Mary-Anne Murphy 11/22/22 Mary-Anne Murphy 11/22/22

I Can Statements - what would this look like at this time of year?

Schools often use ‘I can’ statements as signposts for learning. These are positive statements that support students to know the small steps that they have achieved.

This stimulated some further thinking… what do ‘I Can’ statements look like for us at this time of year….

Schools often use ‘I can’ statements as signposts for learning. These are positive statements that support students to know the small steps that they have achieved.

This stimulated some further thinking… what do ‘I Can’ statements look like for us at this time of year….

I can get my reports done

I can get my data in

I can support an end-of-year event

I can get through to the end of the term.

Let’s take a step back -

How about the deeply personal or personable ones… the statements that have the ability to make a significant difference to yourself and others.

I can look after my own well-being

I can look after the well-being of others in my team.

What could it look like if we wrote some ‘I can’ statements for managing our own wellbeing and contributing to the wellbeing and culture of our team? What would it look like for you?

I can make a plan to look after my own wellbeing:

Add in your own ‘I can’ statements - after all, what you can manage is deeply personal for each of us

I can choose my attitude
I can focus for xxx of time and then have give my brain a break
I can have a plan in place for my well being

Considerations might include:

Sleep
Diet
Exercise
Boundaries
Balance = Responsibility, Accountability + Time for the things that give me joy
Gratitude practice
Looking for ‘the good’ in every day

When we feel good our brains release ‘feel good’ chemicals - the fab four… serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins. Studies into neurobiology have found that these chemicals are activated at a higher level when you do something good for someone else. Through a series of fMRI neuroimaging tests, research suggests that our brains feel more rewarded for selflessness and giving. Therefore there are ultimately greater benefits to giving than receiving. In terms of developing and supporting the wellbeing of yourself and others it’s a win:win. Hence the reason to explicitly plan for how you can support the wellbeing of others in your team.

Doing something selfless fully supports self - this is great news for leaders who are promoting a team approach to wellbeing.

What might your plan be? I can contribute to the wellbeing of others through:

I can share a small piece of positivity with someone every day
I can support others to celebrate their successes.

So what’s your plan?

Mary-Anne Murphy 11/15/22 Mary-Anne Murphy 11/15/22

Wellbeing - a learning opportunity

We all know the messages about the importance of Workplace Wellbeing and that is definitely not in dispute here. The wondering was around how we apply this quote to the concept of Workplace Wellbeing. If workplace wellbeing is about providing a safe environment, where there is a focus on the wellbeing of all - then the focus must not only be on what we can do but also on how we support our people to learn and develop strategies for themselves. It is a big job - supporting students, staff, whānau… and ourselves, to develop wellbeing strategies.

When you cut it for me,

Write it for me,

Find it for me,

Open it for me,

Tie it for me…

All I learn is that you do it better than me.

(Unknown)

This quote appeared recently - its message is a reminder that all of these things are opportunities for learning. This reminder is relevant as we must remember to guide our children rather than do everything for them, because if we do we could be robbing them of opportunities to learn for themselves… greater than that we could be robbing them of the confidence that develops from mastering these skills themselves. It makes sense.

While pondering this question - another wondering occurred…

How does this relate to Wellbeing?

More specifically how does this relate to Wellbeing in the workplace?

Empowering others is always big. The thing to remember is… It is a big job, but you are not alone.

In our line of work, we hear both sides of the coin - the leaders who feel they are doing their very best to create an environment focused on the wellbeing of their people. Over time we have all heard of schools where staff believe that more could be done to create workplace wellbeing - many of us have read posts about this on social media for example.

The truth is Wellbeing is the responsibility of us all. Without a doubt, leaders play a key role in setting the environment and culture in all organisations, which is not disputed here. It is also relevant to point out that it is a shared responsibility of all staff. By doing all the work and taking on all the responsibility - are we as leaders providing opportunities for our people to learn and grow in their ability to grow their own wellbeing and that of the organisation. How do we support the growth of ‘response abilities’?

This mahi is an area that we at Momentum Learning are passionate and committed to. We work alongside leaders to support their wellbeing journey, and the systems and structures that support the wellbeing of their teams. We coach from the side and personalise the support that we put in place to each unique environment. Our support is all encompassing - we support leaders, teams and students. The focus that schools are putting into the wellbeing for all of their people is heartening. We share concerns about the realities that schools are dealing with on a daily basis. You are not alone - reach out… make a connection.

We see dedicated, courageous and empathetic people in all work environments, and it is through partnering with you that we are ready, able and completely dedicated to empowering you and your team in this mahi. Contact us today to get our journey started.

Mary-Anne Murphy 11/7/22 Mary-Anne Murphy 11/7/22

Lenses into history - unpacking the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum

Sometimes it feels like we are looking through a kaleidoscope. Three mirrors work as a metaphor for the three lenses we put onto something, and suddenly there are fractals and moving parts everywhere… the coming together of different lenses can suddenly create something really exciting. We have been working with the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum with a number of schools and a lot of them have opted for some additional lenses to ‘triangulate’ their approach.

What lenses do you actively think about when designing your learning experiences for ākonga?

*Using three lenses is like creating a kaleidoscope effect with possibilities for learning. Kaleidoscope image courtesy of instructables.*

What lenses do you actively think about when designing your learning experiences for ākonga?

Katrina Ward

We have been working with the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum with a number of schools and a lot of them have opted for some additional lenses to ‘triangulate’ their approach. The additional lenses I have been enjoying working with the most are the additions of digital fluency and learner agency.

So what happens when these three lenses are combined?

