Term One 2020
“The best teachers don’t give you the answers... They just point the way ... and let you make your own choices.”
2 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
Your Soapbox 4 What is relational trust and how do we foster it in our schools? Jennifer Charteris, Ange Page, Jo Anderson & Esther Tomkinson 5 Lessons from the Kitchen
Elaine Le Sueur (MNZM)
8
The sunset of the 3 Rs and the rise of the 10 Rs
John Hellner
10
Zeke Battle: Earthquake Boy
Book Review
13
Lessons from Rwanda on leading girls towards careers in STEM Linda Calhoun
14
Hillary Clinton appointed Chancellor of Queen’s University
18
Queen’s University, Belfast
Getting New Projects Off the Ground-Fast-With Kanban Boards Michelle LaBrosse
20
Out of the Box Learning from MOTAT
MOTAT
22
Create-a-thon Makes the “A” in STEAM as Important
C. M. Rubin
26
The Most Unique Bus Stops Found In Abkhazia
I Van Assche and V Draseikaite
30
New Zealand School of Dance 3rd Year Graduants
NZ School of Dance
34
Essential leadership skills for the roaring ‘20s
Marlene Chism
36
Student Driven Real-World Learning in Broadcast Journalism
C. M. Rubin
38
How to Ask Your Team the Right Questions
Dave Bailey
42
The Priority List, Ice Breaker!
Book Reviews
45
Breathtaking Photos From Harbin Snow And Ice Festival
Judita Kusaitytė
46
9 Questions Great Leaders Ask of Themselves Daily
Gordon Tredgold
54
Space Center Houston Fuels Educators for the Next Giant Leap Zahra Ahmed
56
What if Learning Was All Fun and Games?
C. M. Rubin
62
The Family Travel Handbook
Book Review
65
She gave up on public schools that rejected her bold ideas
C M Rubin
66
The teacher’s role in “phenomenon-based learning” Tara García Mathewson
70
New Study finds Moderate Use of Screen Time can be Good... University of Oxford
74
Stunning Photographs from 2019 Ocean Art Contest
Grace Ebert
78
Two more big books from Lonely Planet Kids
Book Reviews
88
Ten Movies to See Before You Diet
Roger’s Rant
90
Front Cover: Past, Present, Future. Matamata Primary School Back Cover: Meditating meercat. Adelaide Zoo.
Photograph: barisa designs® Photograph: barisa designs®
Good Teacher Magazine would like to acknowledge the unknown designers and craftspeople internationally for the some of the images and art in the magazine, every care has been taken to identify and acknowledge writers/artists/photographers... however this is not always successful... most were collated from a wide range of internet sources.
ed-media publications
is produced in the first week of each school term and uploaded to http://www.goodteacher.co.nz The magazine is internationally freely available online NOTE: The opinions expressed inG Teacher are not Magazine ed media necessarily those of publications or the editorial team. ood
Independent publishers of quality education media. Advertising enquiries and bookings: info@goodteacher.co.nz Submitting material for publication: barb@goodteacher.co.nz Enquiries: 021 244 3244 info@goodteacher.co.nz mail: ed-media publications PO Box 5531 Mt Maunganui 3150 ISSN: 1175-5911 Layout and Design: barisa designs® Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 3
Your Soapbox!
“
You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.
�
Clay P. Bedford
If you want to have YOUR SAY please email your offering to: info@goodteacher.co.nz
4 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
What is relational trust and how do we foster it in our schools?
Jennifer Charteris, Ange Page, Jo Anderson and Esther Tomkinson
What is relational trust? It is timely with so much change happening in Aotearoa schools that we revisit the notion of relational trust. With the rise in expectation around collaborative pedagogy associated with innovative learning environments, issues of trust and risk-taking become paramount. It is unlikely that much can be achieved without a particular leadership focus on trust. Trust is relational when it is developed around agreed norms of safety, risk-taking, and a growth orientation (Cranston, 2011). Nurturing a culture of relational trust and mutual respect is important when implementing change and promoting growth in your school (Edwards-Groves, Grootenboer & Ronnerman, 2016). Relational Trust is premised on the belief that the behaviour of another person or a group will be altruistic and personally and professionally beneficial. Relational trust has been described as the ‘ground zero’ for schooling improvement (Hallam, Dulaney, Hite, & Smith, 2014) and it is a critical element for fostering the type of school culture necessary for effective teacher collaboration and successful schools (Vostal, Horner & LaVenia, 2019)
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 5
Relational trust is forged through day-to-day social exchanges defined by respect through a genuine sense of listening to others, personal regard shown by a willingness of participants to extend themselves beyond what is formally required, and discernments about role competence that colleagues have the knowledge, skills, and/or technical capacity to deliver on intentions and promises (Timperley, 2011, p. 148). In schools trust is built between people on a day by day basis - in relationships between leaders, teachers, students, parents and the community. Based on respect, integrity and competence, it “is the connective tissue that holds improving schools together” (Bryk & Schneider, 2003, p. 45). Leaders need to be trusted in order to have support from teachers for their decision making. The establishment of relational trust and psychological safety is vital to positive school culture and a key element in sustainable educational change processes (Breakspear, 2017).
How do we foster relational trust? Trust can “reduce vulnerabilities between interdependent parties trying to accomplish shared educational objectives” (Vostal, Horner, & LaVenia, 2019, p. 2). Yet it is myth that schools are ‘egalitarian institutions’. School leaders have
authority that is derived from legal and administrative regulations and they are charged with the responsibility of making decisions that significantly affect their colleagues (Leithwood, Sun, & Pollock, 2017). Leaders can foster trust between teachers and with themselves when they make the goal posts for teacher performance transparent, make the rationale for decisions apparent (where possible) , and distribute leadership in the school. Relational trust thrives when the distinct role relationships and mutual dependencies in school communities are valued (Bryk & Schneider, 2002). This means that leaders, teachers and students understand their roles and their associated obligations, and also what the responsibilities are for others in their roles. Leaders, teachers and students achieve an agreement of what their roles comprise, what their personal obligations are, and what they can expect of others. Respectful exchanges are marked by genuinely listening to what each person has to say and by taking these views into account in subsequent actions. Even when people disagree, individuals can still feel valued if others respect their opinion. (Bryk & Schneider, 2003, p. 41)
Esme is the Deputy Principal of a special school. She signals the importance of trust building in her leadership practice. If teachers trust you, then you can work together and get something happening. To develop trust, you need to prove yourself in character and you need to prove yourself in competence. And so I try and do both. I try to be a really good listener -an active listener. I support when I need to and I challenge when I need to. But overall, I try and be really trustworthy, competent and organised. Competence is about proving yourself, for example, to be timely and organised and that you do a really good job. But above all of that, it’s about being clear that we’ve got students at the center of what we’re planning. So, whatever I do it’s got to come back to ‘What’s the benefit for the student?’. When asking this of my staff, I don’t necessarily always say as much as I could because I sometimes think it can be quite patronising and I like them to come up with their own ideas. If someone’s trying to make a decision I say ‘So how’s that going to impact students?’ or I’ll bring it back to – ‘Well, I’m really thinking about the students now -so this is why I’m making this particular decision.’
6 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>
Back to index
References Here are some discussion questions you may like to use with your colleagues to discuss relational trust. For teachers: •
Where have you experienced a high trust school environment?
•
How was relational trust established and maintained?
For middle leaders and principals: •
Esme (the Deputy Principal above) links trust with competence. How do you convey your competence to your colleagues?
•
How do you establish norms of safety, risk-taking, and an openness to change when working with groups of teachers?
•
How do you ensure that there is trust and authenticity so that teachers are not just tokenistic in implementing processes of improvement? (This tokenism is where there is a focus on compliance and teachers just do what is required just to tick the boxes.)
>Back to index
Breakspear, S. (2017). Embracing Agile Leadership for Learning: How leaders can create impact despite growing complexity. Retrieved from https://simonbreakspear. com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/AELArticle-Embracing-Agile-Leadership.pdf. Bryk, A. S., & Schneider, B. (2003). Trust in schools: A core resource for school reform. Educational leadership, 60(6), 40-45. Cranston, J. (2011). Relational trust: The glue that binds a professional learning community. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 57(1), 59-72. Edwards-Groves, C., Grootenboer, P., & Ronnerman, K. (2016). Facilitating a culture of relational trust in school-based action research: recognising the role of middle leaders. Educational Action Research, 24(3), 369-386. Leithwood, K., Sun, J. & Pollock, K. (2017). How school leaders contribute to student success: The four paths framework. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. Timperley, H. (2011). knowledge and the leadership of learning. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 10(2), 145-170. Vostal, M., Horner, C. G., & LaVenia, K. N. (2019). Considering the mentoring dyad through the lens of relational trust. Action in Teacher Education, 1-17.
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 7
Lessons from the Kitchen Elaine Le Sueur (MNZM)
As a keen follower of cooking competitions on television, I’ve been reflecting on the similaraities between the challenges faced by learning to become a good cook and those of striving to be a good teacher. Cooking shows make the tasks look easy because the participants have an understanding of how ingredients work together that has been developed over time. In similar fashion, experienced teachers are able to select from their ‘pantry’ of ideas that they know work well together to create a recipe to fit the needs of their students. So what are the lessons to be learned for beginning teachers?
•
Plan with the end in mind. An understanding of the ingredients and an emphasis on quality goes a long way in ensuring that the scene is set for a memorable meal.
For teachers to think about… Do you have an open pantry or are there restrictions to be taken into account? What is the dish that is required? What is the objective? Is it clear to the learners? Are your expectations high enough? What ingredients will be needed to ensure the recipe goes to plan? Can your students see a link to their own lives? Connecting with the interests of others is contagious. Your passion for a topic will be picked up by the students you teach. •
Texture counts. Sweet. Sour. Salty. Bitter. Umami(savory). In creating a dish the important thing to remember is that there needs to be a balance in what is offered. A touch of sweet adds depth to a savory dish. A squeeze of lemon can add zing and lift the ordinary into the extraordinary.
For teachers to think about…
In teaching terms this is creating the balance of challenge between scaffolding for students where necessary and allowing for able students to move at their own pace if the concept has been mastered. Not an easy task, but doable if the lesson is differentiated. Consider pretesting to establish who will benefit from a slight adjustment of your range of teaching techniques. •
Know that plating up matters. Food motivates us to ‘eat with our eyes’ first.
For teachers to think about…
Be on the lookout for different ways to deliver content so that the students are challenged by having to think from a different perspective or in an unfamiliar way because doing so can make all the difference . Think about changing 8 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
the scenery every so often or use positive competition in some lessons. As teacher, you are the one who makes these decisions and is able to make the recipe your own in the way that you like it. •
Make the recipe your own.. Time pressure makes a difference to the result. Good food takes time
For teachers to think about…
All experts start out as beginners. Learn from each other and ask for help if you need it. See challenge as a chance to learn rather than a failure, and don’t forget to share success with others! There is nothing like a successful lesson to make a teacher’s day. Give your students a sense of control and responsibility by allowing them to work with and learn from each other as well as from you. •
Constructive feedback improves the product.
If the dish is delicious then the cook will use the recipe again. If it needs tweeking for next time then constuctive feedback from the diner improves the outcome for both.
For teachers to think about… Assessment/ feedback is part of the task and should be used to make a difference both for student learning and teacher practice. It doesn’t always need to be in written form. We can learn a lot from stopping to listen to the views of others.
