RTC 2 - Commitment to Promoting the Well-being of All Akonga

20 Aug, 2017

This year, Waterloo entered 3 teams in the schools water polo league.  It was the first time Waterloo entered teams for some time.  As part of my involvement, I went to training sessions, attended the games, and supported the coaches where necessary.

It's amazing to see the improvement in some of the students.  Some of them had never played a team sport before and some had marginal swimming skills.



31 May, 2017

In the classroom we noticed that the students come into the space (in the morning) and raced to get a certain chair.  They seem to like sitting on the tall stools and the roller chairs.  

To combat this, we awarded Dojo Points during the week and the top 10 get to choose either where they want to sit (their space) or what they want to sit on (their seat).  Most choose what to sit on.

What we have seen is that the entrance into the classroom in the morning is now much more settled and calm.

We also give the students the opportunity to nominate somebody else for Dojo Points and that allows them to do something kind for others.


31 May, 2017

After meeting with Louise as part of the Maths PD, I've decided to look at how my maths target students feel about maths.  I've created a Google Form that the students are going to fill in on a weekly basis.  This will (hopefully) give me some data to back up my inquiry.

20 March, 2017
Camp

After arriving back from camp, Lee and I received the following email.

Hi there

I’d like to pass on thanks from Chie and myself for your support for Iroha before and during camp.  As far as I’m aware Iroha didn’t have any meltdowns and I’m really pleased with how she managed herself and dealt with some stressful situations.  I saw at least a couple of times where Iroha was struggling, particularly with one issue that I thought was going to bubble over but she managed to get over it and later at dinner actually said to me, “I’m OK with that”.  I think she learned a good lesson about resilience.

We appreciate you taking the time to meet with us before camp to talk through things and to put some strategies in place.  Iroha has told us a number of times what a great time she had on camp.  We also think Iroha learned a lot from the week about managing herself and dealing with others so thanks again.

Regards

Jay

From: Jay and Chie

Sent: Monday, February 20, 2017 6:54 PM

15 November, 2016

Some things I have noticed about the classroom:

• Chris and I have created an environment where sharing and caring is the norm.  Most of the students are not afraid to share their work, their opinions, their questions, or themselves with others in the class.  They also care about each other and about their school.  
• New students that arrive in the class are exponentially different to the students that have been in our class all year.  They have dramatically less agency around their learning and tend to ask questions that they could answer themselves.  They are much more dependent on teacher direction and as a result need much more direction on a daily basis.
• The kids in the classroom love doing work and regularly want to stay in at break times to do work or stay after school.  They also get to work when they get to school before the bell rings.
• The work that the students do is enjoyable.  We try to create an environment that suits as many of the students as possible and create activities that are challenging and achievable.

7 December, 2015

Explicit Teaching of the Key Competencies

Our school values are a reflection of the Key Competencies.  One of our values, respect, has been one of the values that we have been trying to develop in the students.

We know that we have been successful in getting the kids to think about respect.  One example of this is at our recent Market Day.  There was a group of kids who were running a ball toss game.  A young boy wanted to have a go, but was having some trouble.  The group helped the boy, spent some time telling him what to do, and made sure that he won a prize.

Here is a message from the boy's mum thanking the group for their help.

Tui Counsell	Dec 4 (3 days ago)
to me

Hi there,
Just wanted to say Gus has not stopped talking about "the big kids at the fair". As you know your students took good care of Gus when he was playing the games. They adapted  their games so he could play and they all congratulated him on his wins. There was afew times they also came to find him as he forgot to finish his game or if he didn't stay to get his prize.
It was so lovely that they included him sometimes thinking on their feet to quickly think of a way to help or make the game easier for him. It has made Gus feel really special.
Thanks again

20 September, 2015

Circle Time

Although some people consider circle time to be a 'junior school' practice, we use it quite often when dealing with bigger or wider view issues.

For example, we have noticed the students displaying behaviours that aren't very kind.  To address this, we set up circle time and asked them the types of behaviours that they had noticed and how these behaviours affected them.  We then asked the group what they could do about these behaviours.  Hopefully, this helps all the students understand how their behaviours affect others and gives them some idea of what they can do to help the issue.

This article in the Ed Gazette sets out some of the steps we use in our circle time.

15 August, 2015

Restorative Practices

The restorative practice has become commonplace in Rooms 9&10.  Although we have been doing a lot of work around the restorative practices with the whole staff, I have also been looking at other articles about these.  One site is restorative schools and it sets out a common sense outline for the rationale of using restorative practices as well as some ideas around ensuring these discussions happen.

The website says...

The essence of restorative practices is disarmingly simple: that human beings are happier, more productive and more likely to make positive changes in their behaviour when those in positions of authority do things with them, rather than to them or for them.


13 July, 2015

Had  a great email from the parent of some past students.  It's sometimes hard to imagine the impact you have on the life of a student until years later.

4 July, 2015

Manaakitanga

Providing a respectful and caring classroom environment.

• One of the ways we are doing this is by giving our students the opportunity to be on task and doing the 'right' thing before telling them off.  This ensures students save face in front of their peers and also reduces the amount of stress in the classroom

4 February, 2015

As part of the work around understanding the Kawa of Care and staying safe while using a digital device, our classes did some work around the individual aspects of the Kawa of Care.

As a group of students, it is important that we unpack the Kawa of Care together so we all have an understanding and a stake in ensuring that we follow the Kawa of Care.

17 October, 2014

One of the aspects I want to create in the classroom is the idea that students can be experts and can help each other.  We have been working on the collaborative aspect by using google docs, but the students don't know who to go to if they have a specific problem that needs sorting - so the default is to come to the teacher. 

I have created a 'Genius Bar' where students can apply to be a genius at something and their name and the thing they are a genius in will be displayed.  This means that if a student comes to me and needs help, and I'm busy, I can direct them to the genius bar to find somebody to help them.  We don't have many applicants yet, but it's brand new.  I'll update the photo when we have some geniuses on there.

Message from a parent thanking me for the work that went into the Year 8 Leavers Dinner.