Just to get a little something off my chest

Now I know that this might sound a little controversial and may not win me any friends but I am going to say it anyway and this is just my own personal opinion... I am pleased to be a kiwi and proud of the All Blacks being in the final of the World Cup, it's a great achievement for the squad, but it is a game (I know a franchise and business are wrapped around it, but essentially we are talking about a game here.)

What concerns me is that this squad of committed and clearly gifted athletes, their coaches, management, trainers, health professionals etc are under tremendous scrutiny from our media. If the worst was to happen and they lose then our media will dissect the game, minute by minute, decision by decision, blame will be apportioned and, if past events are any indication, then heads will also roll. And this won't just happen the day after, it will happen for weeks and will be referred back to next time we meet Australia on the pitch, and every time after that until the next world cup. These players will enter that stadium knowing this and the weight of a nation's expectations sit on their shoulders... a hell of a burden of responsibility and also a source of immense pride if they walk away with the cup of course.

The big thing that irks me about this is that our politicians are held to a much lesser account than a rugby squad by our media. In fact while the World Cup has been running our media have feasted on our success which is great but where are the headline stories following the nations performance in, as an example, bridging the gap of educational achievement. There has been an experiment with charter schools running over the last year or so, we could think about this as an educational tournament perhaps, so why haven't the media taken to exploring this 'tournament' play by play, player by player, decision by decision, behind the scenes, success or lack of (remembering that this was supposed to raise achievement in our most vulnerable populations) and compared it to the success, or lack there of, of other countries participating in this 'tournament of educational experimentation' as well? What would happen if they showed the same rigorous investigation, reporting and enthusiasm for social and political issues in our country as they do for rugby?

The same exacting, microscopic analysis could be applied to health, poverty, Christchurch Earthquake recovery, spending on a flag change, the TPPA arrangements, Dunedin South flooding relief and so much more.

And yet, so much of our media misses the deep analysis, debate, discourse of politics in our country. If our politicians were held to the same account as many of our rugby players we might well end up with a more honest government and that would have to be a shift in the right direction. I know this sounds like a naive opinion but it just another voice in among many asking questions which I feel is important in any democracy.

So I sit here proud of the achievement of our lads on the sports field and the leadership I see, regardless of the outcome of the final, but frustrated at our media and the way that it feels that major issues in our country are largely ignored by them.

The Game of School Revisited- #EdBlogNZ reflection

It has been an interesting exercise to go back through some of my previous posts and consider whether my position is the same or different now. As I have recently re-entered the state system and will be teaching full time again this term it is a good time to review my perspective and the difference between what is between my ears and reality. 

Earlier this year I wrote two pieces about the Game of School, the first a rather dystopian perspective (I learned that word in a Children's Literature paper I did a couple of years ago) and the second a positive, forward looking perspective to offer a challenge to the first post.  

On reflection there probably needs to be a third in the series and I think this one needs to be written for teachers, perhaps looking at how we can change the rules to the Game of School despite the pressures on us to stick to the old ones. Here are some thoughts: 

1. The first thing is that you are not alone, you don't have to change the rules on your own, there is a whole world full of people out there with different ideas that are happy to share and grow with you. 

Recently I have been getting more connected with other educators in various forums: on the NZTeachers(Primary) Facebook Page which is a valuable tool for sharing ideas; in online discussions with other learners completing a paper on Internet Based Learning through Otago University Distance Learning; more recently participating in the #amplifiEDU twitter chat (fast and furious for a first timer but SO interesting!); and most recently engaging with the #EdBlogNZ challenge. I can't believe how much I am learning! 

2. Don't be afraid to try something new, co-construct what you do with your learners, let them know that we are going to try some stuff that is a little bit different and if it doesn't work then we can try shift or change or try something else. 

We can teach our children heaps by trying things and being open to them not working out. Failure isn't a bad thing, it is what real learners do... just think about toddlers learning to walk, if they gave up at the first hurdle then most of us would still be crawling or bum shuffling (now the image that brings up makes me chuckle a bit!) 

3.  Not everyone will like you changing the rules, but remember you can't please all the people all the time and if you know WHY you are doing what you are doing then pursue it but remember to do so with respect to the values of others and your community. Sometimes doing what is right will mean you need to do what is different, sometimes what is right is darned hard work but if it makes a difference for your learners then it will be worth it. 