Some ideas to try: •
Think/ pair/share
Students take a moment to reflect on the response to a prompt, then pair up and discuss with a partner before sharing with the group •
Doughnut discussion
Divide into two groups. If there is an uneven number then the teacher is a participant. First group makes a ring in the centre. One student from the second group stands behind each person in the centre ring. Teacher determines the topic. Turn and talk. After a set time, stop. Outside ring moves three places to the left and discussion starts over. Repeat as often as desired to allow for cross pollination of ideas. •
Human continuum
The challenge for students is to place themselves along a line from one side of the classroom to the other to determine their level of understanding. Bewildered/ Can clearly explain Haven’t ‘got it’ •
Have fun!
Participants come to cooking competitions wanting to show what they know already and wanting to learn from the experience. This is true of most students. It’s a matter of finding the right recipes to tempt the palate.
Please visit my store for some classroom ideas to tempt your palate. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Thinking-Challenges Or Click here to follow me so that you don’t miss any new products, freebies or sales in the future and receive a newsletter once a month from me.
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 9
The sunset of the 3 Rs and the ri The old game
But the sun set on the 3Rs.
The teaching land scape has changed. In the mid-1950s and 60s, teachers primarily transmitted knowledge.
The game changed
Teachers taught the way they were taught; learners sat, listened, read, copied. Assessment required learners to remember and regurgitate learning. Learners came to the teachers; teachers didn’t aim to reach them. “Readin’-Ritin’-Rithmetic” were the basis of a good education. If learning the 3 Rs, in an enclosed style environment, hard work on a narrow range of subject choices, suited the student, he or she passed. If they failed, conventional wisdom said it was their own fault. Teacher accountability mattered little. Ineffectiveness or incompetence tended to be ignored or glossed over. We were short of teachers and a “warm body” in front of the class was better than nothing. Teachers were the law. They were the focus of the classroom. They were respected by virtue of being the teacher. We were on a pedestal. But, no problem back then. Students could leave school aged 15 or 16 and secure good opportunities, learn on the job and succeed. The state education system served the industrial society preparing students for the “factory”, or for further education and training. 10 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
In the meantime, a new generation of learners arrived. Weaned on “quick fix” mass media, speed, energy. A digital society, an information explosion, the internet, smart phones, social media. They learn differently. Actively doing, not passively listening or reading. They take information in smaller chunks, over shorter times. They want more entertainment, more pace, a range of media. Action stations. In the new game, students are more aware of individual rights, in schools fostering and heralding diversity; in a society encouraging assertiveness and self-expression; enveloped in a cocoon of television, politics, movies, social media and music, often offering up anti-hero, anti-establishment role models and leaders without boundaries on the use vulgarity, violence, disrespect and ethical guidelines. Couple this with a growing number of dysfunctional families, a decline in parenting skills and the weakening of once powerful social institutions and controls.
The new rules As a consequence, students behave differently. Leaners seem less able and less prone to comply with authority. Less compliant to many of the values and practices once deemed timeless. From the teacher’s perspective it means students are more difficult to manage and motivate; misbehaviour and apathy grow. Education itself is under pressure in the face of changing social and economic climates. As globalisation and technology reduce the availability of unskilled jobs, education and training beyond high school becomes the norm. No education; no job. The role of high school itself has changed.
> Back to index
ise of the 10 Rs Whereas high schools used to be the end of the line for most students, now they must retain students longer and groom them the next phase of learning. As a result of a changing world and society, our students changed. Therefore, we needed to reengineer our pedagogy and the nature of our education system.
Reengineering education In response to the changes in society, the economy and in learners themselves, the education system has become more flexible and dynamic. Starting at the national level and moving through to schools and classrooms, there have been fundamental changes in curriculum, assessment, administration, management and structure. And more to come, as an educational review of many of these changes is currently underway. The curriculum has shifted from the basics of the 3Rs to the 10Rs of the future: reading, “riting”, “rithmetic”, risk taking, research, responsibility, relationships, recognition, reflection and respect – or some such derivative that may not always have the dutiful “Rs” I have chosen (eg. creative problem solving, emotional intelligence, collaboration, morale). Assessment insures virtually everyone gets something for their time in school, succeeding to some level, with a carefully delineated focus on exactly what it is to be learned most of the time. Achievement based judgment levels helps to open the curriculum to provide for a much wider range of choices for students to academically succeed. Choice and opportunity abound. Schools are self-managed and modelled on business practice. Management structure is “flat”, no longer hierarchical. Each job has a carefully worded job description and linked to performance appraisal.
>Back to index
John Hellner
Teachers knocked off their pedestal In order to enable learners to succeed, teachers no long direct the learning, but rather facilitate it. The teacher is no longer the centre of the classroom, of the learning, this becomes the responsibility of the learner to manage their own learning at their own pace, often on projects of their choice - more skills of the future. In the new game, teachers plan and organise opportunities for learning. Instead of the focus being the transmission of knowledge, the students utilize research skills to find the knowledge themselves, sharing and collaborating. Teachers coax, cajole, urge and encourage to motivate students, both in academic work and on task behaviour. The primary task is to provide feedback and support for learning. By doing all this, we hope to usher in an educational ‘sunrise’. We hope the students master the 10Rs and can go on to be a valuable member of the future.
Challenging assumptions of the new sunrise But perhaps in the next wave of educational reengineering we need to question some of the underlying assumptions about the new game we have created. Let’s ask ourselves: •
Does one system work for everyone and that traditional practices are not on the list of best practices in the new system?
•
Are ‘sit down, keep quiet, listen and work’ not skills or attributes worthy of inculcating in learners for the workplace of the future?
•
Who came up with the 10Rs and other future traits learners will need? How do they know? Are they best for everyone? And, what happens to those who the 10Rs (etc.) don’t suit? Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 11
•
Do intermediate and secondary learners possess the advance organising skills necessary to “take responsibility for their own learning”?
•
Social changes have changed the fundamental values and of students. Can’t some values and needs remain timeless?
•
Is teacher facilitating better than directing; is collaboration always good; do students flourish in a stimulating open environment?
•
Do teachers have the skills and the time to manage behaviour and provide specific and targeted feedback in a Modern Learning Environment with 60-90 students in one space? Is effective professional development being offered in support?
•
Will the students who struggle with the 3Rs, struggle less with the 10Rs?
12 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
The next dawn of a new age Three incontestable assumptions should underlie the next wave of educational change. Firstly, let’s remember that no matter how we change what and how we teach and the administration and school buildings that surround those changes, it all depends on the quality and effectiveness of the people we ask to do it. Secondly and consequently, pour the money into the initial training and continued professional development of those people. Thirdly, beware of grand theories as substructures of change: as science and life teach us: the pragmatic, piecemeal approach is by far the most successful way of adapting ourselves.
>Back to index
Zeke Battle: Earthquake Boy Published Erkel-Erkel Publishing Distributed: Bateman Books
Boo k Review
Dr Doug Wilson RRP NZ$19.99
What follows is not your usual book review… It’s a rave. I started reading this while minding a shop which had no customers… continued with wine in hand when I got home and then took it to bed late at night to finish it. It’s one of those books which is packed full of interest, humour, adventure, drama and totally believable characters who all merge together to make a homogenous group who support Zeke Battle the ‘boy genius’ in trying to save countries threatened by the increase of activity of the Ring of Fire mountain and earthquake zone surrounding the Pacific Ocean. The story starts in Wellington with an orphaned street kid – Zeke Battle - who is obviously pretty smart in the ways of the street but as the story develops I considered that author Doug Wilson was really describing the life of one of the world’s high functioning autistic people… ahead of their time and simply wired differently from the rest of the world. Zeke meets and befriends people who can see past the street persona to the intelligence beyond and we are taken on a fastmoving ride with them as they face all the obstacles facing people with innovative ideas which may appear far fetched but in reality have miles of genuine science backing them up… they face the worst of the tabloid press, indecisive politicians concerned only of their future, jealous university colleagues, ill-informed protest groups and religious zealots. The pace of the book is astonishing, it is also packed with understandable volcanic information and earthquake facts which thorough researcher Doug Wilson adds into the story seamlessly giving credibility and realism to what could be referred to as a ripping yarn.
>Back to index
Zeke Battle: Earthquake boy may have been written for teenagers but I for one was disappointed when I finished, I hope there is a sequel! This book would be a welcome read for any young person probably over the age of 10 and any adult who picks it up to enjoy the story. High functioning children would probably recognise aspects of themselves in Zeke and relate to what he faces, also how he deals with different situations. All around a great read, I for one will be looking out for the next book from Doug Wilson. Dr Wilson is a medical scientist who has been a professor of medicine, since childhood he has wanted to be an author, especially a children’s author. Other books by Doug: The Tom Hassler Series; Rats of Droolmoan Cave, Giant Razor clawed Granioptrix, The Whale Killers and Snake Haven, the Changeling Warriors Series, Deadly Voyage and Don’t Mess with these Kids and Taupo Blows. His latest book is a non-fiction for adults Aging for Beginners: getting older in today’s world – what it means for you.
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 13
Five lessons from Rwanda on lead The importance of mentors in middle school I first understood the impact of stories from listening as a little girl to my grandmother. She would put me on her knee and share stories from her own journey — how she went from living in extreme poverty in rural Virginia to having full agency over her life.
My grandparents never made it beyond eighth grade. Although I successfully graduated from college, I had no one in my extended family who could offer specific career advice about how to navigate my postsecondary path.
My parents were the first in their families to graduate from high school.
14 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
ding girls towards careers in STEM Linda Calhoun It wasn’t until 10 or 15 years later that I began to find my own way career-wise. I had just landed a consulting job to help implement market reforms in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. It was an exciting but challenging position. When I looked around the office, I saw very few women and absolutely no one else of color. It was an “Aha” moment for me. My level of education and passion for the work were what got me into the room. I knew that if I could find my way into that room, any girl, from anywhere, could get there, too. I was determined to make the journey easier for girls coming up behind me. I thought back to my grandmother and how she was able to change the trajectory of her life. It wasn’t just the historical narrative of her stories that influenced me; it was the life lessons from those stories that inspired me and showed me the way forward. That is what convinced me that sharing life stories from hundreds of diverse and successful women would be how I could help close the “imagination gap” of what’s possible for the next generation of girls. Young girls need role models, especially when it comes to seeing themselves succeed in fields like science, technology, engineering and
>Back to index
mathematics (STEM), which are still male-dominated. Research shows that girls begin to lose interest in STEM subjects in middle school, but that they are more likely to continue exploring STEM activities, inside and outside of school, if they see role models who look like them and who are successful in STEM careers. However, while presenting positive women role models can certainly spark a young girl’s interest in a career as an aerospace engineer, biochemist, coder or artificial intelligence engineer, seeing is only the first step to believing when it comes to getting more girls to follow through in their pursuit of STEM studies and professions. This past June, my organization partnered with Starlight Africa to pilot the Career Girls Mobile Learning Center, to create a customized, culturally sensitive career discovery curriculum that includes African role model videos and interactive lesson plans for 100 girls (ages 10 to 17) in two Rwandan schools, Gihogwe and Acts4Rwanda. The participating girls met on five consecutive weekends to learn how careers in information and communications technology (ICT), health
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 15
science and arts, audio/video and communications can provide solutions to problems that affect Rwanda and society at large, such as poverty, world hunger, gender inequality, and a lack of access to education and healthcare. The curriculum was also developed to align with the competency-based curriculum proposed for Rwanda’s educational system as part of a United Nations’ sustainable development goal.
