20 minute read
WELCOME FROM THE DEPUTY PRINCIPAL (STAFF AND STRATEGY
The new year in Australia began with catastrophic fires that ravaged the east coast, destroying lives and livelihoods, towns and communities, forests and wildlife. On the Australia Day long weekend, as Wenona’s staff and students were excitedly looking forward to the new school year, Australia announced its first confirmed case of COVID-19. Although we didn’t know it at the time, the contours of our world were about to change dramatically.
As we settled in to Term 1, countries other than China began to report infection rates and mortalities. Stories about the escalating situation in northern Italy began to amplify. As the weeks progressed, concern grew about what tomorrow would bring, about the health and safety of our loved ones, and about our ability to live the lives we love.
Advertisement
No amount of leadership training or experience can prepare a school for the most serious health crisis the world has experienced in a century. In February, Wenona formed a Crisis Management Team, drawing on talent, expertise and capability from across the School community. This enabled us to act quickly and to respond decisively as the crisis unfolded. But the sheer unpredictability and overwhelming speed of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that unlike challenges we’ve faced in the past, there was no sense of déjà vu. COVID-19 is a generation-defining crisis. It has been impossible to respond as the School would in a routine emergency by following plans drawn up in advance. The still-unfolding crisis requires decisive leadership, agile decision-making processes; useful, accurate and current information; and collaboration.
We don’t do drama at Wenona. Our staff and our students strive to uphold behaviours and mindsets that embody the School’s values of courage, strength, grace and wisdom. Like Marcus Aurelius and the stoic philosophy that underpinned his leadership, we recognise that our control as a School is limited to what we do, think, choose, desire, and fear.
Put simply, we can only ‘control the controllables’. When COVID-19 first hit, we came together as a community, in part because we trusted in the advice and guidance of our political leaders and health experts. This informed our response to crisis management and enabled us to pivot rapidly into solving the problems that were in our control. This included listening and responding to the needs of our community; safeguarding their health and safety; and supporting the pace and scale of teaching and learning innovation as we prepared for Wenona’s distance learning program, the Athenaeum Learning Pathway (ALP), in anticipation of the Governmentmandated closure of the School.
Early on, we recognised the importance of assessing the crisis from multiple vantage points, anticipating what could happen next before acting. We are well versed in the practice of ‘pause-assess-anticipateact’ at Wenona, and this certainly helped the Crisis Management Team to maintain a sense of calm as the situation changed. But the collaboration and network of support from educational leaders across the globe has also proved invaluable. As the crisis escalated, school and tertiary education leaders from different countries came together via Zoom, webcasts, podcasts and Twitter to help each other navigate the pandemic. Together, we offered dialogue and debate, pragmatism and reason, bringing our experiences to bear while accepting new insights as they emerged.
As you will read in this edition of Upon Reflection, Wenona is a community that is committed to listening and learning from others and growing in knowledge and leadership. I am proud of the achievements of those who have undertaken Fellowships, Seeding Grants or engaged in further study over the past year to improve their practice or accelerate their learning, benefiting their own professional development, as well as the development of the School and our students. But I am also incredibly proud of the stoicism of the Wenona community – our staff, our students and our families - who have adapted to profound change with calm, courage and character despite facing extraordinary personal and professional challenges.
COVID-19 is the first time that much of our world has faced the sudden, unseen, and unremitting fear of an easily spread and deadly infectious disease. The crisis continues to test our leadership, but our courage, strength, grace and wisdom will help us to emerge stronger from it. As the Stoic philosopher Epictetus once said: “Skilful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.”
I commend this edition of Upon Reflection to you.
SILVER LININGS
Pivoting professional learning amidst a global pandemic
BY MARK STAKER
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL (STAFF AND STRATEGY)
Like many schools, Wenona’s professional learning community has been tested by COVID-19. But as Deputy Principal (Staff and Strategy), Mark Staker observes, the transition to remote learning has revealed great underlying strengths, leading to remarkable growth, knowledge and collaboration.
As with many industries, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the education sector to radical change, including its approach to professional learning and development. The rapid closure of schools, both here in Australia and overseas, forced educators to navigate the choppy waters of digital technology - and fast! In the mad scramble to adapt pedagogies and curriculum to a brave, new online learning environment, many of us were left feeling emotional, vulnerable and uncertain. But what we’d failed to recognise is that these feelings are a normal response to learning.
Research into the efficacy of professional learning has highlighted that emotion is not an ‘unwelcome guest’1, but instead, a key driver when it comes to staff engagement. COVID-19 undoubtedly brought a sense of vulnerability and uncertainty to our professional learning community at Wenona. But we can be proud that as the challenges of launching our Athenaeum Learning Pathway mounted, we harnessed those feelings to drive change, to reflect on our practices, and to move forward and adopt new ways of working with a united sense of purpose. Put simply, the pandemic has been a time for us to develop new skills and pedagogies that we may not otherwise have had an opportunity to acquire.
