MIT2020 - Final Meetup/Reflections

Today my MIT journey for 2020 wrapped up as our crew gathered at KPMG for the last time. Given the year we have had, it was actually the first and only time that we were all present in person in Auckland. We took time to reflect on our projects, share next steps and offered up words of support and advice to each other. 

It seems a mighty long time since we are first gathered at Kuaotuna in late February that is 9 months and 2 lockdowns ago!

My next steps:

- Update content (videos, site pages) on Get Ready site for 2021 using feedback from colleagues and students
- Continue to reach out to the local high school and leverage the learning I have gained from designing Get Ready! site and attempt to bring my original achievement objective to fruition i.e. develop a digital tool to assist with Year 8 transition to high school

What could I have done differently?

Woulda (With 20/20 hindsight)

• Identified AND met with a larger group of key stakeholders at local high school from start of 2020;
• Done thorough inventory of the resources/programmes the local high school currently uses for Year 9 transition 
• Focused on Year 8s exclusively from the start of the year - for feedback
• Identify gaps/opportunities to develop resources further or create new tool from scratch

Shoulda (Woulda but circumstances made it challenging to do)

• Had better lead times for student surveys to get as much feedback as possible, 

Coulda (Should have but didn't!)

• Met with/interviewed Year 9 deans at other Manaiakalani High Schools  to find out how they handle Year 9 transition.

Thank you to Dorothy, Matt and Jenny for supporting us all through this MIT experience - what a journey for us especially in a year that COVID threw a spanner in the works many times over! Thanks for the opportunity to explore digital solutions to a range of issues that are impacting student achievement.

MIT 2020 - Building a Prototype (Part 1)

prototype: the first design of something from which other forms are copied or developed (Oxford Dictionary)

Newly enthused from our MIT meeting on Monday and with lock down looming,  I was focussed on getting a website prototype up and running pretty quickly. Without the luxury of 'user' testing with a group of my target students, here's how things unfolded:

Digital Tool
It made sense to use New GOOGLE Sites to build my new website. It would be less stressful than trying to design something from scratch using another software programme that I was less familiar with.

Overall Concept 
Big shout out to Matt for letting me throw ideas at him and troubleshoot how my digital tool was going to work. His timely wisdom had already steered me clear of trying to develop an app.  My thought now was to design a site as the hub through which students could stay connected with each other. There would be a series of tasks, with elements of competition (points) and opportunities to share their experiences (blog posts) and also check out and give feedback on what others were up to (blog commenting).

A culturally approriate framework
Our Year 7 & 8 students were familiar with the Te Whare Tapa Wha model of Maori health from the term's inquiry topic. They had been introduced to the analogy that a person's overall health was like a wharenui or meeting house - it stands strong if all four walls are all in balance.  Framing the challenges to the four dimensions of Te Whare Tapa Wha -  Taha Tinana (physical wellbeing), Taha Wairua (spiritual wellbeing), Taha Whanau (healthy relationships) and Taha Hinengaro (emotional wellbeing) would allow students to build on their prior knowledge and understanding of Te Whare Tapa Wha but also provided a real-time context for them to see this approach to hauora/wellbeing in action.

Branding
 I kicked around a few ideas for naming the site including Kia Kaha! and Make the Taha Connection! I really wanted to focus on the importance of being resilient and staying connected with their peers.  I  eventually settled on TAKE THE TAHA CHALLENGE!  It provided a clear invitation for students to try something new while also developing their personal wellbeing 

MIT 2020 - Reality checks are invaluable!

Reality Check #1: The last day 'in' school for our kids was yesterday, our lessons switched to distance learning mode as of this morning and we will enter COVID19 Lockdown Level 4 as of midnight tomorrow night.
Time is of the essence to get a prototype up and running. The mantra FAIL FAST, FAIL FORWARD is foremost in my mind. I was more than ready to make mistakes, find the learning, reset, and keep moving on!

Freshly inspired, I caught up with Matt earlier today and pitched him my new idea - I wanted to build either an app or site that will connect students during lockdown and bring together the Key Competency of Managing Self, the taha components of Te Whare Tapa Wha with blogging.