The girls now know there are different kinds of doctors and engineers, such as computer engineers and epidemiologists, and how crucial these roles are to making their communities, and the world, healthier and safer.
Teachers from the Rwandan schools relayed that the the pilot unlocked the nature of specific STEM careers.
Here are five lessons from Rwanda and beyond about helping to spark — and sustain — young
16 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
Teachers also shared that many of the girls now believe that the careers covered in the curriculum are attainable, and they frequently quote the role model videos, which feature successful professional women from Africa.
> Back to index
girls’ interest in STEM careers. 1. Show girls what it takes to be an effective team member at every level of an organization, from a newly graduated intern to a seasoned CEO — and every role in between. It can be inspiring to see a powerful woman leading a company from the C-Suite, but it’s equally important for young girls to connect with and learn from women at every stage of a successful and rewarding career. The deeper understanding and connection enable her to more easily map out a comprehensive
blueprint for what her own professional trajectory could look like. 2. Give girls the full picture. We make it a point not to talk down to girls. We ask our role models to use the same technical terms and complex concepts that they’d normally use to explain what they do, how they do it and why. We ask them to explain everything in a way that even a 10-year-old could understand it, but without omitting anything. Girls are smart and deserve the full picture. 3. Turn initial interest into action. Once a girl knows that a STEM career is a possibility for them, they need guidance on setting achievable goals and developing a sound plan with concrete steps to pursue their studies and a career of their dreams. 4. Prioritize soft skills and life values. Our role models share insider tips on being effective leaders and team members. Our content speaks to the importance of integrity and effectively managing others or projects in ways that nurture and move an organization forward — the true meaning of leadership. Teaching leadership, teamwork and resilience are just as important as teaching content, if not more so. They’re essential to becoming successful in a STEM career, any career and life in general. 5. Create a community to keep girls supported and on track. Figuring out what you want to be when you grow up, let alone actually putting in the work to achieve your dream career, is no easy feat. Whether it’s an after-school program or a club, creating a place for girls to connect and share with one another makes the career exploration journey less daunting and more fun! This story about middle-school girls and STEM careers was produced by The Hechinger Report, a non-profit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Linda Calhoun is founder and executive producer of Career Girls, an organization that uses both online and offline tools to promote successful careers for young women in more than 200 countries.
> Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 17
Hillary Rodham Clinton appointed Queen’s University today announced the appointment of Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton as its new Chancellor. Secretary Clinton, who received an honorary doctorate from Queen’s in October 2018, will become the University’s 11th and first female Chancellor. Mr Stephen Prenter, Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Senate, the University’s governing body, said: “I am delighted that Queen’s has chosen Hillary Clinton to be its new Chancellor. Secretary Clinton has made a considerable contribution to Northern Ireland and as an internationally recognised leader will be an incredible advocate for Queen’s and an inspirational role model for the Queen’s community.” Accepting the position, Secretary Clinton, said: “It is a great privilege to become the Chancellor of Queen’s University, a place I have great fondness for and have grown a strong relationship with over the years. The University is making waves internationally for its research and impact and I am proud to be an ambassador and help grow its reputation for excellence.” Secretary Clinton will serve as the University’s new Chancellor, for a period of five years, with effect from 1 January 2020. Hillary Rodham Clinton is an internationally recognised public servant with almost five decades in public service as an advocate, attorney, First Lady, Senator and Secretary of
State. Secretary Clinton has developed strong links with Queen’s University and Northern Ireland. As Secretary of State, she focused on economic development to underpin the emergence of a strong and competitive Northern Ireland and, during her time as First Lady, made a considerable contribution to the Northern Ireland Peace Process. With her long-standing commitment to peace, stability and economic regeneration, she is a strong advocate for Northern Ireland and an inspirational role model for the Queen’s community. The Chancellor fulfils three main roles – a ceremonial one which involves presiding at degree congregations; an ambassadorial role, where the office holder helps to “open doors” for the University as it seeks to fulfil its mission; and finally as an advisor, available to the Vice-Chancellor and senior management as a “sounding board” and to provide counsel and guidance. The Chancellors of Queen’s University since World War II are: 1949-63 Field Marshall Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke 1963-70 Sir Tyrone Guthrie, distinguished theatre director 1970-83 Lord Ashby of Brandon, distinguished educationalist 1984-91 Sir Rowland Wright, industrialist – formerly Chairman of ICI Ltd 1992-99 Sir David Orr, industrialist and public servant – formerly Chairman of Unilever plc and of the British Council 1999-09 Senator George Mitchell, US Democratic Representative and former US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland (1995-2001) and for Middle East Peace (2009-2011) 2009-14 Mr Kamalesh Sharma – Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations 2015-18 Dr Thomas J Moran - Chairman, President and CEO of Mutual of America
18 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
Chancellor of Queen’s University
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 19
Getting New Projects Off the Groun During my Christmas break, I took a hobby into the business realm and started the Alaska Spice Shop. Getting this new business up and running used every tool in Cheetah Learning Project Management toolbox - the most important of which was our Kanban Board. What is a Kanban Board? A Kanban Board is a fancy name for a relatively simple tool: a physical or digital “board” that allows to visualize all of your project tasks in one space. At its simplest, Kanban boards organize your tasks by their current stage of completeness.
Our board, for example, has columns for “work to be completed”, “work in progress”, and “work completed”. From there, boards can become more elaborate - specifying who is responsible for what task, for example, and differently prioritizing tasks based on their delivery date. By showing all of your project tasks in one place, Kanban Boards give you a sense of how much work there is left to complete, how many more tasks you can realistically take on, and increase the efficiency of communication among team members working on the project. Why a Kanban Board? Kanban boards are adaptable to just about any project because they have only two rules: all tasks for the project must be on the board, and “work in progress” is limited to what fits on the board. If there are too many items in “work in progress,” the team needs to pick up the pace to complete these before new items from “work to be completed” can be started. Sticking to the limits on how many tasks can be “work in progress” was key to launching the
20 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
nd - Fast - With Kanban Boards Michelle LaBrosse CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT
Alaska Spice Shop. For our Kanban Board, we kept it simple. We used sticky notes to build our board - a quick, easy solution that clearly shows when the “work in progress” column is full. To develop your own Kanban Board, start by asking yourself: • Can I clearly define the scope of my project? • Can I specify the smaller tasks that make up this project?
members? Your board can become as complex as your project needs it to be. Starting from a simple board, the Alaska Spice Shop has taken off - fast. We already, in our first month went to our first trade show, secured ten retail clients, and won a blind taste test for a large tourist resort. The only way we could have pulled this all off was with the techniques we teach in Cheetah Learning.
• Can I name the team members who will be helping with this project, and assign them specific tasks? Then, decide what kind of board would be best suited to your project. • Do all your team members share an office? • Or are you spread across multiple locations, making a digital board a better choice for this project? • Do you need a board that also allows for comments and conversations on project tasks, to facilitate collaborations among team About the Author: Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, is an entrepreneurial powerhouse with a penchant for making success easy, fun, and fast. She is the founder of Cheetah Learning, the author of the Cheetah Success Series, and a prolific blogger whose mission is to bring Project Management to the masses. Cheetah Learning is a virtual company with 100 employees, contractors, and licensees worldwide. To date, more than 50,000 people have become “Cheetahs” using Cheetah Learning’s innovative Project Management and
>Back to index
accelerated learning techniques. Honored by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), Cheetah Learning was named Professional Development Provider of the Year at the 2008 PMI® Global Congress. A dynamic keynote speaker and industry thought leader, Michelle is recognized by PMI as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Project Management in the world. Michelle also developed the Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) program based on Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality profiling to help students master how to use their unique strengths for learn is recognized by PMI as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Project Management in the world. Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 21
Out of the Box Learning fro
22 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>
Back to index
om MOTAT MOTAT has launched an intriguing new service to help you bring STEM learning to life inside your own classroom. MOTAT’s out-of-the-box ‘Learnable’ kits are resource rich, with an accompanying website, supporting information sheets, and a comprehensive selection of activities. “Our aim with these Learnable kits was to provide educators with the resources they needed to continue extending their student’s STEM learning when they’re back in their own classrooms” explains Julie Baker, MOTAT’s Education Manager. “To do this effectively we had to ensure each kit was flexible and offered great value. This means all the supporting material is there if you need it, but the equipment itself is so comprehensive that if you prefer to just get stuck in without any extra input from our MOTAT team, then there is nothing holding you back from doing just that.”
>Back to index
There are currently five kits available: • Robotics • Light & Mirrors • Magnets • Electricity • Turing Tumble (Computational Thinking) MOTAT’s ‘Learnable’ kits give students access to STEM equipment while also supporting the development of critical soft skills, for example: Student agency – to be self-directed in their study, completing tasks in their own time, deriving their own learning outcomes, and identifying their next learning needs. Collaboration – to work together to achieve a team goal or outcome. Communication – the ability to share information effectively between team members and to effectively present project outcomes to wider audiences. Resilience – develops perseverance and focus by challenging students to design, test, and redesign, until the desired outcomes are achieved. Design thinking – students learn to apply the cognitive, strategic and practical processes needed to execute a successful and holistic design approach.
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 23
24 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
While the kits are currently only available to educators within the wider Auckland area. According to Ms Baker, if demand is there then the chance to expand the delivery area will certainly be considered. “We are excited by the interest already shown in these kits. Given the nature of their contents and the supporting resources they are fantastic stand-alone learning tools.” “MOTAT’s Learnable kits are perfect for classroom sized groups and we would love to see them within home school environments too. These kits enable educators to utilise cutting edge learning resources at a fraction of the cost involved with purchasing the materials themselves.” To book a kit or for more information about MOTAT’s ‘Learnable Kits’ contact MOTATeducation@motat.org.nz or visit https://www.motat.org.nz/learn/learnables.
> Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 25
Global Create-a-thon Makes the “A” in ST
“This project is completely student-created and student-run.”
Creative problem solving is as important as STEM, and a day-long hack-a-thon based in California is putting the focus on creativity instead of coding. A developer in today’s world needs more than engineering, math and tech skills. The process of creating product is also about design-thinking, creativity and communication competencies. While attending an Adobe Education Leader summit, educator Lisa Gottfried came up with the idea of producing the first-ever Create-a-thon to showcase student creative work.
– Lisa Gottfried
best creative work was ultimately presented at the Napa Lighted Art Festival. Students were given an entire day to explore, create, make and share their works of art with international artists in the festival. Gottfried is now in the process of expanding the program. Lisa Gottfried is recognized internationally for innovation in education. She is an Adobe Education Leader and teaches Digital Design at New Technology High School. She is also an adjunct professor for Touro University, California in the Innovative Education Master’s program. The Global Search for Education welcomes the Founder of Global Create- a-thon, Lisa Gottfried.
With sponsorship from Adobe, she was able to launch her initiative, a day-long design challenge workshop in which the
26 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
TEAM as Important as Every Other Letter
“All important decisions are made by the leadership team or the entire class.” – Lisa Gottfried
Lisa, what makes Global Create-a-thon unique to other programs like it? This project is completely student created and student-run. All important decisions are made by the leadership team or the entire class. I, as a teacher, do not own the project as much as I collaborate with the students throughout the program. I and their mentors help the student leaders to navigate the entire project. This means that the rigor for this project goes up tenfold. Students really own the success of the project and own their own learning in a way they have not experienced with other projects. Also, where else can students get the chance to have their artwork seen by over 20,000 visitors on a 70-foot-long wall? It’s one thing to make artwork for your teacher, but when the stakes have been raised this high and the risk is this big, the payoff in student buy-in is palpable. We’ve made a big effort to make creating artwork as accessible as possible to all students, no matter their skills in art or their skills in digital
>Back to index
design. This project can be done with paper and pencil, or with computers and advanced Adobe software skills, which makes it an exciting way to collaborate with students from around the world, regardless of their access to technology or their technical skills.
