Teachers Matter Magazine Issue 72 by Karen Tui Boyes

Human-Centred Teaching in an AI World When 20 Minutes Doesn’t Feel Like 20 Minutes Don’t Waste Your Best Thinking Stop Using Your Bright Students as Teacher Aides

ISSUE 72

Clear is kind. Quote Unclear is unkind. - BRENÉ BROWN

EDITOR'S NOTE

Hello Readers, Education has always been about preparing young people for the future. The tricky part is that we don’t actually know what that future will look like. In this issue, our contributors invite us to think beyond simply what we teach and consider the skills, habits and environments that help people thrive. As AI changes the way we work and learn, the qualities that make us human, including curiosity, creativity, empathy, adaptability and good judgement, become increasingly important. You’ll also find plenty of practical thinking for the here and now: developing perseverance, strengthening executive function, understanding time, making better decisions, supporting wellbeing and ensuring our brightest learners are being challenged rather than simply given more work. And as Term 4 is here, there are ideas for helping both students and educators finish the year with purpose and hope. Perhaps the thread connecting these pages is this: learning is not simply about knowing more. It is about becoming more capable of navigating what comes next. I hope something in these pages makes you pause, think differently, try something new, or starts a conversation in your staffroom. Enjoy Issue 72. Rainbows and sunshine,

Karen Tui Boyes Editor-in-Chief

www.spectrumeducation.com 3

CONTENTS

In This Issue

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Don't Waste Your Best Thinking

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When 20 Minutes Doesn't Feel Like 20 Minutes

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Looking Further. Looking Deeper

Next Generation of School Leaders – Is that YOU?

When 20 Minutes Doesn’t Feel Like 20 Minutes

A Few Very Reasonable Requests

ANDREW OBERTHUR

Human-Centred Teaching in an AI World: Skills Students Need for a Changing Economy

KAREN TUI BOYES

The Investment We Undervalue

JAKE NOONAN

MICHELLE DOMENGHINI

When the Horse is Dead, Dismount DR. WILLIAM SOMMERS

DR. SUSAN NEIMAND

Don’t Waste Your Best Thinking

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The Future Skill Nobody Talks About

What if Preparing Students for Jobs That Don’t Exist Means Redefining School Itself?

STEVE ZONNEVYLLE

BRIAN NOBLE

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GEORGE PHILHOWER

Teachers Matter

Compliance Cop to Culture Coach DR. WILLIAM SOMMERS

Tuning in MEGAN GALLAGHER

Looking Further. Looking Deeper. ERIN STEEL

MAGAZINE CONTACTS

Subscribe today To receive your own digital copy of the next issue, send an e-mail to info@spectrumeducation.com

Teachers Matter Magazine Team Publisher, Sales and Advertising Karen Tui Boyes karen@spectrumeducation.com Editor Karen Tui Boyes Graphic Designer Jess Chaplin Magazine Co-ordinator hello@spectrumeducation.com

Subscriptions Email: info@spectrumeducation.com Thanks to the educators, speakers and authors who contributed interviews, articles, photographs and letters. Teachers Matter magazine is registered with the National Library:

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The EdTech Tide is Turning: Are You Ahead of the Curve?

TERM 4 STUDY GUIDE

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KAREN TUI BOYES

Harmonious Minds: The Power of Music on the Brain

Finishing Strong: Hope as a Strategy for Term 4 HEATHER LAGEMAN

Build Students’ Perseverance DR. JUDY WILLIS, M.D. M.ED.

Being Teachable

Harmonious Minds: The Power of Music on the Brain DR. SUSAN NEIMAND

ISSN 1178-6825 © Spectrum Education 2026 All rights reserved. Parts of this publication may be reproduced for use within a school environment. To reproduce any part within another publication (or in any other format) permission from the publisher must be obtained. The opinions expressed in Teachers Matter are those of the contributors and we love them!

MEGAN GALLAGHER

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The EdTech Tide Is Turning; Are You Ahead Of The Curve? VANESSA MCHARDY

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Five Minutes to Executive Function

Eat More Fruit JUDITH YEABSLEY

All Enquiries Spectrum Education Ltd

Stop Using Your Bright Students as Teacher Aides KAREN TUI BOYES

Address: 70 Woodman Drive Tawa 5028, New Zealand hello@spectrumeducation.com www.spectrumeducation.com

CRISTA A. HOPP, MA

ANDREW OBERTHUR

Next Generation of School Leaders – Is that YOU? Who will step up to lead our schools next?

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’m of the generation that worked endless hours in order their personal wellbeing a priority. Some of these teachers to provide high quality teaching and learning for all are comfortable saying no to requests, especially if they my students. I volunteered for extracurricular activities believe the request may jeopardise their wellbeing. When including sporting events, musical events, school fetes work becomes too stressful, some of these educators will and some parish occasions (as I worked in church-based take personal days for their own wellbeing. Some of these schools). There were no monetary rewards for these extra teachers will use all of their allocated sick days each year or responsibilities, which I chose to do. There were often even each term. From my observations, some of these sick personal costs associated with days are taken as preventative these “extras”, including my measures to avoid getting own financial commitment and too stressed or overworked. my time, which meant I missed The downside, of course, is Let’s make the conditions out on personal time with family when the staff member has for teachers and school and friends. I was fortunate a serious need for sick leave, that my health has always been they may have exhausted leaders realistic, reasonable good, so I can’t say my work their allocation – what then? I and sustainable. impacted my health, although finished my full-time work in I know of colleagues whose schools with almost two years health was impacted by their of sick leave available (which work commitments. isn’t paid out when resigning).

When moving into school leadership at a relatively young age, my commitment remained the same...long hours while sacrificing time with family and friends. My stress levels were always quite high, despite me denying that reality. Stress is part of the job and some levels of stress are good.... it keeps people working and engaged and committed to the just cause – high quality education for all. With the right to disconnect being formalised in some jurisdictions, school staff now have ‘permission’ to work reasonable, realistic and sustainable hours. A portion of the current generation of early career teachers have made

The educational landscape will be looking for school leaders from this current generation of educators in the next 5–10 years. This presents some important questions for education authorities. Do we expect the same commitment from the next generation of school leaders as we did when I began in leadership (35 years ago)? Will the role description for school leaders change to reflect the changing demands on leaders?

ANDREW OBERTHUR What guidance, support, mentoring and coaching will be provided to school leaders so their work is realistic, reasonable and sustainable? When working with pre-service teachers and early career teachers, I often ask where they want to be in 5 years. It is common for one or two of the early career teachers to express their desire to be in leadership quickly. And maybe it’s a case of ‘they don’t know what they don’t know… yet’. As I listen to these ambitious teachers, part of me thinks...”Do you have any idea of what leading a school entails? And if you did, would you be rushing in that direction?” Maybe they would (I did). Or as their eyes are opened to the demands placed on school leaders, maybe they won’t rush into leadership. In talking with school leaders who are looking for teachers and deputies, there isn’t a huge pool of teachers stepping up into leadership positions. When working within schools and observing the current crop of teachers, I often think, WHO will be the next school leader? I wonder!?!? The demands on school leaders continue to grow, requiring significant commitment above and beyond the hours of work. This hasn’t changed, and teachers go into leadership hopefully understanding some of the demands that will be placed on them. And moving into school leadership is a choice. (I declined my first offer of school principalship!). Education authorities need to be asking: Will school leaders be expected to give their heart and soul to their schools? Will school leaders be willing to give their heart and soul to their schools, at their own personal cost? Will the next group of school leaders be more experienced teachers, who have juggled their personal and professional commitments, including having their families, before moving into leadership? And will these experienced teachers be doing additional study to get the necessary qualifications, years after their last degree? And is this a challenge for which they are prepared or under-prepared? If we assume the expectations on school leaders are evolving and the demands are increasing, especially around compliance matters, then we may need to revisit the role description of school leaders. We may also need to employ coaches to support ALL school leaders, especially the early career school leaders. This happens in some educational jurisdictions and is greatly appreciated by the school leaders. There are other

sectors where school leaders have minimal support from their education authority. Education is a wonderful profession and I hope that our early career teachers plan on having long careers in schools. We need passionate teachers to be brilliant practitioners in classrooms. We need to look after ALL teachers, so their personal and professional wellbeing is enhanced. We need leaders who are passionate about leading their staff, allowing them to thrive in classrooms, providing high quality teaching and learning. Let’s make the conditions for teachers and school leaders realistic, reasonable and sustainable. If we make these conditions for our early career teachers and the next generation of school leaders, we may find the high quality applicants we need to lead our schools in the future.

Andrew Oberthur Andrew Oberthur is the father of two young adults and a former primary school principal with over 35 years’ experience teaching and leading primary schools in Brisbane. He currently works as an educational consultant and tutor at Australian Catholic University and is available for consultation. Andrew is the author of three books: Are You Ready for School? Building a Culture of TRUST, COLLABORATION and ENQUIRY between Teachers and Parents. Balance: Building Positive Relationships within Educational Protocols. The School Leadership Juggle: Managing the Expectations with the Reality of School Life He has been on ABC Brisbane radio a dozen times over recent years and has contributed to podcasts for various groups. He is a regular contributor to Teachers Matter, Kiddipedia, Parent TV, and Education Today. Andrew’s passion is creating positive relationships between teachers and parents, recognising that together they can have a profound impact on children’s learning. He believes parents and teachers must work in partnership. He also supports school leaders in maintaining wellbeing by managing workload and expectations. The responsibilities associated with teaching and leadership can easily become all-consuming, and Andrew is committed to helping ensure the longevity of educators through practical, sustainable wellbeing strategies. He can be contacted at: andrew@oberthur.org

DR. SUSAN NEIMAND

Human-Centred Teaching in an AI World: Skills Students Need for a Changing Economy Preparing students to think, adapt and connect alongside AI

s artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the global workforce, educators face a practical question: which skills will remain most valuable when routine tasks are increasingly handled by technology? In late 2025, the World Economic Forum highlighted an essential truth: while technological literacy is increasingly required, the most resilient capabilities of the future workforce are fundamentally human.

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This shift requires redefining pedagogy. Teaching can no longer be defined by content delivery or rote memorisation. Classrooms must become laboratories where students practise cognitive flexibility, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal skills in meaningful contexts.

This article offers educators practical suggestions for translating human skills into classroom practice across four overlapping domains: Creativity and ProblemSolving, Learning and Growth, Emotional Intelligence, and Collaboration and Communication. Each numbered section establishes the cognitive neuroscience behind the domain, while the subcategories translate those ideas into Classroom Practice, Human-AI Collaboration Protocols, and Ethical Reflections.

1. Creativity and Problem-Solving: Wiring the Brain for Complex Thought Human innovation depends on the capacity to synthesise ideas, evaluate systems, and generate multiple solutions. Cognitive neuroscience connects these higher-order

skills to prefrontal networks that support abstraction, working memory, executive control, and transfer. Creative ideation opens possibilities through associative thinking; analytical reasoning then filters, tests, and refines them. Systems thinking extends the process by helping students model variables, anticipate consequences, and reason through uncertainty. Creative and Analytical Thinking Creative and analytical thinking work best together: students first generate possibilities, then evaluate and revise them into workable solutions. •

In the Classroom: Have students engage in problem-solving by allotting time for unstructured brainstorming and divergent questioning before transitioning into evidence-based analysis, criteria-setting, and revision.

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Human-AI Collaboration Protocol: Have students generate 10 ideas independently, prompt an AI tool for 10 additional concepts, and evaluate the AI’s suggestions for factual errors or missing human nuance.

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Ethical Reflection: Who benefits from this solution, and who might be excluded or negatively impacted? What biased assumptions or missing human variables did AI overlook? How can we adjust the model to prioritise human dignity and fairness?

DR. SUSAN NEIMAND Systems Thinking and Mathematical Systems Thinking Students practise systems thinking when they identify relationships, test assumptions, and explain how changing one variable can reshape a larger outcome. •

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In the Classroom: Ask students to model systems, test assumptions, and explain the consequences of changing one variable. Real-world case studies, such as ecological ecosystems, help students recognise relationships, identify consequences, and evaluate outcomes. Human-AI Collaboration Protocol: Have students use an AI prompt to simulate a system, identify factual or logic gaps, evaluate the scenario, and apply reasoning to correct errors.

Adaptability begins with a growth mindset grounded in neuroplasticity, the brain’s capacity to strengthen connections through attention, practice, feedback, retrieval, and revision. Curiosity activates dopamine-linked motivation and the hippocampus for memory formation; teaching others consolidates learning through retrieval and organisation; and dependable work habits build executivefunction routines that support accuracy, persistence, and self-correction. Curiosity and Lifelong Learning Curiosity becomes more powerful when students begin with high-level questions, predictions, and puzzling observations rather than passive searching.

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In the Classroom: Frame lessons around compelling questions or cognitive incongruities, such as “Why does this unexpected phenomenon occur?” Engage students in prediction, observation, or comparison prior to direct instruction, allowing curiosity to prime attention and long-term retention. Human-AI Collaboration Protocol: Have students use AI to generate progressive, higher-order questions about a phenomenon rather than seeking immediate answers.

Ethical Reflection: Does relying on AI lessen my curiosity, or am I using AI to uncover deeper, unexplored questions?

Teaching, Mentoring, and Coaching Teaching others, often called the “protégé effect,” helps students retrieve information, organise ideas coherently, and notice gaps in their own understanding. •

In the Classroom: Implement peer mentoring and reciprocal teaching strategies. When students explain concepts to peers, they clarify their own understanding and strengthen their ability to organise knowledge clearly.

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Human-AI Collaboration Protocol: Have students “tutor” an AI model by explaining a complex concept, evaluating where the model misinterprets their explanation, and refining their language for clarity.

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Ethical Reflection: How do I ensure that human mentorship and empathy are not replaced by artificiality?

Ethical Reflection: What unintended consequences or social impacts might this automated solution trigger in a community?

2. Learning and Growth: Fostering Neuroplasticity and Agility

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Dependability and Attention to Detail Dependable work requires students to plan, monitor, verify, and revise their work with increasing independence. •

In the Classroom: Embed self-review checklists, multi-step work plans, and metacognitive reflection protocols into project assignments.

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Human-AI Collaboration Protocol: Have students run an AI-generated draft through a manual human verification check, fact-checking every citation and mathematical calculation.

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Ethical Reflection: Am I using digital tools to deepen my critical thinking, or am I outsourcing my cognitive effort and intellectual ownership?

3. Emotional Intelligence: The Neural Foundations of Self-Regulation Learning deepens when students can regulate emotion as well as process information. Emotional intelligence strengthens coordination between the limbic system, which processes emotion and threat, and the prefrontal cortex, which supports planning, self-control, and reflection.

