How Might We- bringing multiple optimistic viewpoints to the challenge

Our next step was completing a 'How might we..' process in relation to the challenges people had decided on. By this stage, my challenge had changed, and was now:

'Young people develop wellbeing and resilience strategies at different rates, and some require additional support when faced with difficult situations'.

Our reworded challenges were displayed on the wall for all to see. Our task was to then go to everyone else's challenge and ask a 'How might we?' question to try and provoke thinking around our chosen challenges.

I found this an empowering and beneficial process to go through. It enabled us to again see our challenges through the lens of someone else, but in an optimistic, problem solving manner, rather than thinking about the negatives of a challenge.

The questions others posed for me to think about were:

How might we...

• Provide relatable resources for students to engage with?
• Better understand the 'why' behind the differences?
• Use digital tools to create rewindable learning for those that need more support or repetition?
• Identify and frame up the essential list of strategies needed for this?
• Determine why young people develop coping strategies at different rates?
• Use students who have strengths in resilience to support and guide those with lower resilience capabilities?
• Create a support network for students outside of their whanau?
• Enable students to utilise additional support resources independently?
• Identify which students require additional support? What measurement?

Empathy

Our next session involved us buddying up with our '5 whys' partner, to create a role play that reflected our challenge. As I was in the process of completely reframing my challenge, we focussed on Ange's challenge for our role play. We also spent some time talking about my redefined challenge, and throwing ideas around about this.

Ange's challenge is related to maths and students not choosing maths as a subject, or having a low self esteem about their abilities when related to maths.

This is not just an issue facing students and teachers in maths, but in a range of subject areas and year levels. By role playing what it might be like for both student and teacher, it enables us to put ourselves in someone else's shoes, to try and understand what the issue might be like from their perspective.

This is both eye opening and real, as it allows you to then start thinking of solutions and what you might be able to do to help.

We then completed a visual poster of what our students might experience if they were faced with this issue. What would their needs be? What does it look like for them - actions/words?
I had already begun to think about my new challenge, so did this activity from the perspective of a student experiencing high anxiety, or low self esteem.

Tweaking and Redesigning the Challenge

After the school board hui, we were given the opportunity to 'rethink' our initial achievement challenge and proposal. Coming in to this process, I already knew that my data from my 2020 class, did not support the same achievement challenge, that my 2019 class did. I was starting to rethink my whole proposal, and was told that this was ok (whew!).

What did I think? Well, from the first few weeks of school, and in my role as a pastoral leader, I realised that our students are facing significant challenges around their mental and emotional wellbeing. I had fielded more phone calls and emails from parents about children experiencing anxiety in the first few weeks of this year, than I had over the course of a whole year in 2019. I think this also signals that society is changing as well.

I began to throw ideas around about challenges facing students around wellbeing, anxiety and mental health. This is also an area I have become quite passionate about in recent years, after experiencing the loss of young people within our kura and community, and seeing the impact that this had on so many people.

School Hall scenario bringing a wide range of perspectives to the challenge ( a confronting experience for some!)

Role play...one of my worst nightmares come true, and no chance of getting out of it.

For this scenario, we were all given the roles of parents within a school community. We were invited to a school hui, where the Board Chair wanted feedback on the school's variance report and targets for the Ministry of Education. As we commenced the role play, we we then confronted with our own achievement challenges being presented as the school 'Achievement Challenges' for the variance report.

This was quite confronting, and was an eye opener as to how wordy and confusing some challenges actually were. Hearing people responding with their thoughts and ideas about your proposal, while in role was also thought provoking and made me begin to question my challenge. I wondered how I could reword the challenge to be more relatable and understandable for a wider audience, as we as achievable. This activity also took some of the barriers away when presenting your own ideas in front of an audience. We were all in the same boat, but had to remain in role when we recognised our own challenges being presented. In role, I was able to question my own proposal and it was at this point that I started really rethinking my whole proposal!

The 5 Whys...

After completing our Moonshot proposal, we were buddied with another member of the MIT 2020 team. I was partnered with Angela, whose subject area is Maths (and for those who know me well, they know that this is one of my challenge areas!).

Our challenge involved asking five 'why' questions. This was actually a much harder process than it first appeared, especially when asking about someone else's challenge, in a subject area we were maybe not familiar with. On the flip side, this also enabled us the opportunity to dig that little bit deeper in to our own identified achievement challenge areas, seeing our challenge through the lens of someone else. It made me question my proposal, as well as really think about the 'why' it is such a challenge for students, and background reasons for this.

Moonshot Proposal

Prior to attending the hui in Kuaotunu, we were asked to complete a Moonshot proposal. This required us to share a brief statement on our achievement challenge, any supporting data and some ideas of where we were headed.

Towards the end of 2019, and when applying for MIT, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do and what my achievement challenge would be. I had plenty of data to back this up, both anecdotal and from our Woolf Fisher data. I wanted my focus to be in the area of literacy, in particular around the area of vocabulary knowledge, as this is something many of my learners were lacking in.

My original Moonshot Proposal is below.

Week 9 - Revision and the end of a 9 Week Journey

It is sad coming to the end of this nine week journey. It has been nine weeks of reflection, new learning, revisiting old learning and reminding myself of why I do what I do! Today's focus was predominately on the google Certified Educator exam. It was interesting the level of stress and nerves I felt, and that others felt too. It makes you realise how much stress our students must feel when faced with exams and assessments, even when you know the content! Passing was a great relief!

Participating in this DFI has been an opportunity for me to have time to focus on my own professional development. Since going digital at OC, I have often been one of the ones running PD and workshops for others, meaning I have often missed out on being able to participate as a learner. I have spent countless late nights teaching myself, in order to continuously up skill in areas I am interested in, so it has been fantastic to have every Thursday to focus on my own learning and recognising that I am on the right track with what I am doing in my classroom. It has also been refreshing to be in a room full of other educators who are all passionate about doing what is best for the young people in front of us!

I have also had the seed planted in terms of applying for the Innovative teacher programme. I now have to think about what I would like to focus on! So many options and thoughts...