Anne Sinclair

Anne Sinclair: Growth Mindset Revision'Focus on learning processe... : Growth Mindset Revision 'Focus on learning processes and show how hard work, good strategies and good use of resources lead to better...

Anne Sinclair: Guardians of the Galaxy : GUARDIANS OF THE         GALAXY “what is? ” “what could be?” For their DLO, learners working in groups in the extension group, are c...

GUARDIANS OF THE         GALAXY “what is? ” “what could be?” For their DLO, learners working in groups in the extension group, are creating their own land on a new planet and an Avatar to live there. This will be animated showing them leaving earth and going to a Galaxy far far away. Their planet will have a name signifying its origin, climate, life forms, special features, enemies, sounds and light or dark. The Avatar will have to adapt to this new planet.  These planets will be unique in the Galaxy, but will also have mystery around them.  The learners will have endless possibilities to extend their imagination and 'fly'! Guardians of the Galaxy Term 3 Extension Group How do we keep the interest and impetus up with this group of students, so we continue to challenge them and get them to go 'beyond the reef'. It comes back to teacher expectation and not underestimating our learners.  Maintaining the excitement of learn...

Anne Sinclair: Growth Mindset Revision'Focus on learning processe... : Growth Mindset Revision 'Focus on learning processes and show how hard work, good strategies and good use of resources lead to better...

Growth Mindset Revision 'Focus on learning processes and show how hard work, good strategies and good use of resources lead to better learning'  Helping children confront challenges requires a more nuanced understanding of the “growth mindset.”                                      CHRISTINE GROSS-LOH     DEC 16, 2016   This interesting article unpacks a growth mindset, so it becomes a more complex process, rather than I have it, or I don't have it.  It is argued that we don't have it all the time, as we have both fixed and growth mindsets, in all sorts of areas at different times. So we have to look at our fixed mindset triggers and when we are falling into that mindset and what that means for us as effective teachers.  It is like getting stuck in the 'Pit'.  We need to support children's learning strategies and processes   and developing a ...

Anne Sinclair: Warehouse Design Team Business Opportunity for our.. : . Business partnership opportunity for our extension groups. The Warehouse Group wanted some new look ideas for designs for their school r...

Learning, Creating, Sharing, Inspiring, Connecting, Reminding, Pursuing, Main thing is the main thing, Collaborating, Fearless Fellowship, Enjoying and Celebrating who we are. What an amazing Hui this was, with student learning and achievement at the heart of everything we saw and heard. Thank you to all the teachers and learners and generous people who make Manaiakalani what it is. A centre for making futures happen for our young people and community. Mā te rongo, ka mōhio; Mā te mōhio, ka mārama; Mā te mārama, ka mātau; Mā te mātau, ka ora.   Through resonance comes cognisance; through cognisance comes understanding; through understanding comes knowledge; through knowledge comes life and well-being.

                    Procedural Writing making Takakau bread John Hattie’s research shows it is the way teachers teach and the way students see themselves as learners that matters the most difference. This MDTA teacher considers the impact of her teaching on her student's learning and continually thinks of how she can engage them, when she plans and builds learning experiences. These students were keen to try something new and saw it as a challenge to do this task. 12:50 PM - 29 Aug 2017                   Many hands make light work making  Takakau bread and collaborating in a task, which requires working together to construct the bread.  The students were given the ingredients, but not the written recipe, just oral instructions, as the students proceeded with the making. They were not given the steps.  Working in groups of 4 they all got a chance to have a part in t...

. Business partnership opportunity for our extension groups. The Warehouse Group wanted some new look ideas for designs for their school range of products and what better place to come than to Point England school! This group of creative and hardworking designers got to work and spent 2 days under the guidance of the Warehouse design team, to produce 'kidspeak' designs for stationery, clothing, backpacks, lunch boxes, drink bottles and emojis. They worked nonstop for 2 whole days, but were so engaged and enjoying the chance to think and create the time flew by. As you can see they were rewarded for their work in these brown paper bags!  Learn Create Share

Term 2 Production by Yr 5&6 Extension Group Back in da Day was written, music composed, lyrics written, dances choreographed, casting, lighting and sound designed, digital backdrop designed, researched, costumes created, directed and produced by the students. This was an example of teachers talking and doing less and students talking and doing more. As teachers, we find it very hard to 'let go' and be more student centric. It is about giving students space and permission to 'have a go' and create. This production was 'going beyond the reef' and resulted in increased confidence, self efficacy, enjoyment, using talents, trying new things, learning, learning, learning.  It was about us teachers trusting the students and empowering them to reach for the sky without setting limits to their potential and imaginations. The planning involved and the discipline needed to do something of this magnitude, was testament to the philosophy of learn, create, share and ...

