonging and ownership. As part of this focus, we have explored our new vision, learner competencies and values.

This learning has involved:

• Children completing learning surveys to develop an understanding of themselves as a learner and to allow teachers to understand children's’ learning preferences.
• Exploring our new vision, learner competencies and values.
• Co-constructing a class treaty that reflects the learning culture.
• Creating a class name and logo that reflects the learning culture.
• Beginning to explore the concept of a growth mindset and the learning pit to allow children to understand the expectation that they need to be challenged and willing to take risks if they are going to grow as learners.
• Completing regular reflections on learning.

Building an Environment for Learning

For the last five years, we have been co-constructing the physical environment for learning with the children in our spaces. The year, one of our classes used the theme 'House Rules', one class used a construction zone theme and one class used a movie theme, encouraging the children to be 'Directors of Learning'. The children were actively involved in setting up their physical environment. By ensuring the children are part of the decision making process, we create a learning community where our children feel a sense of belonging and ownership.

This learning has involved:

• Children completing learning surveys to identify their own preferences and the different preferences of the learners in the space.
• Children designing floor plans based on the information from the surveys and reflecting on their effectiveness.
• Children collaborating to set-up the furniture in the different areas in the classroom.
• Reflecting on the effectiveness of the spaces and making changes.

Building Positive Relationships

Our big idea for Term One is ‘Community’. We have been taking the time to get to know each other at the beginning of the year! We believe in building positive relationships so learners feel valued and happy at school. 

This learning has involved:

• Daily informal conversations between children, teachers and parents. 
• Children getting to know each other by collaborating to complete a range of team challenges, often with a group of children who are not their friends. 
• Children and teachers completing profiles and creating artworks which tell a story about their strengths and passions. 
• Children crafting a piece of writing e.g. Our class is lucky to have me because...
• Children and teachers sharing personal news through ‘What’s On Top’. 
• Children attending our overnight camp at Rangi Woods and participating in a range of individual and team challenges. 
• A range of other learning e.g. Fragments of Evidence Home Learning Task. 

Our New Vision: Engage. Explore. Empower.

We are very excited about our new vision statement, learner competencies and values! Throughout the year, we will share our journey with you as we strive to bring our new vision alive in our classrooms and develop our competencies and values as part of daily learning and teaching.

Eva's Email to Seven Sharp

Eva is a Year 6 student in Colab at CSNS. "For my impact project, I decided to investigate MLE’s (modern learning environments) and traditional classrooms. I wanted to do my impact project because it affects me and all children who go to school." As part of her project, Eva wrote this email to Seven Sharp regarding an episode that featured Modern Learning Environments (MLEs). Last week we shared it with the parents who attended our Parent Information Evening with Mark Osborne and this week we published it in our school newsletter.

Dear Seven Sharp, 

I have just watched your piece on MLEs from Monday night. “One size fits all” is how Ponsonby Principal, Anne Malcolm, described a MLE. I disagree with her statement because I come to school every day and learn in a MLE and my opinion is totally different. Anne basically said that students in a MLE all get treated the same and that the teachers don’t care about students that need help. Everyone has different learning needs; some students need more support than others and some students aren’t challenged enough. In our class our learning is personalised. We decide what workshops we need to attend based on our learning needs. We have four teachers who have different strengths. They challenge us as learners and grow our understanding of different areas of the curriculum. 

In my opinion, I like learning in an MLE. I like traditional classrooms as well but I am not challenged enough. In a MLE I am challenged because we have interesting tasks and I have the choice to attend the right workshops for my learning. I have to try really hard because I am involved in a lot of other sporting and academic activities outside of the class. In a MLE I have the flexibility in my timetable to prioritise my learning. 

My confidence and ability to collaborate has grown in a MLE. As stated by the OECD, MLEs are designed to develop skills such as collaboration, creativity and problem-solving. We need to be able to manage ourselves and be able to ask people for help and work with others. A misconception often associated with MLE’s is that children’s learning isn’t as effective and that teachers are taking a step back. I would argue that this is wrong because we are more involved in the learning process, rather than finding out our next learning steps in a report. I think we are benefiting from this. 

Most years at College Street we have been given a different topic each term to form an inquiry around. However, this year we have been doing something different called an Impact Project. We got to choose whatever we would like to learn about as long as we were passionate about it and the topic of our choice has to have an impact on something or someone. 

For my Impact Project, I thought it was a good idea to investigate MLEs and traditional classrooms because it affects me and it is a huge talking point right now. I wanted to get lots of different opinions and information from a variety of ages and levels of ability. I’ve read a lot of different articles throughout my impact project, some were against our modern way of learning and some were supporting MLE’s. 

The Ministry of Education states that MLEs are about creating an environment that involves educators, learners, and families. MLE’s support teachers to prepare children to be confident and get in the ‘Learning Pit’ and to achieve the national curriculum. 

This year my class (Colab) is made up of 90 children and we learn in 4 different spaces. In Colab we learn with technology, so I decided to send out a Google form, which is a digital form that surveys people on a topic or something they may need to find out. Based on my Google form results, 94% of our class like leading their own learning and 79% of our class prefer learning in a MLE. 

Learning in 2017 is rapidly changing and I think soon every child will be learning in a MLE. If you would like to see an effective MLE in action, I suggest you visit our class because I disagree with the things you have put into the media. 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Thank you, 
Eva Mckenzie

Future Focussed Education Presentation - Mark Osborne

Not Just Managing Self... Leading Learning Presentation

Our New Building!

Our plans for the refurbishment of Karaka Block are nearly finalised.  We are very excited about this building work being completed in 2018!