What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced getting schools to participate in your program? We have had so many educators express interest in participating in our project with their students that recruitment has not been an issue. The challenge has been in getting all our ducks in a row so that we have the right supportive tutorials and clear directions for how to turn work in. Establishing systems for receiving the work so that we are ready to curate a show has meant that students in charge of the event have had to really think through all the ramifications for every systems decision they make. Our long-term vision for the future is that our show tours different lighted art festivals in major cities around the world.
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 27
“I, as a teacher, do not own the project as much as I collaborate with the students throughout the program.” – Lisa Gottfried
Step us through your timeline – a Global Create-a-thon year. We start the year with students writing resumes and interviewing for positions for the project. Product Managers are in charge of the entire event, Project Managers head up each team of 4-6 students, Technicians are in charge of learning new techniques and then teaching them to their team as well as problem solving, and then finally we have artists who have the final say on artistic decisions for their teams. Students then use the design thinking process to create their own animations for the Lighted Art Festival. They keep an eye toward what they will be asking of other students submitting artwork for the Global Create-a-thon and how they will incorporate that curated artwork into their own creations. They meet with mentors on a bi-weekly basis to get feedback on their artwork and on their planning process. In addition to the Global Create-a-thon, students plan the in-person Create-a-thon which happens on New Tech’s campus. They create curriculum for the day-long school-wide event, contact volunteers from Adobe, prepare teachers with information needed, and create a portal that everyone can access with all tutorials and support materials for the day. They manage all logistics including the event roll-out, t-shirt design, 28 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
creating teams, managing all computers, and creating the schedule for the day. This year we are collaborating with another Digital Design class at another Napa-based High school to live-stream our event with schools who are interested in participating in our day-long event from afar. Students from Vintage High School will serve as our live-stream team. For those who want to participate offline, due to time differences or lack of technology, New Tech students have created a place for others to submit their line art, which will then be transformed into gorgeous neon animations that will be incorporated into the show. We are collaborating with other New Tech Digital Design students in New Orleans to help us transform the line art submissions using Illustrator and After Effects.
How do you assess the students? In terms of grading, I meet with each student every other week to discuss how they are doing against a rubric with learning outcomes chosen by the student Product Managers. Students negotiate their “pay” with the teacher, using evidence to back up their claims. Learning outcomes include Knowledge and Thinking, Agency, Collaboration, Oral and Written Communication.
>Back to index
“Students really own the success of the project and own their own learning in a way they have not experienced with other projects.” – Lisa Gottfried
What’s the role of teachers, experts and other mentors for the students? The role of the teacher is to oversee the entire endeavor and negotiate all the community partner relationships, however, students are also included in those meetings. Students come to fundraising meetings, video conferences with other adults from Adobe and elsewhere, and eventually become the primary contacts with community partners. The goal is to have students own as much of the project as possible so they get the chance to practice communication, resource, and time management skills. They are treated as professionals and are expected to play all the roles that adult professionals would play, but with mentors and me giving feedback and coaching along the way. It can feel very messy and disorganized at times, because students are in charge, but ultimately, when students go through this project, they come out incredibly strong in 21st Century skills. It means that writing a reply email that would take a small amount of time for an adult, has to go through an iterative process. This means it takes longer to get things done, but the learning is tremendous, authentic and meaningful. The teacher’s job here is to be something of a “student whisperer” who does a lot of one-onone coaching, as needs arise. One example of “student whispering” came last week as one Project Manager struggled to work with a team member who was not moving forward with
>Back to index
their work. The conversation centered around how to manage different personalities, how to be a supportive coach instead of a nagging authoritarian. These are incredibly valuable skills to understand as a high schooler. In another example, a student needed to really think through how to best communicate through the creation of a flyer. What words needed to be used? What images work best? What branding was needed for the flyer and was it consistent with other images in other communications? The first end product did not address any of these issues well, but taking time with me and with partners on the team allowed for big payoffs in learning for this student. What’s coming soon from Global Create-a-thon we should share with others? Contact us for information about the 2021 show. lgottfried@nvusd.org
C.M. Rubin and Lisa Gottfried Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 29
The Most Unique Bus Stops Found I You might have never heard of Abkhazia – it’s a small plot of land between Georgia and Russia along the Black Sea. It’s surprisingly beautiful and populated by friendly people. Nevertheless, it’s a disputed region. This de facto state has been struggling for international recognition for many years, and the conflict is still not resolved yet, sadly. Traveling in this region was a great experience. I was surprised by the amazing bus stops we saw on the side of the road. I couldn’t drive by without taking a picture of them.
30 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
In Abkhazia
Isabelle Van Assche and Violeta Draseikaite
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 31
32 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 33
New Zealand School of Dance 3rd Y The New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD) welcomes full time contemporary dance tutor Daniel Jaber. Daniel joined the Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) as a trainee, under the direction of Garry Stewart in 2003 at the age of 17. As a member of ADT, Jaber has toured the world extensively, performing in new works with Stewart from 2004-2008, then from 2010 -2014 as a full-time company member. In 2013, ADT commissioned Jaber to create his first full-length work, Nought, which premiered at the Samstag Museum of Art in Adelaide. Nought was subsequently nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best Choreography in a Dance or Physical Theatre work. Focusing his time as a choreographer between 2015-2017, Jaber has created work for ADT, Expressions Dance Company, Houston Ballet 2, Qantas, Dance Moms, Dubai Festival, Architanz Tokyo And was the Creative Director of LW Dance Hub (now Adelaide Dance Hub and previously Leigh Warren & Dancers) in 2015. He has also choreographed works and restated Stewards
repertoire on countless tertiary institutions, universities and colleges throughout Australia and the US. Jaber spent 2018 and 2019 dividing his time between teaching at tertiary
Daniel Jaber with 1st Year MMs 34 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
Year Graduants
NZSD 3rd Year Graduating Students Photo by Stephen A›Court
institutions in Australia and performing with ADT. Daniel joins the faculty of the New Zealand School of Dance as a Contemporary Tutor from January 2010. Following a highly successful Graduation Season, the New Zealand School of Dance is proud to announce that 24 positions and contracts were offered to the 2019 graduating class, these
>Back to index
include – the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Atamira Dance Company, Queensland Ballet, Footnote New Zealand Dance, The Washington Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Thüringer Staatsballett, Leipzig Ballet, Stephanie Lake Company, Toi Poneke Choreographic Art Residency, Australian Dance Collective, Catapult Choreographic Hub and the NZ Festival of the Arts.
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 35
Are We Prepped for Superintelligence Essential leadership skills for the The roaring 1920s bring to mind economic prosperity, jazz music, new ways of dancing, expanded choices and the rejection of traditional moral values. We are entering a new roaring ‹20s with many similarities that will necessarily redefine the way we view leadership. This decade requires leaders who can bring people together and create new visions. Here are three leadership skills essential to thrive in the new roaring 2020s. Discernment The word discernment is often used in a religious or spiritual context, but in the context of leadership, I offer the word discernment to mean a higher level of good judgment. Discernment is about making distinctions between extremely similar concepts in order to promote understanding and superior decision-making.
Distinctions help us to agree on concepts and use language in a way that creates alignment. For example, in my work, I make a distinction between responsibility and accountability -responsibility being a personal choice and more about individual ownership, and accountability being about metrics. Although the concepts are similar, these distinctions help managers communicate as to whether the issue is about measurement or the willingness of the employee. Why discernment is important: Everyone has access to their own broadcast system though social media, therefore it’s easy to be fooled by fake news, false advertising and divisive issues. The discerning leader knows how to listen for responsible language and use critical thinking to resolve conflict. Discerning leaders persuade, influence and govern. In a world where it’s difficult to know truth from manipulation, discerning leaders create positive results rather than divisive drama. How to become more discerning: Everyone has an opinion, and everyone has feelings. Discernment helps wise leaders’ separate fact from feeling. For example, name-calling is not a fact but an unfiltered angry emotional reaction. Ad hominem attacks focus on the person’s looks, beliefs or intelligence. A leader who resorts to ad hominem attacks show a lack of critical thinking and discernment, which reduces leadership credibility. When you get triggered or see someone else reacting emotionally, silently ask yourself, “Is
36 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
ee?roaring ‘20s this fact, or is this feeling?” Make a distinction between behaviors from words. Talk is cheap, but behavior is priceless.
Thought mastery Our thoughts produce emotions and feelings, which produce more thought. Eventually, thought and feelings turn into actions, and actions repeated turn into habits. The problem is when you believe every thought. Thoughts are a combination of early wiring, programming, environment, past experience and exposure to education and new experiences. Why thought mastery is important: Early in my career, I provided some education for inmates at a federal prison. Some inmates were due for parole, and some were there for life. I said to those who had a new future possibility, “The thinking that got you here is the thinking that will keep you here or brings you back.” The same is true of all of us. New outcomes require new thinking. How to master your thoughts: The first step to thought mastery is to observe your mind. How do you talk to yourself? What kind of judgments do you hold about your employees and your colleagues? Acknowledge the thought without totally buying into it. For example, if you think, “This conversation is going to be difficult,” say silently, “Thank you for sharing.” Next, ask yourself, «What else could be true?” Often, you’ll find that results are related to the questions you ask. To master your thoughts, you have to become more curious and less certain.
Increase conflict capacity Increasing conflict capacity is the ability to initiate or stay with a difficult conversation or challenging situation without resorting to avoidance or aggression. Why increasing conflict capacity is important: Most conflicts will not resolve without some
form of communication. The go-to reaction from those with low conflict capacity is either avoidance or aggression. Aggression is the catalyst for violence and avoidance the precursor for future lawsuits. Leaders who have the emotional stamina to withstand uncomfortable feelings can move mountains and build bridges. How to increase conflict capacity: The way to expand your capacity is to slowly expose yourself to challenging situations and change your responses. Bit by bit, the rewiring occurs. Here are some ideas to try: Ask for something even though you know the answer will be no. Repeat until you stop fearing rejection. Ask a question when you disagree. Allow to someone disagree with you without trying to change their mind. As you expand your capacity, notice how you experience painful emotions. Your neck might feel hot, or you may have a sick stomach. Your shoulders tense up. The more you notice and let it pass, the more you expand your competency, and the higher your awareness for when conflict arises.
Conclusion In 100 years, another generation will think of the 2020s as a time of rapid disruptive change because of advancing technology, political conflict, social divide -- and a time in history when people examined and redefined wise leadership. Marlene Chism is a consultant, international speaker and the author of “Stop Workplace Drama” (Wiley 2011), “No-Drama Leadership” (Bibliomotion 2015) and “7 Ways to Stop Drama in Your Healthcare Practice” (Greenbranch 2018) and an advanced practitioner of Narrative Coaching SmartBrief
>Back to index
Marlene Chism Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 37
Student Driven Real-World Learnin
“Our students earn 3 college credits while developing content that is used in the broadcast.” – Kris Hupp
National award-winning educator, Kris Hupp, the current Director of Technology & Instructional Innovation at the Cornell School District in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, believes students need the knowledge and skills to create original content in an everincreasing media-rich world. Over 10 years ago, his school decided to provide students with the opportunity to create and run their own broadcasts. The kinds of skills they wanted to teach included “talking on camera, lighting, and camera angles,” says Kris, but they were also focused on “the 4 C’s: critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication.”