The first lens is the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum. The lens of understanding the big ideas. Seeing the big ideas as big umbrellas that need to be over everything and then zooming in to the ‘knowing’ learning objectives aligned to specific contexts for each year level. Then we can adjust to a sharper focus to ensure that the ‘do’ of each activity hones into the subject knowledge and skills that are aligned with key subject-specific skills. An example of this is looking at cartography skills when looking at a map (geography skills), or focusing on source reliability and usefulness when looking at artifacts or photographs of the past (history skills). In the case of Burnside High, we have even designed a series of badge tasks to earn digital badges as ākonga complete skills-focused activities like ‘understanding bias’, ‘lateral research’ and ‘chronology’.

The ANZHC lens is the main lens because it actively seeks to undo bias. This lens needs to be held in strong focus. When looking through this lens it is important to be conscious of the ‘rose tinted’ views that might come about if you neglect to meaningfully address the biases and power imbalances of history. This lens needs to be the ‘main lens’ into exploring local curriculum content for schools. The ANZHC lens needs to be put on and put on again with regular editing processes to ensure that the big ideas can be ‘seen’ to be present in all of the activities/contexts that ākonga can explore.

But those other two lenses also have an important role to play.

Let’s look at the lens of learner agency.

For ākonga to be agents of their own learning they need to have choice about what they do, have choice about when they do it and also have choices for how they are assessed. They also need to be given opportunities to discuss and debate, explore and explain to show their understanding in different ways. The learner agency lens has been a fun lens to play with by adding ‘this or that’ choices throughout the unit design. It means ākonga can branch off and do different things and explore what interests them in addition to the ‘must cover’ content of the curriculum. It also means they can explore digital tools or play with paper-based ways to show their learning. Learner-agency as a lens means that no matter what is offered as content, you can give students multiple ‘ways in’ to the content which allows them to take more ownership of their learning. More ownership means more engagement and more engagement means more connection to the important ideas at hand.

Learners as agents of their own learning also have more opportunity to be future agents of change. That’s why this lens is such a magic one.

The third lens is digital fluency.

Have you ever heard of the term app-smashing? It is when you fluently combine apps to create something new. This is an end goal for students. Students can take a photo on their phone, edit it in one app, animate it another app and publish it on another app. Similarly students might create an infographic on canva and then load it as an image into thinglink and then upload audio to create a museum-worthy digital artefact of their own clever making. App-smashing processes give students an ability to be creators with technology - to see limitations and push things to their limits to create new things. It is highly engaging and ‘accidentally’ teaches them how to use a range of digital tools through focused and enabled discovery processes. We have really enjoyed designing some exciting tasks for ākonga to explore like creating a digital interactive map, experimenting with augmented reality and VR and creating a working school history app for real-life prototyping.

So there you have it. Three lenses. And just like a kaleidoscope creates new shapes and shifts in perspective, the new insights and the new learning can be magic.

Thinglink interactive map - pulse points lead to more thinglinks

Bringing understanding to life with interactive Thinglinks

This or that - creative writing or a timeline?

Mary-Anne Murphy 10/25/22 Mary-Anne Murphy 10/25/22

Planning your flight path - PLD planning tool

What great things does 2023 have in store for you?

Writing PLD applications can be a real drag, we know. But what if the process could be swift, uplifting and exciting? It is an opportunity to dream big, aim high and fly.

Check out our handy planning tool example.

What great things does 2023 have in store for you?

Writing PLD applications can be a real drag, we know. But what if the process could be swift, uplifting and exciting? It is an opportunity to dream big, aim high and fly.

Check out our handy planning tool example here.

Step One: Choose from the drop-down boxes

These drop-down boxes are aligned with regionally allocated PLD priorities. You can decide on one PLD priority or weave a couple of priorities together into your application. We know that even though you might have ‘one big push’ there are likely some other supporting priorities in the mix. These might be embedding a previous priority, keeping the momentum with something you have started already or even adding an additional layer to support your application.

Step Two: Draw it.

Visual sense-making is a really useful exercise. Are you wanting to work in sequence - one dot leading to the next in a line? Are you needing a woven approach? Does a triangle make more sense? Drawing the solution can help see connections in the PLD priorities and help you have a clearer picture of what success looks like. Thinking clearly will help you to lead better and we can help you to make sense of the priorities in your context with a quick drawing.

Step Three: Check-in and destination thinking

Just like a real flight, you need to take stock of your current situation. What baggage are you checking in, what are you taking with you, and how might the weather affect your journey? We’re using a flight path metaphor to help you to make sense of the journey - who you are and where you are going, noticing and addressing barriers, predicting turbulence and painting the ‘blue sky outcome’ of your final PLD destination.

Step Four: Mapping the path

This is a strategic planning tool to consider ‘layovers’ and checkpoints. Just like a long-haul flight, you will need to consider some re-fueling options and make the journey manageable. We also know that you will need a ‘visa and passport’ to prove who you are, where you have come from and where you are flying. We can help you to figure out the relevant documentation to support your application before you fly as well as what you will need to show when you land.

We want your PLD journey to be fun. Look out the window and enjoy the view! We can celebrate little wins along the way. What might you imagine for ‘in-flight entertainment’? We’ve added some examples of how we work with schools in this example.

Your flight is yours to plan. The application process should not be a bore, it’s a time to soar! Get in touch with us to ‘book your flight’. We can’t wait to fly alongside you.

Mary-Anne Murphy 10/19/22 Mary-Anne Murphy 10/19/22

Momentum Learning Pānui October 2022

Spring is a time of renewal and offers us all a chance to appreciate our environment and take advantage of the longer days. It is also time to reflect on how we might nurture ourselves in the last few months of 2022. This term’s pānui offers some suggestions on how you might incorporate well-being into your planning for 2023 and beyond.

As always, the pace is high and there has been a lot happening for the Momentum team, read more about what we’ve been up to in this month’s pānui.