There are a lot of reasons for people not getting behind your new approach... sometimes they are happy with what they are doing and seeing positive results for their learners, they might like the rules, sometimes they feel like they have a better idea but no-one asked them, sometimes it is actually daft idea and they can see that, sometimes they feel threatened by the rate of change around them and just want to keep doing what they know, sometimes they just need time to get used to an idea and see it in action, sometimes they might not like you and that's not really your problem (unless you have really done something to upset them and haven't attempted to address that in some way!)...  you get the picture. New ideas will often be met with some resistance, in the past there have been times when I have felt really lonely as I have tried something new, technology offers us a community to help mitigate that isolation now-a-days. 

4. Notice what happens when you change the rules. Observe, research, read, listen, learn and record your new idea and what happens when you implement it. This is good for your own practice as an educator, it helps you to note positive or negative impacts, it also helps you to become more informed about your practice and then gives you the material to be able to share it with others. 

Again technology is our friend. Use the internet and your contacts to read reliable information about what you are interested in. Read/listen widely, not only to the perspective that supports your assumptions but to the ones that counter it too... there is much to be learned. Practice a little skepticism too and where possible verify your sources. The sharing of new practices or your adaptations of others ideas is what I understand to be amplification... taking what is and shifting it and sharing it so that it can grow more. 

5. Look after yourself. This really should be the FIRST rule. Too often I hear people talk about putting on your own oxygen mask first, that you cannot give of yourself if your tank is empty etc. It makes sense. We want the people in our class to be bright, engaged, enthusiastic learners but that is a hard ask if they have a shell of a human being eking out the last of their energy just turning up to teach.  

We are no longer isolated islands of practice in the four walls of our classrooms, we have the capacity to connect with other educators all over the world. We are in a position to learn so much more from each other than we could in the past. We do make a difference and can make an even bigger difference if we work together... it is so tough being a maverick all on your own, much more fun being a maverick with friends! Let's start a movement... see below for instructions... 

Discovering Learning... inspired by #EdBlogNZ challenge

My little boy is about to turn five and will soon begin school. It has been an awesome journey watching him learn and grow over the last five years, he continues to amaze me daily. It has been unsettling at the same time however. Watching him learn through play, trial and error, persistence and the emotional attachment to caring adults around him has made me reflect on my teaching philosophy. I have learned a lot about child centred learning through playcentre training and through continued learning about the brain and behaviour. The best teachers I have had are my little man, his friends, our other playcentre families and now the children in my classroom. I have always felt that we are unique and learn in our own time in a conducive environment, not that which is dictated by birthdays, curriculum levels, national testing standards or someone else's policy. The question that screams at me often is who decided that at five years old play is no longer a relevant way to learn? It serves us so well in the first five years and then becomes relegated to what we do when the bells go after we have been 'learning'.  

Now I know I am not the only one thinking about this and I know great stuff is going on that is challenging that final perception. I have been exploring learning through play and discovery time (as well as genius hour and project based learning) over the last wee while and have embarked on at the very least sharing more control with my class. It has been a journey as we have been building more self management in for our class since the start of the year to be able to operate successfully at this point. One resource I have read is Discovery Time by Brenda Martin and Gay Hay (http://www.discoverytime.co.nz/), it is an easy read and I love the relation to our key competencies. 

So what's been happening lately... 

During term three we have been opening up our reading activities so rather than dictating set activities per mixed ability group per day, the students have the opportunity to choose literacy activities. This has been much more successful than I had envisaged. The big rule: students must be able to tell us what they are learning in the 'activity' they are doing with a focus being on literacy learning at the time. (Not that we ask very often but it creates a mindset of thoughtful selection... well that's the hope anyway) 

As an aside, towards the end of the term I had one child ask me if he could type out some of his writing and so he undertook that considerable challenge over consecutive days, in doing so he has discovered various aspects of the keyboard and shown real perseverance. Another child is really interested in Dinosaurs and wanted to find out more about them so we have started talking about what things he might like to find out and there where can we look. These are real and relevant literacy tasks that are child initiated and this is another branch of what I would like to see happening in our reading programme going forward. 