Often the way we define success in the workplace hinges as much on our perceived strengths as our weaknesses, no matter how hard we try to hide them. But along with the physical restrictions to our daily lives, the shift to new behaviours and expectations as a result of the pandemic was unsettling. COVID-19 not only disrupted our professional routines and practises, but it forced us to reframe what it means to be successful in our roles. Only seeing their classes on a computer screen made it difficult for teachers to ‘scan the room’ to gauge how well students were learning. It was much harder to read a student’s body language online to check in on their emotional wellbeing. And navigating these uncertain times without the daily face-to-face interaction with colleagues also had its challenges.
But in many respects, COVID-19 has drawn out the very best from our staff. Despite social distancing, they’ve forged a new sense of connection and belonging. And their unwavering commitment to our students’ education and wellbeing has shone through any uncertainty. It’s also been heartening to see new leaders of professional learning emerge within our community, generously sharing their knowledge with staff, students and parents. In many ways, COVID-19 has been a timely reminder that we don’t always need to seek the wisdom of outsiders, looking for their ‘oneoff’ moment on stage, because we have a wealth of knowledge within.
Across the School, the agility and willingness of our staff to embrace change has been outstanding. Leading the vanguard of change, has been our ICT and Digital Learning team, who’ve helped to upskill our community with Zoom-based professional development sessions across a wide-range of areas, often with little or no notice. And members of staff who’ve never presented in public before, have also stepped up, using the online environment to overcome their fear of public speaking and share their expertise.
While Wenona has long embraced digital technology as a key part of its teaching and learning, the pandemic has forced some of us to step out of our comfort zones and embrace new digital platforms with an acceptance that we might fail or that others in the Zoom ‘room’ are more technically proficient. We’ve embraced webinars, web conferencing and webcasts to improve our practice and enhance the virtual learning experience of our students. And we’ve had to explore different ways to connect with our students and their families across the globe.
The desire to collaborate with others, both in our community and beyond, has been exceptional. Our staff have reached out through social media channels such as Twitter and LinkedIn to collaborate with schools worldwide, exchanging knowledge and ideas. And global coalitions of education leaders
have formed. People who would never normally come together in real time, have connected to share their experience and insight into leading their school through unprecedented change.
As I reflect on 2020 - acknowledging that we are still only half way through the academic year - I can see a renewed appetite for risk from our staff when it comes to professional learning. With no possibility of travelling to conferences, seminars or training programs for the forceable future, our staff have embraced the collaboration, flexibility and personalised nature of online professional learning opportunities. While many still crave the intimacy and immediacy of face-toface contact, they’ve also come to realise that the virtual world offers high-quality, engaging learning experiences that are just as valid and enriching.
As you will read in this sixth edition of Upon Reflection, the professionalism of our staff is extraordinary. However, no article can truly capture the strength, wisdom, grace and courage our staff have shown in embracing radical change at a time of global uncertainty. Their commitment to professional development and improvement at Wenona in 2020 has been truly remarkable and will shape our professional learning future for the benefit of our whole community.
Supporting the switch to online learning
BY ROLFE KOLBE
DIGITAL LEARNING LEADER
As Digital Learning Leader at Wenona, I work closely with staff and students, so I am acutely aware of the hard work involved in the shift from our Teaching and Learning Program (K to 12) to the Athenaeum Learning Pathway (ALP). However, I also believe the hard work has been worthwhile, as it has been a catalyst for positive change.
While the School’s initial priority was to enact remote teaching at scale, COVID-19 has been something of a tipping point in the evolution of teaching and learning at Wenona. As the global education landscape continues to change, the technology, tools and practices we adopted during the ALP have highlighted new and exciting possibilities for how we can ‘do school’ moving forward.
In my role, I have the privilege of working with staff and students from across the whole School community, providing direction, and exploring ways to enhance, enrich, extend and enable greater learning through the appropriate and authentic use of technology. While we’d already embedded technology into the curriculum at Wenona, the pandemic and the need for distance learning accelerated our progress in this regard. When the COVID-19 outbreak first hit, I worked closely with the Director of ICT, Mr Reza Jalili-Baleh to choose a suitable platform for a remote learning environment. We then worked collaboratively with the Deputy Principal (Teaching and Learning), Ms Diana Drummond, as well as the Heads of Department and key staff from across the Junior School to determine digitally flexible approaches that would build a solid online learning community for all students. The School Leadership Team also moved swiftly to support Digital Learning, redeploying Mrs Linda Blamey and Ms Bonnie Peake from the Library to my team to assist with training and to help develop digital resources for staff and students.