DR. SUSAN NEIMAND Metacognition helps students monitor their thoughts and reactions, while cognitive flexibility allows them to detect conflict, shift strategies, and adapt ethically when conditions change. Motivation and Self-Awareness Self-awareness helps students recognise frustration, sustain intrinsic motivation, and choose strategies that support effort over time. •

In the Classroom: Incorporate brief metacognitive check-ins where students identify their emotional state and select targeted self-regulation strategies during complex tasks.

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Human-AI Collaboration Protocol: Have students track their emotional responses (e.g., frustration, over-reliance) when working with AI tools to recognise when automation inhibits their agency.

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Ethical Reflection: What human values (trust, psychological safety, intrinsic sense of purpose) can an automated system never replicate or measure?

As technology continues to automate routine processes, uniquely human capacities become our primary strengths.

4. Collaboration and Communication: Activating the Social Brain Because human beings are deeply social, the future of work depends on collective intelligence, interpersonal alignment, and coherent communication. Social interaction activates reward and bonding circuits, while empathy draws on perspective-taking, social perception, and emotional resonance. Leadership and communication rely on shared purpose, trust, neural coupling between speakers and listeners, and language networks such as Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas that help students shape meaning for different audiences. Empathy and Active Listening Empathy and active listening require students to understand explicit meaning, notice implicit cues, and restate another person’s perspective before responding. •

In the Classroom: Structure discussions around protocols in which students restate a peer’s perspective before offering a counterargument.

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Human-AI Collaboration Protocol: Have students analyse AI-generated dialogues to identify missing emotional cues, then rewrite them to incorporate human empathy and nuance.

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Ethical Reflection: How does automated communication risk dehumanising interpersonal relationships or accountability?

Leadership and Social Influence Flexibility and Agility

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Flexibility and agility help students respond productively when a task, constraint, or perspective changes unexpectedly.

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In the Classroom: Introduce sudden real-world constraints or shifting mid-project criteria, pairing the disruption with review and revise strategies.

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Human-AI Collaboration Protocol: Prompt AI to generate three unexpected constraints for a project, requiring students to alter their original plan.

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Ethical Reflection: How do our personal biases and emotional responses influence our ethical choices when adapting under pressure?

Effective leadership depends on shared purpose, trust, psychological safety, and coordinated action that elevates team contributions. •

In the Classroom: Rotate project leadership roles, assessing leaders on their ability to elevate team contributions and build consensus.

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Human-AI Collaboration Protocol: Use AI to synthesise diverse team inputs. Have student leaders facilitate negotiations that resolve conflicting viewpoints.

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Ethical Reflection: Is AI-assisted decision-making prioritising majority data while silencing minority voices within a group?

DR. SUSAN NEIMAND

Speaking, Writing, and Languages Speaking, writing, and language work help students adapt tone, structure, medium, and audience awareness across contexts. •

In the Classroom: Require students to adapt the tone, structure, and medium of their oral and written work for diverse audiences and contexts.

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Human-AI Collaboration Protocol: Draft a message using AI, then critique and refine the text to reflect audience needs and human warmth.

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Ethical Reflection: How can we use machine language tools without weakening linguistic diversity, personal voice, or cultural distinction?

Conclusion: Empowering Human-Centred Teaching As technology continues to automate routine processes, uniquely human capacities, such as empathy, creative synthesis, strategic adaptability, and ethical judgement, become our primary strengths. By aligning learning environments with how the brain learns, educators help students build habits that matter most: asking better questions, adapting when conditions shift, and applying knowledge with responsibility and care.

Dr. Susan Neimand Dr. Susan Neimand is a professional educator with more than 50 years of experience. She is the retired dean of the Miami Dade College School of Education, a position she held for 14 years. Dr. Neimand was a P-8 school principal for 20 years and has taught students ranging from preschool to doctoral candidates. She also taught preservice and in-service teachers for 15 years at two higher education institutions, assisted doctoral students as a dissertation editor, and developed cognitive neuroscience-based baccalaureate and alternative certification programmes. She has obtained and managed grants for her institutions, organised workshops and presentations, published academic articles and book chapters, and served as an evaluator for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Florida Department of Education. Additionally, Dr. Neimand has participated in local, state, and national committees. Currently, Dr. Neimand is an Education Consultant specialising in curriculum and instruction, cognitive neuroscience, and Artificial Intelligence in education. She contributes regularly to teachers’ magazines, conducts webinars, podcasts, and workshops, and reviews manuscripts for several refereed journals. She can be contacted at: drsnei@aol.com

STEVE ZONNEVYLLE

Don’t Waste Your Best Thinking How leaders can save their attention for decisions that matter

ducational leaders do not have unlimited decisionmaking capacity. Just ask any one of you on a Thursday afternoon in the middle of a crazy, busy term when you’re trying to juggle the procession of “choices” that staffing, resourcing, student support, parent communication, curriculum implementation, meeting agendas, policies and professional learning all bring. Some of these choices matter enormously. Curiously, they are not always the ones consuming the most time. A leadership team can make a significant decision about student wellbeing in 15 minutes, then spend twice as long debating the wording of the email announcing it. A principal may postpone an uncomfortable conversation for weeks while carefully refining a document that was already perfectly usable.

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This strange imbalance is captured by Fredkin’s paradox.

Why Close Choices Become Difficult Edward Fredkin was an American computer scientist and physicist known for his work in artificial intelligence and digital physics. The observation bearing his name is usually expressed like this: the more equally attractive two alternatives appear, the harder it can be to choose between them, even though the choice matters less because the alternatives are so similar.

Think of it this way: imagine selecting between two professional-learning providers. One is slightly cheaper. The other offers an additional followup session. Both have excellent facilitators, strong references and programmes aligned with the school’s priorities. The leadership team keeps comparing them because neither provider clearly wins. Every small difference acquires exaggerated importance simply because the team wants something, anything, to separate the options. But if you really think about it, the absence of a clear winner is actually really useful information. It may mean both choices are good. That realisation changes the leadership question from: “Which option is perfect?” to: “Are both options good enough to move us forward?”

Maximising and Satisficing This connects with Herbert Simon’s idea of “satisficing”. Because people have limited time, information and mental processing capacity, Simon argued that we often need to select an option that meets an acceptable standard rather than exhaustively searching for the theoretical optimum.

STEVE ZONNEVYLLE Psychologist Barry Schwartz and colleagues later studied differences between “maximisers”, who try to identify the very best choice, and “satisficers”, who select an option once their important criteria have been met. Their original studies associated maximising with greater regret, perfectionism and decision difficulty, along with lower happiness and life satisfaction. Later research has produced a more nuanced picture. Wanting high standards may be helpful, but compulsively searching through alternatives and struggling to commit appears to cause more difficulty. That distinction matters in schools. It matters a lot! It’s true, strong educational standards are essential. But spending three weeks comparing two nearly identical document formats is not a strong standard. It is procrastination wearing a lanyard.

Why Schools Get Stuck in the Small Stuff If I was to take a bit of a guess, I’d say that minor decisions often provide a sense of control. The significant issues confronting schools, such as attendance, inequity, learning support, curriculum change, staffing and community expectations, are mind-bogglingly complex. Often there may be no tidy answer and no way to satisfy everybody. Changing the layout of the annual plan is easier. It gives us something concrete to complete.

Give Decisions a Budget Not every decision deserves equal attention. Perhaps a practical approach is to allocate each decision a budget of time, consultation and emotional energy.

High-consequence decisions

The aim is not perfect decisionmaking. It is proportionate decision-making.

Minor decisions can also feel safer. Discussing the wording of a vision statement rarely threatens a relationship. Addressing ineffective practice might. This means leaders must ask a pretty uncomfortable sort of question: “Are we discussing this because it matters, or because it is easier than the decision we are avoiding?”

These significantly affect people, safety, equity, learning or long-term direction. They deserve evidence, consultation and careful judgement. Examples include restructuring staff roles, changing approaches to learning support or responding to serious concerns about professional practice.

Adjustable decisions These matter, but they can be reviewed or altered without substantial harm. Set a deadline, decide and monitor what happens. Examples might include trialling a meeting structure, introducing a new communication system or changing the organisation of duty rosters.

STEVE ZONNEVYLLE Save Your Best Thinking Fredkin’s paradox is not an argument for haste. Nor is it permission to make careless choices about people. It is a reminder that attention is a scarce leadership resource. Every additional 20 minutes spent polishing an inconsequential decision is 20 minutes unavailable for noticing, supporting, creating or confronting something that genuinely matters. The aim is not perfect decision-making. It is proportionate decision-making. Give important decisions time. Give reversible decisions a deadline. Give tiny decisions away.

Low-consequence decisions When both options are acceptable, the effects are small and the choice is easily reversed. Make these quickly, or delegate them.

And when two options are almost equally good, consider the possibility that the difference does not need to be discovered. It may simply be time to choose.

Nobody needs a subcommittee to choose the biscuits.

Five Ways to Escape Fredkin’s Paradox First, decide what matters before comparing options. Identify two or three criteria. If both choices meet them, either choice may be sufficient. Second, ask what happens if you are slightly wrong. If the consequences are minor and reversible, reduce the time allocated.

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Third, set a decision deadline. Unlimited deliberation rarely produces unlimited wisdom (actually, that line is almost good enough to be on a tee shirt!). Mostly, it produces another meeting.

Fourth, let the person closest to the work decide. Delegating real authority saves time and develops leadership throughout the organisation. Finally, close the door once the decision has been made. Do not restart the discussion unless new and meaningful information emerges.

Steve Zonnevylle Steve Zonnevylle is a New Zealand educator, author, leadership coach, and co-founder of the Forty Hour Principal Project and Thrive Leadership - two initiatives that have sparked national conversations about principal wellbeing and what sustainable leadership actually looks like in Aotearoa’s schools. With 35 years in education and 28 of those in principalship roles, Steve brings a rare mix of wisdom, humour and unapologetic humanity to every stage he steps onto. Outside of education, Steve is a musician, photographer, creator, and dog-dad to Daisy the Cocker Spaniel - who famously graced the cover of Be Slacker Better as a reminder that joy, curiosity, and living fully in the moment are not optional extras, but essential leadership tools. He lives in Oamaru with his wonderfully supportive partner, Isabel. Today, Steve works with leaders across Aotearoa helping them create healthier cultures, rediscover the meaning in their work, and lead with courage, clarity, and a bit more fun. His message is simple: leadership is part of your life, not your whole life - and if you’re willing to rethink what “professionalism” really means, you might just find a way to thrive. He can be contacted at: stevezonnevylle@gmail.com

The hallmark of an Quote open mind is not letting your ideas become your identity. - ADAM GRANT

DR. WILLIAM SOMMERS

Compliance Cop to Culture Coach Moving beyond compliance to build stronger, growth-focused cultures

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rederick Herzberg, in 1959, studied intrinsic motivators and hygiene factors that inhibit performance in engineers. For many years, educators and businesses have been evaluated on a number. What are the test scores, what are the sales, what are the profits? Let’s ask, ‘How is that working?’

Once the culture is right, positive increases in other areas are more productive.

People are leaving positions, organisations and leaders (bosses) because Covid and the ‘Command and Control’ management principles have forced us to confront whether or not our organisations are growth-producing or are not as healthy as we thought. Here is a list of behaviours in Herzberg’s research.

The dissatisfaction-avoidance or hygiene factors that are extrinsic to the job are:

The growth or motivator factors are intrinsic to the job: • • • •

Achievement Recognition for achievement, the work itself Responsibility Growth or advancement

• • • • • • •

Company policy and administration Supervision Interpersonal relationships Working conditions Salary Status Security

DR. WILLIAM SOMMERS

As I reviewed and contemplated this research again, and a colleague, Jathan Janove, mentioned the term ‘compliance cop to culture coach’, I started to rethink how schools and businesses operate. Which ones do well in many types of environments, and which ones struggle in a changing landscape? Working with schools and businesses relative to the following 7Cs has helped organisations move ahead.

learning strategy. Playing the finite game is not producing the good thinking and cultures needed for a bright future. Using Stakeholder Centred Coaching, knowing the most effective hygiene factors, and having leaders acquire an ‘Infinite Game Mindset’ have helped increase motivation and results.

Compliance Cop to Culture Coach • • • • • • •

Communication Collaboration Coaching Change Conflict Creativity Courage

Once the culture is right, positive increases in other areas are more productive. A few of these areas are: • • •

Cultural responsiveness and inclusivity Community of Learners Content, Instruction, and Assessment (CIA)

Simon Sinek’s book, The Infinite Game, offers a mindset for leaders to adopt. The world is continually changing. To navigate an ever-changing landscape, there is a need to develop leaders and the organisation with an ongoing

Dr. William Sommers Bill has been an administrator at the middle school, high school, central office, and at the university level working in leadership preparation programs and doctoral faculties. As a teacher, he worked with self-paced physics, math, and chemistry teaching methods. With over forty years of experience in teaching and leading schools, he has actively extended his learning from education to include business models. He has been a consultant with Cognitive Coaching, Adaptive Schools, Brain Research, Poverty Issues, Leadership Development, and Conflict to Consensus models. He can be contacted at: sommersb4@gmail.com

KAREN TUI BOYES

When 20 Minutes Doesn’t Feel Like 20 Minutes Helping people develop a sense of time

“R

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ight, we’re leaving in 20 minutes.” For some people, that sentence immediately creates a mental calculation. Twenty minutes. Great. I have time to put the washing on, bring some wood in for the fire, use the bathroom, grab my coat and be ready.

For someone else, the same 20 minutes sounds like: Excellent. I could bake a cake. Eighteen minutes later, there is flour everywhere, the cake has only just gone into the oven and everyone else is standing at the door wondering how this happened. Again. It can look like poor planning, procrastination or simply not listening. However, for some people the difficulty is more fundamental: they don’t have an accurate internal sense of time. They understand what 20 minutes means, but don’t necessarily feel what 20 minutes represents or accurately predict what can fit into that amount of time.

Knowing the Time Is Different From Understanding Time Being able to read a clock is not the same as having good time awareness. Someone with a strong sense of time makes quick estimates throughout the day: That will take five minutes. I don’t have time to start that now. If we leave at 10.30, I need to start getting ready at 10.10. For someone who struggles with time awareness, tasks may be judged by how simple they feel, rather than how long they actually take. “Bake a cake” sounds like one task. In reality, it involves finding the recipe, getting ingredients, measuring, mixing, preparing the tin, baking and cleaning up. Suddenly the “quick job” takes 45 minutes.

KAREN TUI BOYES This is why saying, “You need to manage your time better” isn’t particularly helpful. We need to teach the skills underneath time management.

Make Time Visible Time is abstract. You can’t see 20 minutes sitting on the table. So make it visible. Use countdown timers, analogue clocks, visual timers or alarms. Instead of simply saying, “We’re leaving in 20 minutes,” show what that means. For children, you might say, “We’re leaving when the big hand gets to the six.” Over time, they begin connecting the abstract concept of 20 minutes with the experience of 20 minutes passing.

