Leaders of learning

(The video opens on a man sitting in front of a school library shelf. Text along the bottom of the screen reads, “Stan Tiatia, Principal, Invercargill Middle School”. He speaks into the camera. As he says “everyone” the scene changes to a classroom. Children’s paintings hang from the ceiling and cover the back wall. The camera pans out and we see the classroom is full of children working at tables.)

 

We're trying to build a leadership culture where everybody's taking ownership of the kids, but also ownership of our own learning.

 

(We now see a teacher and several students sitting in a circle on the classroom floor.)

We have to have a voice in that.

 

(A new voice belonging to a woman speaks over the video as the scene pans out to show a woman with a laptop observing the lesson. As she says “expertise” we see the speaker, who is the woman with the laptop, sitting in the school library as she speaks into the camera. Text along the bottom of the screen reads, “Katie Pennicott, Deputy Principal, Invercargill Middle School”.)

Our PD at this school it is about building adaptive expertise.

So the teachers have expertise that they're building on and building between each other.

 

(As she says “classroom”, the video changes to a meeting in an office. People sit around a round table with laptops in front of them. They listen to a woman who holds up a pad of paper as she speaks. Katie’s voiceover continues.)

And then they're able to adapt the expertise to then go and use it in the classroom, and then bring it back to the staff meeting, and share it with others, and teach each other, and learn from each other.

 

(We see a woman smile as she listens.)

And it's the same thing we want to build with the children.

 

(The camera turns, and we hear a woman at the meeting speak. Stan Tiatia sits next to her.)

I have kids that are now confidently speaking in class. They speak in full sentences.

 

(She continues speaking and we see a woman nod as she listens.)

They are joining in.

 

(Another woman smiles.)

I don't have to prompt them anymore. They now know what to say, and that's just built confidence.

 

(The camera zooms in on Stan’s face and we hear him speak in voiceover.)

We want to work together as a staff.

 

(We see Katie Pennicott speaking at the meeting. She flips through a large scrap book with “Cuttings book!” on the cover in large letters.)

We want to move together as a staff. So we need to build together as a staff.

 

(We return to Stan in the library.)

So that's where the PD is coming from.

 

(We return to the meeting, where Katie again flips through the book. She says something and the others nod.)

It's about self-development and everyone working together for the benefit of everybody else.

 

(We hear Katie speaking at the meeting. Stan nods as she says “Māori”.)

Even though this is from an American website, it's still matched with effective teaching in New Zealand targeted for Māori students.

 

(The scene continues as Stan’s voiceover resumes.)

Within a staff meeting, that agenda is given out of what's going to be covered in that staff meeting, some readings towards it, so some external reference points, so that they have a power base to come in and contribute with. That's an expectation.

 

(The camera returns to Stan in the library.)

It's not if you have something to say.

 

(We now see the teacher sitting on the floor with her students from earlier in the video.)

 

That's an expectation that you will have something to say.

 

(The teacher speaks as the students raise their hands. We see Katie sitting in the background typing on her laptop.)

Right, would you like to share with us what you think supervise means?

 

(A new woman’s voice now speaks in voiceover. In the classroom, the lesson continues. The camera zooms in on Katie’s laptop as she types.)

We have reciprocal observations.

 

(The video now shows the speaker, sitting in the school library. Text along the bottom of the screen reads, “Matalaoa Taito, Year 5/6 teacher, Invercargill Middle School”.)

I tell them specifically what I want feedback on, and then they give me feedback, suggestions, and ideas. And then we have a meeting about it. And we discuss: OK, so where do we need to go from here?

 

(The back of Katie’s laptop fills the screen before panning up to show her typing into it. We hear she speak in voiceover.)

If I observe all the staff doing a lesson like writing, then I know what

professional development I can put in to meet their learning.

 

(The camera shows the teacher and students. The teacher speaks.)

-- That's lovely. Awesome.

 

(The scene continues and Katie’s voiceover resumes.)

The teachers know that the observation is not a judgement.

 

(We briefly see Katie in the library again before returning to the classroom. Two students now sit at a desk with books and papers in front of them. The teacher from the previous scene leans over the table.)

It's for their own professional development. And they know when they're going to be observed. They know who's observing them.

 

(Zooming out further we see more students sitting at tables. Katie walks through the room.)

 

They make the decision about what they're going to show you.

 

(The camera returns to Katie in the library. As she says “doing” we go back to the classroom where the teacher once again sits on the floor with several students.)

There's a form that they fill in with what they would like you to focus on, what they're doing, what they're trying to do, and what they'd like feedback on.

 

(Two boys raise their hands and we can see Katie sitting in the background.)

And then that gives them the power.

 

(The voiceover changes to another woman. As she says “stressful” the camera changes to show her in the library. Text on the bottom of the screen reads, “Cindy Nielsen, Year 3/ 4 teacher. Invercargill Middle School.)

Five, six years ago, before we had Katie and Stan here, if someone came in to watch your classroom, it was a stressful, scary-- we don't want someone to come and watch us teach. What are they writing? Ahh!

Whereas now, it's what we do. It's a part of what we do. And we know that they can help us to grow as teachers.

But we also know that I could knock on anybody's door tomorrow and say: hey, can I come and watch a writing lesson next week because I heard you were doing something really cool.

 

(The video now changes to Katie Pennicott in the library. She speaks in voiceover as the video then changes back to the meeting. The participants watch a video projected onto the whiteboard which shows Katie in her classroom)

One of the biggest things that I could do to make the changes in the school that we needed to make at the beginning was to empower the staff by opening myself up to them, and sharing what I knew, but from a place of vulnerability, from a place as a learner rather than everyone needs to copy what I'm doing.

 

(The camera zooms in on the video, where Katie sits in a classroom next to an easel with various learning materials clipped to it. She points at one with a pen as she speaks.)

They know that I'm the DP, and I've got ideas, but their ideas are just as valid.

 

(The camera pans across the room as people watch.)

So when I do a video like that, I don't video something scripted, or the most perfect group, or the most perfect lesson.

I just video every day in the classroom.

 

(As she says “as staff” we return to her in the library.)

And that builds that reciprocal relationship between us as staff and opens up that vulnerability together.