38 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
With limited resources, the educators found innovative ways to organize a diverse team of students and mentor them to take ownership of the project. How did they do it? The Global Search for Education welcomed Kris Hupp and Patricia Dahmen from the Cornell School District to find out more. Tricia teaches English and College Journalism at Cornell.
Tricia, please step us through your process. What are the roles of teachers and students in the program and how have you modified the program since it first started? Tricia: I am the facilitator/teacher/sponsor. The students run the whole show, from writing the script to directing each other, and then producing the live broadcast. My role is to provide guidance on new programs, or even to assist new students who join; however, the
>Back to index
ng in Broadcast Journalism
“Daily the students create a news program for the students, faculty, and staff.” – Tricia Dahmen students tend to teach each other the ropes. Since I became the sponsor, we have added new elements to enhance the show that is presented to the school. We add layers in Wirecast, such as weather elements and commercials that are student created. Also, we have upgraded the camera in the studio, added new audio features, and updated the prompter. Every year, we update hardware and software to improve the show. Personally, I have learned since we rely on YouTube, whenever they update on their side, we have to relearn how to create posts, upload digital signs, and more. This causes both the director and myself a lot of stress and frustration, but it always comes together in the end.
How many students are involved in the program now and what are your plans to expand it? Kris: Over the last couple of years, we have expanded the reach in a number of ways. Tricia is teaching a dual enrollment journalism class through Point Park University. Our students earn 3 college credits while developing content that is used in the broadcast. We also have a teaching
>Back to index
artist from Steeltown Entertainment here twice a week to support Tricia and our students. Additionally, we work with a company called Fusfoo that hosts our student-created work on their website. It is like a YouTube for studentproduced content. Most recently, we purchased Adobe Creative Cloud licenses for our students, and are now offering a Photoshop and Illustrator class. We are expecting that our students will be able to create higher quality graphics in the years that come. Tricia: We have 15 students who have stayed on for the duration of the school year. Any student who is interested is welcome to come and join. We love new talent! I would love to have a Journalism II class where students engage in more investigative pieces where they conduct more professional interviews and really connect with what is happening in our community. Also, every year as a team, the students and I decide what elements we would like to add to enhance the morning announcements. For instance, this year we added a weather icon to appear during the daily weather report, along with a display for icons that correlate with the daily news to provide a visual element to the news report. Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 39
“The students who join CHSTV are looking to learn more about broadcast journalism, and some of them have become “experts” in their job positions. This enables them to become teachers.” – Tricia Dahmen
Can you please share examples of programming produced by students and talk us through them? Tricia: Daily. the students create a news program for the students, faculty, and staff. If you go to our YouTube page, “TheCornellCHSTV,” you can view our daily live productions. Some are amazing and flawless, while others show some of the challenges that the students have faced throughout the year. Wyatt Fiedler has created several projects for publication this year as part of his journalism class. The first project is titled “Remake Learning Day,” for which he conducted interviews with students and teachers. Another project created by Wyatt is titled “Cornell Outdoor Classroom.” In this piece, Wyatt and Mike worked together to document the beginning of a new project at Cornell. What do you think makes your program unique as a learning initiative? Kris: I think our project is unique for a number of reasons. The broadcast each morning is not
40 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
officially part of any class. It is run by students who voluntarily give up their breakfast each morning. And because our TV studio was built over time by students and teachers, it has a lot of flexibility and everyone is involved in troubleshooting. Tricia: The students who join CHSTV are looking to learn more about broadcast journalism, and some of them have become “experts” in their job positions. This enables them to become teachers. Additionally, this is a nice gateway to learning more about a possible career in communications. Many of the students on the morning announcements news crew have joined the journalism course where they work with Steeltown Entertainment and Point Park. Furthermore, many of the students who enrolled in the Journalism course have decided to go to college and major in communications. For example, Wyatt Fiedler is going to Robert Morris University to major in sports broadcasting; Michael Long is going to Robert Morris University to major in video editing and directing. Former students have gone on to intern for local radio stations in the Pittsburgh area. So through this
>Back to index
“As technology evolves, so does our student experiences. Also, with more students becoming interested in the program, we will continue to evolve and enhance the experience.” – Tricia Dahmen program, students have discovered a way to have their voices heard and to make their mark on the world.
Looking into the future – what are your predictions and what would you like to see the Equitable Student Broadcasting Program become 5 years from now? Tricia: I would predict that we are producing better quality daily productions as well as supplemental pieces that reflect the growth of our small school. As technology evolves, so does our student experiences. Also, with more students becoming interested in the program, we will continue to evolve and enhance the experience. Kris: I would love to see more live coverage of events in the next five years. Our students could gain some great experiences covering events, such as live sporting events. I would also like to expand on our curricular offerings in journalism.
>Back to index
C.M. Rubin with Kris Hupp and Tricia Dahmen
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 41
How to Ask Your Team the Right Qu Questions can help people think for themselves. However, not all questions are created equal
Each week, we were given tough maths problems to solve as quickly and elegantly as possible. When somebody didn’t know the answer, they were told the right answer. That’s just how school worked. I carried this logic into business. If someone was struggling, I assumed that there was a right answer, and they just needed to be politely told it. I’d chime in with my answers, the intention being to help people solve the problem faster. My proactive approach worked out at first . . . but when I started leading people, I quickly learned that real life isn’t like maths. In business, there are often many potential answers — and sometimes none of them are objectively ‘right’. In the beginning, when I jumped in to tell the team what to do, they seemed to appreciate it. But over time, I noticed that volunteering my answers so freely was stopping my team thinking for themselves.
42 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
The Power of Asking Questions “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers” — Voltaire Over the years, I began to learn the advantages of asking questions instead of giving answers. Not only do questions help people clarify issues for themselves before deciding how to move forward, they also strengthen their ability to ask themselves the right questions and to become independent of you. However, not all questions are created equal. To improve your ability to ask great questions, it helps to understand the different types of questions you can ask. Here are some contrasting categories of questions which are most likely to elicit deep contemplation.
1. Open versus Closed Questions A closed question is one that you can answer with either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. They often start with the words, ‘Do you . . .’ or, ‘Are you . . .’ As the name suggests, closed questions tend to close down conversations, rather than open them up. In contrast, open questions empower the recipient to answer however they choose. For example: •
Are you okay? (Closed)
•
How are you feeling? (Open)
2. Leading versus Curious Questions When a prosecutor in a courtroom starts their cross-examination with, ‘Isn’t it true that . . .’, they are asking a leading question. Leading questions push someone towards giving the answer you want or expect. Curious questions, however, are phrased such that they could elicit any possible response, again provoking more thought in the answerer. •
Don’t you think it would be better to [your suggestion]? (Leading)
•
What are your options? (Curious)
>Back to index
Photos by Diego PH on Unsplash
At University, I studied Mathematical Sciences.
uestions
A leading question isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, the right open leading questions that assume an idea and encourage people to elaborate on its significance can help people refocus their attention, away from unhelpful thought patterns towards more healthy ways of thinking: •
What are the benefits of effective Matt Elliott delegation? (Leading)
•
What other reasons could also explain this issue? (Leading)
3. Complex versus Simple Questions Have you ever watched a TV interviewer ask their guest a question that’s so long the interviewee needs to ask, ’Sorry, what was the question again?’ Overly lengthy questions, or strings of questions that run together, are too complicated to make people think carefully. Often, the simplest questions are the most thought-provoking — and the most challenging to answer. •
When you said X, it reminded me of the importance of Y. Given that Z happens, and
>Back to index
Dave Bailey
bearing in mind A, B and C, how do you see this affecting your priorities vis-a-vis today’s changing world? (Complex) •
What’s most important to you right now? (Simple)
4. Informational versus Reflective Questions A question whose primary purpose is to retrieve information is unlikely to foster deep thought. However, understanding the ins and outs of someone’s situation is not essential for asking a thought-provoking question. While reflective questions might have little informational payoff for the person asking, they can be very powerful for the person receiving. •
What happened? (Informational)
•
What was your biggest learning from this situation? (Reflective)
5. ‘Why’ versus ‘What’ and ‘How’ Questions This is the most controversial insight I learned about asking questions. You’d think questions that start with ‘why’ would be the most powerful of all, but it turns out that often, they aren’t. Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 43
‘Why’ questions can trigger a defensive response from the recipient, even when they are asked with curious intentions. There’s also a slight nudge towards a single answer — usually starting with the word ‘because’ — rather than identifying many possible reasons. Behind every ‘why’ question is a more powerful ‘what’ or ‘how’ question. For example: •
Why did you do that? (‘Why’ question)
•
What are you trying to achieve? (‘What’ question)
Coaching Questions Effective coaching is about asking the right questions at the right time. In his book, The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay Stanier introduces seven powerful questions that every leader can use with their team: •
The Kick Start Question: What’s on your mind?
•
The A.W.E. Question: And what else?
•
The Focus Question: What’s the real challenge here for you?
•
The Foundation Question: What do you want?
•
The Lazy Question: How can I help? or What do you want from me?
•
The Strategic Question: If you say yes to this, what must you say no to?
•
The Learning Question: What was most useful or most valuable here for you?
out you were both saying the same thing, but using different words. Meaning is meaningful.
The Importance of Silence There is an obvious, but important, point about asking questions: when you ask a powerful question, you need to shut up and hold space for deep thought. There are many factors that make this hard. In particular, silence can be uncomfortable and there is a tendency to want to fill it. A powerful question often gets you thinking about it too. It’s easy to find yourself not paying attention to the other person, and instead focusing on the thoughts in your head. To be a great asker of questions, you need to practice self-restraint — no matter how obvious the ‘right’ answer is to you.
Go Forth and Ask As a leader, it pays to maintain a curious mindset. If you want to get people to think for themselves, you have to ask more powerful questions that help others shine a light into the dark areas of their mind that they have yet to organise. We all need good questioning from time to time, to draw out insights and come to a conclusion. Who do you rely on to ask you questions? What do you think they might ask you? Maybe, it’s time to find out. Dave Bailey
Notice how all the questions combine the concepts outlined above: they are open, curious, simple, reflective, and start with ‘how’ and ‘what’. One of my favourite questions to ask is: •
“What do you mean when you say ‘X’?”
Asking for a definition of a word is so simple that it might be considered naive — which is why I love it so much. How many times have you been in a fierce debate over an issue, and it turns 44 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
Boo k Reviews
The Priority List A Teachers Final Quest to Discover Life’s Greatest Lessons David Menasche Published Allen&Unwin NZRRP $35.00
The Priority List… exploring some of life’s biggest themes, love, wealth, family, ambition and friends asks us to consider what really matters. This is a very personal story by a man diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at thirty-four. More than six years later he decides to leave behind accepted therapies and medications and travel through the country to more than fifty cities re-connecting with students he has had. All he wanted to do was to find out if he had made a difference in their lives. The lessons he collected on the journey of how he had influenced them makes up The Priority List. This book by an inspiring teacher is very readable, while always considering the inevitable conclusion this book has memories from previous pupils intertwined with the narrative by David Menasche covering a magical learning trip.
Ice Breaker! An Epic Antarctic Adventure Maria Gill Illustrated by Alistair Hughes Published by New Holland RRP NZ $29.99 Aimed at 8-12 year olds this telling of the 1914 Trans-Antarctic Expedition captures some of the feeling of what the expedition faced, add in the brilliant illustrations by Alistair Hughes and this results in another excellent student book by Maria Gill. From the maps of the route taken through to the feeling of desperation when the explorers realise that their ship will not survive the emotion and atmosphere of the highs and lows of the journey are well depicted by both writer and illustrator. Interesting, informative, factually correct Ice Breaker! Is well worth gracing any library, classroom or family bookcase.
