Hui 1 @KPMG

 Once again the hospitality was next level. KPMG provided a gorgeous working space, beautiful food, and a stunning location overlooking the water. Thank you Justine Todd, and everyone at KPMG for looking after us during this hui.

Creating the prototype has been a useful experience because it's finally getting in to the nuts and bolts of the process, and deciding on how it might work efficiently and in a user-friendly way. My next step will be to talk to my principal and fellow teachers about how to make it seamless, and easy to navigate. My hypothesis is that teachers will need everything they need for their level at their fingertips, without lots of clicking and scrolling; however they may have different ideas regarding the level of extra information that is needed. While my number one goal is to keep it simple and streamlined, I also want it to be useful to beginning teachers who haven't had the necessary PLD yet, so need some guidance about scope and sequence, for example. While that kind of information does sit within the lessons themselves, does it need to sit somewhere else in the website as an important focal point? Something to consider and wānanga with my colleagues.

Presenting to this particular group is getting easier and easier, as I get to know everyone better. However, I am anxious about speaking in front of principals and other stakeholders at the wānanga, so I welcome the consistent and regular opportunities we will get to do this better. The feedback I receive is always valuable; however, I especially appreciated the feedback from Matt when I said that I'm open to platforms other than websites (mainly because a simple website seems quite boring in comparison to some of the other amazing things my MIT colleagues are doing!) He said that a website was probably the best option for my particular project - so I can put that particular dilemma/issue to the side now, and just focus on my website prototype.

Hei konā!

Kick Start Hui

 Kuaotunu is a beautiful slice of paradise in the Coromandel, and we were fortunate to be able to spend some time at Russell and Dorothy's gorgeous bach, surrounded by native birdsong, clear night skies for star-gazing, and the sounds and smells of the ocean. Heaven! The hospitality and generosity of the Burts and Jenny Oxley knows no bounds and I am so grateful to you all. 

If you were to ask me what my favourite part of the hui was, it was definitely the role play/skit. My inner drama queen definitely enjoys getting the opportunity to show herself off. It was fun to make yourself see things from the perspective of someone very different to you, and I especially enjoyed taking the anti-Māori position. Hātakēhi rawa!

The most challenging part was the reframing of my problem, and writing the 'How Might We' statement. The semantics of it did get quite difficult, and it also felt a little bit like I was taking attention away from the real problem (which is the system within which Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā currently sits) and focusing it on teachers instead. However, I see now that I can help teachers to become more competent by improving the system.

Crazy 8s was another new activity for me. While some of the ideas were just desperate last-minute ideas to make up the 8, it was good to see which of my sensible ideas people thought might work. It was also a wonderful opportunity to see other people's ideas, as some of them were truly creative, and I've put some of them in my back pocket to use in class (not in an MIT context).

Lastly, we identified our support networks in a poster format. I always tend to think of myself as a loner, and generally prefer to work that way, so this was an important activity for me to actually identify the people in my world that I will HAVE TO depend on this year. It was also fun to identify some dream team members that I would love to have working alongside me on my project (Ian Taylor, Te Taka Keegan, Steve Smith, and an as yet unknown person who is not only an expert platform developer but fluent in te reo Māori! Surely that person exists). 

These two days were a valuable retreat that we as teachers do not get to do often, and to be able to spend it focused on one issue (rather than an entire term's worth of every school issue) was gratifying. Thank you to Dorothy, Jenny, Matt, and my MIT whānau for this experience.

 

2026 MIT

 Kia ora koutou! Welcome to my Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher Project.

Adobe Express - Animate Characters

 Te pārekareka hoki, me te pīwari hoki! Anei taku tutu tuatahi ki roto o Animate Characters - Adobe Express. 

Google Videos

Anei taku tutu tuatahi ki roto i a Google Videos (Kiriata Kūkara??) He poto engari he pārekareka te mahi.

 

MPI 9

 Yippee! Kua tutuki, kua ea!

Happy and excited to have completed MPI 2024. It was not easy at all, and sometimes added extra pressure where it was definitely not needed (I recall the end of term 2 being particularly yuck). But nothing worthwhile ever comes easy. I also need to acknowledge my amazing colleagues here at kura, who have often taken on my class as well as their own; and my wonderful principal, who despite being overloaded with normal principal stuff, sometimes took them for English on MPI days. Ka nui te mihi aroha ki a koutou - mwah.

Biggest takeaways from the MPI:

- let the students use materials, even though they are "big kids". One of my most capable students had an important epiphany about fractions after being able to use foam fraction pieces. 

- rich tasks one day a week are an awesome way to get them working in different groups, taking on different roles, and challenging themselves beyond the normal daily maths grind. After five or so weeks of doing them, one student (same student as above, with the fraction pieces) asked if we were going to keep on doing them (and not in an "Ugh" kind of way, but an "Ooh!" kind of way). Implementing them with a new class next year, with Group Rules for Talk from day one, is something I am looking forward to. I also find the planning template really useful, as it helps me to get ahead of what the students might do, or misconceptions they might have, and what they need to be able to do to solve it.

- tip charts for vocabulary. Love them! I have used them a few times during the MPI, and it also helps me to remember important vocab myself. 

- ambitious outcomes. I think too often I keep children back in their maths progress because of gaps that need filling. But I think MPI has made me see that memorising facts (while important) is not EVERYTHING, and that they can continue to learn more complex strategies and build their knowledge at the same time. 

Thank you to all our amazing facilitators! You've all done a wonderful job. Ngā mihi!

 

MPI Day 8

 Te Tauanga me te Tūponotanga - Statistics and Probability: usually taught in term 3 at our kura, as it aligns with other kaupapa such as cross country (great opportunities for measuring heart rates before and after running, and plotting on dot plots, or individual line graphs to show changes over the term) and worldwide events such as the Olympics. From a personal perspective, probability is my least favourite maths strand, and the one that I find the most difficult. As a year 8 teacher (which I have been for the last five years - only a short time really, in my 14 years of teaching!) I have to reteach myself every single third term so that I can teach the students. I can understand the basic principles of the topic, but probability trees in particular are my kryptonite. I was hoping that this session of the MPI would offer more insight or give me that aha! moment I need - maybe upon further exploration of the resources and planning on offer, I might still find it. 

In terms of statistics, while I do find it easy in comparison to probability, it was great to learn about the different types of questions that we should be asking. Some of them call for higher order thinking which is awesome, and I will try to ensure that I include every type of question in my statistics planning from now on, along with opportunities to critically analyse data and graphs. I can see potential for integrating it with critical literacy, especially anything starting with "studies show that" or "according to the statistics"...