I am planning to introduce something similar with our maths learning time as well- when they are not with a teacher or participating in a specific learning activity then they are free to choose from a range of activities but they must be maths related and they need to be able to say what they are learning by doing what they are doing. 

We need to spend some time on working out what we mean by learning however and this is what I want to do at the start of the term with the class. If learning is creating and/or strengthening pathways in the brain then doing stuff that is challenging, stuff where we might have to think hard for answers, stuff where we can do things in lots of different ways, stuff where we are exploring and asking questions, stuff that helps us get better at something by practicing is some of what I envisage. 

It is important at the end of these open-ended sessions there is an opportunity for children to share what they have learned- either by doing a walk around, creating a display, talking to a partner or having a sharing circle depending on time available as well as having seesaw available for recording learning. This is something that I picked up from the Discovery Time book and see the value in making sure that the learning done is valued.  

I trialled Discovery Time with some focus on fractions on the last Friday morning of the term. Initially we spent a little time talking about what self management looks like and then I took them for a wee tour around the classroom to show them what was on offer- we had beads, weaving (a project that some needed to complete), maths books (for recording patterns), a collage activity to demonstrate fractions, computers (although WiFi was down so they weren't all that helpful), writing and painting, IWB (but the game on there didn't work as WiFi was down), varied literacy and maths activities from around the classroom. (Obviously I need more open-ended, messy play type options going forward) I was expecting a lot of noise to manage but that wasn't actually the case, in fact it was quieter than normal! The kids really responded to the openness and one student even completed his weaving task before getting on with the varied options where as earlier on he was really reluctant to complete his weaving when asked. I taught one student how to work out fractions for bead patterns and then she taught others, it was great to see that happen. We had a sharing time after morning tea and I was really stoked with how the kids could clarify what they had been learning. 

There is so much to develop here but I am pleased with how we have begun and stoked with the improvement in self management of our class from where we were at the start of the year... we have all come so far! 

Going forward- my thoughts at the moment: 

• Morning meetings to clarify what is on for the day and clarify expectations 
• Working with the class on what learning is, what it looks like... 
• Calling open ended/discovery type times- Meaningful And Independent Learning- MAIL time  
• Reading- continue with open ended time within the programme  
• Maths- have some open-ended problem solving options available... need to review our maths activities to ensure there is enough variety and scope 
• Ensure that there are movement activities (kinesthesiology movements) posted around the room and teach it to them so they can select them when they need to have a stretch
• Have Discovery Time on Friday mornings first block- ensure that there is a range of options available, science focus, build in growing and planting learning into this time

This is obviously a work in progress and any suggestions and comments are gratefully received :) 

Childhood is not a race to see how quickly a child can read, write and count. It is a small window of time to learn and develop at the pace that is right for each individual child. Earlier is not better.

Magda Gerber

Read more at: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/881330

Educators that have helped me dream bigger

For the #EdBlogNZ challenge we need to write about educators, bloggers, leaders who have inspired you to dream bigger and so tonight I am going to salute some of the ordinary (but for me extraordinary) educators/mentors/guides who have, and continue to, inspire me to keep on dreaming rather than going for the big names (there will time for that another day)... and so I am leaping away from the brief a little here to share some of the heroes from my own teaching career thus far... it is quite personal but I hope not too uncomfortable! 

This list isn't finite, but there is only so much time and space here, so if you don't see your name listed please know that isn't because I haven't appreciated your gifts...

