Tēnā koutou, I am sharing our school's journey in learning, creating, understanding and embedding culturally enhancing practices within our school.
Kia Ora, ko Nic Mason ahau, and I am the Kaitiriwā Tumuaki (deputy principal) at Winchester School in Palmerston North. If you have read any of my other posts, you may be aware of my interest in developing wrapping te ao Māori around school learning contexts, weaving it together for the benefit of our Māori learners and their whānau. But I am no expert. I am a learner alongside our venture. I write this after the second staff meeting that Bede Gilmore (tumuaki) and myself planned and delivered to our classroom teaching staff. We are a part of Te Oro Karaka, Kāhui Ako which is focusing their strategic planning and implementation on Culturally Responsive and Relational Pedagogy. It may be just a little journal, capturing the journey for me as I endeveour in co-leading this. If you are new to Winchester, may this be a seed to plant so that we may nurture and grow this idea for the benefit of our tamariki and our community.
Dr Ann Milne’s Colouring in the White Spaces speech didn’t disappoint. Sending shivers up and down my spine with every bold, unapologetic statement about the white spaces that exist within our school systems. White spaces are the spaces that exist within a school setting that we blindly follow that only serve one singular epistemology.
We asked our teaching staff to critique our spaces at Winchester School. What are they? Where are they? Why might they exist? It was also a time where we could celebrate and confirm what we are doing well - and there is much to celebrate! But with this critique we identified what some of our gaps might be? It was pretty confronting to bare our opinions, beliefs, values held up for all to see! If nothing else, we were trying to communicate our why. Why are we even focusing on this? Why is it important? Why should we spend time and energy on this? We concluded with the video 10 Ways to teach me by Brigham Riwai-Couch. And if you have't seen this yet, make sure you do!
The next time we met we used a range of readings including The Effective Teacher Profile (EFT) by Russell Bishop and The Hikairo Schema by Angus McFarlane to pull apart each principle from the ETP: Whanaungatanga, Kotahitanga, Ako, Kaupapa, Wānanga and Whakapapa - what do these look like? Sound like? Feel like? Within a classroom setting? Then we constructed some deliberate acts so that we can make these things happen for our tamariki. These deliberate acts became the foundation of our teacher Poutama we are creating.
In between these Staff Meetings, Hine Waitere our PLD facilitator for our Kāhui Ako led us through 6 Wānanga style workshops unpacking each concept. We were able to bring 6 of our teachers along to a workshop. I asked them to consider a "something significant" (a quote, an image or a movie) from their day that was a significant learning moment for them and add it to the slide.
We had a great session where we modelled wānanga and dialogic conversations. Some powerful conversations were captured! Term 3 was a great term for absorbing new learning and now it's about making small strategic changes that align with this new kaupapa. We are in the process of consultation work with our whānau around what we value. We have secured Veronica Tawhai to open 2021 with Te Tiriti implications for a 2-day workshop. I can't wait to tackle 2021. #bringiton
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Tēnā kouotu,
I've recently noticed that I have had a "have to" mindset... "Oh, I have to do this..." "Oh, I have to do that..." "I have to go to this PD course..." "I have to deal with this behaviour..." "I have to lead this meeting..." Sound familiar? I'm wondering if the share volume of new tasks, systems and ideas are flooding my mind in this new job?? And as a result, I am a little overwhelmed. A trip to Wellington to attend a maths PD workshop with our leadership crew, we discussed the difference between a "I have to" mindset and a "I get to" mindset. A small change in my mindset has really helped me to keep positive. "Oh, I get to do this..." "Oh, I get to do that..." "I get to go to this PD course..." "I get to deal with this behaviour..." "I get to lead this meeting..." What a difference. If you try it, let me know how you get on. Formal vs Informal learning
I get to set up an informal DP network and join a formal DP network.
Which do you prefer? Formal? Or informal? As a leader / learner / teacher / follower? When do you get to do your best thinking? When you are nice and calm? Or when the pressure is on? When it is taught? Or discovered on your own? I think it's important to acknowledge the value of developing within all of the above settings. I don't know if I have a preference - I've been immersed in all 4 within a week and feeling fulfilled and motivated to lean in to achieve my next goals. For our informal network, we created a group from a range of schools, deciles, Kāhui and regions within Manawatū and met a local pub, ordered food and drinks and had an awesome, fluid and dynamic kōrero about all things "on top" for us in our new roles. It validated the business of my new job, how important it is to be ready at the drop of a hat to engage in the past, in the present and in the future, sometimes all within a mere 5 minutes. It's crazy. But I get to lean in to my feelings and stretch my skills.
At the same time, it's quite pleasant to be led and stretched from an expert within a formal setting. I got to join a DP network to explore and extend our leadership. We used the tool "Sentence, Phrase, Word" to focus our readings this week and to explain why we chose this particular sentence, phrase or word. I used a combination of the above video by Simon Sinek and HOW YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE AFFECTS THOSE AROUND YOU -Leaders bring the weather - how your mood affects those around you at work by Christine Kininmonth / 21st November 2019:
Sentence: "Weather is the Leader's Profile in action - the way we show up to people" I loved this idea. Because leadership is a choice. Like my mindset change, it's a choice to think "I have to" or "I get to"... so true is this when we show up to people, we always have a choice how we show up. This has caused me to reflect on my body language, my tone, perhaps subconsciously sighing... Phrase: "Cortisol creates paranoia" Wow. How many times throughout my life have I been guilty of walking away from a situation I didn't quite understand and made a story up to protect myself? Reading this felt so familiar but from a distant memory. All of those conflicts from classmates and workmates, friends and partners, it was quite crazy to think that humans naturally make up stories that square issues away to protect themselves. It makes me wonder what habits have I formed as a result of this. I wonder how I might lean in to these stories and check for future reference. Word: "Sacrifice" Muhammad Ali said "What you are thinking about, you are becoming." I have made the choice that I want to pursue a career in leadership. I get to pursue it! But with that comes sacrifice to look after the person next me. Hierarchy vs networked leadership
What does leadership look like in your school?
We explored the notion of changing from a hierarchy leadership model (left) towards a networked leadership (right) from Nick Rate's blog (and also my ex-principal!).
As a learner, I was excited about operating within a networked leadership model. And it connected with the ideas from the earlier videos and readings. Anyone can be a leader or 'leaderful'. For Russell Street School, this meant that teachers were more empowered to make decisions over the learning outcomes of the students they taught (or were in care of). Know Thy Impact! As collaborative teaching and planning teams, we were able to exercise our agency to organise ourselves in ways that met the needs of our learners. We could be responsive to PD we needed and organised a facilitator or a school visit. Carol used an example of building the tallest lego tower in 3 minutes. It was fascinating how we approached this task. No-one took a photo as it wasn't the prettiest lego tower but unpacking how leadership showed up afterwards was amazing.
I went to a leadership workshop in Christchurch during the 2019 well-being conference and I was introduced to the idea that a constant flow between hierarchy and network is the key. Below are my scruffy notes using Google Draw. Leaders can cycle in and out of each domain as we plough towards our visions.
My reflection - what shifts do I need to make towards building a networked model at WS? How will I know we are ready to move towards a networked model? Observe how leadership shows up at WS?
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