Auckland central schools use collaboration to drive change in Pāngarau/Mathematics

During the holidays the Pāngarau/Mathematics Initiative presented at ULEARN 2018. Two of our Across School Leaders and four of our In-School Leaders presented our years
work, they were Sonya, Andy, Belinda, Ainsley, Emily and Clara.

Here is a link to our abstract.

Here are our slides.

Link to presentation

Summary of what we spoke about
Currently, the Auckland Central Community of Schools is made up of 11 schools and 1 ECE. The title of our community is ACCoS, and it still includes schools because we began when all applicants were known as Community of Schools. The initial achievement challenges were endorsed in 2015, and it 2017 we re-evaluated these. Moving forward, we wanted to ensure there was collaboration between schools, but also include goals that would fit in with the strategic plans for each school.

At the end of 2017, Auckland Normal Intermediate, Parnell District School and Newmarket Primary School identified Pāngarau/Mathematics as a focus for professional development in 2018. This was part of all three schools strategic plans and the work of the mathematics initiative began.

The purpose
The purpose of the initiative was to work together to provide Professional Learning for the three schools in Pāngarau/Mathematics. Within the three schools there are 77 teachers and in total there are 1,450 students. We stressed the importance of all school leaders being actively involved as one of the key successes for the initiative. In order to measure the effectiveness of the initiative, the three schools agreed that student attitude data would be used as a comparison indicator to see how successful the initiative was in strengthening teacher pedagogy knowledge and content knowledge when teaching Pāngarau/Mathematics in our schools.

We reached out to the community of schools and invited Primary and Secondary teachers to our across school hui. There were several across school meetings, where the teaching staff from each school got together to share what they were doing in relation to Pāngarau/Mathematics. There were discussions around own experiences with Pāngarau/Mathematics and how this has influenced our teaching, and identified some effective strategies to approach maths teaching.

In addition, we celebrated Maths week as an initiative. We created the inaugural across school A-Math-Zing Race, where students from the three schools came together for a morning of competition fun which included maths puzzles and activities.

Knowing the secondary school expectation for intermediate students transitioning was another area we looked into. Dr Sue Spencer who is the Head of Department for Maths at Epsom Girls Grammar School shared the skills and knowledge students need to know as they enter year 9.

We still have a way to go but the changes we saw in our students, teachers and community regarding the way they spoke about and viewed Pāngarau/Mathematics are encouraging. We aim to keep expanding and working with teachers across year levels within our schools.

What we learnt

Collective teacher efficacy impacts learners and no school is left behind because together we aimed to lift the achievement of every student. Collaborative conversation based on evidence between the three schools has been the key to improved outcomes for our Pāngarau/Mathematics initiative. Collaboration across schools provided opportunities for school leaders, teachers and students to explore new ideas/ways of doing Pāngarau/Mathematics. Including parents and whanau in the discussion is an effective strategy for learning and incorporating external agencies is also important to grow our practice.

Overall we had a great session sharing our journey. We made connections as a Pāngarau/Mathematics team and we made connections with other Kāhui Ako. We collaborated on ideas of what we needed to cover for our session and used the experience to reflect and celebrate on all we have achieved over the year in our Pāngarau/Mathematics Initiative.

We had some lovely positive feedback that helped confirm the importance of sharing what we do and also some suggestions for where to next when sharing.

Preparing the next generation for the algorithmic age. Mike Walsh: Final Keynote Speaker at Ulearn 2018.

Blog post:
Link to Mikes Talk

Helen Cooper interviewing Mike via virtual projection.

Ulearn 2018 was both eye opening and energising as we rubbed shoulders with educators from around the country and from around the globe. Finishing up the three day event was key note Mike Walsh. Walsh is a futurist who travels the globe researching and talking to companies and groups about thinking and innovation which addresses the world of constant change that we live in. He joined the audience via a video presentation initially, then Helen Cooper from Core Education interviewed him via hologram projected onto a clear plastic screen, which was an odd sight, yet somehow perfectly normal at the same time.

Walsh discussed a reality where we cannot avoid ‘big data', analytics and ‘machine thinking’. Therefore, we have to prepare our children and students for this digital world, where our services are more and more likely to be run through a digital platforms. He gave the example of beggars on the street in China who ask for money via a Q Code rather than cash. In China platforms such as WeiShing and WeChat dominate. Walsh is positive about this future ahead. Believing that technology and automation will free us up to give more time to our children and learning in the future. He sees great potential in digital tools, environments and artificial intelligence that can assist teachers and parents to help learners reach their own potential.

What does he think education will look like in 20 years? Will classes, teachers and schools disappear to be replaced with online courses? He provided us some respite from the relentless focus on a digital future by reinforcing the importance and power of people working, in ‘full resolution’. He sees the future as being a blend of human and artificial intelligence. In his view it will not be entirely digital or online, it will be a combination, the screens will be less visible but DATA and algorithms will be prevalent in informing decisions. However, human imagination, intelligence and empathy will always be needed even in the face of AI, even if computers can process patterns and information millions of times faster than we can. ..Whew!