• Lisa Beere- my tutor teacher for my final year at T.Coll- Lisa had a programme that was sensitive to the needs of the new entrants we were teaching, she gave me licence to try new things and trusted me to take over her class. This became my first teaching position as Lisa was on leave for the following year, I felt confident to step into the role having been so well prepared. Her calm, confident, kind manner in the classroom is something I still aspire to. 
• Greig Mercer-  leader extraordinaire. Greig taught me to love professional development and embrace professional reading, he set me off on a learning journey I am still undertaking now. He challenged my thinking and stretched me beyond what I thought I would ever be capable of doing. He talked me about his decision making processes and showed me a pathway to ethical, people centred, integrity based leadership and I aspired to that in my last leadership position and hope to get there one day. He has returned to principalship and I hope those lucky enough to work with him learn as much as I did. 
• Trevor Grice- when I first met Trevor he spoke to my heart and had such an overwhelming drive for that which he was passionate about, making a difference in the lives of our children. His decision making mantra was 'will it make a difference for the children' and if there wasn't a clear how to it then we didn't go there. He was a force to be reckoned with but at the same time worked on a foundation that all healing, all learning starts with love. He would often say that love is an irresistible force and this is what our children desperately need. 
• Celia Lashlie- she challenged me with her upfront manner but she came from a very human place and hearing her speak I felt moved by her empathy for those often misunderstood and her strong desire to help them be heard. She also highlighted the need to care for ourselves when caring for others lest we bleed out and become like 'lemon lips', sour and mean. She was another force to be reckoned with in her pursuits and even as her days were numbered she continued teaching through her life experience. 
• Evelyn Mann- a lecturer, friend, mentor and director. I have been lucky to travel in many ways with Evelyn. She has challenged my practice, I love our honest conversations. I have seen her help others discover untapped potential for drama and theatre in many settings, she does so with empathy, skill and humour... she is very skilled but has the ability to use this to empower others rather than make them feel inadequate. I have learned a lot about questioning and working alongside learners from Evelyn. She has also shown me that taking risks is important... if a little scary! 
• Karen Boyes- and speaking of risk takers! Karen is the consummate risk taker and has taken a risk with me more than once for which I am truly grateful for. She has invited me to present, and emcee, at her Teachers Matter Conferences in the last two years, she has invited me to collaborate on writing a study skills resource and in doing so has not only shared her expertise with me but given me feedback to help me get better. Karen is continually stretching herself, reading prolifically and works so darned hard! She is also human and has shared her trials and tribulations with me. Her insights into managing the demands of parenting, relationships, professional learning, work and travel has been a real asset over the last few years!  

Wonderful presenters like John Shackleton, Allie Mooney, Andrew Fuller, Robyne Moore, Maggie Dent and countless others have all contributed to me building my dreams and inspiring me to reach higher and do better. 

To those who have supported and believed in me over the years like Joyce Beck, many of the Dunedin T. Coll staff, Rob Wilton and so many of my Heartland Life Ed colleagues, Peter Cox, David Buck and others from Life Ed NZ, Liz Bowen-Clewley, Helen Darling and so many more... because of the support and belief you have shown me I am inspired to reach higher and do better. 

I often imagine my dad looking down at me when I am teaching or presenting and hope that he is smiling and feeling proud of me as he did when he was alive. I am lucky to have had tremendous support from my parents, they always had my back, so for them I want to reach higher and do better. 

To the educators that I have been privileged to work with, train with and observe in so many different settings... the conversations we have had about teaching and learning, the little things I have seen you do, the support you have given me makes me want to reach higher and do better. 

To the children that I have worked with over the years, I have learned so much from all of you... for the ones that I teach now, you inspire me (in fact sometimes demand of me) to reach higher and do better... keep doing that!  

And finally to my own baby boy who will start school shortly, I now have an even greater vested interest in reaching higher and doing better as a teacher because I understand that as a parent that is what we want from all those who teach our babies. 

#EdBlogNZ Reflecting on my teaching practice

Having been focused on school, playcentre, some other work for my own business and studying for my masters I haven't made the time to blog like I was last year where I would post about once a fortnight. I have missed it and see the #EdBlogNZ challenge as an opportunity to do this... despite a large essay being due in a few days (or perhaps because it is due...?!)

Lately I have been doing a fair bit of reflection on my teaching as I prepare for the coming term so I'll start here I think.

This year I have returned to the regular classroom in a job share model and next term will be teaching full time as my teaching partner is on maternity leave. It's been a huge year, with a lot of learning for me at least!

Prior to teaching this year I have been working in a management role in an educational not-for-profit organisation and studying consistently throughout that time (I completed my post grad part time and participated in NAPP2012 along with other things). My role had me working with teachers, managing learning programmes, leading PLD and occasionally teaching. Last year I had a year of sifting where I was learning, taking on new work and doing some relieving as well as lots of playcentre stuff. It was great to play and try some different things, I learned about blogging, I set up my own business, I started my masters.

