Wednesday 20 June 2012

Exit planning!

So the final curriculum days have been and gone and the thought of school is looming large. Spent yesterday afternoon at a CCSE day at Karori campus...was affirmation of many things already embedded!
The curriculum days were very good...I particularly liked Puti's take on Tataiako and Putaio and will definitely use this in the planning phase. So the other stuff from Monday Tues also useful back in staff PD or the classroom. I think that I could almost run that session with my staff ie. the ginger bread men thing and start unpacking curriculum science and NOS.
Thanks to Dayle and Brigitte for a well spent couple of days....I would like to see them at my visits for the future as I feel they know us a little...or a lot!
My collection of ferns plus data spread sheet have gone to Te Papa and I will be presenting at Nga Manu on Monday ....my little darlings will be at kick start on Monday as well!
The fellowship has been a revelation! The non contact time is immense and wonderful....the hours in the day to catch a breath, reflect and really become immersed in my project have been fantastic. I cannot think of a better way to spend 6 months and I hope I am well equipped to take this back to my school. I have already written a survey.....survey monkey. What a great suggestion that was and it is so easy...who would have thought! I thoought the leadership course , the comaraderie between us fellows and the project time have been the BEST part.
My hosts were fantastic, understanding, helping, supportive and relaxed!


Curric days

Do your teaching beliefs reflect your teaching practice?

Good talk about good teaching -

Courage to Teach
Palmer 2007

Picture yourself at your best in teaching (what do you look like – a metaphor – eg a river – flowing into all the nooks and crannies…….)

Now picture yourself at the worst (a metaphor – a dried up creek, dams, etc)

Where are the children in your picture?



Awe and Wonder


Donna Rachael Angela



3000 m under the sea- pressure before and after

Mandy and T-rex


Try black paper talc and web- walk through web shake talc off ...left with web pic

$2 shop...called????




hard boiled egg...hot water - narrow neck glass container

Science Implementation

·           What do we want science to look like in our school

Leading Change
Features of successful school change that you have experienced?

 
Our Vision for science
·           What kind of science educated citizens are we aiming to produce
·           What should the end product look like?
·           Scientifically literate school leaver age 17



What does this look like at Y8
                   Use NOS strand and your vision for school leavers to produce “I can statements”


Understanding Science                                                                                                 Communicating in Science

Investigating in Science                                                                                Participating and Contributing                                
Yr 8

(Does our vision  for science match our vision for our school)
(Here is what the curriculum says, what does that mean for our school in our community?)
What does this vision mean for science at our school?
In groups of 3 choose one of your Y 8 attributes
Discuss how this might be taught:
What would your students be doing?
What would teachers be doing?
At Y2/Y4/ Y6 /Y8
(break it down at each level , what scaffolding would be happening)

Attribute: Communicate findings to others using scientific language.
Year level
What would teacher be doing?
What would children be doing?
Y2
·         Observational quadrants
·         questioning
·         Drawing and out in the environment
·         Talking and looking for patterns
Y4
·         Introducing scientific language
·         Making connections
·         Reliable measurements
·         Extending their environment
Y6
·         Scaffolding language and science investigations
·         Facilitate  students to independently make predictions and meaning from knowledge gained
·         Make predictions and meaning from learning
·         Make independent conclusions using scientific language
·         Clearly communicate observations and results
Y8
·         Challenging students to try changes in experimental design
·         Draw more in depth conclusions
·         Scaffolding the conclusion making process
·         Options of different investigational methods

Reflection
How does our school currently implement science?
Assessment
today we were thinking about observing(-what will we assess?)
Seeing, thinking ,comparing,articulating
Use  Progress Indicators – Assessment TKI science
Show progress  through NOS not through knowledge (see science matrix B: Investigating in Science)
eg.study dinosaurs- not to learn how many dinosaurs but how well children can make predictions .




Health and safety
There are books in schools and regulations that cover these aspects.
 NZCASE

Tataiako and Putiao- Māori  achieving as Māori. http://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/required/Tataiako.pdf

Cultural competencies.

Ako – practice in the classroom and beyond

·         Individual responsibility
·         Partnership with community- teacher –child
·         Value of verbal approach- tell us what they know
·         Celebration of success/ acheivement

Whanaungatanga- actively engages in respectful working relationships with Maori learners,Parents and whanau, hapu, iwi and the Maori community.

·         Relationship
·         Learner /teacher respect
·         Teacher knowing student
·         Acknowledging more than one way of looking at science subjects/ topics

Tangata Whenuatanga- place based, socio cultural awareness and knowledge

·         Acknowledge prior knowledge
·         Engagement with community
·         Think at planning stage regarding the implications/ resources/ people
·         Experts in the community

Manaakitanga – values- integrity, trust, sincerity, equity

·         Finding the community
·         Understanding the cultural perspective of a topic
·         Contacting rununga or NZEI for contact

Wänanga– communication, problem solving, innovation

·         Establishing relationships/ inclusion
·         Asking for input
·         Expertise from local community
Cultural responsiveness to Māori across the curriculum.




Chemical Observations

Using our senses:
1. Damprid and Baking soda  (Sodium hyper chloride)
1.       2 spoons of baking soda into a bag( yellowed with food colouring)
2.       1 teaspoon of damprid into a bag
3.       Shuffle the powders to one corner of the bag
4.       Fill the shot glass with water
5.       Put 2 drops of blue food colouring into the water
6.       Empty the shot glass into the powders with the bags tightly closed
Observe and smell!