Play “How Long Will It Take?” One of the best ways to build time awareness is through estimation. Before an everyday task, ask: “How long do you think this will take?” Don’t immediately correct the answer. If they think unloading the dishwasher will take 15 minutes, write down 15 minutes. Then time it. Perhaps it actually takes four.

Work Backwards “Leaving at 10.30” does not mean “start getting ready at 10.30.” Teach backwards planning. If we leave at 10.30, perhaps we need to be at the door by 10.28, have shoes and coats on by 10.25, use the bathroom by 10.20 and finish whatever we’re doing by 10.15. Suddenly 10.15 becomes the important time, not 10.30. Writing these times down can be extremely helpful because it gives passing time some structure.

Try this with showering, getting dressed, making lunch, packing a bag, feeding the dog, tidying a bedroom or completing homework. Afterwards ask: “You predicted 12 minutes. It took seven. What did you notice?” This isn’t about catching someone out. It is about calibrating their internal clock.

Time management is a life skill developed through practice, feedback and increasing responsibility.

Unpack the Task Sometimes the problem is failing to see all the steps hiding inside an activity. “Getting ready to go out” might actually mean: get changed → find shoes → bathroom → fill water bottle → find phone → get coat → get into car. If someone wants to bake a cake with 20 minutes to spare, help them unpack it. •

“How long will mixing take?”

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“How long does it bake?”

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“What about getting everything out and cleaning up?”

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“Will the whole job fit into the time available?”

You are teaching them to think about duration rather than desire.

Build a “What Fits?” Library People with good time awareness have unconsciously built a mental database of what fits into two minutes, five minutes, 15 minutes or an hour. Help others build this deliberately. •

If you have five minutes, you might use the bathroom, fill your drink bottle or feed the cat.

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With 15 minutes, you might shower, fold some washing or make a sandwich.

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With 20 minutes, perhaps you can put the washing on, bring in some firewood, use the bathroom and get your coat.

But probably don’t start baking a cake!

KAREN TUI BOYES

Replace “Hurry Up!” With Better Questions When someone regularly runs late, it’s tempting to constantly say: “Hurry up!” “We’re going to be late!” “I told you 20 minutes ago!” These statements create urgency without teaching the missing skill. Instead ask:

“We leave in 20 minutes. What do you need to do, how long will each thing take, and when do you need to start?” Time management is a life skill developed through practice, feedback and increasing responsibility. Perhaps the most useful question we can teach is wonderfully simple: Does what I want to do actually fit into the time I have?

•

“We have 12 minutes. What still needs to happen?”

Learning to answer that accurately can be the difference between calmly putting on your coat…

•

“How long will that take?”

…and leaving home with a half-baked cake in the oven.

•

“What should you stop doing now?”

•

“If you start that, will you still be ready on time?”

Now you are helping develop the thinking process rather than doing the thinking for them.

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Practise When You’re Not in a Hurry

Don’t teach time management when everyone is late and someone is standing at the door clutching the car keys! Practise during everyday moments. Guess how long dinner will take to cook. Estimate the drive to Grandma’s. Predict how long it takes to empty the dishwasher. Then check. Prediction → experience → feedback → adjustment. Like any learning skill, we improve when we practise, notice what happened and adjust our strategy. The longterm goal is independence. Instead of constantly being someone else’s clock, gradually hand the thinking back:

Karen Tui Boyes Karen Tui Boyes is a champion for LifeLong Learning and is on a mission to transform education globally. Described as an educational alchemist, a conscious creator and a playful priestess, she grounds the research into practical strategies which positively impact teaching and learning. A multi-award-winning speaker, educator and businesswoman, she is the CEO of Spectrum Education, Principal of Spectrum Online Academy and the author of 14 books. Find out more at: www.spectrumeducation.com

MICHELLE DOMENGHINI

The Investment We Undervalue Why the benefits of positive change are often much greater than we expect

When we’re busy, overwhelmed or simply trying to keep all the balls in the air, it’s easy to postpone looking after ourselves.

That seems worthwhile.

I’ll deal with it in the holidays.

But what if the actual return was closer to $5,000?

Things will settle down soon.

You’d probably evaluate the opportunity very differently.

It’s not that bad.

I wonder if we do something similar when it comes to our wellbeing.

I’ll just push through.

magine someone offered you an investment opportunity. You invest $1,000 and expect a return of $1,500.

If I improve my sleep, I’ll wake up with more energy. If I address feelings of anxiety, I’ll feel calmer. If I stop eating sugary snacks after dinner, I’ll lose weight. We naturally focus on the outcome we’re hoping to achieve. But what if we’re valuing the investment through a much narrower lens than we should be?

Most of us have probably said some version of these words at one time or another. It’s not that we don’t value our wellbeing. Perhaps we just haven’t valued the investment accurately. Recently, I reviewed a collection of client outcome data and noticed something interesting. People often sought support for one specific challenge, but the changes they reported extended far beyond the issue they originally wanted to address.

MICHELLE DOMENGHINI Alongside relief from their initial concern, people consistently described feeling calmer, more confident and more energised. They reported healthier self-talk and a greater ability to be kind to themselves. They described more laughter and happiness, stronger relationships, a greater sense of connection and more hope for the future. Overall wellbeing improved. What struck me most was that these patterns appeared repeatedly, regardless of the original reason people had sought support. The more I reflected on the data, the more I realised that we often give ourselves credit only for the outcome we expected. If we wanted to sleep better and we’re finally sleeping through the night, we call that a success. But do we stop to notice that we’re also more patient? Do we recognise that we’re enjoying our relationships more? Do we acknowledge that we’re laughing more often?

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Probably not.

Perhaps part of the reason we underestimate the value of positive change is that many of the things that matter most aren’t particularly easy to measure.

Perhaps part of the reason we underestimate the value of positive change is that many of the things that matter most aren’t particularly easy to measure. It’s easy to count hours slept. It’s easy to track weight loss. It’s easy to record how many times we exercised this week. But how do we measure hope? How do we measure joy? How do we measure the quality of our relationships? How do we measure the way we speak to ourselves?

MICHELLE DOMENGHINI Yet these are often the very things that shape our daily experience and influence our overall wellbeing. With that in mind, I’d like to invite you to do a quick check-in. Take a moment to rate yourself in each of the following areas, where 1 means you’re a long way from where you’d like to be and 10 represents your ideal.

The Hidden Benefits Scorecard How are you feeling in these areas today?

Score (1–10)

Energy Calm Confidence Self-talk

To pay attention to the areas of your life that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Ability to be kind to yourself

Because what we measure matters.

Joy and happiness Laughter Hope for the future

And perhaps the next time you’re weighing up whether something is worth your time, energy or attention, you’ll remember that the return may be far greater than you initially gave it credit for.

Relationships and connection Overall wellbeing

Now, put the scorecard away. Come back to it in a month’s time and complete it again. Notice what’s changed. How are you feeling in these areas now? What’s working well? What isn’t? Which areas might need a little more focus? This isn’t a test, and there isn’t a right or wrong score. The purpose is simply to widen the lens.

Michelle Domenghini Michelle Domenghini is the founder of Mind Your Mind, where she helps people rewire how their mind responds to life's challenges. As a Certified RTT® Practitioner and Certified Hypnotherapist, she works with business owners, professionals and individuals experiencing stress, confidence challenges, unhelpful habits and performance blocks. Her approach combines Rapid Transformational Therapy® with practical mindset tools to help create meaningful, lasting change and support people to show up at their best in both work and life. She can be contacted at: michelle@mindyourmind.co.nz

Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare. Quote

- ANGELA DUCKWORTH

BRIAN NOBLE

The Future Skill Nobody Talks About Why self awareness may be a student’s greatest advantage

or years, preparing young people for the future has often centred around one question:

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It is a question asked with the best intentions. We want students to have goals, aspirations and a sense of direction. However, perhaps there is an even more important question that needs to come first: “Do you understand yourself?” In a rapidly changing world of work, where technology, automation and new industries are transforming careers faster than ever before, one of the most valuable skills we can help students develop is not simply knowledge of a particular career. It is self-awareness.

The future belongs to adaptable people Much of the conversation around future careers focuses on what students need to learn, including technology skills, communication and industry knowledge. These are important, but research increasingly highlights that human capabilities such as adaptability, curiosity, resilience and self-management are equally essential. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report identifies skills such as analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility and lifelong learning among the capabilities employers increasingly value. This raises an important question for education: Are we only preparing students for the careers that exist today, or are we helping them become people who can successfully navigate the careers of tomorrow?

BRIAN NOBLE Students need to understand themselves before choosing their pathway Many students struggle with future decisions because they are trying to choose a direction without first understanding their own strengths, interests and abilities. They may say: “I’m not good at anything.” “I’m not academic.” “I don’t know what I want to do.” Often, these statements are not a reflection of a lack of ability. They are a reflection of a young person who has not yet discovered how their unique strengths can be applied.

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A student who struggles in one learning environment may thrive in another. A quiet student may have strong analytical thinking, creativity or leadership qualities. A student who finds traditional learning challenging may excel when given practical, creative or hands-on opportunities.

The challenge is not always finding a student’s ability. Sometimes it is helping them recognise it. For many young people, identity is still forming. The encouragement, feedback and observations they receive from trusted adults can play a powerful role in shaping how they see themselves and what they believe is possible.

Seeing beyond grades Academic achievement matters, and it remains an important part of a young person’s development. However, it is only one part of their potential. Teachers witness the curiosity, creativity, persistence and character that can sometimes remain hidden from the students themselves. In many ways, teachers are among the first people who help young people recognise possibilities they had not yet imagined for themselves. Teachers are uniquely positioned to see qualities that may not appear on a report card.

BRIAN NOBLE

A successful future is not about finding the most impressive career. It is about finding the right fit.

They notice: •

The student who naturally supports others

•

The student who solves problems creatively

•

The student who perseveres when things become difficult

•

The student who asks thoughtful questions

•

The student who takes initiative and shows responsibility

These observations are incredibly valuable. They help create a more complete picture of who a student is and where they may thrive. Research from the OECD on social and emotional skills highlights that qualities such as curiosity, persistence, emotional regulation and collaboration are associated with positive educational, personal and future outcomes.

Self-awareness creates better decisions

When students understand their own strengths, motivations, interests and abilities, they are better equipped to make decisions with confidence and purpose. They can begin asking: •

What environments help me do my best?

•

What types of problems do I enjoy solving?

•

What strengths do others see in me?

•

Where can I make a meaningful contribution?

Helping students build a compass for the future The careers students enter in the future may change many times throughout their lives. The ability to adapt, learn and make informed decisions will be essential. This is why career education is becoming about more than simply choosing a profession. It is about helping students develop the self-awareness needed to navigate an ever-changing world. At CareerSure, we believe meaningful career decisions begin with understanding the individual. Because before we ask young people, “What do you want to be?”, perhaps we should first help them discover: “Who are you, and where can you thrive?”

Young people are constantly influenced by external ideas of success. When many of today’s adults were students, few could have imagined that people would build successful careers creating online content, developing apps, becoming influencers or turning creativity into global businesses through platforms that did not yet exist. The future of work is constantly evolving. Students may choose pathways because of family expectations, peer influence or because they believe a particular career represents achievement. However, a successful future is not about finding the most impressive career.

Brian Noble Brian Noble, founder of Achievement Discoveries and Careersure in New Zealand, has over 20 years of experience in career guidance, corporate productivity, and business performance. He specialises in aptitude testing and profiling, helping young people, adults, and organisations unlock their potential by aligning natural abilities with suitable career paths. A former senior executive at Canon and Xerox, Brian now works with teachers, students, organisations, and professionals across New Zealand to help them understand and harness their natural strengths in practical, powerful ways. He can be contacted at: brian@ad.org.nz

It is about finding the right fit.

MEGAN GALLAGHER

Tuning in Listening to the engine in the room

o you remember your first car? I do. It was a little old Morris 1100 we called Edna, after our neighbour who had sold it to Dad for me. Dad painted her maroon and my boyfriend tidied up the engine (and kept up with the running repairs, as well as teaching me what I needed to know for on-the-road maintenance!) I loved that wee car so much. She got me everywhere I needed to go, albeit slowly at times. She never let me down.

Teachers Matter

But she presented me with a few challenges:

•

we regularly had to fix cracked heads and change gaskets

•

we put used tractor sump oil in the engine as it took longer to burn and was cheaper to fill

•

I had a brick to use as extra help when parking on hills as the handbrake wasn’t hugely reliable

•

some days I had to take out the spark plugs and clean them as she was only running on one or two cylinders (that used tractor sump oil got in everything)

•

one day a back door fell off in my friend’s hands when he was jumping in (we welded it shut, so that solved the problem!)

•

and so many other fabulous quirks and road trip stories

Having a car like this taught me a lot. Patience - just because I was in a hurry didn’t mean that all was in alignment for her to move at the pace I wanted! Flexibility and problem solving - I learned to solve problems as they occurred; I couldn’t plan for every hiccup that might occur. Listening - I learned to listen for Edna’s cues and respond accordingly. Driving is a sensory experience, especially with an old car like a Morris 1100! I learned to listen and feel when gears needed changing, when the spark plugs needed cleaning, and when she needed more help than I could offer. So why am I talking about my much-loved first car? Well, the other day I was talking to a colleague I am supporting on her teacher training journey, and it occurred to me that managing a classroom is similar to driving a car. As teachers, we are constantly tuning in to the sensory experience; it is what we do every day. When the volume

MEGAN GALLAGHER increases, it can be a cue that the students have finished a task or that there is uncertainty - we shift gears. I love Rich Allen’s reminder that ‘when the bum is numb, the brain is the same’, which is a reminder that when our students start getting wiggly, they are not really engaged in what we are talking about any more - we shift gears. Glenn Capelli, in his book The Magic Brain, reminds us as teachers that we need two sets of eyes, one watching what is happening right in front of us in the moment and one scanning the environment around us. This isn’t just about what you are seeing, of course; when we are tuned in, then we are listening and feeling too. “I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.” ―Haim Ginott This is one of my favourite teaching quotes. I find it an inspiring challenge. Every day I have the opportunity to create an environment that is safe for my learners to thrive in. Some days I get it right and other days I don’t but I always strive to tune in and do what I can to manage the pace in the space. Central to being able to manage the pace, ease the flow, and shift gears is being present. This can be hugely challenging for teachers as we manage so many different demands at the same time as teaching the wonderful students in our care. The curriculum is just one part of what we do. We are holding space for learners who are struggling with home life or friendships, we are holding space for learners who have specific health needs. We are trialling different initiatives. We are observing different learners and how they interact with classmates, supporting them to manage interpersonal difficulties, and coaching them socially. We are continually evaluating, extending some learners and supporting others so everyone can access the curriculum from where they are at. We are also bringing our own joys, sorrows and stresses with us – we are human after all. This makes being present challenging, but our presence is where the magic lies. So how can we achieve being present despite the challenges? For a start off remember that you are human and be your own best friend by showing self-compassion. Your breath is a superpower, and it is our best tool when it comes to presence. Take a breath before you speak, take a

breath and scan your space, this gives you time to tune in and then you can choose whether you need to shift gears up or down. We can also harness the sense of presence by moving our body; choose a cue like every time you look at the board or every time you hear a bell ring, then at each cue take a moment to drop your shoulders, move your tongue from the top of your mouth and unclench your fists. If you are anything like me, you will be surprised by how often your body is tense when you don’t know it. Breath, body and now brain. Choose your mindset every time you step into a teaching space, prepare by deciding how you want to BE each morning, and make it a goal each day to look for things to be grateful for. We are not aiming for perfection, just doing the best we can with what we have each day. And each day is a brand new day, ready for a fresh start.