Despite all of this I have still found the shift back into regular classroom teaching a challenge... not that it is a bad thing at all- challenge is where the learning happens. Some of the challenges have been in getting out of my own head! I have been teaching Thursdays and Fridays all year, this worked well for fitting in and around both of our personal/family schedules but probably isn't how I would go about things if I was to do it again, two days at the end of the week is not quite enough to establish any real flow but I have found a better rhythm recently.

Learning curves:

1. beware of assumptions- we had assumed our children would be largely self managing (age appropriately of course) at the start of the year so set up a programme on this basis, they weren't and we weren't ready for that so had to take some steps back early on after realising this
2. only connect- for the first term I really didn't take ownership of the class, figuring as I was teaching less it was really my partners class and I was just doing some days. We shared the planning, assessment and other management tasks but I hadn't made that emotional investment like I would have if I had taken on the role of classroom teacher, I know that sounds a bit odd especially knowing the work I used to do but it was almost like I had a relieving mindset about the teaching. Again I know that if I was to do this again I would structure the start of the year differently so I could make those connections as I would any other time.
3. be realistic- I was also over planning and expecting too much of myself and the children... seriously one art piece took us over eight weeks to complete but then we weren't doing it every day and I was only there some days! I needed to think about what we could conceivable achieve and remember that I was only teaching a percentage of the time so couldn't cover everything! We both struggled a little with this initially as new job share teachers. I also needed to keep in mind how long I had actually worked with the class... in Term One I had 16 teaching days with the class, that is a little over three weeks with students, not 8-9 whole weeks which I was judging myself on.
4. don't forget what you know- there are many things that I haven't done or used which I used to and it has taken me a while to realise that. In the start I got hung up on literacy and numeracy and trying to do 'what was right' rather than what was right for the children right now! I have started playing my guitar again and plan to use drama as well which are things I used to do a lot.

Gardening- Sustainability
Room 5 the Place to Stretch and Grow

I am grateful for the work my teaching partner has done and the experience she bought to our role, she had much more and indepth recent teaching experience so I have learned heaps from her. I have also undertaken further study into maths through E-Ako and NZ Maths as well as recently completing a free online Stanford maths course. I have pursued an interest in the brain and learning with focusing on learning differences and behaviour... it has been brilliant and full of stuff I wish I had known as a young teacher. Thankfully my work into teaching as inquiry, brain based learning, inquiry learning and health has given me a good grounding to build from at least.

Highlights of this year so far:

• having a brilliant job share partner who I felt comfortable to share my fears, beliefs, triumphs and failures with... we didn't know each other very well before we started off but I have really enjoyed working with her
• seeing our class operating at the end of Term 3 as self managing classroom citizens- it's been a lot of effort from everyone to make this happen
• success in inquiry learning over the year and now exploring learning through play and discovery learning opportunities for our class
• seeing our inquiries flow from one into another at natural times and then last night looking at our overall plan and realising just how much we have explored as a class this year (which was quite a surprise!)
• learning about gardening, sustainability and weaving with the class... thank goodness for one particular crafty student who has been a great source of expertise with our weaving projects that children have self selected... love this ako where we are all learning together- there has been a lot of this for me this year

  

  Our completed class weaving artwork
  We did plate weaving first, then a CD
  each and after that individuals could
  choose a project that interested them.
  It's been terrific. 

• sharing some of my learning around the brain and learning with the class and seeing them 'get it' and build on it together
• working with a great team at our school, I love the vibe we have and how we are building a shared philosophy with several of us coming together over the year so a relatively new staff

So what next:

Well I have started building discovery time (I am calling it Meaningful And Independent Learning (MAIL)) into the programme, I have some great learners in the class who are becoming quite self motivated and this works for them as well as others. It is a great chance to work alongside individuals or small groups, for children to learn from each other and for children to pursue their own interests. We are focusing on self management and co-operative skills so this is a great opportunity to teach and learn through doing. Our big thing is that you must always be able to explain what you are learning if asked, and I am hearing some wonderful responses already like "learning to stick with something even if it is hard", "learning what fractions of shapes look like", "learning to make words that rhyme with -at etc", "learning to share my ideas with painting". Like everything this is a work in progress but I see it paying huge dividends for our class.