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 45
Breathtaking Photos
46 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
From Harbin Snow And Ice Festival Judita KusaitytÄ—
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 47
If you think you know how a winter wonderland looks, think again.
Even though your image may be filled more with fairy-lights, Christmas-trees and cinnamony smells as most of us probably associate the season with Christmas celebrations, these pictures from the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival will offer quite a different but no less fascinating perspective on what a winter wonderland can be. This festival is an annual event taking place in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China and is currently the largest snow and ice festival in the world.
48 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
Its history started in 1999 when the first Ice and Snow World was opened to the public in December. At first, the participants were almost all Chinese, however, it kept growing and growing until it was decided to make it an international festival and competition. Take a look at the wonders that these icesculptors came up with!
>Back to index
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 49
50 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 51
BoredPanda
52 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 53
9 Questions Great Leaders Ask of T Being a leader we often find ourselves asking a lot of questions. How is it going? What’s the problem? How could we do better? and so on. But how many of us turn that inquisitive mind towards ourselves, and ask ourselves those probing questions which might help improve us as leaders. Here are 9 questions that great leaders ask themselves daily that help them in their leadership. Am I accountable
54 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
Leadership defines culture and if you want a culture of accountability it starts at the top. The leader must show accountability if he wants others to follow suit. Are you showing accountability, and if so, what could you do to be even more accountable.
Am I engaged and excited about the work we do If you are not engaged then why would you expect your team to be? According to Gartner on 32% of employees are engaged, which doesn’t sound great, but when you hear that only 30% of leaders are engaged this might be the root cause of your team’s disengagement. Enthusiasm is infectious and if as leaders we are engaged, excited and enthused then we can create engaged and excited teams.
>Back to index
Themselves Daily Gordon Tredgold
Do I listen to my team enough Listening has so many benefits that leaders would be crazy not to listen to their teams. Listening shows respect and that you value your team’s input. It helps increase their involvement which automatically increases their commitment. More often than our teams know way more than we do, and by listening to them we may actually learn something we didn’t know that we can benefit from.
Am I open to feedback This is a tough one because none of us wants to hear that we are not doing a great job, or that we could be doing better. But feedback is the breakfast of champions, and our teams might have some insights into what we could do better to engage, motivate and inspire them. I definitely struggled with this, but you can always just ask is there anything I should be doing more of, which is an easy way to start the conversation.
How could I improve the quality of the feedback I provide Whilst feedback is the breakfast of champions, how we give that feedback will determine whether it is used or not. Too much feedback is given under the guise of constructive criticism, but no matter what we might think, this is rarely perceived of as supportive. It is much better to give feedforward, talk about what they could do next time to improve the performance or the outcome. When we offer feedforward it automatically puts us in a more supportive position that when we just offer feedback.
into a winning position, one from which they can be successful.
How could I better develop my team Developing our teams and nurturing their capabilities is critical to increasing engagement, retention and results. Are you giving them learning opportunities, are you empowering and involvement them, and are you delegating tasks which can help improve their skills?
Am I a good role model for my team Do you exhibit the behaviours you want to see from your team? Are a good example for them to follow, or is it one rule for you and one rule for the,. As leaders, our teams are always looking to us for guidance and often they just model what they see. Is what they see from you what you would like them to do?
How could I be a better leader Even the greatest of leaders know that they can do better, that they can improve their leadership. What are you doing to improve yours? Are you taking leadership training? Are you reading leadership books? Do you have a coach or mentor? All of these can help if you want to become a better leader. To be a great leader not only do we have to challenge those around us to be better, but we also need to challenge ourselves and by asking these questions daily will help us to become better leaders.
Am I giving my team the support they need It’s all about our teams and our number one job is to put them in a position where they can be successful. Asking am I giving them the right support is one way of ensuring that we put them
>Back to index
Gordon Tredgold works with organizations that want to equip their leaders with the tools to drive engagement, performance, and profits.
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 55
Space Center Houston Fuels Educa The Space Exploration Educators Conference Explores the Future of Space from the Moon to Mars Educators from the United States and around the world will gather for an unforgettable, hands-on learning experience with NASA experts and leading educators at Space Center Houston’s 26th Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC), Feb. 6-8. The non-profit science and space exploration learning center offers educators of all disciplines from kindergarten through 12th grade a threeday authentic learning experience based in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The 2020 conference is geared toward future crewed missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
56 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
ators for the Next Giant Leap Zahra Ahmed
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 57
58 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
“Space Center Houston’s SEEC is a unique opportunity for educators to be immersed in space exploration and hear from leading education and space experts,” said Daniel Newmyer, vice president of education at Space Center Houston. “By immersing educators in authentic learning experiences and hands-on, space-related activities about the future of space, we equip them with innovative lesson ideas to take back to the classroom and inspire the next generation of explorers.” Dedicated to empowering educators with a multitude of cross-curriculum ideas and ready-to-implement classroom activities, SEEC provides educators with the latest teaching tools and interprets what’s happening now in science and human space exploration. Educators will participate in an extensive range of hands-on activities, including designing 3D and immersive virtual reality planetary habitats, coding drones and robots and developing experiments that NASA will launch into space. Other interactive sessions explore what it takes to become an astronaut; psychological and nutritional needs for long-term missions; and designing drones for Mars.
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 59
The Manned Space Flight Education Foundation is a non-profit science and space exploration learning center with extensive educational programs. Space Center Houston is the cornerstone of its mission to inspire all generations through the wonders of space exploration. The center draws more than 1.1 million visitors annually, was named “Best Museum in Texas” by USA Today and generates a $118.7 million annual economic impact in the greater Houston area. Space Center Houston is a Smithsonian Affiliate, the Official Visitor Center of NASA Johnson Space Center and a Certified Autism Center. More than 250,000 teachers and students from around the world visit the center annually to experience the educational space museum with more than 400 things to see and do. For more information, go to www. spacecenter.org.
60 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
Educators will visit Ellington Field to take a flight over Houston in a Civil Air Patrol Cessna airplane, explore the MQ-1B Predator aircraft’s operations and tour the tower simulation room. In addition to providing SEEC attendees a unique learning experience, Space Center Houston offers more than 400 things to see and do, including a behind-thescenes look at some of the rarest space artefacts in the world from flown space vehicles to historic rockets.
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 61
What if Learning Was All Fun and G
“I think that more and more learning happens outside of the classroom in the real world environment solving real-world problems. – Riku Alkio
Seppo is a Finnish company that specializes in game-based learning. Seppo’s gamification platform (called Seppo) is designed for interactive and personalized learning and is used in educational organizations in over 40 countries globally. “Sitting in a classroom is a boring way to learn,” says the Company’s CEO Riku Alkio, who believes learning improves when it’s fun and motivating. “We wanted to help teachers to engage students in a fresh and pedagogically sound way.” Learning in real world settings that take teachers and learners away from the classroom is also a focus of the company’s products. “We believe that when you free your ass your mind will follow,” says Alkio. 62 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
Market research indicates that the global gamification market worldwide will reach US$22.9 billion by 2022. It’s become widely recognized that gamification is a powerful way to increase engagement and motivation in learners. Seppo has developed a tool that enables teachers to turn lesson plans into interactive games that students can play on mobile devices while getting real time feedback from their teachers. The Global Search for Education invited Seppo’s Riku Alkio to learn more.
What inspired the original idea for Seppo? What have you learned from your development process so far? I was still teaching while I got the idea of Seppo. We took 25 students from our school to Rome for exchange week. Before starting the project we asked the students what would they like to
> Back to index
Games?
C. M. Rubin
“Offering students different ways to express themselves helps especially those who have difficulties to show their learning outcomes in traditional ways.” – Riku Alkio do in Rome to make the week as interesting as possible. They came up with the idea of making a game in the Roman city center. “Amazing Race Church edition” was the name of the game. It was a total success! That’s how I got the idea of creating a platform for any teacher to create their own learning game in authentic environments. I think that more and more learning happens outside of the classroom in the real world environment solving real world problems.
Finland’s leadership in teacher training is renowned globally. We are seeing learning ideas from Finland become more prominent in new curriculums. How is digitalization changing teaching? As our teacher training system is the best in the world, we have a really solid base to investigate new ways of teaching and learning. We know we
>Back to index
can rely on the professional expertise that Finnish teachers have. But at the same time digitalization is changing the way we teach. The role of a teacher is changing rapidly. It’s necessary to let innovations flow into the classroom, but use them in a pedagogically sound way. I think that Finland has succeeded in that quite well. A new curriculum was introduced a couple of years ago in Finland. Since then, there has been a strong emphasis on integrating the subjects. In practice, this means that we are trying to give our students a multidisciplinary picture of real world phenomena. In Seppo, we have managed to pack pedagogical ideas into an easy to use solution that have the heart of the Finnish pedagogical thinking but can be localized into different cultures.
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 63
“To create new ways to teach we need to let go with some poor teacher led methods that don’t work anymore in the 21st Century.” – Riku Alkio
How would you describe your greatest accomplishments with gamification in the classroom so far? I’m always excited to see students being so engaged when they are playing a game that is created on Seppo. There is something universal in gamification. Actually, what we are doing is just giving teachers and students permission to play, and have a bit fun while teaching and learning. It feels fantastic that we have been able to create a concept and a solution that works in different parts of the world. One thing that I’m especially proud of is the fact that with gamification we can help those students that are underachieving in the classroom. Offering students different ways to express themselves especially helps those who have difficulties to show their learning outcomes in traditional ways.
Describe the greatest challenges you’ve faced trying to implement game-based learning and tell us what have you learned? 64 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
It seems that in some cultures the old fashioned role of the teacher is quite sticky despite the fact that students are losing their motivation towards their studies. To create new ways to teach, we need to let go with some poor teacher led methods that don’t work anymore in the 21 Century. I think that simple is beautiful. That’s why we need to keep Seppo super easy to use for all teachers. One of our missions is to help teachers to use technology in a meaningful way in their teaching. We want to engage not only students but teachers as well! In some countries, there is active discussions about the use of technology and especially the use of mobile devices at school. I think that technology should never replace the teacher. My opinion is that the most valuable learning happens in human interaction. But definitely technology can help in this process. Seppo is a great example of using mobile devices in a meaningful way at school.
How will you keep the Seppo curriculum relevant and engaging for learners in a
>Back to index
changing world? What are you working on now for the future? There are thousands of games available in Seppo’s content library. They are created and shared by teachers. We are bringing new features into Seppo but only after serious discussions with our users. We get a lot of positive feedback that Seppo is a “pedagogy first” solution and that’s how we want to keep it in the future. There will be more gamification elements and new technical features, but the focus will be on enhancing learning.
C. M. Rubin and Riku Alkio
Boo k Reviews The Family Travel Handbook Everything you need to know to take unforgettable trips with your children Lonely Planet Every family has the family organiser. Sometimes that skill is for getting things done in the house and making sure kids get to school and sports/music practice on time, at other times it is the one person in the house who is super organised and who orchestrates The Family Trip. This book is for that person… it is also for the family member who has been delegated the job of organising the trip but is drowning in the enormity of the task and is losing the will to live before they have really started… like just after they think they might like to go somewhere! With 168 pages jam packed with information I thought about listing what’s covered but it basically covers EVERYTHING! Before and during your trip, ideas for activities, travelling with different ages, theme destinations and a huge
>Back to index
amount more! There’s an inspiration chapter and a section for Parent Q&A… these guys have thought of everything! Well worth having on hand even if you aren’t currently planning a trip… dip into this an you might just change your mind!