Teaching, at the heart of it, is a human endeavour. It is our humanity that makes the difference each and every day.

There are so many moving parts to a classroom, so many challenges in education, so much that can get in the way of what it talks about as teaching. Teaching, at the heart of it, is a human endeavour. It is our humanity that makes the difference each and every day. Regardless of all the stuff happening around us, it is what happens within us and between us that creates a space for learning, and this is where presence takes the lead.

Megan Gallagher Megan is a committed learner. She is a teacher and has been an educational leader who has specialised in health education for a number of years. She is an avid promoter of building resilience in our students and selves. Find out more at: www.meggallagher.nz

JAKE NOONAN

A Few Very Reasonable Requests Why listening, curiosity and understanding must come before assumptions

hroughout my years of teaching, I’ve watched identities be misread, dismissed, or outright punished, in ways that left lasting marks on me, my community, and my students. Quietly interlaced across all identities, giftedness and neurodiversity shape how students experience the world and moments in school – there are extra lenses to navigate.

Teachers Matter

Generalities must be recognised as fractional parts of a more expansive whole. Understanding how someone personally experiences their identities is foundational to intimately learning about the self and humanity. Too frequently, those in positions to offer that understanding – especially adults, administrators, leaders – don’t, whether they are able to or not. Real, detrimental harm comes to educational communities alongside this lack of understanding.

Growing up, I was bullied by the adults around me. One in particular would berate me for my high-pitched voice, having stuffed animals, what I liked to read, my deep fascination with Winnie the Pooh – and a myriad of other ‘annoyances’ that amounted to nothing more than me being a child. I was four years old.

Of course I had a high-pitched voice and liked childish things. But to this adult, that was worth tormenting a four-year-old over. I learned then that age can be just as misunderstood as any other identity. How I was treated had my parents second-guessing their parenting. Being around these ‘friends’ often, they wondered if something was ‘wrong’ with me. When I was later identified as gifted, there was little guidance available to help them understand what that meant – so, they struggled to explain what ‘gifted’ meant. Soon, they, too, became targets of that group’s teasing and judgement.1 Even amongst those with older children – like these ‘friends’ – it can be glaringly evident when children weren’t understood as children. My parents still see that group; I stopped once I could be home alone. Every one of them complains about having poor relationships with their adult children. I can’t help but think that understanding myself, my mother, or their own late-diagnosed children back then would have helped all of us. Instead, they’re all exactly the same as the day I met them. 1 There’s still a lot of trauma that my mum especially has had to explore in recent years as a result of this – she’s wildly creative and intelligent, but sees herself as ‘stupid’.

JAKE NOONAN Progress has been made in how giftedness and neurodiversity are discussed since then. However, families of gifted and neurodivergent children still don’t get nearly enough support to navigate such complex neurotypes. That gap starts, always, with the adults around the family continuously failing to see the child in front of them.

While teaching at one school, the student population skewed heavily white and wealthy – roughly 60 of 70 students fit the same demographic profile. Trying to be a more inclusive, community-oriented school, administrators launched a scholarship programme to ‘balance the demographics’. A number of students, who genuinely needed the programme, did end up coming to the school. However, it did not prepare the students or staff to confront their own socio-cultural blind spots. The elementary programme welcomed one Black student from Philadelphia. Within a week, he was labelled ‘problematic’ for trying to run – almost daily. Teachers were instructed not to engage with him, but instead to let an administrator ‘handle him’. Nothing changed and, by November, teachers dreaded his presence to the point where he knew it.

That gap starts, always, with the adults around the family continuously failing to see the child in front of them.

I wasn’t his classroom teacher, so I mostly saw him in passing – often with a quick smile or high-five. One day I was covering recess duty and he ran out of the building, past the recess yard. I caught up with him, he stopped, and we sat on the curb. He talked. I listened. Pretty soon, he shared that no one had ever asked him how he was feeling until that moment. Or that no adult had simply taken the time to just listen. He said it was hard not having ‘anyone else who looks like [him],’ and that nobody understood what that’s like. We only got a few minutes together before another teacher and two administrators found us. After being scolded, he was escorted to the office for some restrictive consequences. Come January, he had been counselled out of the school due to his ‘poor attitude’ and ‘inflexibility’.

The entire scenario and its outcome could have been different if any of the other adults involved had tried to understand him instead of simply managing behaviour – they’d have learned why he was running. I still think about sitting on that curb, listening to him.

I’ve encountered a lot of educational leaders who claim to understand and value diversity. This tends to fall apart when it comes to gender non-conforming identities. In my experiences, leadership teams often lean to a mythical ‘centre’ to appease everyone. Generally wellintentioned, this ignores and dismisses lived experiences of marginalised identities within the larger community. Notably, Queer identities have been, until lately, seen as ‘perverse’ or simply ‘incorrect’ – something reinforced by societal norms and values. There is no ‘centre’ when one group is legally and socially oppressed while another continues benefiting from that same structure. Balance in an unbalanced system doesn’t protect anyone – it only alienates the people already being pushed to the margins. I’ve lived this. I cannot stand honorifics attached to my name – ‘Mr.’ has never been, or felt, right. One administration team placed me on a ‘performance-improvement-plan’ because I wouldn’t reprimand students for, respectfully, using ‘Noonan’ instead. The process forced me to disclose my gender identity to those administrators and, rather than engage and understand, their solution was for students to call me ‘Coach’ – which, I explained, still comes across as an honorific. This conversation lasted fifteen minutes, ending with advice to ‘just do what’s being asked.’ I did not. Early that October, the school’s first non-binary student came to me asking about gender-neutral bathrooms. We sent emails, scheduled meetings, compiled research,

JAKE NOONAN

gathered contractor quotes, and even designed sample blueprints. We received no reply, support, or guidance from our administration. But, come January, the staff’s singular, secluded, single-stalled bathroom got a dollarstore ‘all-purpose’ sign duct-taped to the door; most staff were understandably concerned. Seeing the backlash, that student stopped using the school bathroom entirely.

Teachers Matter

Later, they shared that they were purposely restricting food and water so they ‘wouldn’t need to use the school bathroom’. They developed an eating disorder by the end of the year. Last I heard, they’re doing better, but they still hesitate with any aspect of public restrooms – sadly, this makes them struggle with digestion, regularity, and heightened social anxieties. Notably, much of it may have been avoided if leadership had taken the time to understand gender non-conformity – or had, at minimum, actually listened to me or this student.

I left that year. According to former students, the school still struggles to respect non-traditional gender identities.

Now, I’ve had more than forty administrators. Only one ever listened, supported, and held space for people to be themselves – no conditions. Understanding someone’s identity requires curiosity, not assumptions. We must ask questions, not adhere to preconceived expectations. Otherwise, we project our biases and speculate about the

other person’s lived experiences, forcing inauthenticity. Strictly starting with generalities does real, lasting harm to learners. Performative leadership perpetuates systemic struggles and fails to protect marginalised students. Institutions frequently feign enthusiasm for diversity, subtly prioritising optics over outcomes. Serious allyship means holding school leaders accountable for these gaps – endlessly. Only then can intersectionality stop being understood as another superficial talking point and become actual educational practice.

Jake Noonan Jake Noonan is an academic coach and consultant for the Neurodiversity Collective. There, Jake utilises a decade of experience teaching and supporting neurodiverse and twice-exceptional students. Jake is a specialist within the humanities field and its influence on the neurodiverse and gifted populations. Jake encourages students to embody their authentic selves while supporting them along their academic journey. Jake is also currently working on a Doctorate of Education in Cognitive Differences. He can be contacted at: jake@theneurodiversitycollective.com

DR. WILLIAM SOMMERS

When the Horse is Dead, Dismount Knowing when to let go of ideas that no longer work

ears ago, I found the following story, which I attached to the end of this new rule. A colleague told me about a book, If You’re Riding a Horse and It Dies. Get Off. (1999), by Jim Grant and Char Forsten. Some of the statements in the story are similar to this book. Although both have similar statements, the lesson is the same. If the idea is dead, stop and do something else. When I am asked, ‘What have you learned during your forty-plus years in education?’ I respond, ‘If what you are doing isn’t working, DO SOMETHING ELSE.’ Duh!

High Expectation Teaching. He provides fifty ways to help kids know they are smart. These two people are my shero and hero for taking on the difficult task of helping kids learn with real classroom-tested strategies. Paraphrasing Bertrand Russell, ‘Some people would rather die than change; in fact, they do.’ Those people have gone down with the horse. Unfortunately, you might get your leg caught underneath the carcass. Then, being trapped, you can’t get out from underneath the horse. Of course, that is one result, not the one I would like for learning and education. No Learning – No Change. No Change – No Learning. These two are interconnected.

Think of organisations that have gone out of business because of the inability to change. Alan Deutschman (2007) wrote a book titled Change or Die. Kudos to those who keep trying to A quote in Deutschman’s book is, solve problems and engage young “The best teachers do much more learners. However, what worked than demonstrate technique and five years ago might not be If the idea is dead, stop correct errors. They inspire and working as well now. Yes, systems and do something else. sustain hope by communicating change, demographics change, their belief in you and point out and those in education must figure the small improvements you’re out what to change and what making, which often you don’t not to change while preparing notice yourself. They sell you on their competence, they sell students for a future unknown to us. Adding multiple you on their methods, and most important, they sell you on strategies gives us more options as the learners change. your own potential.” Another friend and colleague, a former 3M leadership Selling, or helping students believe in their own potential, trainer, said, “Intended consequences sometimes happen; is behind two of my most admired educational authors unintended consequences always happen.” Because and committed teachers. Yvette Jackson (2011) wrote of the lagging indicators, we sometimes do not see the Pedagogy of Confidence. As the former Director of Gifted unintended consequences until a lot of time has passed. and Talented in New York City, she writes about highWe do need to keep focusing on results and being creative engagement strategies to use in classrooms with underrather than assuming what worked in the past will resourced students. Secondly, Jon Saphier (2017) wrote work in the future. By addressing new problems with a

DR. WILLIAM SOMMERS learner mindset, new strategies emerge by expanding our repertoire to ignite learning for more kids. One more thought is from Matt Miller (2009) in his book The Tyranny of Dead Ideas. Miller uses the term “intellectual inertia”, which says that major shocks are sometimes needed to expose that conventional wisdom is not being productive. Examples he offers are the Great Depression in the 30s, the Civil Rights movement in the 60s, and the savings and loan crisis in the 70s. Of course, in 2008 we had the financial collapse that caused the need for new approaches. Dead Ideas give way under the pressure of events. Our task is to get ready for the world that is being born. A quote that keeps me up at night from Miller’s book is, “The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.” I believe the need to increase learning for students is directly proportional to the need to increase learning for our teachers and administrators. So, what are you learning? What are you modelling? Are your behaviours dead or alive? Miller suggests we develop a “Dead Ideas Watch List”. What’s on your list? What is not working? What policies or procedures are near death? How else can we address those issues? Again, if it isn’t working, try something else. There is NO more important relationship than that between a student and a teacher. We learn more from someone we believe in and trust. At least I did. Maybe we change the language to learner and learning guides. Whatever you call it, “GET UP, TODAY IS A WORKDAY.” (quote by Angeles Arrien)

Teachers Matter

I offer the following story I mentioned in the opening paragraph to help us understand how we may have tried to deal with problems in the past. It can be used as a checklist of current practices that may need to be re-examined. I got this years ago, and if I knew who wrote it or sent it to me, I would cite them. If anyone knows, please let me know so I can give proper credit.

An Educational Horse Story Seems simple enough; yet, in the education business, we don’t always follow that advice. Instead, we choose from an array of other alternatives that include: 1. Buying a stronger whip. 2. Trying a new bit or bridle.

3. Switching riders. 4. Moving the horse to a new location. 5. Riding the horse for longer periods of time. 6. Appointing a committee to study the horse. 7. Visiting other sites where they ride dead horses more efficiently. 8. Increasing the standards for riding dead horses. 9. Creating an assessment to measure our riding ability. 10. Conducting a study to compare how we’re riding dead horses now with how we did ten or twenty years ago. 11. Designing new styles of riding dead horses. 12. Blaming the horse’s parents. 13. Saying things like, “This is the way we’ve always ridden dead horses.” 14. Tightening the saddle cinch. 15. Identifying pilot sites and having them develop innovative ways to ride dead horses. 16. Complaining about the state of horses these days.

Quote

Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge. - SIMON SINEK

GEORGE PHILHOWER

What if Preparing Students for Jobs That Don’t Exist Means Redefining School Itself? Preparing students to thrive through change, not predict the future

ost conversations about the future of education start with a familiar idea. We need to prepare students for jobs that do not exist yet. I understand why that idea has taken hold. The world is changing quickly, and it feels responsible to try to anticipate what comes next. And it is true. Already, careers that seemed unimaginable a decade ago are part of today’s workforce.

Teachers Matter

But I keep coming back to a different question. What if preparing students for jobs that do not exist is not really about predicting the future at all? What if it is about reimagining the role of education and the teaching profession right now?

Because the future is not showing up as entirely new careers out of nowhere. It is showing up as constant change within the careers that already exist. The Future of Jobs Report 2023 describes a workforce in which roles are evolving as technology reshapes how work is done. The OECD Employment Outlook shows that most jobs are not disappearing. They are being redefined. If that is our students’ reality, then the goal of education shifts. It is not to prepare them for a specific destination. It is to prepare them to navigate change itself. And that kind of preparation requires a different role for schools and for the people who work in them.

