Sally Avern's Professional Journey

What exactly is it I want to celebrate? This term we have been focusing on Kia Kaha as a way to create a more positive school culture and to extinguish any power imbalances that exist between the students.  Prior to the programme we had a discussion about the importance of community in the Maori culture and how whakapapa is at the forefront of Maori life, as well as hauora as a model of well being. This was just done as a surface idea and quite briefly. But I am trying to be more culturally responsive and use the little I do know to peak interest in the students.    As part of this program we have been looking into the outcomes of bullying and the emotions/ harm that can come to those being victimised.  In doing so I have become more aware of their emotions and their ability to articulate their feelings. Because of this when dealing with a fight I have begun using restorative justice properly.   What specifically about this achievement is it th...

As part of our Learning as Inquiry topic Sustainability,  The students looked into what action they could take as part of our community to help be more sustainable. Their 2 main ideas were, plant some trees and help by growing more plants/ food. The students wrote to our principal and asked for permission to go on a field trip and also if she could help with some materials. Luckily, I heard there was a planting day coming up on the weekend. With this is mind, I contacted Sustainable Coastlines and arranged the for them to go and plant some trees in Drury, close to a new subdivision where the water-ways will suffer.  We made it on a Friday though so that they could attend in school time. This was such a successful day. We planted in excess of 200 trees and the kids were all so happy and into it. It was a really encouraging thing to see, especially after a few morning comments of how 'dumb' this was going to be. :) Matrix was keen to go back and do more on t...

As part of the Kootuitui Cluster of schools developing their digital skills for teaching, I am regularly observed to help with data and research for further developing practice.  As part of this I am now in my second year of facilitating a 1:1 classroom where all students have Chromebooks.  From this observing and recording I have been flagged as having effective digital pedagogy and am very excited that I might help shape something in the future. I am hoping that this will not only result in a close inspection of my practice that is going well but also an opportunity to see what else is happening in other classes and an ability to learn from other classrooms that demonstrate effective digital pedagogy.

This year I got to go to a google Apps for education summit. I learned quite a few things. A large portion of it wasn't new too, which I think just helped me to actually remember the things I did need to learn. Here is what I learned at the Summit:   HOT TIP: all pics are linked. DAY 1: Introductory chat Am I really giving my students opportunities to meet the Key Competencies? Are they receiving the tools and the explicit skills they need to learn them? Use design thinking to help them see where to go. Have I equipped my students to talk to each other? After the summit, I went back to school and decided that we don't need to put up our hands anymore. When in real life does that happen? So we have started the discussion technique 'Can I add to that?' Helping to equip my kids for the REAL WORLD. A-Z of lesser known Googley Tools This was epic the ones I love are, obvio...