Spotlight on Learning

In the Term 2 Holidays, Andy McFarlane from ETap came and spent a day with our staff looking and learning about how to use Spotlight as a learning, teaching and assessment tool.
We have been looking into what digital platforms best suit our pedagogy and practice at Kaimata, and what ETap had to offer sounded very intriguing and we were keen to learn more about the Spotlight tool.

We quickly discovered that Spotlight was the missing link in our collaborative teaching and planning and would be an amazing tool to use for assessment also.
Andy ran a great session, and we all learned at the same pace, so no one missed anything. Tanz, Jen and I decided that we will use Spotlight for our teaching, planning and assessment from Day One, Term 3. We loaded our groups and modelling books to the platform, ready to go!
We also made the decision that we will not be having the students use Spotlight, as they are still getting used to signing in and out of Google Docs! This would be too much for them, and the tools Spotlight offers doesn't suit our kids digitally...YET.

Link to staff notes on Spotlight training

SO WHAT? (Week 2, Term 3)
Spotlight has been a great tool. We have gotten rid of using Google Sheet as a planner, now have digital modelling books and have timetabled in our first assessment for the term to happen next week! It is working well having all of our data and timetables, planning etc...in one place. I believe we will continue to grow our digital fluency in Spotlight more and more. It has already had a positive impact on our planning and teaching. I am looking forward to seeing how our end of year reporting will look!

WST Kahui Ako 2019

2019 Kahui Ako 'Mothership'

Notes from our Mothership.

SO WHAT?
Being a WST has been an experience that I have loved. It has exposed me to a variety of research and opinions around education and has given me the oppotunity to support other Inglewood teachers and school in the area of inquiry.

2018 Manganui Hub and Leadership Reflection

This year has been a massive year for me both personally and professionally.
The change to a new school and new responsibilities has been very refreshing. It has been difficult for me to 're-set' and settle into a new environment. I have come from a high numbers, high pressure school to a small, happy and supportive culture.
The Manganui Hub has been something that Jen, Emily and I can be very proud of. We worked really well together and collaboratively plan, teach and report. We have made a great team! We get each other, take the pressure off one another when needed and we know our kids well. We have had major success with our students both academically and socially through having a great Must-Do, Can-Do learning culture. Our students have voice and choice in all that we do, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what these kids are capable of when they are Year 8! I know it will be exciting!
I have learnt a lot about being a collaborative leader this year. Rich, Jess and I work together well. It has been awesome to learn about budgets, annual/strategic planning, SENCO, reporting systems, leading meetings and leading the appraisal and inquiry processes. I feel I will be  capable Acting Principal in Term 4 2019 thanks to all the support and guidance that Rich has given me.
My leadership skills have grown from being singular to being part of a strong leadership team.
I'm looking forward to growing these skills more in 2019.

Curriculum/Leadership Reflection

Curriculum Reflection

Te Reo Lessons with Elg

Treaty Talk with Kids
Te Reo lessons link

Kaimata Curriculum

Kaimata Curriculum

Above is a link to the Kaimata Curriculum that has been lead by myself and Jess Packman. After our ERO visit (March, 2018) and leading MLP PD with the staff, we were all in agreeance that we need to formulate a Curriculum Map for the school to ensure NZC and Key Competency coverage. The Kaimata Curriuculm has also been designed with our special school character, collaborative and innovative teaching and learning in mind. We used teacher voice, student voice and community voice to create the possible contexts for learning.

End of Year Report Template

Above is a link for the End of Year Report Template modified from my old template we used at Fitzroy School, adapted to fit Kaimata School and Kaimatatanga.

2018 Appraisal

Link to my Appraisal for 2018
2018 Appraisal

Writing Inquiry 2016-2017

Continuing on from 2016's results and research:

"How can we motivate our learners to write more detailed and accurate pieces of writing?"

Handy Resources that I currently use:
Pobble 365 - One picture. One teaching resource. Every day.
Example of YouTube clips showing parts of speech


Recording Student Voice:
Example of Student Interviews with Target Writers


Example of prompts for Target Writers

Example of Writing Sample Term 2 and 4 2016

2017 Writing Inquiry

"What are the outcomes of strength-based teaching and ability grouping in an ILE?"

Inquiry Inquiry Plan
Cycle 1 Reflection
5-5-5 Reflection for Cycle 1
Example of Target Student Inquiry Sheet

Relationships

This link is a Slideshow that gives my students an insight to me, as both their teacher and as a person. Relationships and building and maintaining positive relationships are an integral part of my teaching. I shared this Slideshow with my students via Seesaw.
This is me!

Class Dojo is my way of keeping parents and whanau up-to-date with whats happening in Room 7. It is also a means of contact for whanau. I find it is great for instant contact. Response time and levels are extremely high.
Class Dojo Link

Daily Notices
An example of Daily Notices I share with tamariki

My Pepeha
Natalie's Pepeha

Organizing a Staff 'Round the Mountain Relay Team (2016)

Below is a link to a series of emails I have received in conjunction with sharing my knowledge and pedagogy around MLP and having other schools come to visit me to view my Hub in action

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: judy zieltjes <judy@oakura.school.nz>
Date: Tue, Aug 22, 2017 at 2:51 PM
Subject: Thank you
To: Natalie Looney <natalie@fitzroy.school.nz>


Hi Natalie
I would just like to say another thank you on behalf of our team to yours. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and feel enthusiastic about where we are heading. One thing we did forget to ask was about homework - whether you set the same tasks across the team, or not have homework tasks?
It was interesting visiting Lepperton too. They are having a new school built so 'making do' with their physical environment. They were really focussing on students setting their own goals and driving their own learning. Interesting.
Once again thank you.
Kind regards,
Judy
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: jess packman <jess@kaimata.school.nz>
Date: Thu, Sep 7, 2017 at 9:27 AM
Subject: Re: Work habits rubric
To: Natalie Looney <natalie@fitzroy.school.nz>


Thanks! We had a great day, seeing 3 different practices.  Frankley is a must see, if you haven't already. (We were welcomed in by powhiri, which was amazing!)

If you wanted to fit the rubric to our rise values, that'd be fantastic! We are looking to start feeding in some learning behaviours and skills to prepare our kids for change.

Thanks again!
Jess

On 7/09/2017 9:21 AM, "Natalie Looney" <natalie@fitzroy.school.nz> wrote:
Hey! Sorry, me again....I've just had an idea re: work habits rubric designing it to fit your RISE values. Do you want me to have a go at doing it for you?? I don't mind....wont take long.

On Thu, Sep 7, 2017 at 9:06 AM, Natalie Looney <natalie@fitzroy.school.nz> wrote:
Hey Jess!

I hope the rest of your visits went well! Let me know what you thought of the other schools, as I'd like to go visit some that are worthwhile.
It was awesome having you guys here. Confirmed my practice and study a bit more and you were all so friendly and inquisitive. My work habits is a Publisher Doc, but I will convert it today and share it with you via google docs.

Be in touch again soon!

Nat


On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 3:58 PM, jess packman <jess@kaimata.school.nz> wrote:
Hey Nat!

Could you please email me your work habits thingamajig?

Thanks again for showing us your hub - so much excitement and energy bouncing around Kaimata this week!

-Jess



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Natalie Looney
Senior Lead Teacher
Fitzroy School



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Natalie Looney
Senior Lead Teacher
Fitzroy School