I have also created a google site for our class which at the end of the term I shared with our parents so they can use the links etc at home for learning at home if they want to. It was great to put some of my old skills into practice in a new setting.

And finally, just enjoying the last weeks of the year with our fabulous, challenging, unique learners as we keep on learning together.

Learning with the brain in mind

This post is a nod to my friend and mentor Karen Boyes who I remember talking about the comfort and learning zones at a conference a long time ago... I loved the concept and intend to share this with our class this term as we continue to learn about our brilliant brains. 

I recently shared a post about considering the brain with behaviour management and shared some tools I have used to help explain the brain to the children I have worked with. Using Glenn Capelli's magic brain model to help describe behaviour has been effective and so using the same model I intend to focus on learning with the brain in mind (see below)... it could be said we are able to learn our best when we are in the Learning Zone which in the model below is in the blue thinking room.  

Here is a little reminder of Glenn's Magic Brain model: 

1. The blue thinking room- where we have heaps of choices and this is where heaps of our learning happens 
2. The glitter room of emotions (Glenn talks about this being the multicoloured room)- this is where our feelings are and when we are feeling big emotions or lots of emotions it can get pretty messy in here which makes it hard to the get to the door for the thinking room so we need to calm the glitter down 
3. The red room of limited choices- often when we are afraid or angry we end up in the red room where we really only have 2-3 choices... fight, flight or freeze,  when the brain stem is engaged then the cerebral cortex is offline

One way to define a concept is by defining what it isn't so to explore what a Learning zone looks like I'll first establish what it isn't by looking at two extremes of a continuum... the Comfort zone and the Danger zone and what some internal dialogue relating to this might be.  

Comfort Zone	Danger Zone
This is easy I don’t even need to think about it I am so good at this Yawn…	This is probably going to kill me!!!

So the Learning zone sits in the middle of these two extremes but it isn't there alone... the Fear zone is also there  so our continuum now looks a little like this... 

Comfort Zone	Learning Zone		Danger Zone
	Fear Zone

When we are faced with a learning challenge, depending on our personal expectations, self talk and prior experience among other things, we will either enter the Learning zone or the Fear zone. 
Below is some internal (and even external) dialogue learners might have when they are in the Learning and Fear zones. 

Learning Zone	Fear Zone
This is challenging (the brain loves challenge!)	This is too hard
This might be fun	This is stupid
I can’t do this, yet	I can’t do this
Mistakes are part of learning	Mistakes are bad
Oops, I got that wrong this time	Getting things wrong is bad
I don’t know this, yet	I don’t know this
This reminds me of something else that I know	This doesn’t relate to anything I know at all
Asking for help is part of learning	Asking for help means that I am stupid or dumb
I am a learner	I am a failure

The Learning zone lets us into the blue thinking room of the brain whereas the Fear zone takes us through the glitter room of emotions and sometimes into the red room of limited choices. 

If our learners go into the Fear zone when presented with something new then the chances of them getting as much out of it as they could is really limited... unless we can help them to identify what is happening in their brain at the time and find ways to access the blue thinking room. Please note: I am not suggesting we try to remove emotions from learning at all, in fact emotions are powerfully useful in learning just not so much when they stay all shaken up and are keeping the door to the blue room closed, so we need to find ways to keep that door open. 

So how can we help move into the Learning zone if we find ourselves in the Fear zone? Well this is one of the questions we'll be discussing in our class at some stage but in the meantime here are a couple of suggestions that I can offer: 