Reality Check #2: An app would be super appealing to Year 7 & 8 students however developing one would require a skill level and an investment of time well beyond the scope of our MIT project

This realisation was a blessing -  I would devote my time to building a site (not an app) as the digital tool to anchor by design project.

Reality Check #3: One of the core aims was to increase connectedness between students so the plan was to have as much of the site content made by and featuring students. How to make this happen given we had started 4 weeks of physical distancing?

I figured since I still had 3 days teaching before the school term ends, the best way forward was to invite a handful of students who I already knew from my Literacy or Maths classes to join my 'as yet unnamed' project team. 

MIT 2020 - A note of appreciation!

The past couple of days has been a gift - time out from the usual hustle and bustle of our daily routines to meet in person as MITers of 2020. We've used the time to put into practice a range of design thinking tools to unpack our proposals and get them into shape for the year head. 

Thanks to Dorothy and Russell for being gracious hosts in Kuaotunu, to Matt for being an able navigator and sounding board and to my fellow MITers for sharing your ideas, generous feedback and collaborative spirit! Looking forward to catching up with you all again later this month!

MIT 2020 - Step 3: School Hall Scenario

With my moonshot proposal and 5 WHYs completed, the next part of the design thinking process came unexpectedly!

Matt and Dorothy took us through a role play centred around a fictitious School Hall scenario. Each of the MIT 2020 group were given parent personas  from the local community to act out (e.g a pizza maker, a lawyer, a bach cleaner).  The gathering was led by a senior staff member (Matt) with a representative from ERO (Dorothy) in attendance. Parents were asked to prioritise a series of issues impacting the school. There was a tangible sense of frustration as we progressed from one issue to another. Indeed, comments from 'the floor' got quite heated at times:

               "We need more information! 

                What do you mean my kid can't listen!

                Are you telling me my kid is dumb? 

                It's not my problem? 

                What are the teachers doing to fix this?  

                Why are we only hearing about this now?

The senior staff member (Matt - heroically sticking to character!) pretty quickly came under the pump. Due to circumstances out of 'his control', he could not provide any of the details requested by parents to help clarify each issue and figure out which were the most pressing.

At some point, the penny dropped. It turned out that the 'issues' we were hotly debating were in fact the achievement challenge statements from each MIT member.

GENIUS! 

Having each MITer in character as part of an audience dialled down any potential awkwardness or defensiveness that might have come up had we been asked instead to present our ideas in front a group of relative strangers.The role play was a way for us to hear an upfront critique of our initial musings and prompted each of us to go back and re-examine our initial problem statement.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:- was the issue expressed in concise language? was the issue actually worthy of investigation as a design thinking project?

MIT 2020 - Step 1: Moonshot Proposal

To kickstart my Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher (MIT) 2020 project, I needed to prepare a moonshot proposal. This is a working document which essentially lays the groundwork for my design thinking project.

Step 1: Identify the challenge impacting achievement that I want to focus on in 2020 through the MIT design thinking process?

As a Year 7 & 8 teacher, one of main areas of concern is around those Year 8 students who leave ill-equipped to adapt and cope with the move to secondary school, and so are at greater risk of dropping out of school before they have the qualifications (NCEA Level 2) that will allow them to build better life outcomes for themselves.

Keeping this in mind, I developed an initial CHALLENGE STATEMENT is shown below:

All ten of the MIT 2020 cohort gathered at Kuaotuna at the end of February and with guidance from Dorothy and Matt, there were plenty of opportunities to re-evaluate our initial statement (more posts to follow!) and craft it into challenge that would be worthy of exploring over the coming year.

Google Exam - Success at last!

Google Exam Post Script: After a disappointing first effort, I was keen to take another shot at the Level 1 Google Exam.

I lined up a test date with others from the course on the second week of the holidays but unfortunately, a slight hiccup with the retake process from Google foiled my plans! Not to be defeated, I finally took the test again on the last weekend of the holidays - no pressure!

Well, I am pleased to say the wait was worth it - I passed! This success has really made me appreciate just how much I learnt on the DFI course last term - again a huge thank you to Dorothy, Gerhard and Matt! Hmmm, is it time to think about Level 2? Watch this space...