Helping our students thrive in an uncertain future For a long time, school has been designed around delivering content. Teachers have been expected to organise, explain, and assess what students know. That model made sense when information was scarce and relatively stable. But that is not the world students are stepping into. Today, information is everywhere. What is harder is knowing what to do with it. What matters is how to apply it, adapt it, and keep learning as things change. That suggests a shift in the role of the teacher. Not away from teaching, but toward something broader. Less focused on delivering information and more focused on designing experiences. Less about controlling the path and more about guiding students through uncertainty. Less about having all the answers and more about helping students learn how to find them. Research points in this direction. The World Economic Forum continues to highlight analytical thinking, curiosity, and resilience as critical job skills. The OECD emphasises adaptability and the ability to keep learning. These are not skills that develop from passive learning. They develop

GEORGE PHILHOWER when students are actively engaged in solving problems and making decisions. That is where the role of education begins to change in practical ways. Instead of asking only what students should know, we start asking what they should be able to do. Instead of designing lessons that end with the right answer, we design experiences that require students to figure things out. Instead of keeping learning contained within the classroom, we connect it to real work, real problems, and real people.

Paving the way for success The future will not wait for students to be ready. The question is whether schools will give them opportunities to practise adapting, solving problems, and learning in real-world contexts before they get there. That is why this shift matters.

Preparing students for jobs that do not exist is not really about the jobs themselves. It is about the kind of people we are helping them become.

In that kind of system, students are not waiting until after graduation to experience the real world. They are part of it while they are learning. And teachers are not stepping away from their role. They are stepping more fully into it. They are designing environments where students can think, create, collaborate, and adapt. They are helping students make sense of complex situations. They are supporting growth that goes beyond memorisation. This does not mean abandoning academic learning. In fact, it raises the bar. Reading, writing, and mathematics become tools that students use in meaningful contexts, not just subjects they complete.

Preparing students for jobs that do not exist is not really about the jobs themselves. It is about the kind of people we are helping them become.

People who can step into something new and make sense of it. People who can learn quickly and apply what they know. People who can work with others to solve problems that do not have clear answers. Those are the people who will shape whatever comes next. And developing those kinds of people is not something that happens on the sidelines. It happens when education itself is designed to reflect the world students are entering. If the future of work is defined by change, then the future of education has to be defined by how well we prepare students to handle it. That does not start with predicting what comes next. It starts with rethinking what school is for.

It also does not mean every student follows the same path. If anything, it opens up more possibilities. Students can explore different fields, experience different environments, and begin to see where they fit. The Brookings Institution has found that career-connected learning increases engagement and helps students see clearer pathways forward. Work from the Harvard Graduate School of Education suggests that exposure to real careers helps students understand how work changes, not just what people do. Taken together, these efforts point toward an education system that is not lowering expectations, but expanding opportunities for students to apply what they learn and prepare for a tomorrow that continues to evolve.

George Philhower George Philhower, Ph.D., is superintendent of Eastern Hancock Schools in Indiana. A lifelong educator, he envisions schools where children feel safe, loved, successful, and excited to learn each day. He lives in Greenfield with his wife, Taylor, their two kids, and Rosie, the family’s therapy dog. He can be contacted at: philhowerg@gmail.com

ERIN STEEL

Looking Further. Looking Deeper. What maunga and moana can teach us about learning

hat if the greatest classroom your learners will ever experience is the one waiting just outside the door?

Toitū te whenua, whatungarongaro te tangata. The land remains while people come and go. How well do your learners know the place they call home?

Teachers Matter

Not simply the name of their town or the road their kura sits on, but the stories beneath their feet, the maunga that watches over them, the awa that winds through their community, the moana that connects them to something far greater, or the songs of the manu that greet them each morning.

In the busyness of teaching, it’s easy to believe that learning happens primarily inside our classrooms. We spend our days planning lessons, preparing resources and meeting the many demands that come with being a kaiako. Yet just beyond those walls lies a living curriculum, one rich with stories, questions, challenge and wonder. Te taiao asks very little of us, yet offers so much in return. Dame Eva Rickard devoted her life to protecting whenua because she understood it was never simply about land. It was about identity, belonging and the responsibility we hold to those who came before us and those yet to come. Her legacy reminds us that our relationship with place shapes who we are and influences how we care for each other and the world around us.

As kaiako, we have the privilege of helping tamariki build that same relationship. Te taiao is far more than the setting for learning; it is an active participant in it. It invites curiosity before instruction, exploration before explanation and connection before content. Every place holds opportunities to learn. Imagine beginning the day with a hīkoi to your local maunga. As learners climb, they notice the changing landscape beneath them. They identify native species, observe weather patterns, explore the geology of the whenua and listen to the local pūrākau that have shaped

ERIN STEEL

Te taiao is far more than the setting for learning; it is an active participant in it.

the identity of that place for generations. Standing at the summit offers more than a breathtaking view; it offers perspective. Tamariki begin to understand how people, places and stories are woven together across the landscape before them. As learners hear these stories, something remarkable happens. A hill is no longer simply a hill. An awa is no longer just a body of water. Every place becomes layered with meaning, memory and identity. Ka whai kōrero te tangata, ka tipu te mātauranga. When a person shares a story, knowledge grows. Storytelling has always been one of our greatest teachers. It is through the sharing of local histories, pūrākau, mātauranga and lived experiences that our learners begin to see their surroundings differently. They don’t simply learn about a place; they begin to understand their relationship with it. Then imagine shifting that same sense of wonder to the wai. Our awa, roto and moana invite us to explore a world that often remains hidden beneath the surface. Through snorkelling, waka ama or fishing, learners experience an environment many have never truly seen. They discover forests of rimurimu gently moving with the tide, kina

nestled amongst the rocks, schools of fish weaving together as one and countless organisms working together beneath the waterline. Almost immediately, curiosity takes over. Why do some species thrive here and not elsewhere? What tells us whether this ecosystem is healthy? How do tides, currents and the maramataka influence life beneath the surface? What stories do mana whenua hold about these waters? How have generations before us cared for this place, and what responsibility do we now share? Without even realising it, learners are engaging deeply across the curriculum. Science comes alive through ecology and biodiversity. Literacy grows as observations become stories. Mathematics emerges through mapping, measuring and identifying patterns. Health and Physical Education develop through movement, confidence and challenge. Mātauranga Māori enriches every experience through whakapapa, pūrākau, tikanga and the enduring relationships between people and place. Perhaps the most powerful learning, however, comes through connection. Across Aotearoa, kura are partnering with iwi, hapū, environmental organisations and community groups to restore wetlands, monitor water quality, plant native species, regenerate dunes, protect marine environments and care for local habitats. These authentic projects allow

ERIN STEEL tamariki to move beyond learning about kaitiakitanga to actively living it. They experience manaakitanga not only through caring for one another, but by caring for the whenua and wai that sustain us all. When tamariki contribute to restoring an awa, plant trees that future generations will enjoy, help protect a local wetland or monitor the health of their local moana, they begin to understand that they are not separate from te taiao; they are part of it. They discover that even the smallest actions can strengthen the mauri of a place, and in doing so, strengthen their own sense of belonging. Some of the most memorable learning I’ve witnessed across kura hasn’t come from expensive resources or perfectly planned lessons. It has come from kaiako who have simply paused long enough to ask, “I wonder...” They have trusted the environment to provoke questions, trusted their learners to follow their curiosity and trusted that authentic learning often unfolds in ways they could never have scripted. Perhaps one of the greatest lessons te taiao teaches us is this: there is always more than first meets the eye. From the summit of a maunga, we learn to see further. Beneath the surface of the moana, we learn to look deeper. As educators, isn’t that what we hope to inspire every day? To help our learners look beyond the obvious, ask meaningful questions and discover the stories, relationships and possibilities that may not be immediately visible.

Because every place has a story waiting to be shared. Every story has the power to grow knowledge. Ka whai kōrero te tangata, ka tipu te mātauranga. Perhaps the greatest classroom has never been confined by four walls. Perhaps it has been waiting just beyond the door.

Maybe the greatest shift isn’t finding more time for outdoor learning. Maybe it’s recognising that te taiao has been inviting us to learn all along. So, before planning your next lesson, pause. Step outside. Listen.

Teachers Matter

What stories live within your whenua?

What knowledge is held by your awa? What mysteries lie beneath your moana? Whose voices can help bring those stories to life? How might your local environment become the spark that ignites curiosity, strengthens identity and nurtures a lifelong commitment to kaitiakitanga?

Erin Steel Erin Steel is an educator with over 20 years of experience and now works as a Healthy Active Learning Facilitator. Passionate about the wellbeing of children, young people and teachers, Erin partners with schools to enhance Health and Physical Education through play, active recreation and sport. Born and raised in Auckland, Erin now calls Whangārei home and is deeply connected to her community. She is a proud mum, football player and coach, half marathon walker, cricket sideline supporter and advocate for teacher wellbeing. Erin believes in the power of connection, hauora (wellbeing) and storytelling to create meaningful change in education. She can be contacted at: whaea.erin.steel@gmail.com

KAREN TUI BOYES

TERM 4 STUDY GUIDE Get ready for exams without losing your mind

erm 4 can feel different from every other school term.

Suddenly, exams that seemed ages away are getting closer. Teachers are talking about revision. There may be practice exams, assessments and assignments still to finish. You might be looking at everything you have learned this year and wondering: How am I supposed to remember ALL of that? The good news is that successful study isn’t about sitting at a desk for hours staring at notes. It is about knowing how to learn. You don’t need to study all day. You need to study effectively, regularly and deliberately.

1. Start With a Study Stocktake Before you start studying, work out exactly what you need to know. For each subject, make three lists: I KNOW THIS You could explain it without looking at your notes. I SORT OF KNOW THIS It looks familiar, but you couldn’t confidently answer an exam question about it. I DON’T KNOW THIS YET You have forgotten it, don’t understand it or haven’t learned it properly. Your biggest mistake would be spending most of your study time on the green list because it feels good. Spend most of your time on the orange and red lists. Every few days, redo your stocktake. Your goal is to watch topics gradually move from red → orange → green.

KAREN TUI BOYES 2. Make a Plan – Don’t Just Hope You’ll Study At the beginning of each week, spend 10 minutes planning. Write down your exams, assessments, sports, work, family commitments and other activities. Then allocate study sessions around them. Instead of writing:

Other ways to practise retrieval include answering questions without your notes, drawing a diagram from memory, completing practice exam questions, explaining a concept aloud or writing everything you know about a topic on a blank sheet of paper.

Tuesday – Study Science

Don’t practise looking at the answer. Practise producing the answer.

be specific: Tuesday 4.00–4.30 – Cell structure: retrieval practice + 5 exam questions

4. Use Flashcards Properly

That way, when 4.00 arrives, you don’t waste 15 minutes deciding what to do. A useful rule is: Every study session needs a job.

3. Stop Rereading. Start Retrieving. One of the biggest study traps is rereading. You read your notes. Then read them again. Everything looks familiar, so your brain says: “Yep. I know this.” Simply recognising information is very different from being able to recall it. Try this instead. Read a section of your notes, close the book and write down everything you can remember. Then check. What did you miss? That is what you need to learn.

Flashcards can be brilliant – but making beautiful flashcards is not studying. The learning happens when you test yourself with them. Put a question, keyword, formula, date or concept on one side and the answer on the other. Look at the question. Don’t flip it over immediately. Give your brain time to search for the answer. Say it aloud or write it down. Then check. Separate your cards into: KNOW IT and DON’T KNOW IT YET Spend more time on the cards you don’t know. Shuffle them regularly so you aren’t simply remembering their order. Most importantly, come back to them over several days rather than trying to learn the entire pile in one night.

5. Space Your Learning Your brain benefits from meeting information repeatedly over time. Instead of studying History for four hours on Sunday, you might study it for: Monday – 20 minutes Wednesday – 20 minutes Friday – 20 minutes Sunday – 20 minutes

Teachers Matter

Each time you return to the information, try to retrieve what you learned previously before looking at your notes. A simple routine is: Yesterday – Last Week – Today

At the beginning of a study session, spend a few minutes recalling something you studied yesterday and something from last week. Then begin today’s learning.

KAREN TUI BOYES

6. Study in Short, Focused Bursts

8. Teach Someone

Three distracted hours aren’t necessarily better than 30 focused minutes. Try: 20 minutes focused work → 5-minute break. During the focused time, put your phone away, turn notifications off and work on one thing.

One of the best ways to discover whether you understand something is to try teaching it. Choose a concept and explain it to your parent, sibling, friend, dog, cat or imaginary classroom. Try explaining it without looking at your notes. If you get stuck, fantastic! You have just discovered a gap in your knowledge before the exam. Check the information, learn the missing part and explain it again.

Then take a genuine break. Stand up. Stretch. Get some water. Walk outside. Have something to eat. After the break, come back for another focused session. Your brain needs breaks to process information.

7. Get Your Phone Out of the Way Be realistic. If your phone is beside you and notifications keep appearing, concentrating will be much harder. Don’t rely entirely on willpower. Change your environment. Put your phone in another room, use Do Not Disturb, turn off notifications or give it to someone while you complete your study session. You aren’t giving up your phone for the evening. You’re giving it up for 20 minutes. You can do that.

9. Practise Like It Is the Exam Knowing the content isn’t enough. You also need to practise using it under exam conditions. Find previous exam questions or practice questions. Start with your notes if necessary. Then gradually remove the support. Eventually, set a timer and complete questions without notes. Afterwards, don’t just look at your score. Study your mistakes. Ask: •

What did I get wrong? Why did I get it wrong? What do I need to learn so I don’t make that mistake again?

Mistakes during study are useful. They show you exactly where to focus next.

KAREN TUI BOYES 10. Mix Up How You Learn

12. Make a Mistake List

If something isn’t sticking, change the strategy. You could:

Keep a page for each subject called:

• • • • • • • • • • • •

draw it say it write it teach it turn it into a diagram make a timeline create flashcards make up a mnemonic answer questions create a quiz record yourself explaining it make connections with something you already know.

If Plan A isn’t working, there are another 25 letters in the alphabet! The goal isn’t to make studying entertaining every second. It is to find ways to make your brain actively work with the information.

MY MISTAKES Every time you get something wrong during revision, write it down. For example: • • • •

A week before your exam, this page becomes one of your most valuable revision tools. It tells you exactly where your gaps are.

11. Create Memory Hooks Your brain loves connections. For difficult information, create something memorable. Use acronyms, ridiculous pictures, stories, rhymes, associations or exaggerated mental images. The stranger the connection, the easier it can sometimes be to remember. Don’t worry if your mnemonic would make absolutely no sense to anyone else. It only has to work for you.

Maths: Forgot to change the sign when rearranging the equation. Biology: Keep mixing up mitosis and meiosis. English: Need stronger evidence in paragraphs. History: Know the event but can’t remember the date.

Exams don’t require perfection. They require preparation.

13. Look After Your Brain Studying until 2 am and arriving at school exhausted is not necessarily dedication. Your brain is the equipment you are taking into the exam. Look after it. Get enough sleep. Eat regularly. Drink water. Move your body. Get outside. Take breaks. And keep doing some of the things you enjoy. Exam preparation should be part of your life, not your entire life.