• Think about another time when you learned something and it was really hard and then it got easier... often learning something new is hard at the start and that's normal.  
• Relate to children learning to walk... they don't try once, fall over and then based on that experience decide that clearly walking isn't for them! They try and try and try again, persistence is a key to learning. Making mistakes, getting things wrong, falling over is part of learning. 
• Remind yourself that it is OK to make mistakes... as a teacher you have the ability to support this mental framework so how do you make sure your learners know mistakes are OK? 
• YET is a powerful word, it supports developing a growth mindset. 'I can't do this yet' is empowering where just stating 'I can't do this' is limiting. 
• Remind ourselves that the brain LOVES challenges. Challenges help to form new connections and keep things interesting for the brain. 
• There are strategies we can use to help make learning new things easier, here are a couple: 1. scaffolding- by relating the new material to something else we have done or learned in the past; 2. break it down- see if you can break the new learning down into it's parts so we are learning one smaller thing at a time rather than something absolutely ENORMOUS!  
• Stop, Breathe, Think, Do works here too... when we hear ourselves saying that we are dumb or stupid or can't do this then that is a sign we need to STOP (have a break) and breathe. Then think about what we can do: perhaps ask for clarification or help if we need it; or have another go; or try a new strategy.

This work is designed to help make brain science accessible to our learners and I hope that as we work together the children will develop it further in ways that I can't predict, and that they will become more curious about their own amazing brains. For me the more I learn about this, the more I want to know and greater my appreciation for the magnificence of the human brain and our potential becomes. 

This is about empowerment of the learner, supporting them to better know themselves so they can unlock the potential within and shine which I figure is a big part of our role as parents, caregivers, teachers, school administrators, educationalists. I do appreciate your feedback and suggestions as I continue to build on these concepts with our children and hope that something in here might be useful for others as well. 

Some links that you may find interesting: 

From this blog: 

Managing difficult behaviour with the brain in mind (+some poetry and lesson ideas) 

Supporting at risk students- reflecting on teaching practices to support students

Why we need mindfulness in our schools- a few thoughts about mindfulness in the classroom

Karen Boyes: 

Effort vs Accomplishment - a summary around fixed and growth mindsets

Everything is hard before it is easy- looking at this aspect of being in the learning zone 

Brene Brown: 

The power of vulnerability- exploring the feeling of vulnerability and seeing the powerful and positive that can be found in it (great for our own learning and development) 

Managing difficult behaviour with the brain in mind

Last week I attended a course hosted by Compass Seminars entitled Distressed or Deliberately Defiant. Dr Judith Howard presented from a research, neurobiological and personal perspective which was powerful and at times profound. Her book covers the content of the seminar and although I am going to share some of what I learned from Judith here, if you are interested I would recommend reading her book to get the big picture. 

The focus was on children who have suffered significant, chronic trauma that has caused neurological pathway differences due to an interruption in normal attachment development (WOW that was a huge mouthful!) 

Initially we looked at neurobiology and attachment theory so there was a basis for the discussion that followed. This was recommended as the approach we were to take if sharing with colleagues which I agree with completely, if we don't know what we are dealing with then we will struggle with implementation. The basics of this fit well with the magic brain by Glenn Capelli and the glitter jar concept that I have been working on lately with my class (with the exception that breathing is often not a good first strategy for these particular young people because they can't quite control that in the heat of the moment) - see below for some information and teaching ideas I have used with our class this year. 

The big take home neurologically is: when these kids kick off we are not dealing with someone choosing to behave badly, we are dealing with a brain stem and some disfunctional pathways and in that time and space there isn't reasoning, the cerebral cortex is offline because the brain stem is running the show! 

So really behaviour management at this time is about helping these kids find a safe place to calm down and supporting them to regulate first. When we are stressed we have two neurotransmitters going off- explosive adrenalin which spikes and abates and then the slower to rise and slower to drop cortisol... often we go in to 'talk' about the poor behaviour when the adrenalin has dropped off but the cortisol is still rising and so they then kick off again as they have not regulated properly yet. This all takes time and the key to success for these vulnerable young people is RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS. 

Long term we are actually performing external brain surgery... we are aiming to rewire the brain, building strong positive pathways where there are only weak ones, if any at all. The strategy discussed at the seminar is quite similar to the one outlined in this blog post http://www.thedistractedmom.com/why-punishments-dont-work/ - yes it comes from a parent perspective about ADHD but the strategy is useful to consider and is in alignment with strategies shared by Judith. 