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 65
She gave up on public schools that Now she’s back. The Acera School’s founder now has evidence that her ideas work for kids, and she’s bringing her model to an urban district The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Ten years ago, Courtney Dickinson wanted to create an innovative public school. She had a teaching degree and while she never got a job as a teacher, she had a lot of ideas about how schools should operate. Massachusetts has an innovation school law that Dickinson thought laid out a clear path to her dream, only she couldn’t find a school district to partner with. Eventually she had to admit defeat.
66 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
“I think that idealism really smacked up against reality for me,” Dickinson said. Instead, she opened a small private school in Winchester, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston and one of the state’s wealthiest communities. It was a philosophical blow to her personal mission to work in public schools, but one she couldn’t avoid if she wanted to put her ideas into action. She also found a bright side: freedom from the constraints of public-school systems as she designed her innovative school. Her school, Acera, The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity and Leadership, gives students early, deep exposure to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) topics; they focus on problem-solving and creative thinking across the curriculum; they work to
>Back to index
rejected her bold ideas a decade ago. Tara García Mathewson
develop their emotional intelligence rather than just academic skills; every child gets an independent learning plan; ability-based math blocks do away with age-based grade levels for part of the day; report cards are entirely narrative to keep kids from focusing on letter grades. “The goal has always been: let’s prove that this works,” Dickinson said. With 10 years of anecdotal evidence about how these innovative school design choices help students thrive intellectually and socially, Dickinson wants to turn her attention back to public schools. After leading a handful of conferences and workshops for public school teachers over the last couple years, Acera is in the first year of a
>Back to index
three-year, whole-school partnership with the Joseph G. Pyne Arts Magnet School in Lowell. While Acera serves 130 students in kindergarten through ninth grade at the steep price of $26,400 for elementary school and $28,300 for middle school, with limited financial aid offered, Lowell Public Schools is a large, urban district serving almost 14,500 students, 71 percent of whom are considered high needs. But despite their vastly different student populations, the two schools share similar educational philosophies. Led by Wendy Crocker-Roberge since 2011, Pyne Arts is already one of Lowell’s more progressive schools. Its teachers have been focused on project-based learning for a few years now and Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 67
public school can use, based on education research more broadly, her experience at Acera and her team’s expertise in public education. Lowell chose three to focus on through this partnership. (Acera raised outside funding to support the work, making their support free to Pyne Arts.)
The partnership with Acera builds on this work, expanding Pyne Arts’ project-based learning efforts, increasing their focus on STEM topics and leaning into the idea that school success is about more than just test scores.
So far, Crocker-Roberge finds Acera’s instructional approach to be “highly transferrable.” While schools in Lowell are held accountable based on how their students perform on state tests and they have to teach state-mandated standards, Crocker-Roberge said it hasn’t been a stretch to tie lesson and project ideas from Acera back into the Pyne Arts curriculum map. A major challenge has been navigating administrative red tape to get the right permissions and materials students need to complete their projects.
In establishing an outreach arm called AceraEI, Dickinson and her team boiled down the school’s priorities into three big buckets: leadership and emotional intelligence, sciences and innovation, and creativity and systems thinking. Across those three areas, they identified 10 “tools to transform schools” that Dickinson believes any
Besides the hands-on, STEM-focused projects, the Acera team has helped Pyne Arts leaders develop a School Success Dashboard. The dashboard tracks school culture and student well-being, the use of evidence-based pedagogy,
they have been a part of the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, experimenting with ways to move away from standardized tests as the primary way to assess student achievement.
68 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
“Everything in the public world has 10 more steps,” Crocker-Roberge said.
>Back to index
and student growth in what Acera calls “core capacities,” including systems thinking, problemsolving, creativity, ethical decision-making and emotional intelligence. Dickinson believes this work is particularly important because it emphasizes an expanded definition of success. Too often, she said, schools narrow in on student attendance and test scores because they factor most heavily into state accountability systems, to the exclusion of other aspects of schooling.
and determinedly. This is Acera’s first wholeschool partnership and its most substantial test yet of whether the environment it created in its sheltered and private innovative school can really make a difference in the public-school world. This story about innovative school was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. TWITTER
“Part of our goal is changing the conversation about what matters at school,” Dickinson said. So far the Acera-Pyne Arts partnership has been fruitful. Teachers in Lowell have studied new science topics to bring into their classroom and how to introduce these topics with new projects. Students have begun taking surveys about their perspectives on school culture and their own well-being, and they have been enthusiastic about the hands-on, sciencebased learning activities. Leaders at Pyne Arts and Acera are moving ahead optimistically
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 69
The teacher’s role in “phenomenon Finland’s version of PBL requires teachers to strike a new balance in the classroom At the Hiidenkivi Comprehensive School near Helsinki, Finland, students don’t spend all their time learning what other people have discovered. They set out to discover new things on their own. The students do this through nine-week long, interdisciplinary projects that the Finnish call “phenomenon-based learning,” a term coined by the country’s National Agency for Education.
70 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
n-based learning” Tara García Mathewson
• Phenomenon-based learning is a lot like project-based learning, a more familiar term in some countries. • Both prioritize hands-on activities that give students control over the direction of the project and both emphasize assignments that relate to the real world. • They also emphasize student mastery of transferrable skills rather than a narrow set of facts identified by teachers. • This gives kids more freedom to explore topics they find most interesting within a broad project theme. • But in Finland, phenomenon-based learning is nonnegotiably interdisciplinary, something that can get left out of projects in the U.S. • And.... it must be driven by students’ own questions about the world, something central to another “PBL,” problem-based learning.
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 71
Petteri Elo has taught at the Hiidenkivi Comprehensive School for over 12 years. He described how phenomenon-based learning works at his school during the recent Global Education Symposium in Cambridge, Massachusetts, organized by EF Educational Tours. While Finland’s education agency requires all schools to offer at least one extended phenomenon-based learning activity each year, schools and individual teachers get wide latitude to do so as they wish. At Hiidenkivi, students in grades one* through nine tackle two nine-weeklong assignments per year that cross four academic subject areas each. Students recently explored topics within “sustainable development” across physics, chemistry, geography and math. In geography, for example, they focused on the Arctic and global warming; in math they practiced statistics. Elo is a champion of phenomenon-based
72 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
learning and its value to students. But some of his colleagues took a while to adopt his enthusiasm. After the elementary grades, when teachers specialize in individual subjects, it can be complicated to coordinate an interdisciplinary project. Many of Elo’s colleagues also struggled to understand their role in a learning process that is supposed to be student-centered. “When you say that phenomenon-based learning has to be student-centered, teachers think I can’t do anything, I just have to step back and let the students do their thing,” Elo said. He hasn’t found that to be true. Teachers have to make sure students know the foundational knowledge they need on a given topic to even consider developing a research question within it.
>Back to index
They need to teach students how to craft appropriate research questions that can lead to interesting and engaging, and hopefully even original, research opportunities. And they need to pause the studentdirected investigations to teach and model the skills students should be using on their own along the way. Elo finds he constantly shifts from a more traditional direct-instruction approach to a hands-off one depending on what students need. Importantly, this back-and-forth ensures
>Back to index
students get instruction on given skills or content right when they need to incorporate it into their projects. Before they would interview a professor via a video call, Elo would help them prepare good questions, for example, then leave them to run the interview on their own. This system makes everything they learn more relevant to the students, a core goal of phenomenon-based learning in the first place. “I withdraw when I see the kids don’t need me and they got it,” Elo said. There is still plenty for him to do in the classroom, however. “In my mind, I am teaching and modeling like crazy, but it’s not the content, it’s the skills.” *Clarification: This story was updated to clarify that students in all grades complete phenomenon-based learning assignments.
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 73
New Study finds Moderate Use of Scre
Research by the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, carried out in partnership with researchers at Cardiff University and Cambridge University, has found that moderate levels of screen time can have a positive effect on children’s wellbeing and mental health. The findings, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, come as Professor Przybylski delivered the Oxford Internet Institute’s London lecture in October 2019 at The British Academy. Based on data from over 35,000 American children and their caregivers, the study suggests children spending between one to two hours a day engaged in television-based or digital device activities are more likely to demonstrate higher levels of ‘psychosocial’ functioning than non-users. Put simply, this means they are likely to have better levels of social and emotional well-being than non-users. 74 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
een Time can be Good for Your Health University of Oxford
Professor Andrew Przybylski, Director of Research at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and lead-author of the study, said: ‘Digital devices are now an inescapable feature of everyday life. Ease of use and reduced cost allow growing numbers of young people to access digital devices, games and online platforms. ‘In the absence of compelling evidence linking digital screen engagement to mental and physical wellbeing, professional guidance given to caregivers and educators has been predominately shaped by a sense of precaution that prioritizes limits on digital engagement. ‘Our research set out to address this gap. Very few children, if any, routinely use television and device-based screens enough, on average, to show significantly lower levels of psychological functioning. Instead these findings indicate that other aspects of digital engagement, including what is on screens and how caregivers moderate their use, are far more important.’
>Back to index
The study tested hypotheses relating to the association between digital screen time and psychosocial functioning in children and teenagers. It also explored how much time children spent engaged in screen-based activities before caregivers could detect psychosocial functioning problems. Caregivers completed questionnaires about the child’s screen time usage, providing details of how long they spent with their devices on a daily basis. Key findings include: On average children spend 1hr 41 mins engaged in television-based activities such as gaming and viewing films On average, children spend 1hr 53 mins engaged in device-based activities using tablets and smartphones Children could watch over 4hrs of televisionbased activities before showing any signs of functioning difficulties
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 75
Children could engage in over 5hrs of devicebased activities before exhibiting significant of functioning difficulties Dr Netta Weinstein, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, University of Cardiff and co-author of the report said: ‘As digital devices are playing an increasingly large role in childhood and adolescence, further research probing the relations between screen-based technologies and children’s wellbeing is critically needed.’ Dr Amy Orben, College Research Fellow, University of Cambridge noted: ‘We urge others to build on our findings which show the possible influence of digital screen engagement is likely to be smaller and more nuanced that many might first expect.’
76 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
Prof Przybylski adds: ‘In light of our findings, calls for blanket technology bans and age restrictions on technology access do not constitute evidencebased or indeed ethical advice, particularly as screen usage in some cases has a net positive impact. Those drafting guidance for caregivers, educators and health professionals should be informed by our latest findings and consider the implications in light of the broader influences on modern childhood.’