14. The Week Before an Exam

Teachers Matter

This isn’t the time to panic and attempt to relearn an entire year’s work. By now, your focus should increasingly be on retrieval and practice.

• • • • • •

Test yourself. Work through your mistake lists. Complete practice questions. Review difficult flashcards. Practise formulas, definitions, vocabulary and key facts. Explain major concepts without your notes.

Your question should change from: “Have I read everything?” to: “What can I recall without looking?”

KAREN TUI BOYES Your Term 4 Challenge Don’t wait until you feel motivated to study. Start small. Twenty focused minutes today is better than three imaginary hours tomorrow. At the end of each week ask yourself: • • • •

What do I know now that I didn’t know last week? What study strategy worked best? Where are my gaps? What will I focus on next week?

And celebrate your progress. Every flashcard you master, every practice question you correct and every concept that moves from “I don’t get this” to “Oh! Now I understand” is progress. Exams don’t require perfection. They require preparation. Start early. Test yourself. Learn from your mistakes. Keep going. You are not trying to become ready in one giant leap. You are getting a little more ready every day.

15. The Night Before Avoid the temptation to have one enormous late-night cramming session. Do a short review of key information and your known weak spots. Then get organised. Pack what you need. Check where and when the exam is. Set your alarm. Have everything ready for the morning. Then give your brain what it really needs: sleep.

16. On Exam Day Before the exam, avoid getting caught in the panic conversations. • • •

“Did you learn Chapter 7?” “What if they ask about...?” “Apparently this year’s exam is really hard!”

Other people’s anxiety doesn’t need to become yours. Take a few slow breaths and remind yourself: I have prepared. I don’t have to know everything. I just need to show what I know. Read questions carefully. Notice command words such as describe, explain, compare, justify, calculate and evaluate. Watch your time. If you get stuck, move on and come back. Your brain may continue working on the problem while you answer something else.

DR. JUDY WILLIS, M.D. M.ED.

Build Students’ Perseverance When students focus on progress over immediate performance, success feels more attainable.

“I

felt OK about the project at first. But then it just felt too big. I didn’t even know where to start anymore. So, I just stopped.” —Eighth-grade student This student was bright and curious. When assigned a long-term history project, he was eager to choose his topic and get started gathering materials. But two weeks later, his momentum stalled. The project hadn’t become harder, but it seemed longer. The finish line felt too far away to energise his brain.

Teachers Matter

Most teachers recognise this pattern. Students want to succeed. Yet, when the path feels overwhelming or progress isn’t evident, their follow-through fades. It’s tempting to attribute this to laziness, lack of grit, or insufficient motivation. However, neuroscience offers a far more hopeful explanation.

Perseverance is a Process Perseverance is an executive function, like attention, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. As such, it develops gradually throughout childhood and adolescence. The neural circuits required to sustain effort towards distant goals are still being built during the school years. This means perseverance is not a fixed skill, but it can be strengthened.

The brain is more willing to invest effort over time when it anticipates small, achievable wins along the route to a larger goal. When students experience visible progress tied to their effort, dopamine reinforces the behaviour and strengthens the neural networks for sustained motivation. The teacher’s role is not to remove challenges for students, because challenges are essential for growth.

6 Ways to Support Student Perseverance Here are some classroom strategies that boost perseverance through progress awareness. 1. Visual progress maps. Students don’t need less work, but rather visible checkpoints in the timeline of an assignment. One way to provide them is by breaking down long-term projects, independent reading, or multistep writing tasks into clearly defined segments. Instead of “Write a five-page paper that fits the requirements for grammar, spelling, and research, and include a bibliography,” guide them in how to divide the assignment into manageable chunks. As the brain responds positively to awareness, that incremental progress leads to mastery, and each completed step becomes a concrete success marker.

DR. JUDY WILLIS, M.D. M.ED. In a writing assignment, consider a prompt like “Here are the steps that will start your progress towards your goal” to encourage students to think incrementally about their assignments:

Have students track their cumulative practice time so that they can see measurable improvement: •

Minutes practised versus reading fluency growth

•

Select a topic.

•

Study time versus quiz score trends

•

Locate three credible sources.

•

Draft revisions versus rubric improvement

•

Draft an outline.

•

Write the introduction.

•

Complete the first body paragraph.

Starting out with a plan for the first part of an assignment can help students feel like they’re capable of accomplishing the work and prevent overwhelm. 2. Wall charts and growth thermometers. Visual evidence of progress helps students connect their academic improvement directly to the effort they invested. Create visual trackers for students to use while they work towards goals such as fluency, vocabulary, maths facts, reading comprehension, or foreign language literacy. Bar graphs, thermometers, and cumulative charts provide tangible feedback. When students colour in increments of progress, their brains register success. What students will see is a graph of the class as a whole, with each student’s progress shown through the slope of the lines. These lines don’t show the actual number of correct responses or what is on each student’s list to learn. Thus, a student with a less challenging level of work, who makes lots of progress, would have a slope and upward line of progress greater than those of other students doing different work but spending less time or focus. The graphs show effort to progress, not where students stand in the class in terms of what they worked on. Alternatively, with teacher supervision, students can plot out their own effort to progress on an individual graph that isn’t displayed. 3. Effort-to-progress graphs. When students see data linking their effort to growth, they internalise the powerful belief that “my effort changes my brain.” That belief fuels perseverance.

Track & Graph is a free and open-source mobile app that allows students to record numerical values (like minutes of practice) and see how they correlate with other data points that students have entered. It produces graphs that show the relationship between time and progress.

Over time, students begin to think, ‘I am someone who sticks with it.’ That is an identity they will carry with them far beyond your classroom.

4. Emphasise process over product. Grades matter, but perseverance grows when students recognise skill development, not just their final performance. When motivation is only attached to grades, students’ brains connect effort to external judgement. As a teacher, the language you use matters. Instead of “You got an A!” speak in ways that reinforce the idea that students’ perseverance is an achievement in itself: “I noticed that you successfully adjusted your strategy when your first attempt didn’t work.” “You didn’t stop after the first mistake.” “Your continued efforts are building your strength as a learner.” When teachers emphasise strategy, persistence, and growth, students’ neural circuits are strengthened for resilience and self-regulation. 5. Skill progression awareness. Progress builds momentum, and once students master a concept, that fuels further efforts. For example, if a long-term assignment is for students to demonstrate their maths skills, help them recognise when they reach benchmarks along the way to the final goal.

DR. JUDY WILLIS, M.D. M.ED. Level 1: Master multiplication facts. Level 2: Apply those facts to multidigit multiplication. Level 3: Solve multistep word problems that require multiplication. 6. Reflection. Reflection activities strengthen students’ understanding of the connection between effort and progress. That awareness helps to reduce anxiety about large tasks. Students will begin to see perseverance as a strategic tool rather than something that happens by accident, as they build metacognition and self-efficacy. At the end of a unit or project, invite students to reflect on their experience: •

What was the best use of your time or energy?

•

When did you first notice improvement?

•

What strategy helped you overcome a challenge?

•

What made the task begin to feel easier?

•

What would you repeat next time?

•

What would you do differently?

What Perseverance Sounds Like “The effort-progress graph helped because I saw I’d actually made progress. I didn’t think I was getting better, but I was.” —10th-grade student

Teachers Matter

“I used to quit when I felt overwhelmed by an assignment that just seemed too big. Now I break it into parts. When I finish one part and check it off on my chart, I feel like I can keep going on to the next part.” —Sixth-grade student

When students repeatedly experience progress linked to sustained effort, their optimism increases, their confidence grows, and setbacks become information instead of failures. You’re not simply helping students complete assignments; you’re strengthening their neural circuits as they build resilience. Over time, students begin to think, “I am someone who sticks with it.” That is an identity they will carry with them far beyond your classroom.

Dr. Judy Willis, M.D. M.Ed. Dr. Judy Willis combined her 15 years as a board-certified practicing neurologist with ten subsequent years as a classroom teacher to become a leading authority in the neuroscience of learning. Dr. Willis has written nine books and more than 200 articles for professional journals applying neuroscience research to successful teaching strategies. She is on the adjunct faculty of Williams College. Dr. Willis travels nationally and internationally giving presentations, workshops, and consulting while continuing to write books. She has been selected by Edutopia as one of their “Big Thinkers on Education” and featured on their website as well as being a staff expert blogger for NBC News Education Nation, Edutopia, Psychology Today, and The Guardian. Find out more at: www.RADTeach.comz

MEGAN GALLAGHER

Being Teachable It’s a skill

MEGAN GALLAGHER

e encourage our students to be lifelong learners. We encourage them to develop resilience and metacognition as learners. We talk about building skills for the future. It occurred to me today that something that I miss making explicit for my students is how to be teachable. This is a life skill too! Being teachable means that we are open to learning and growth. Being teachable means that we know how to put ego aside and learn from others. Being teachable means that we are willing to be bad at something, get curious, and build skill through feedback.

at this moment or not? Sometimes it might not be the right time or place for a lesson, and that’s OK, but it may be a lesson lost, of course. One way I know it’s a lesson lost is when I don’t do anything with the learning. When I am teachable, it may be that I discuss it with someone, it might prompt Being teachable means me to reflect on things from a that we are willing to new perspective, it may make me adapt to how I practise a skill. I be bad at something, will do something.

get curious, and build skill through feedback.

And this is part of being a lifelong learner. We are all still growing and changing, so we need to keep being teachable. Some clues that you are not being teachable are:

Being teachable is something that requires us to be present, to actively engage, to pause our own assumptions.

As I write, I am reminded of the importance of role modelling. If I am going to encourage my students to be teachable, then I need to do it in my own life. I need to make the effort. That isn’t always easy, but as my good friend Karen says, ‘we’ve gotta go through hard to get to easy’. If we’re teachable, then we already know this, right?

You say, “Yes, but…” •

You start making excuses or giving reasons for when you don’t get it right rather than asking for feedback to improve.

•

You aren’t curious. You think you know it all already.

•

Your attention is on other things. You are distracted.

•

You attend, perhaps take notes, but do nothing with it.

It’s useful to know these cues. When I hear myself saying these things or notice myself thinking or doing these things, I then have the choice… do I want to be teachable

VANESSA MCHARDY

The EdTech Tide Is Turning; Are You Ahead Of The Curve? Why education leaders must rethink technology use now

s we move into spring, our cousins across the ditch have once again gone first, with a petition underway to remove EdTech from primary schools and have purposeful use only in secondary schools. 27,000 Australian teachers have signed it in just the first month of its inception.

Teachers Matter

Spring feels hopeful; new life bounces forth in the form of calves and lambs, blossom bursts from trees that are grey and look dead, and life suddenly is abundant.

With court cases being won against big tech in the USA, hugely significant findings show that the companies, particularly Meta, knew they were harming children with persuasive design features and algorithms but did nothing to stop the harm. It is all in plain sight for everyone to see the core structure and foundation of these companies’ purpose. That is profit before anything, including children.

Hope springs forth Last month saw the Principal of Omata School in Taranaki, Karen Brisco, remove tech from her primary school for Years 1–4. She cited new evidence of ineffectiveness and actual harm to learning that helped her make what is seen as a bold move, but for her it was doing the very

fundamentals of her job as a leader: to advocate for children’s education and, if new evidence emerges, to act on that. To quote directly, “When you know better, you do better.” I found it utterly refreshing to hear a school leader speaking with authority and humility about the matter of EdTech. So many in education, all the way to the decision-makers who are well above our pay grades, have invested heavily; tens of billions of dollars have been spent over the last twenty years on the dream EdTech sold of the future being advanced through technology. But it has not delivered; it has never delivered. This is an experiment that has actually been going for 100 years. Javed Horvath’s book The Digital Delusion (2026) highlights that the first ‘learning machine’, invented by Sidney Pressey, failed to see the transfer of information to new settings. EdTech fails because it is not biological, and humans learn through our biology. My favourite line in the book is “handwriting is thinking”. When we write by hand, all these neuronal networks light up to do with literacy and reading. This does not happen when typing on a keyboard. With the recent announcement of a social media age limit of 16 being placed in front of Parliament and backed by Labour, we will likely see this change come to NZ shores

VANESSA MCHARDY within the year. It is not perfect; it is part of the process of changing a societal norm around our screen usage. We are putting into place the world we want our children to grow up in and to learn in, front and centre, no longer just going with what was done to us and what we accepted with both hands due to the allure of easy dopamine. For us to thrive and get ahead of the curve, we need leaders, we need principals like Karen, we need parents like Katrina Columbie, who founded Smartphone Free Childhoods NZ, a grassroots parents’ movement; we need teachers to advocate for what we know actually helps our children learn. Why I am so hopeful about the return of pen and paper, books, etc., is that it’s not a big expense; in fact, a lot of these changes will cost schools nothing. My first add-in to a school system is to remove the use of iPads as a reward for completion of work. Instead, let them play cards with another student, or have extra play outside for the last 15 mins of the day. This will cost nothing but will realign your school’s values to connection, relationship and play, the cornerstones of learning.

tech bros. Be the change you want to see in the world and remember: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”, attributed to Margaret Mead. We need to say no, enough, and stand up when you are being told to sit down and accept that this is how things are done. It isn’t, and we can do so much better for our children.

We are putting into place the world we want our children to grow up in and to learn in.

Spring is also when the campaign I founded last year, Spring Screen Break, 20th–27th September, offers the challenge to reduce screen usage for a week and reset your habits. Each day you get an activity to do that is nature-, creativity- and connection-based; there are resources for schools, all free and all easy to do. Join us and break free!

Dr. Samantha Marsh and I designed a Reset Classroom Protocol, an evidence-led school protocol that audits how technology is being used and helps schools reclaim the relationships, attention, deep learning and offline experiences that children need to thrive. We provide training to help you do a tech audit and plan for using tech with purpose and friction to get back to creating an environment children actually learn in. It is pretty personal for me, what happened to education and our communities. My daughter is 17 and has been part of the experiment of Google Classroom and being taught via a personal device. It is deeply sad to know that during the most crucial brain development years, she was not given what I was given. With the huge advancements of AI, the future for our children is really uncertain. It is utterly urgent that we act on the latest evidence around EdTech. Sweden did, after their authorities concluded that private use of digital devices in classrooms was clearly associated with poorer academic outcomes. So they shifted and drastically reduced how much tech was being used, back to paper and pen, with tech being used with purpose. I heard the phrase “skill before the tool”. If you have acquired the skill of reading books, you can use tech to do research for you, but if you have not learnt the skill of reading and use the tech, it will not serve you in your development. Children need leaders in the education space; they need bold, decisive policies based on the facts, not some ideal being peddled by the latest gamification of learning by

Vanessa McHardy Vanessa McHardy is a leading Integrative Child & Adolescent consultant with 20 years experience with a speciality for bringing Life Skills for Mental Health and Wellbeing Programmes to school communities. Vanessa has returned to New Zealand after 30 years in the UK, She has a wealth of experience of delivering these services and in the height of the pandemic wellbeing has come into focus and she works globally delivering online to Europe, America, Hong Kong, Australasia. She can be contacted at: lighteducationtraining@gmail.com www.lighteducationtraining.com www.springscreenbreak.com www.thereclaimproject.co.nz www.sameseadifferentboats.com

Don’t be a know-it-all; be a learn-it-all. Quote - SATYA NADELLA

CRISTA A. HOPP, MA

Five Minutes to Executive Function Building EF into the lessons you already teach

hen educators think about executive function, planning, organisation and time management often come to mind. Those skills matter, but they rely on other executive functions working underneath them.

