Induction - Day 2

The OrmPS Learning Model

The purpose to have a learning model is to keep us unified, here at Ormiston Primary.  If it is that language that we all use, then we are consistent, no matter where the learning is taking place.

What does the logo mean?

The circular logo represents our view of school's journey -

• the four groups connect to the school - learners, educators, parents, community
• the koru represent the various cultures from the four corners of the earth
• the four areas of hauora recognise the whole person
• the four principles represent what we value in learning

This will be useful language to help explain the meaning of our logo design to the students and parent community.

How do we measure the 4Cs?  

Look at ways to include the language throughout the day, linking it via skills.
Idea:  create a visual tool so vocab (verb words) can be taken off and focused on, as the learning require it to be.

Activity:
If we were to be practising skip counting in 3s, then which parts of the learning model would we be using?  Can we justify why we would be using each part of the learning model?

Firstly, the LC would need to check their capabilities (where are they at?).  Then connecting with prior knowledge - how did they practise skip counting when learning 2s and 5s?  Is there a way to develop curiosity and question - Why do we need to learn to skip count in 3s?  Is there a way to make the learning exciting?  Practising together with another, collaboratively (supporting each other).

Values 

There have been discussions with the community about what values they wanted the learners to have by the time they left OrmPS.   'Confidence' was the most widely selected word.  Today, we had an opportunity to review the values that were identified by the community in 2015, then wrote what we felt were significant indicators for each value:

RESPECT: learning NZSL, cultural awareness, considerate of others' property and the environment, honesty, belief in self

INTEGRITY: telling the truth, making the most of opportunities, keeping it real!, being reliable/responsible.

RESILIENCE: never giving up, looking for new ways to do things, bouncing back

KINDNESS: helping others, understanding, being accepting/inclusive, considerate, helpful, thoughtful, courtesy, compassionate.

It will be interesting to see where our ideas go from here and how the school's values are developed and integrated within the daily learning.

What is Learning?

Heath kicked off this session with two videos.   These raised our awareness about the changes that are being made to education.   We were then asked to share what our thoughts were about the videos.   

"The problem with old schools is that they were teaching answers."

I felt that learning can be like a Rubik's cube.   We think we have the problem solved, but find out that it's not right, so we go back a few steps and try another way.    There may also be more than one way to learn (and solve a problem).

The next video provided an opportunity to hear from many people about the need for a change.  It will be a video to return to later and encourage me to question whether I am supporting the learners in our habitat to learn through change.

"Knowledge should not be about knowing facts."

"It's not about reform, it's about transformation."

How easy is it to access learning?   

We carried out two exercises in small groups:

1. Write a sentence to explain what learning is...   This required brainstorming words, then selecting what we thought were the best to be included in a sentence.
2. If you could draw learning, then what would it be?  The following image was shared and we had to select one that metaphorically explained learning for us. 

Which was more accessible?

The second option was definitely more accessible for me.   There was a picture to link my thinking to, rather than a set of words from which I had to then construct a sentence.    If I have to write, then bullet points are my preference.    Will my learners be thinking the same way?   I will need to think about how I am wanting the learners to connect with new learning - with visuals or prompting ideas through text.