Pivoting to a remote learning environment prompted the School to evolve, to innovate and to embrace new pedagogical practices. For teachers, the ALP highlighted the need for greater clarity and consistency in their communication and content. And it highlighted the need to do things differently, and in a smarter and more sustainable way. It meant planning around diverse student needs and sharing resources, challenges, successes, and failures. It was heartening to see our staff - and our students - harness a growth mindset, as they adapted to a new reality, mastering digital tools, integrating new teaching activities, and supporting each other to bring lessons to life in the virtual classroom.
For students, the ALP meant we needed to harness multiple avenues for communication, including embedded audio and video, instant messaging,
annotated notes, and online discussions. Delivering content in multiple formats helped to increase student engagement, offering them greater flexibility and choice in their approach to learning, and multiple ways to express themselves. Many of the tools available provided more opportunities for individual feedback, which gave students a better sense of their progress.
A key priority was to support staff with practical guides, professional development, and information that would empower them and their students to stay motivated and engaged with learning at home. Towards the end of 2019, we held an all-day Technology and Learning Conference to share best practice. In the lead up to lockdown, we increased our in-class sessions, individual and group support sessions, and ‘Techie Brekkies’, and we also encouraged staff to share their knowledge and expertise through individual presentations and workshops.
The growth and work done by our Junior School teachers was particularly impressive. Along with the challenge of how best to present and distribute work to students who had just started school, the Junior School teachers faced a steep learning curve to familiarise themselves with platforms and systems used routinely by Senior School. Similarly, the Junior School teachers have been impressed by the energy, enthusiasm and inventiveness of the students, who have actively built skills during the ALP that will keep them resilient now, and in the future.
Wenona has been fortunate in that our Learning Management System, Canvas, has been a fantastic platform for class communication, delivering and collecting content, and providing feedback. Sustainable practice and consistency were key drivers in the success of the ALP, so we asked staff to be diligent in recording instructions for lessons and work expectations on Canvas. This has paid dividends in building a high-quality online learning ecosystem.
In these uncertain times, Zoom proved to be an invaluable tool in helping our community to maintain a sense of connection and unity. With synchronous options for meeting online, including real-time video, screen sharing and chat functionality, as well as breakout spaces, Zoom offered successful learning experiences for students and teachers alike. Staff also harnessed skills they’d learnt during professional development to create videos that expanded how they communicated with students and approached content, which allowed students to explore content in their own time. Getting the right mix of synchronous and asynchronous content was a constant balancing act during the ALP, and something that the Teaching and Learning Team reviewed regularly.
The School also leveraged tools like Microsoft OneNote, which offers a personal workspace for every student, a content library for materials, and a collaboration space for the whole class to work together. In conjunction with Canvas, OneNote provided more options for two-way interaction and collaboration. Teachers could efficiently share resources, providing students with rich, personalised feedback that they could respond to, creating a genuine dialogue around learning. We also made use of tools such as Flipgrid and Padlet to create innovative content, boost student engagement and assist with formative assessment and review of work.
This cadence - of learning new digital skills and sometimes failing at mastery - was an uncomfortable, yet critical component for the Wenona community during the ALP. But COVID-19 challenged us to find new and creative ways to reach out, to connect, to inspire and to engage. It forced us to see new opportunities and a wider world. And by collaborating both locally and globally, engaging with experts, learning new skills, wrestling with failure, and celebrating successes, even the small ones along the way, we’ve learnt to take risks and problem solve - together!
Building digital confidence and capacity
BY LINDA BLAMEY LIBRARY TECHNICIAN
As a Librarian, the ability to adapt to the everchanging implications of technology within a library environment is critical. From online databases, to eBooks and Audiobooks, it is evident that the library of the future is digital. Therefore, when I was given an opportunity to move to the Digital Learning Team to assist staff with the shift to the Athenaeum Learning Pathway (ALP), it felt like a seamless transition.
From the outset, our priority was to help staff use available technology with confidence, so they could continue to deliver an enriching learning experience that would enable students to thrive in a virtual setting. The Digital Learning Team began by holding a professional development session to showcase tools such as Zoom, Canvas and Microsoft365 applications, including OneNote Class Notebook. We supplemented this with early morning ‘Techie Brekkies’ sessions, which gave staff an opportunity to delve deeper into more specific elements of these tools.
In the lead up to lockdown, I visited classrooms to provide real-time support to teachers and students, building their confidence and capacity with this new way of teaching and learning. As we moved to remote working, I was able to facilitate workshops via Zoom during the Wenona Staff Days, focusing on the topics of: Canvas blueprints, Canvas pages, tools for engagement, and finding and embedding videos. It was fantastic to see colleagues step up to facilitate these sessions, as well as their willingness to share their knowledge and expertise.