Use an assignment students are already completing and spend a few minutes identifying its major chunks. Then ask:

Whenever possible, involve students in identifying their own executive function strengths and challenges. I use Frontal Skill Scan Cards to help students reflect on where things come easily and where they get stuck. Even without a formal tool, we can teach students to notice what their brains need.

A quick check-in lets you ask: Does this need to be broken down again? Does the student know the first step? Catch the breakdown now rather than at the final deadline.

Working Memory: Is It Small Enough?

Regulation is our ability to manage emotions, thoughts and actions. When students become overwhelmed, frustrated or confused, regulating those responses can become more difficult.

Does any part still feel too big? In my previous article, Why We’re Teaching Executive Function Backwards, I explored the foundational executive Some students may need to break those chunks down functions that support these more advanced skills: further. Teach a simple rule: attention, working memory, regulation and cognitive flexibility. Still too big? Break it down again. This time, let’s focus on what teachers Recognising that can do with that knowledge. For longer-term assignments, make the invisible timeline visible. Create they need help does This is not another programme to intermittent due dates for meaningful not mean they know squeeze into an already full school parts of the project and, importantly, how to ask for it. day. These practices take about five check them. Even a chunk can feel so minutes and fit directly into subjects overwhelming that a student cannot you already teach. figure out how to begin.

Working memory is the mental workspace we use to hold and work with information while completing a task. Cognitive scientist Nelson Cowan’s research suggests this workspace is surprisingly limited, often holding only about four meaningful items at a time.

Regulation: Green, Yellow or Pink?

Students do not always tell us when they are confused. Recognising that they need help does not mean they know how to ask for it. They may struggle to raise their hand,

CRISTA A. HOPP, MA find the words or approach the teacher. Instead, confusion may look like staring at the page, talking to a friend, avoiding the work or shutting down. After classwork, or even on homework being submitted, ask students to highlight where they are: Green: I understand this well enough that I could explain it to someone else. Yellow: I understand some of it, but I still have questions. Pink: I am lost and need some help.

Five Minutes Can Be Enough

In less than a minute, teachers gain useful information while students practise noticing their understanding and communicating a need for help without having to initiate the conversation themselves.

Look for small opportunities inside what you already teach. Break down the project. Check understanding after the lesson. Experiment with different ways to study. And tell students why.

Cognitive Flexibility: Study Strategy Bingo

Ultimately, we want students to begin recognising what their own brains need:

Cognitive flexibility is our ability to shift our thinking and change strategies when something is not working. Yet students often return to the same study method, even when it has not been effective. Introduce a Study Strategy Bingo card when students begin learning content they will eventually be assessed on. Include options such as practice questions, flashcards, drawing a concept map, teaching someone else, summarising from memory, creating a quiz or making reallife connections with the material.

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As students move through the unit, encourage them to try different strategies and mark them on their card. If you cannot begin that early, aim for at least five days before an assessment rather than waiting until the night before.

Make it a class challenge. Keep a simple classroom or digital chart showing which strategies students have tried. Who gets the first Bingo? Can the class complete the entire board? But the goal is not just to win. Ask: Which strategy helped me learn this material? Which would I use again? Students are practising cognitive flexibility by trying, evaluating and adjusting how they learn.

This is too big. I need to break it down. I’m confused. I need to ask for help. This isn’t working. I need to try something different. That is how executive function becomes something we do not just support, but teach.

Crista A. Hopp, MA Crista A. Hopp, MA, is the founder of Connected Pathways Coaching and Connected Pathways Academy. With over 30 years of experience, she specialises in executive function, helping educators, parents, and students understand how the brain drives learning, behaviour, and performance. She can be contacted at: E: crista@connectedpathwayscoaching.com W: connectedpathwayscoaching.com

CRISTA A. HOPP, MA

Scan to the QR code to download a free copy of the Study Strategy Bingo card for your class.

HEATHER LAGEMAN

Finishing Strong: Hope as a Strategy for Term 4 How the science of hope can protect teacher energy, re-engage learners, and carry your school community across the finish line with purpose intact

erm 4 has the energy of things coming to completion, students who have grown, teachers who see the end of a long and demanding year…and a tiredness that holiday rest has resolved. The question, then, is not how to survive Term 4. It is how to finish it well with real energy, genuine engagement, and a sense of meaning that makes the final weeks worth celebrating rather than simply enduring. The answer lies not in pushing harder but in developing the skill of hope.

Agency The internal belief that we are capable of walking those paths, that our actions matter, that we have power over our own situation, and that the effort is worth making.

What Hope Actually Is The psychological framework of Hope Theory defines hope as made up of three interconnected elements:

Goals

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The destinations we are moving toward, not abstract wishes, but specific, meaningful outcomes we genuinely care about.

Pathways The routes we can identify to get there, the concrete plans and alternative strategies we develop when our first route is blocked.

Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 12, 249-275

HEATHER LAGEMAN By October, she had almost forgotten why she had moved into leadership initially. Her coach asked her to name one small thing, just one, that was still hers to choose that week. She thought for a long moment, then said: ‘I’m going to go back into the classroom. Not to observe. Just to be in the room with kids learning.’ She did it on a Wednesday afternoon, twenty minutes in a Year 4 maths lesson. ‘I remembered,’ she said. ‘I remembered what it’s all for.’ That is agency reasserting itself. And agency, Hope is not a personality like a muscle, responds to use.

What makes this framework useful for Term 4 is that it diagnoses precisely what collapses at the end of the year. Teachers don’t lose sight of their goals and care deeply about their students, their craft, and their school community. Pathways narrow when we are exhausted and agency quietly drains away under the weight of systems and demands that feel beyond our control.

Consider Ana, a Year 6 teacher at a South Auckland primary school who arrived at the start of Term 4 full trait some people are lucky of intention, with a beautifully This practice is not about planned unit on local history, enough to have; it is a set minimising real systemic a new seating arrangement of learnable practices. challenges. It is about refusing to rebuild the classroom to let those challenges community, and a list of students consume the agency that to check in with individually. By remains. Because agency, like the end of Week 2, the unit had a muscle, responds to use. Each small act of intentional been compressed to make room for reporting requirements, choice rebuilds the felt sense that we are the difference the seating arrangement had quietly reverted under the makers in our professional lives. chaos of a relief teacher day, and the check-ins hadn’t happened. She wasn’t failing; she was depleted, and For students in Term 4, the same principle of agency depletion narrowed her pathways, leaving small steps out applies with striking clarity. Year 13 students facing of reach. external assessments, Year 8 students anxious about secondary school transitions, younger students who have Finishing strong is about deliberately rebuilding pathways drifted from the engagement of earlier terms: all of them and agency that depletion eroded and helping our students benefit from being explicitly helped to locate their own do the same. agency. This means being specific. Not ‘you can control your grade’ (which is only partly true), but language like: ‘You can choose how you use the next thirty minutes.’ ‘You Moving from Powerlessness to Empowerment can decide to ask for help today rather than tomorrow.’ ‘You can show up to this last stretch differently than In the chapter “Moving from Powerlessness to you showed up to the middle of the year.’ These are not Empowerment” from The Hope-Centered Educator, the central motivational platitudes; they are invitations back into the point is that educators feel decisions are made above them, felt experience of agency. And for students who have spent that the workload is non-negotiable, and that the system weeks feeling like Term 4 is something happening to them, will not bend. Powerlessness is a direct threat to hope that invitation can be truly transformative. That is a hopebecause it erodes agency. Without agency, clearly defined building message, grounded in a life skill. goals and well-mapped pathways feel meaningless. The practical antidote is deceptively simple: identify, daily, one thing within your control. Not the curriculum refresh timeline, staffing situation, or student who is struggling in ways that need more support than one teacher can provide; pick something small that is genuinely yours to shape. Maybe the conversation you choose to have, the moment you carefully design, or the colleague you check in with before the bell. A deputy principal in Wellington described this shift to us during a professional learning session. She spent most of Term 3 in reactive mode, covering staffing gaps, managing parent concerns, and attending to the administrative backlog that builds when a school is under-resourced.

Designing a Hope-Filled Environment for the Final Stretch The sixth chapter of The Hope-Centered Educator offers a seven-step process for designing a hope-filled learning environment for adults, and every step translates directly into the Term 4 classroom and staffroom. The process begins not with structures or systems but with meaning: helping people reconnect with why the work matters to them personally before asking them to sustain the effort of doing it.

HEATHER LAGEMAN In practical terms, this looks like carving out time, even ten minutes in a staff meeting, even five minutes at the start of a lesson, for people to name something that still matters to them about this work. Not a performative exercise in gratitude; ask an authentic question: What brought you here, and does any of that remain? For most educators, and most students, the honest answer is “yes,” buried under exhaustion and compliance and the accumulated weight of a long year, but still present. The act of naming it is itself an act of ownership and possibility. A senior teacher at a Christchurch secondary school used this approach in a five-minute routine she called ‘the one true thing.’ At the start of each staff briefing in Term 4, she would ask one person to share one true thing about why they were in the room…not an achievement, not a metric, but a moment. A student who finally understood something. A conversation that mattered. A lesson that went sideways in an interesting way. Over the weeks, something shifted. Staff began sharing their moments without being asked. The staffroom, she said, started to feel less like a place people passed through and more like a place people came back to. From there, the framework moves into what we call hope-informed competencies: communication, emotional intelligence, and collaboration. They are the practical capacities, not soft extras, that allow a school community to finish a year together rather than in parallel exhaustion. When teachers communicate with each other about what is

genuinely hard, they create the conditions for real support. When they model emotional intelligence with students, acknowledging the mixed feelings accompanying endings, students navigate those feelings rather than suppress them.

The Way Forward Is Not a Sprint There is a type of educational leadership that treats Term 4 as a sprint and a final push, a grinding through, a surviveand-regroup approach that banks everything on the break. And there is another kind that understands the end of a year as something to be inhabited rather than escaped. The hope-centered premise is this: hope is not a personality trait some people are lucky enough to have; it is a set of learnable practices that educators can cultivate in themselves and design into the environments they create. Goals, pathways, agency: these are not abstract concepts. They are the practical architecture of a school community that can finish a year with its spirit intact. So as the end of the year comes into view, the invitation is this: don’t just push through; instead, push toward something. Commit to naming what still matters, finding one pathway that is available to you today, or taking one action that is within your power. Pause and notice how hope, once practised, has a way of growing. Your students observe how you finish. Make it worth watching.

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Heather Lageman

Heather Lageman is a certified life and engagement coach, administrator, and English teacher dedicated to empowering students, educators, and leaders. She co-authored School Seasons xSELeratED, xSELeratED Schools Framework, and the forthcoming The HopeCentered Educator (May 2026). Her work focuses on social-emotional learning, core values exploration, cultivation of curiosity, and professional renewal. This article is based on the xSELeratED approach to social-emotional learning, developed by Leigh Reagan Alley, Heather Lageman, and Walter McKenzie. She can be contacted at: heather.lageman@gmail.com www.theworthyeducator.com/xselerated

THREE PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR THE FINAL WEEKS

Name the goal, make it small. One of the most reliable ways to restore motivation is to bring the goal close enough to feel achievable. Instead of "finish the year well," try "have one genuinely good conversation with a student this week" or "leave school by 5pm on Thursdays." For students, instead of "do well in assessments," try "submit a first draft, even an imperfect one, by Wednesday." Small, specific goals restore the experience of progress and keep agency alive. Ana, the teacher we met earlier, eventually found her footing again by choosing one goal for the week: to have the local history conversation with just three students, informally, over lunch. She did, and the unit came back to life from there.

Map a new pathway when the old one is blocked. High-hope thinkers are not people who never encounter obstacles. They are people who expect obstacles and have practised generating alternatives. When a lesson plan falls flat, when a student disengages, when a planned initiative runs out of time, the question to ask is not "why isn't this working?" but "what else might work?" Building this question into regular staff reflection, and teaching students to ask it about their own learning, shifts the culture from one that fears failure to one that observes and navigates it.

Make hope visible. Create a "Brighter Possibility Wall” that is a shared space where staff or students can post one small, specific vision of what they are working toward this term. This does something that internal reflection alone cannot: it makes hope social. When others can see what we are aiming for, the goal gains weight. When we witness others' goals, we remember that we are not alone in trying. This is the relational dimension of hope, and it is particularly powerful in the final stretch of the year, when isolation and comparison have a way of creeping in.

www.hopecenterededucator.com

DR. SUSAN NEIMAND

Harmonious Minds: The Power of Music on the Brain How music can support memory, focus, emotion and learning

“Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast…” -William Congreve, The Mourning Bride (1697)

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s a child, I struggled to memorise academic information even though I could effortlessly recall the lyrics of every song on the radio. I could not understand this disparity. Eventually, I began setting information to music, and the strategy worked. That experience became my earliest insight into the profound impact of music on the brain. People love music because it speaks to both the heart and the mind, engaging our cognitive, emotional, and social selves like few other mediums can. By providing rhythmic structure for focus and non-verbal channels for emotional expression, music does more than entertain; it fundamentally alters how we learn and relate to one another. Through shared listening, singing, or movement, music bridges communication gaps, nurtures empathy,

and strengthens social connection. In this way, music becomes not just something we enjoy, but something that helps us understand ourselves, relate to others, and feel more fully human. The key to unlocking these benefits lies in how the brain processes sound.

Unlocking the Neural Circuitry of Music Unlocking the benefits to the brain depends on how the brain processes sound. Instead of engaging a single “music centre”, listening to or creating music activates a wide neural network. •

The auditory cortex processes sound, enabling us to perceive and differentiate tones and rhythms.

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The motor cortex engages when we tap our feet or move in response to a beat.

DR. SUSAN NEIMAND •

The prefrontal cortex contributes to interpreting lyrics and discerning musical structure.

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The hippocampus, essential for memory formation, supports the recall of melodies, lyrics, and the personal memories associated with them.

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Emotional processing centres such as the amygdala and limbic system evoke powerful responses and regulate mood.

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Broca’s area, central to language processing, becomes active when we sing or listen to lyrics.

Because music activates these diverse neural networks simultaneously, it offers unique advantages for learners who process information differently.