In addition to the strategy above some other aspects are as follows: 

• Ensure that the child has a mentor (not the classroom teacher) 
• Have a team that work together around the child... meet and talk to each other
• It is OK for you to have a bad day as a teacher, it is OK for you to ask for help 
• School policy needs to reflect that common practice behaviour management strategies may work for the majority but that for some the strategies we employ need to flexible so we can best meet the needs of the children concerned and ensure safety for other children and staff as well 
• These kids will test your love and care, they don't trust easily... they will push back... they will not make it easy but if they are giving you a hard time it is possible that this is actually a complement in a strange way, they think you are worth it to test the relationship 
• Reframing your own internal dialogue when working with these 'tough' kids is a really helpful, mentally healthy strategy 

The thing we need to come back to is that the science is there, and as Judith stated emphatically, we cannot afford to ignore it... the science can and should be informing our practice and what works for 80% of our kids is great but we need to ensure that we do what we can to support the 20% in ways that work for them. This relates to the at risk learners as well. 

SOME TEACHING IDEAS TO SHARE:
I am passionate about the human brain and how it works. It is fascinating and as a teacher I see this as vital to know as it can inform my practice and help my students become more self aware learners. 

This year I have had several sessions (not enough by far but it is a start) where we have worked through some 'stuff' about our brains. What I figure is if we have an awareness of how our brain might be working then we are better able to manage ourselves and if nothing else be more aware of our own behaviours so in time be better self managers. 

Now if you haven't seen this clip I recommend it, it doesn't take long and is useful for ourselves if nothing else. I have shown this to my class and played it again for individuals and they really get it (please note: our students are 7 years old). After watching this we spoke about how it felt when our glitter jar of emotions were all shaken up and how we can help to calm them down. I then used this analogy of the glitter jar and teamed it with Glenn Capelli's Magic Brain concept. 

Initially I drew this on the board as we talked about it and then later made the visual as a reminder for us going forward. There are three rooms in our Magic Brain: 

1. The blue thinking room- where we have heaps of choices and this is where heaps of our learning happens 
2. The glitter room of emotions (Glenn talks about this being the multicoloured room)- this is where our feelings are and when we are feeling big emotions or lots of emotions it can get pretty messy in here which makes it hard to the get to the door for the thinking room so we need to calm the glitter down 
3. The red room of limited choices- often when we are afraid or angry we end up in the red room where we really only have 2-3 choices... fight, flight or freeze, when we are in the red room we can't get to the thinking room very well at all (and this relates back to Judith's work around when the brain stem is engaged then the cerebral cortex is offline)... we need strategies to help us get from the red room, through the glitter room and up to the thinking room so we have got more choices 

It impressed me how the children seemed to understand this concept. So we moved from here and using the just breathe video as inspiration created this simple strategy for the class (and please note: this is for all students in the class but as stated earlier it doesn't necessarily work for all) 

This is here as a reminder for all of us to help when we get stuck in the glitter room of emotions and the red room of limited choices. It gives us a visual cue. The stop button is really helpful, when things are getting out of control the first thing we do is stop and if we can do that earlier rather than later then everyone benefits. For our disregulated children there needs to be an extra step and that is finding a safe 'place' to calm the adrenalin and cortisol down, then breathing and thinking before deciding on a course of action to remedy the situation... and as I said earlier, that takes time! 

So far these simple tools have had some positive effect for a few of the children in the class and as a teacher I need to model this more obviously as well. It isn't only the children that feel like their glitter jar is a bit shaken up from time to time :) 

Below are some poems I have also shared with our class when talking about the brain: 

My growing magic brain

Megan Gallagher

Guess what I have between my ears

That changes and grows all the time

It’s my magical wonderful brain

And it’s all mine, all mine, all mine

Trying things that are hard or tough

Helps connections grow

The more I try, the better I learn

And the more I get to know

So I will help my magic brain

Make links and learn and grow

By being kind and trying hard

And giving new things a go!

Growing and Changing

Megan Gallagher

Egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly

Changing and growing fast

My brain changes when I try

I practice to make it last

A seed becomes a plant or tree

Branches grow like brain connections in me

When I try and have a go

My brain connections will grow and grow

I keep trying and what do you know

I change and grow and change and grow

Growing and Changing 2

Megan Gallagher

A baby changes and learns a lot because they try and try again,

An egg becomes a butterfly by changing and then flying.

A seed becomes a giant tree by growing a little every day,

And I grow and change as well by trying when I learn and play.