>Back to index
About the research The study draws on a nationally representative sample of 35,000 primary caregivers from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) published by the US Census Bureau between June 2016 and February 2017. The full study, ‘How Much Is Too Much? Examining the Relationship Between Digital Screen Engagement and Psychosocial Functioning in a Confirmatory Cohort Study”, by Andrew Przybylski, Amy Orben (Cambridge) and Netta Weinstein (Cardiff) is now in press in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and is available as an Open Access article. Previous research carried out by Professor Przybylski and his team has extensively studied the impact of social media, smartphones, and on mental health, these Open Access publications include:
>Back to index
Przybylski, A. K., & Weinstein, N. (2017). A Large-Scale Test of the Goldilocks Hypothesis: Quantifying the Relations Between Digital-Screen Use and the Mental Well-Being of Adolescents. Psychological Science, 28(2), 204–215. https://doi. org/10.1177/0956797616678438 Orben, A., Dienlin, T., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Social media’s enduring effect on adolescent life satisfaction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(21), 10226– 10228. https://doi.org/10.1073/ pnas.1902058116 Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Screens, Teens, and Psychological Well-Being: Evidence From Three Time-Use-Diary Studies. Psychological Science, 095679761983032. https://doi. org/10.1177/0956797619830329
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 77
Stunning Photographs from 2019 O of Aquatic Life Around the World
A 2019 contest organized by the Underwater Photography Guide has collected some of the best photographs of aquatic life around the globe, from an image capturing a seal maneuvering through a chunk of ice in Antarctic waters to another depicting an octopus resting on the ocean floor. This year’s Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest drew thousands of entires from 78 countries that were judged by renowned underwater photographers Tony Wu, Martin Edge, and Marty Snyderman, along with Underwater Photography Guide publisher Scott Gietler. It also handed out more than $85,000 to entrants. Here are some of the photographs from across 17 categories, including marine life behavior, portrait, conservation, and reefscapes, a full list of winners can be found on the contest’s site.
“Crab-Eater Seal” by Greg Lecoeur, Best of Show. All images © Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition 2019, shared with permission 78 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
Ocean Art Contest Explore Depths Grace Ebert
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 79
“Biodiversity” by Greg Lecoeur, Reefscapes
“Gigantic Aggregation of Munk Devil Rays in Baja California Sur” by Jason Clue, Marine Life Behavior
80 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
“Larval tripod fish” by Fabien Michenet, Blackwater
“Strange Encounters” by Hannes Klostermann, Marine Life Behavior
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 81
“Radiography” by Stefano Cerbai, Macro
82 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
“A friendly ride” by Paula Vianna, Marine Life Behavior
“Under the Pier” by Jose Antonio Castellano, Wide Angle Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 83
“Leopard Shark” by Jake Wilton, Novice Wide Angle
84 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
“Treats from Maloolaba River” by Jenny Stock, Nudibranchs
“Eye of the Tornado” by Adam Martin, Wide Angle
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 85
“Coconut Octopus” by Enrico Somogyi, Compact Wide Angle 86 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
“The Hypnotist” by Dave Johnson, Macro
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 87
Two more big books from Lonely Planet Kids
Myths and Legends of the World Retold by Alli Brydon Illustrated by Julia Ireland How nice is it to see a fresh new take on Myths and Legends with both well known and new stories from around the world this book is lovely. Beautifully designed illustrations add even more colour and visual texture to the stories in this book and it is a ‘must have’ for those short story, read aloud moments in every class
88 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
The Big Book of Fun Facts H W Poole Short attention span? Not a problem with this comprehensive dip in and out book…. Jam Packed with information which would impress any pub-quiz convenor it simply isn’t the sort of book you would read in a sitting rather the one you get out when you’re bored and want to dip into, to fill your time with something other than the internet. Over 200 pages with links to even more facts both in books and online the books contents are quirky and interesting, wide ranging and international in their scope. The sort of book you like to have on hand wherever you are, school, waiting room or at home this would be fitting in any space available.
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 89
Ten Movies to See Before You Diet Occasionally I foray into the internet to see if anyone thinks the same as I do about important things. For instance, I check out sites devoted to the ‘best’ songs of the 70s, or the top ten tripe recipes. Quite a few notable souls rank movies, either objectively, by considering things like income at the box office, or subjectively, according to critical opinion. With the latter, movies like Citizen Kane or The Godfather regularly feature, unless the critics are cultural snobs and vote for some obscure Venezuelan epic filmed in 1920 at 10 frames a second. I find myself at odds with a lot of critics and have therefore made my own top movie list. It’s a list based on the authentic premise that I liked them. Most were made several decades ago, so any millennial hoping to see Zombie Apocalypse 4 or Snowflake and the Seven Vertically-Challenged will be disappointed. Here goes: 2001, A Space Odyssey (S. Kubrick, 1968) A few years ago, a Listener film critic wrote, ‘Best. Movie. Ever. I don’t really go for this one-word sentence affectation, however in this instance I. Tend. To. Agree.
no dialogue for over forty minutes into the movie, unless you count the simian grunts of proto-humans at the dawn of history. There’s the biggest ‘match cut’ in cinema, with a spinning bone morphing into an orbiting space station, waltzing though the void to J. Strauss’s The Blue Danube. Creationists will be aghast at the implication that humans were given the idea to use tools by aliens but evolutionists will not really have the last laugh, as the most dominant character in the movie is a computer. The final half hour is a visual fantasy, reputedly a tripper’s dream. No computer graphics in sight. The opening and closing music, R. Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra has featured in many movies since. Ahead. Of. Its. Time. Memorable scenes: ‘Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite’: a psychedelic ride through a wormhole. Astronaut Bowman removing HAL’s (the computer) memory banks, leaving the latter singing an increasingly slow version of ‘Daisy, Daisy’. Whenever the black monolith appears, cued in by those imperious Straussian chords.
Stanley Kubrick, along with visionary Lawrence of Arabia (D. Lean, 1961) writer Arthur C. Clarke, has woven A giant of a movie. It may not be a marvelous amalgam of sight, totally accurate historically but sound and imagination. There’s 90 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
since when has history been taught accurately anyway? This epic traces the journey of T. E. Lawrence during his WW1 years as a British officer, using his unique powers of persuasion to make the Arabs rebel against Ottoman occupation. Peter O’Toole, in his debut role, does nothing to damage the popular image of Lawrence as a charismatic but enigmatic figure. O’Toole could almost be the real Lawrence’s twin. Great casting, David Lean! The pedant in me noticed that the Turks were using British Lee Enfield rifles but that’s a minor blot on a spectacular movie with truly indelible scenes. It even features Obi -Wan Kenobe in an earlier incarnation. Superb musical score. Memorable scenes: - Omar Sharif materialises out of a heat mirage on a camel and shoots Lawrence’s guide. - Lawrence blows out a match and the scene cuts to a burning desert sun.
encamped on the city’s outskirts. Then he becomes separated from his parents when the Japanese attack and is interned with other foreign nationals. Jim adapts to camp life and becomes adept at barter and helping other internees. Beautifully filmed, the only battle scene starts with Jim saluting kamikaze pilots and singing the haunting Suo Gan. Great acting by a young Christian Bale, with John Malkovich as a wheeler-dealer. This movie is rich in symbolism and even the disturbing scenes have a hypnotic quality. Memorable Scenes: The previously-mentioned moment when the Japanese kamikazi aircraft take off-reminiscent of the final tank attack in Saving Private Ryan. Jim sleeps in a sports’ arena full of surreal, looted property and sees the flash of the atomic bomb.
https://www.youtube.com/ - Lawrence and his Arab army cross an watch?v=yyf059psVew ‘uncrossable’ desert to attack the town The Sound of Music (R.Wise, 1965) of Aqaba. Empire of the Sun (S. Spielberg, 1987) Corny but truly memorable as it, along with Bedknobs and Broomsticks, was a English ex-pats enjoy fancy dress brilliant babysitter on repeat occasions. parties in a beleaguered Shanghai, My children loved the songs. Julie resentful servants raise their Andrews’ charisma and the triumph offspring. Jim, a privileged 12-yearof good over evil carried the day. old, reveres the Japanese who are
>Back to index
Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 91
milieu, the musical Cabaret’s portrayal of decadence, sexuality and racism would make comparisons pointless; they are as different as Fred Rogers Memorable Scenes. and Rasputin. However, Cabaret is a -The Von Trapp family hiding in wonderful cinematic experience. Liza the monastery crypt whilst the Nazi Minnelli bursts on to the movie scene soldiers search for them. with a wild-eyed, exuberant and sensual performance. Joel Grey is superb as the - Maria singing ‘My Favourite worldly and cynical M.C. of the KitKat Things’ and ‘Edelweiss’ Club and the songs are good; flapperDoctor Zhivago (D. Lean, 1965) girl-catchy but thought-provoking. Michael York provides a worthy foil Once again, Lean teams up with for Minnelli, whose character, in these Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia) and times, would more than likely be the latter’s score is an apt, evocative prescribed Ritalin. companion to the vast Russian permafrost. Dr. Zhivago is a great Memorable Scenes: medium to acquire a rudimentary - A young man sings Tomorrow understanding of the consequences of Belongs to Me in a garden restaurant. the 1917 revolution. As with Lawrence, The scene expands from a close up shot Omar Shariff stars and is the to reveal he is a Hitlerjugend and ends eponymous Doctor, who becomes caught with the other patrons joining in, with up in the revolutionary tumult and the exception of one old man. strays from his marriage into the arms of Lara (Julie Christie) who has - Minnelli remembers a crude German also abandoned her spouse. Tragic and word for ‘sex’ in an English lesson with forlornly romantic, Dr Zhivago is a an aristocratic Jewish woman. vast canvas of geography and human Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon frailty. Obi Wan appears again. OK, I know this isn’t technically a Memorable Scenes: movie (in fact it’s a book) but poetic The numerous expansive shots of the licence and all that. I first set eyes winter landscape on Boy’s Life in a remainder bin. ‘Devour this beautiful book’ was written Zhivago and Lara set up house in an on the cover, and I did. Looking at icy dacha reviews online I see that many people Lara shoots her seducer at a ball appreciate the wonderful prose and the sense of childhood-magic McCammon Cabaret (B. Fosse,1972) imparts. Sure, there are one or two Set approximately in the same grinches, but the majority are almost period as The Sound of Music and excessive in their praise. ‘Masterpiece’ is encompassing the same political a common epithet. A while back, a U.S. Catchy songs, thanks to Rodgers and Hammerstein and a smorgasbord of young actors to identify with.
92 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020
>Back to index
county school board were considering banning Boy’s Life due to its smattering of profanity. McCammon heard about this and flew down and spoke to the board-they voted to include the book in the curriculum.
ride, then ate some ice cream in front of the TV. This movie was playing and I was hooked. It takes a bit of getting used to the American focus but the script is intelligent and the acting wonderful, if a bit OTT.
The story is American but the message is universal-let the good guys win.
Ralphie is a ten-year-old in the 1950s and he wants a BB gun for Christmas. All the adults respond to his requests with, “You’ll shoot your eye out kid.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ lwRs388ZA Memorable Quotes “No doubt about it, summer was on the wane. The mornings seemed a shade cooler. The nights were hungry, and ate more daylight.” “See, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God’s sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.” Robert R. McCammon
A Christmas Story is a series of vignettes, narrated by an adult Ralphie as he recalls childhood events leading up to Christmas. His parents, brother, friends and enemies receive almost comic-book, one-dimensional treatment, but it works. Memorable Scenes: -A seedy department store Santa and elves deal with an assembly line of children in rapid-fire fashion. - Ralphie learns the f-word from his father, blames his friend and has his mouth washed out-while the narration debates the respective qualities of Lifebuoy and Palmolive soap. - Ralphie’s schoolmate accepts a dare and sticks his tongue on an icy pole, only to be abandoned when the bell rings. That’s all-I know there weren’t ten but I can’t be counted upon. Mō taku hē, mō taku hē!
Obi-Wan does not feature. A Christmas Story (B. Clark, 1983) Several years ago, I was by myself on Christmas morning. I went for a bike
>Back to index
Roger Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020 93
“The best teachers don’t give you the answers... They just point the way ... and let you make your own choices.” 94 Good Teacher Magazine Term 1 2020