EduCamp Palmy 2017

Leading Learning

All children will not learn about same big idea in the Senior Syndicate this term. We have asked for permission to trial a change to our curriculum integration model for one term. Instead all children will complete an individual impact project. This is an idea we have wanted to explore for some time and was what we saw at three of the schools we visited in Auckland. At planning day we split into two groups. One group developed a template for the children to use for their impact project. The other group developed an overview of the curriculum so that we could align each child’s inquiry to the NZ Curriculum. For most of our Year 5 learners the focus will be on completing a research inquiry. For most of our Year 6 learners we have highlighted the need for their project to have ‘impact’. The reason why we want to trial this idea is so we can allow children to lead their own learning. Learner agency requires children to be given the ‘power to act’. Many of our children are currently managing their learning but they have not really been involved in designing their own learning.

The children are currently engaged in the first part of this process and it so exciting! Each class introduced this new idea in different ways, for example some classes shared a range of different examples of impact projects with the children. The first part of this process requires the children to identify their personal strengths and passions. Our goal for the children to be intrinsically motivated and empowered to learn. To help achieve this their projects are aligned in most cases to their personal passions. Once the children had a idea for their project they were required to pitch their idea to their teachers. The children are now starting the research phase of this process. We will be supporting the children look for experts to help them with their projects. Our reading and writing learning will be strongly linked to these projects with workshops on a range of reading skills such as skimming, scanning, identifying key words, summarising information in our own words, writing a letter/email, writing an argument, writing a report etc.

Each child has been assigned a ‘learning coach’. Their learning coach (teacher) will facilitate this process with them and act as their guide. For some children this process will be more heavily scaffolded than others. Where possible we have aligned the children and projects with teacher’s strengths and passions.

Term One Big Idea - Citizenship

Our big idea for Term One is Citizenship. The children in our three spaces have been involved in building a successful learning community. As in previous years, the furniture was stacked in the corners and the walls were empty when the children arrived at school on the first day. The children and teachers have been getting to know each other, setting up their environment for learning, exploring roles, rights and responsibilities, creating a class treaty and a digital citizenship treaty. By ensuring the children are part of the decision making process, we will create learning spaces where our children feel a sense of belonging and ownership.

During the term, classes have co-constructed the research process. The six stages of our research process are: Decide, Plan, Find, Analyse, Communicate and Evaluate. The children are now following their own lines of inquiry by researching a question related to the big idea of 'Citizenship'.

Grand Designs Learning Edition

Check out the documentary one group of children from COLAB created about our first week at school in 2017.

2017

This year all of the children in the Senior Syndicate are learning in a collaborative learning environment!  For the first time, we have 90 children learning in one space.  We are looking forward to sharing our journey with you throughout 2017!

Term Four Big Idea: Cultural Diversity

This term our integrated unit is about Cultural Diversity. Last week the Senior Syndicate children hosted a cultural festival for their peers. The event started with a performance by the IPU Drum team in the hall. The children communicated their new learning in a wide range of different ways, including hosting a cultural food festival and performing a dance to represent culture. Many of the children worked in collaborative groups to share cultural traditions, artworks, dances, languages and games. Three classes also enjoyed a shared cultural lunch. Several parents from our community supported their children to share special aspects of their culture. One group of children planned and taught cultural Jump Jam routines to the Junior Syndicate children and on Tuesday this week, groups of children are facilitating our sports rotation. These children researched sports played by different cultures and are going to teach other children about the background of the sport and how to play them.

Taking Action!

Our children have been busy applying their new learning to take action and make a difference in our community!

Interpret Challenges

Each class completed the ‘Interpret’ stage of our integrated unit. This stage of our integration model requires children to use and apply their new learning through a range of challenges/scenarios/tasks. Some examples include:

• The children have completed the thinking routine ‘I used to think... Now I think…’ The children were also asked to reflect on changes they have made in relation to their behaviours and our environment.
• Writing a script and filming a news report to highlight the positive and negative impacts humans are having on our environment. 
• Developing an action plan in response to the following scenario: Imagine Palmerston North’s temperature goes up 20 degrees overnight, trees die, the river and the lagoon dries up. What effect would it have on us? What effect would this have on animals? What would our environment be like? What foods would we eat? What activities would we do? 

For the rest of the term, the children will be working on the ‘Inspire’ stage of our integrated unit. Next week, our Deputy Mayor is visiting Room 6/7 to discuss the rubbish and recycling strategies in Palmerston North. He was invited by a student who sent him an email earlier in the term after reading an article on stuff.co.nz.

Term Three Big Idea - Environment

This term our big idea is ‘Environment’. In each of our classes, the learning is being driven by the children. Our teachers did not plan our integrated unit together as a team at the end of Term Two as we normally would. The reason behind this change was to ensure we were actually listening to our children and letting them lead their learning for the term without our own preconceived ideas significantly influencing the learning. Instead, this planning process has been brought alive in our classrooms with our children. Alongside this new approach to planning, teachers still need to follow our College Street Normal School integration model and curriculum expectations.

The teachers planned an initial emotional hook activity to ‘Ignite’ the children’s thinking about this big idea. Some classes used a range of engaging images of environmental issues in conjunction with different thinking routines. In Lava the children were asked to empathise with an animal that had been displaced due to deforestation. They were given a variety of materials from which they had to plan and construct a home which met the animal's basic needs.

From here the children have co-constructed their knowledge deep understanding and indicators for the matrix. Each class has selected a Habit of Mind focus which they think will enhance their learning of this big idea. They have also co-constructed the matrix indicators for the Habit of Mind.

Throughout this process, the children have been developing and recording their wonderings and they are now following their own lines of inquiry.