Some lessons for the future from Mike:

1. The consequences of of big change are arriving in the world: We need to teach the coming generation about being comfortable with uncertainty / ambiguity and to be flexible in the face of change. The ability to handle ambiguity will be a key skill.
2. We need to recognise and harness the power of Artificial Intelligence rather than being fearful of it.
3. We need to focus on the ability to centre ourselves and find the right moral compass - to make good and ethical judgement within this environment of change and technology.

It was heartening for me to see that his final message was an emphasis on philosophy, ethics and critical thinking as these are a passion of my own and something we have been developing within the ACCoS, particularly at EGGS in the last three years. Walsh discussed the example of Facebook in relation to this last point. In the scandal which broke in 2017, where it was determined that Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook did not break any laws in allowing Cambridge Analytica to use Facebook data. However, Facebook did break the trust of users and broke moral laws. Bringing ethical issues around data and privacy and the effect of algorithms on democracy to the forefront of discussions. These are issues we will need to address with our students now and in the future.

You can see video clips by Mike Walsh online
https://www.youtube.com/user/michaelwalsh
https://www.mike-walsh.com/about-mike-walsh

Lisa Murphy

If you don’t lead with small data, you’ll be led by Big Data

About Pasi Sahlberg @pasi_sahlberg

Link to Video

Prof Pasi Sahlberg has recently been appointed a professor of educational policy in the School of Education, UNSW, and will be working closely with Prof Adrian Piccoli setting up the new Gonski Institute for Education.
Pasi has worked as a school teacher, teacher educator, researcher, and policy advisor in Finland and has studied education systems, analysed education policies, and advised education reforms around the world.
He speaks 6 languages (Croatian, German, Finnish, English, Swedish and Italian)


Abstract

Learning analytics, algorithms and big data are knocking on the doors of many schools promising fast improvements and new solutions to wicked problems facing schools today.
In the midst of datafication educators need to remember the power of small data: tiny clues through personal observations, collective human judgment, and raw instinct that can lead to big change in schools. Leading with small data requires collaboration, trust and professionalism as key features of educational change.
Link to Pasi’s presentation

Big Data

Data is changing the way we deliver education. Education data in general is run by big data educators. Big data is the process of sorting through large data sets to identify patterns and trends to reveal correlations and predict the future. Big data uses algorithms to establish relationships and solve problems through data analysis.  Big data does things like data mining and is processed by machines.
But does big data really make education smarter? How does big data help schools? In order for that big data to work we as educators have to contribute small data.

Small Data

Small data is processed by humans who continuously look for tiny clues to reveal
causations. Small data helps us understand the present. But is small data, smart learning? Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs. So as teachers we collect small data to contribute to our school’s big data. But more importantly we should be looking at the best way of using that small data to improve our practice.

Humanness

Is learning all about the data? Pasi say’s ‘As educators we should trust our raw instincts of what works. Be amongst what is happening- not just observing and monitoring.’

Alongside our learning data we should be focussing on relations. Relationships with our students and family, relationships with our colleagues both in and beyond our schools, relationships with our communities both locally and globally.

In the midst of datafication educators need to remember the power of small data: tiny clues through personal observations, collective human judgment, and raw instinct that can lead to big change in schools. Lead and think with small data first, then use in conjunction with the rest of your skillset and Big Data.  Ethically, rather than develop and agree to systems that put even more emphasis on screen learning and can truly mine data for Big Data, we should be pushing for ‘face to face, eye to eye, breath to breath to get a full understanding of who we are working with.’

Personalised Learning

Where is the personalisation of learning if the learner's voice is not in it? Be cautious with letting machines do the thinking and learning. As educators we know that social skills are a critical component of learning and we need more play. Therefore, let us listen more to human observation, conversations and relationships. Professional wisdom is balancing value-based experience and combination of small and big data for collective judgment in school.

Lead with small data. Think with small data first, then use in conjunction with the rest of your
skillset and Big Data.

Telling the real stories from our past to inspire a positive future

How does our understanding of who we are effect who we will be?  
Link to the video

Hana O'Regan laid down a challenge to New Zealand educators in her keynote at uLearn 18 this week. She asked us to tell stories, stories that have not been told; in reality, stories that in the past were not allowed to be told.

Hana proposed that cultural narratives impact our self-perception. She questioned the negativity within stories from our cultural legacy that our ākonga are hearing and described their potential impact on young Maori. As teachers, we can help to reverse this effect by acknowledging the role these negative messages have and talking about where they have come from. We can then work towards filling in the historical gaps and actively sharing the positives. A good place to start might be drawing attention to the notably high levels of Maori literacy in colonial times (for example the 47 Maori language newspapers in circulation) and sharing examples of pioneering Maori academics as inspirational role models.

So how can we rise to Hana's challenge within our learning community ACCOS?
What can we do to build positive self-belief in our Maori students?
How can we extend this concept to the multi-cultural context of our schools?

Let us "be brave" (Hana's words); we must reflect on the cultural narrative that is shared in our classrooms and positively override the stereotypes by telling the stories that count.
Let us and our students find stories about our local area and about successful alumni from our schools and share them with each other.
Let us empower our students so that they are creating their own future narratives of success.

Tō reo ki te raki, tō mana ki te whenua

Let your story be heard in the heavens, And your mana be restored to the land

Thanks to the amazing artist at uLearn who captured the keynote in annotated images.

Link to more information about Hana and uLearn18.
http://core-ed.org/events/ulearn/keynote-speakers/