Thinking about the year - what's the go?

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It's only March and we've already experienced 2 lockdowns. What a way to welcome in the year of 2021! But even with the 2 lockdowns, the ball is rolling here at GTS. Our Manaiakalani Cluster Data that was shared with us for 2020 painted a clear picture of our successes for the year and where the need lies for our school. In lockdown 4.0, GTS CoL teachers and Management met via google meets to bring to life our ideas and possible inquiry focus for 2021. This korero gave me much confidence in what my focus would be for this year and ideas for how I can support my teachers in our school and throughout our cluster could possibly look like. 


In the past my inquiries have developed throughout the years, focusing first on student outcomes and then later, further developing a deeper look as to what I am doing in my class, what and how my planning looks like, and how it looks like in my class with my learners. This shift in my thinking to take a deeper look into my practice is what has made the difference. 

As a school, we have ongoing rich PLD with Tony Burkin and are using InterLEAD as a tool to support us in the process of deeper reflection and thinking critically of our teacher practice. This has been the biggest change for us over the past 3-4 years, and that is that we've had a shift in our own thinking, by which we are putting our own teacher practice in the spotlight. Our school data reflects this change. Our orange buttons, as identified in the cluster-wide data are shifting and making moves into the upper part of the graph. Yes, there are obvious curriculum areas that can be targetted, however, with a focus on teacher practice we can make bigger shifts and bigger gains. 

'Who is responsible for student learning?' (Herlihy, 2021) a question we were asked in a round the table talk. You're response may differ to mine, but my simple answer is, we are. The teacher. And with my passion for our Maori and Pasifika learners and their education, I want to explore the decisions that we, as teachers, are making in order to make shifts in student learning. I know, that a culturally responsive pedagogy is making the difference for ALL my learners. This is what I'm passionate about. This is what I want to help my colleagues explore. 

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