Unlocking Memory Through Rhythm and Song

Emotional Regulation in the Classroom

Among these interconnected systems, music’s influence on memory formation and retrieval is immediate. Research Beyond abstract reasoning, music plays a pivotal role in has shown that music strengthens both implicit memory, modulating emotional states. Variations in tempo, harmony, which functions automatically, and explicit memory, which and lyrics directly influence mood, helping individuals involves conscious recall of facts and experiences. Familiar interpret and process complex feelings as different musical melodies act as cognitive anchors, triggering detailed tones evoke specific psychological responses. recollections and transporting individuals back to specific moments in their lives. The rhythmic and melodic structure Slow, melodic compositions often evoke feelings of calm of music aids in memorisation, making it a powerful tool or sadness, while upbeat, energetic music can enhance for encoding complex concepts in history, science, and happiness and motivation. Music triggers the release mathematics. Furthermore, of neurotransmitters such music enhances neuroplasticity, as dopamine, contributing promoting the creation of new to feelings of pleasure and neural connections that improve emotional wellbeing. It is Music does more than long-term memory storage. frequently used in music entertain; it fundamentally therapy to help individuals alters how we learn and manage stress, anxiety, and depression by encouraging Building Logical and relate to one another. non-verbal emotional Spatial Reasoning expression and relaxation. The universal nature of music Music and reasoning are deeply allows it to communicate interconnected. Engagement emotions across diverse cultures and languages, making with structured patterns of rhythm, melody, and harmony it a profound medium for human connection, safety, requires understanding sonic relationships, directly and belonging. mirroring the logical reasoning skills in mathematics and language processing. Studies indicate that individuals with musical training demonstrate improved spatial reasoning and analytical thinking through pattern recognition and Empowering Neurodiverse Learners mental organisation. Listening to complex compositions or engaging in musical improvisation requires the brain Music is a powerful cognitive support for neurodiverse to anticipate, evaluate, and adapt, fostering creative students and those with ADHD because it naturally reasoning. In educational settings, integrating music organises attention, regulates emotion, and supports into learning strategies boosts students’ ability to solve memory pathways that traditional instruction often problems more efficiently and think critically. fails to activate. Rhythm provides predictable structure,

DR. SUSAN NEIMAND helping students sustain focus and transition between tasks. Meanwhile, melody engages neural circuits tied to motivation and reward, making learning feel less effortful and more inviting. For learners who struggle with working memory or processing speed, pairing information with musical patterns creates additional retrieval cues, allowing concepts to “stick” more readily. Music also supports self-regulation: rhythmic beats can calm hyperactivity, while upbeat tempos can energise sluggish engagement, giving students a tool to modulate their own learning state. In classrooms, these effects translate into stronger participation, improved retention, and a more inclusive environment where students feel capable and connected.

Accelerating Language Acquisition Beyond cognitive regulation, these multisensory memory pathways are foundational to language acquisition across all age groups and skill levels. From infancy, lullabies and nursery rhymes, with their repetitive structure, help babies grasp the sounds and patterns of their native language. Songs aid children in remembering grammar rules and expanding vocabulary. For teachers, incorporating music into lessons provides a multisensory approach that expands phonemic awareness and accelerates language acquisition. Learning a foreign language can be challenging, but incorporating music can make it more pleasant and trouble-free. Songs in the foreign language expose students to authentic pronunciation, intonation, and cultural nuances as well as grammatical structure and vocabulary. Music also increases students’ confidence in learning and practising the language. Teachers can use songs, rhymes, and chants to create language immersion.

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- Play non-lyrical music recorded at 60–80 beats per minute (Baroque classical, ambient piano) during independent writing or maths problem-solving to lower heart rates and reduce anxiety. - Use instrumental film or video game soundtracks during silent reading blocks; game audio is specifically engineered to sustain focus without distracting language centres.

Practical Applications for Teachers By understanding the connection between music and brain function, teachers can use this knowledge as a valuable educational tool.

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Mnemonic songs and structured melodies facilitate memorisation in a rhythmic and engaging format. - Elementary: Set spelling rules or maths skipcounting to familiar tunes (e.g., counting by 7s to “The Ants Go Marching”). - Secondary: Use rhythmic chants to memorise the steps of cellular respiration, the order of operations, or historical timelines.

Classical and instrumental music enhances concentration and cognitive function, making study sessions more productive.

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Musical storytelling provides an immersive approach to history and literature, enabling students to retain information more effectively through narratives integrated into songs. - Play authentic period music when introducing historical eras (e.g., 1920s jazz during the Harlem Renaissance or 1960s protest songs) to analyse historical perspectives through lyrics. - Have literature students assemble a 3-song “character playlist” for a novel’s protagonist, requiring textual evidence from both the book and lyrics to justify their choices.

DR. SUSAN NEIMAND •

Brain breaks and transitions: steady tempos of specific tracks can be used to signal routine shifts. - An upbeat 2-minute clean-up song, or a calm instrumental track to transition to silent reading.

The harmonious relationship between music and the brain offers compelling benefits for education. By understanding and leveraging these connections, teachers can unlock new pathways to learning and create a classroom environment that resonates with creativity, engagement, and success. By letting the melodies flow into our daily practice, we can enrich the minds of our students—one note, one rhythm, and one connection at a time.

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Active engagement with music, including contentspecific integration such as composing songs or educational lyrics, fosters deeper comprehension and retention. - Challenge small groups to rewrite the lyrics of a popular song to explain complex scientific or mathematical concepts (e.g., explaining the water cycle or geometric proofs). - Ask students to write and record a 60-second educational song or rap summarising a unit’s core ideas as a creative review project.

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Rhythmic review sessions create an interactive learning experience that reinforces key concepts. - Establish rhythmic call-and-response clapping or vocal prompts to reclaim classroom attention without raising your voice. - Conduct end-of-class reviews using rapidfire, chanted flashcards where the entire class rhythmically chants vocabulary definitions or foreign language conjugations together.

JUDITH YEABSLEY

Eat More Fruit Simple strategies that make healthy eating easier for families

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y son stopped eating fruit. When I looked closely at what was happening, I realised I wasn’t taking my own advice. My teen had always enjoyed fruit but seemed to be eating less and less. Every time I offered, he turned his nose up. It’s one of the things that creeps up on you slowly and then, all of a sudden, you realise that your child has not eaten something for an age.

I felt like the plumber with the leaky taps in their house. So, I stopped and looked at what was happening and realised I was not following the strategies I know are proven to work, the ones that support children to eat more widely and more joyfully.

Strategies that work I decided to take my own advice. “If you want more fruit eaten, serve more, make it easy and make it appealing.” So, I did. I am a huge fan of children stepping up and helping with chores. I also know that if you want a teen to do something they are not really interested in, then making it as easy as possible helps. And of course, this advice extends to most children. Therefore, each morning, I chopped up a plate of pineapple and orange, added some grapes and left it ready for him. It’s easy, it looks appealing and because it’s all chopped up, it is simple to pick at, so he ate it. When he was home in the afternoon, I offered fruit again, but usually it was a no. It is also important to recognise that ‘offering’ can be done

JUDITH YEABSLEY

If you want more fruit eaten, serve more, make it easy and make it appealing.

in different ways. “Do you want some fruit?” is an easy “NO”. Although I recognised this, I also a) did not want to overdo things and b) had another trick up my sleeve. Therefore, in the evenings, when I knew he was getting hungry a few hours after dinner, I’d bring some chopped fruit to him. I didn’t ask, I just brought it in, and because it’s there and it’s easy, it got eaten. Even – gasp – my middle-aged ‘child’, who is not really into fruit, would often have a little as it’s there and it’s easy. So, that is how I helped my family eat more fruit. Funnily enough, even I eat more fruit when I follow this. Most days, I also made a banana, yoghurt and creambased smoothie (I use cream as it means I don’t need a sweetener). Sometimes I added vanilla and sometimes cocoa powder or berries. I made it late afternoon and put it in the freezer. By the time it’s ready to eat, it’s more like an ice cream than a smoothie. I’ve got to tell you, it’s pretty yummy. Both my boys would eat this as a mid-evening dessert and, as it was fatty and filling, it helped cover off the teen need for additional calories as they tend to be up later in the evening.

3. Ensure it’s appealing. 4. Model eating it yourself. Eating more fruit is a great way to increase nutrients and fibre, and it takes up room in the tummy so processed snacks are not as necessary.

Even if a child eats no fruit yet, repeatedly serving it is still helpful. It may not feel it, but it does support fruit eating long-term. Why? 1. Comfort – they are building a comfort level by seeing fruit repeatedly. 2. Opportunity – when it’s there, they have the option to eat it.

Judith Yeabsley

3. Modelling – seeing other people eating fruit is helpful long-term and normalises the practice.

Judith is an AOTA accredited picky eating advisor and internationally recognised nutritional therapist. She works with hundreds of families every year resolving fussy eating and returning pleasure and joy to the meal table.

Therefore, if you do want your family to eat more fruit – or any other food for that matter – some of these simple steps help:

She is also a mother to two boys and the author of Creating Confident Eaters and Winner, Winner I Eat Dinner. Her dream is that every child is able to approach food from a place of safety and joy, not fear.

1. Serve it more often.

She can be contacted at: Judith@theconfidenteater.com

2. Make it simple and easy to eat.

KAREN TUI BOYES

Stop Using Your Bright Students as Teacher Aides Bright students need challenge, not another classroom job

here is a student in many classrooms who finishes quickly. They understand the concept after one explanation. They read ahead. They ask sophisticated questions. They notice patterns others miss. And because they are capable, independent and reliable, we reward them with…

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More work.

Or worse: “Can you help Sam?” “Can you explain it to your group?” “Can you show everyone how you did yours?” “Can you go first so everyone can see what a good one looks like?”

We mean well. Peer teaching can be a powerful learning strategy. Collaboration matters. Being able to explain your thinking is valuable. However, when the same bright and capable students repeatedly become the teacher aide, warm-up act or poster student, we may unintentionally be limiting their learning.

The Teacher Aide You have probably seen this happen. A student finishes their maths quickly, so instead of being given something that stretches their thinking, they are sent to help someone who is struggling. It seems like a win-win. The struggling student gets help. The teacher gets another pair of hands. The capable student consolidates their knowledge by explaining it. Occasionally, absolutely. Repeatedly? That’s different.

KAREN TUI BOYES Imagine finishing your work early every day at your job and being told, “Great! Now go and help everyone else finish theirs.” Eventually you might learn that being efficient doesn’t lead to greater opportunities. It simply leads to more responsibility. Our bright learners deserve to encounter work that makes them pause. They need problems they cannot immediately solve. They need to experience confusion, productive struggle, mistakes, revision and eventually the satisfaction of figuring something out. If they are always helping other students with content they have already mastered, they are practising what they already know rather than extending what they could know. We know that mistakes, effort and persistence are important parts of learning. When students rarely experience these, they may not develop the resilience and tolerance for frustration they will need when learning eventually becomes difficult.

The Warm-Up Act Then there is the student who always gets called on first. You know they will have an answer. You ask a challenging question and there is an uncomfortable silence. So you turn to your reliable student. “Lucy, what do you think?” Lucy gives a thoughtful answer. Wonderful. Except everyone else has just been given permission to stop thinking.

Sometimes our capable students become the warm-up act for everyone else’s learning. Their thinking gets the conversation started. Their answer provides clues. Their ideas give everyone else somewhere to begin. Again, there is nothing wrong with this occasionally. The problem comes when it becomes their role. Instead, protect the thinking time. Say: “I know some of you already have an answer. Hold onto it for a moment.” Give everyone time to think, write, sketch or discuss. Then invite different voices into the conversation. Your bright student doesn’t always need to go first. Sometimes they deserve time to go deeper.

The Poster Student There is another role we unknowingly give our highly capable learners. The exemplar. “Look how Sophie set hers out.” “Everyone, listen to Jack’s introduction.” “Come and look at Mia’s project.” Again, celebrating excellence is important. Students need to recognise and celebrate success. However, imagine being the student whose work is constantly held up for comparison. There can be pressure in becoming the classroom’s poster student. Suddenly it isn’t safe to

Their ability is not a classroom resource to be endlessly redistributed. It is something we have a responsibility to develop.

produce something ordinary. It isn’t safe to experiment. It isn’t safe to get it wrong. It isn’t even particularly safe to have an off day. Bright students need permission to create terrible first drafts, make ridiculous suggestions, change their minds and try something they might fail at. Thinking flexibly requires being willing to explore alternatives, tolerate ambiguity and change direction when new information appears. They cannot develop this if they feel their job is always to demonstrate the right answer.

KAREN TUI BOYES Give Them the Gift of Not Knowing One of the greatest gifts we can give a capable learner is the experience of saying: “I don’t know.” And then not rescuing them. •

Ask a harder question.

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Add another variable.

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Remove some of the instructions.

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Give them a problem with several possible answers.

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Ask them to defend the opposite position.

Invite them to find three solutions instead of one. Give them access to experts, more sophisticated texts, authentic projects or real-world problems. Let them pursue questions you don’t know the answer to either. Great differentiation isn’t necessarily giving bright students more. It is giving them different.

Change the Question If a student finishes quickly, instead of automatically saying, “Go and help someone else,” try: •

How could you take this further?

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Can you find another way?

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What assumption are we making here?

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What would make this more challenging?

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Can you create an exception to the rule?

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How could this work in the real world?

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What question does this make you wonder about?

This shifts the student’s role from helper back to learner.

Teachers Matter

Collaboration Should Go Both Ways

None of this means bright students should never help others. Of course they should. Learning to listen, collaborate, explain ideas and show empathy are valuable skills. Listening with understanding and empathy, for example, helps students appreciate different perspectives and communicate more effectively. Every student should have opportunities to help and be helped. Every student should sometimes be the expert and

KAREN TUI BOYES Their ability is not a classroom resource to be endlessly redistributed. It is something we have a responsibility to develop. Bright and capable students need challenge, feedback, uncertainty, meaningful choices and opportunities to explore ideas beyond what they already know. Meaningful learning should connect students with curiosity, authentic experiences and opportunities to pursue their own questions. So yes, let them collaborate. Let them lead sometimes. Let them share their thinking. Let them help others. And please, also let them learn. They are students too. Perhaps the most important thing we can give our brightest learners isn’t more work, more responsibility or more opportunities to demonstrate what they already know. It is the delicious, uncomfortable and exciting experience of encountering something they cannot do yet. Because that is where their learning begins.

sometimes the novice. Every student deserves to sit beside someone who makes them think harder. If one child is always doing the intellectual heavy lifting in a group, it isn’t truly collaborative learning.

Ask Yourself One Simple Question The next time your bright, capable student finishes early, puts their hand up first or produces exceptional work, pause before giving them another classroom job. Ask: “What does this student need to learn next?” Not: •

“What can they do while everyone else catches up?”

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“Who can they help?”

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“How can I use their answer to teach everyone else?”

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