2. Citric acid and baking soda

1.       2 teaspoons citric
2.       1 tsp baking soda ( yellowed with food colouring)
3.       Shot glass with red food colouring
4.       Add to zip lock bag
5.       Observe

Compare observations
What was the same or different between each experiment?
Can you use your observations as evidence to suggest a relationship/ pattern or scientific idea?

Assessment: today we were thinking about observing(-what will we assess?)
Seeing, thinking ,comparing,articulating
Use  Progress Indicators – Assessment TKI science
Show progress  through NOS not through knowledge (see science matrix B: Investigating in Science)
eg.study dinosaurs- not to learn how many dinosaurs but how well children can make predictions .


.I have had the most fantastic 6 months...so grateful for the opportunity. The non contact time allows thought and reflection. The last two curriculum days earlier in the week were well worth it...thanks to Brigitte and Dayle...some excellent experiments and I particularly enjoyed Puti's take on Tataiako and will use this in my planning phase...thanks for the insightful comments Puti.
I have loved being immersed in Ferns and my two hosts have been nothing but generous ...let me go and pursue my project. About 60 specimens were off loaded to Te Papa on Monday together with the spreadsheet and Monday next week I will be presenting a powerpoint and 2 books of labelled ferns to the guides at Nga Manu. This wraps it up really except for the symposium on Thursday
I have so enjoyed the collegiality of the other fellows , the leadership course and of course wandering around the hillsides looking for ferns. the west coast trip etc etc.
I hopefully have some new skills to take back to school and have already prepared a survey from survey monkey for my fellow staff members at school....what a great idea that was!
On Monday next week I have an afternoon with my newbies and their parents at kick start....mmmm!!!
This morning I have been at school doing some observations and beginning to look at my classroom. Yesterday was spent at  a CCSE course at the Karori campus....affirmation of some embedded stuff...ok though.

I thought the 2 curriculum days was actually something we could run at a staff meeting to unwrap the NOS statements and curriculum ...especially the ginger bread men....vision etc.
If you've bothered to read to here I guess I'm repeating....that's because I thought I had lost it all!! Well I've learned to blog as well.



Thursday 14 June 2012

West Coast 10 days of ferning




Well it’s been a busy time and so little time left. The trip south was a highlight and I will try and relay a few of the events. The guys I  was with were Patrick Brownsey, Te Papa Research Fellow; Leon Perrie, Curator of Botany, Museum of NZ Te Papa Tongarewa, and Mike Gemmell, VUW postgraduate student.We set off on an early morning way back in May! Train in and 8.30 ferry to Picton and onto Westport where Leon, Patrick, Mike and I set up camp in a motel for 5 of our 10 days. Leon and Pat headed to Stockton while Mike and I explored the delights of Westport. In the afternoon we did a very local trip up to a plateau close to Westport and found  comb ferns, Schizaea,  very odd looking ferns, but easily overlooked. They have a comb at the top of a stalk....this is a fern!

So from there we went to Charming creek... a fantastic walk along a disused rail track  but certainly very wet!!! Despite my wet weather gear I still got very wet! My boots were best buy....dry feet.


Charming Creek walkway tunnel...dry! I could see here.

More Charming Creek

Leon and Pat ferning

...a brief respite
Denniston Plateau was an interesting place with loads of history and while the rest of the team climbed through some fairly thick bush to some high overhangs I tackled some of the lower ground in search of sticherus spp or umbrella ferns. The weather changed and we had a glorious day at Lake Kanieri and some success with finding our unusual species of filmy fern.Lake Kini was pakihi swamp with lots of Glychenia or Tangle fern and various species.
lake Kini, Bruce Bay- pakihi swamp- Gleichenia 

Lake Kanieri- near Hokitika...beautiful crisp day- searching Hymenophyllum spp

..a lake for wading but not for me.

Blechnum novae-zelandiae


Gleichenia- spp - Tangle ferns- Mike looking pensive and Leon onto something

swamp!
Along with the Gleichenia and Sticherus, we were targeting a possible new species of Hymenophyllum filmy fern.Each evening Leon and Pat pressed and logged the specimens...some were cleaned and put into silicon for DNA extraction to assist with further research of each species. Over the course of the 10 days more than 170 specimens were collected and pressed ready for the herbarium and/ or further analysis.
-5degrees c and loading in bare feet....his boots were always wet!
Franz Josef

Pat up a bank.....Lycopdium spp 

Mike up a bank! Knight's Point

Lycopodium volubile

Limestone cave= Charleston conservation Area- The cave spleenwort, Asplenium cimmeriorum, only occurs in limestone areas of the west coasts of both the North and South Islands. It is commonly found at cave entrances. We found a new sub-population in the Charleston Conservation Area.   Mike went down and in about 30 m
I found this cave after I had wandered off! The boys had gone down a bush bash track further long this road to another cave.

Leptopteris superba on Wombat track- Franz 
Josef

Punga Motel- appropriate place- Pat, Mike, Leon at Franz Josef
Charming
Creek - Mangatini Falls...impressive


...more to come ...what a highlight . great trip and so many thanks to Royal Society and Leon and Pat.