Another priority for the Digital Learning Team during the transition to the ALP was to support teachers with practical guides and how-to information to help empower them and their students to stay motivated and engaged with learning. We added - and are continuing to add - large amounts of instructional content to the Staff and Student ICT Guides on Canvas. These guides have become an important resource, and we are committed to keeping them up-to-date with relevant and useful information.
It has been humbling to see the resilience of both Wenona staff and students in what has been a period of great uncertainty and change. Staff who were initially hesitant about their technological abilities have proven themselves to be adept and confident in their skills. My hope is that as we move forward, we will continue to collaborate, connect, and create as a community, using the array of technologies available to us.
CHANGE IS THE ESSENTIAL PROCESS “ OF ALL EXISTENCE.”
MR SPOCK, STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES
The Beauty of OneNote
BY MORGAN HUNTER MATHS TEACHER
I was introduced to Microsoft OneNote early in my teaching career. Students love hands-on learning and one of the beautiful things about OneNote is that it promotes student agency, enabling them to work at their own pace, and guiding their skill mastery and skill application in mathematics.
As any Mathematics teacher will tell you, the language of mathematics is represented by a diverse array of symbols, diagrams and characters. Fortunately, OneNote provides a natural interface for mathematical language, supporting teachers to deal with its intricacies by enabling them to handwrite notes, and to gesture, annotate and diagram, thereby supporting non-linguistic thinking.
Live annotation is especially important in Maths. It’s a great way of recording the collective thinking of students during a classroom discussion, giving them access to a variety of different mathematical ideas. After all, there is always more than one way to come up with the right answer. The strategic use of colour, symbols, words and diagrams in OneNote can help students to make mathematical connections and see mathematical structures. It’s a very visual way of breaking down complex problems and documenting different thinking processes. And it’s a great way for teachers to give differentiated support and feedback to students.
When Wenona introduced the Athenaeum Learning Pathway (ALP), it was easy for me to make the transition to online learning as I’d already learnt all the quirks of OneNote. I’d also developed a bank of digital resources in OneNotes’ Content Library, including handwritten notes, spreadsheets, interactive graphs, and videos. My colleagues in the Mathematics Department were able to use my work record on Canvas as a template for developing their own. I was able to show them how to use OneNote’s Collaboration Space effectively, so that students could work together and give one another feedback, as well as the student notebook section, which enables students to control and organise their
work independently. This was also a fantastic tool for setting differentiated work, enabling me to distribute enrichment tasks to some students and revision to others.
Along with Digital Learning Leader, Mr Rolfe Kolbe, I provided professional development sessions for teachers across the School, with a focus on how to use OneNote with Zoom. Having already worked closely with the Mathematics Department, I was able to offer advice on creating a collaborative and interactive classroom experience using OneNote, distributing work to students and conducting assessment and feedback.
I ran a second professional development session entitled OneNote Tips and Tricks. Both sessions were subsequently uploaded on to Canvas as part of the School’s ICT guides. This proved an invaluable resource for both teachers and students as it ensured that everyone adopted a consistent approach to using it.
It was an enormous task to move classes online and everyone at Wenona worked tirelessly to achieve it. I was proud to play a part in supporting both my colleagues and my students. They adapted quickly to the ALP and continued to work hard regardless.
Sharing digital tools and techniques
BY ANDY DOUGLAS LANGUAGES TEACHER
Wenona’s journey in creating the Athenaeum Learning Pathway (ALP) gave me a renewed sense of passion and purpose as a Languages Teacher. It reminded me of how much I love to explore education through technology, and I relished the opportunity to support my colleagues and students through this unprecedented time in our lives.
Early in my teaching career, I realised that I needed to cater for students of mixed ability and motivation. Video instruction allows me to focus student attention and rehearse my instructions for clarity, freeing me up to support and extend students in real-time, at a pace that suits them. I use tools like Education Perfect and Quizlet to give my students interactive opportunities to practise vocabulary and track their progress. And I’ve also worked hard to transform assessment practises with technology in order to provide students with real-time feedback, support and adjustments for
learning difficulties or anxiety. This gives me more time to develop engaging content and deliver richer feedback.
As it became clear that a lockdown was inevitable and the School started to prepare for the ALP, I decided to research the best tools and techniques to convert paper-based worksheets into a digital format. This included the use of Google Slides to make worksheets, which I knew most teachers at Wenona were already familiar with. To me, it made sense to help teachers reuse activities they could already successfully deliver, giving them more time to prepare for the incoming restrictions.
At the end of Term 1 and at the beginning of Term 2, I presented my research to staff in a TeachMeet (an informal, collaborative gathering where educators can share ideas and experiences, and support each other in our professional growth) via Zoom. Given the