                                   Dress Rehearsal Saturday, 24th June It is all coming together! The 'cast' could see how the parts make up the whole and how important their 'part' was in the final production. The children demonstrated the key competencies in being wholehearted, taking responsibility, self managing, collaborating, participating, helping each other and throwing themselves enthusiastically into the day. Their demeanour and attitude illustrated their growing confidence and willingness to be part of a collaboration. Having Mr Jacobsen manning the lighting and sound desk and bringing to life all the work they had done to put together the show, was so appreciated and needed.  Seeing their work projected onto the big screen was awesome and they loved being part of the changing 'scene' and teleporting through time with the sound they had created. This has been an ambitious proje...

BACK IN DA DAY by Yr 5 & 6 Extension group The extension group are working very hard on contributing their part of the jigsaw towards the production entitled Back in Da Day. This is a story of a group of children who had not realised the power of their digital devices in transporting them back and forward in time, to different countries and different time zones. This has meant they have been able to see what it was like Back in Da Day and what it could be like in the future. It has also meant that they realise they need to balance their online lives and their off line lives, to get the best of both worlds. The class have done a lot of research in the Learn stage and are now in the Create stage and will soon Share what they have done with a wider audience.  They have experimented with many facets of digital affordances in order to design and create the effects they want to get. The backdrops,  the costumes, the props, the sound, the dance and music and lighting have al...

  Term 2 Extension Group and the challenges they face this term  At the first session the group reflected on last term and thought about what they had learnt, what they wanted to learn and what they could improve. They came with a very upbeat attitude and full of excitement and anticipation for what we were going to do this term. They had learned a lot last term on collaboration, dialogic discussion and listening to others and hearing what they said.  This resulted in responding, questioning, clarifying, inviting, piggy backing, challenging ideas and presenting their viewpoint informed by evidence. This was quite a task for yr 5 & 6 learners and the skills were taught within a contextualised situation, so integrated into the normal class programme.  If we want learners to take part in discussions they need to know something about the subject/topic/issue so they can actually talk and grapple with it. So content (learn) is important.  This term we are work...

SPARK MIT day 15th May was an illumination into the importance of partnerships  and collaboration. Partnering our MIT teachers with SPARK buddies will provide sounding boards and expertise through reciprocal collaboration. The buddies expressed the hope that this would be a great opportunity for both pairs to learn from each other. The buddies were excited about the chance to 'put something back' by offering their support. Sarah and Mary from the Foundation put the pairing together and the expectation that ideas will contribute to @clusternz learning.  Here are the SPARK Buddies doing their introductions. Dorothy presented some tools for Google Save and Google Keep, which got everyone excited. So to work unpacking, reframing, assessing, deciding, collaborating, puzzling, debating, supporting, making connections, refining and clarifying the Inquiries so they are innovations not repetitions. It was interesting to hear the different Inquiries, but in talking aloud...

Yr 5 & 6 in role for the Paideia Seminar ,which drew together a range of viewpoints and findings Being in role helped to show where different viewpoints come from and how they influence ideas and decisions

Term 1 of year 2, completed for our hard working MDTA teachers, who have contributed their talents and skills to provide rich learning experiences for their learners.  It is great to see the way they have become part of the Manaiakalani staff in their schools and participated wholeheartedly in the life of their schools.  They have had their challenges and ups and downs but they have kept the 'main thing the main thing' - the learning of their children. Congratulations team another term completed - mostly unscathed. Look forward to more wonderful teaching next term. Enjoy a break and chipping away at your Dissertation. Nga mihi nui.

     Looking at a different method for extending and expanding discussion, using the Paideia  approach Working with a Group of Point England Yr 5 & 6 enthusiastic learners and their teacher, has been a privilege and an insight into how we can encourage wide and deep learning through a different genre. The Paideia approach follows the Manaiakalani principles of Learn (Knowledge acquisition) Create (Coached projects) and Share (Seminar).  The Coached project (Create) is about designing multi textual and multi modal Digital objects and how these can inform the evidence needed to be able to share your Seminar to the 'forum' or the world. The ideas of Socrates is at the base of this approach and encourages people to come into the 'Forum' to argue, challenge, dispute, debate, look at multiple perspectives and discuss problems affecting the population (community). The theme for this term of  Kaitiakitanga i nga wa katoa’ - caring for our environment, prov...

                                       What is Paideia?  The philosophy of  Paideia  is that because life is interconnected and interdependent, education must be integrated and interdisciplinary.   It is an  integrative  educational model that supports students as they explore the complexity of real life problems – integrating multiple viewpoints and perspectives from engaging in rich, varied experiences.   Paideia  is not simply understanding based on “the sum of parts,” rather it encourages students and faculty to explore beyond disciplinary boundaries toward new, unique  interdisciplinary  understandings of complex issues. Interdisciplinary teaching and learning offers a way to understand disciplines better: to see their assumptions, to critique their histories and investments, and identify points of connection. Paideia  is...