Jedi mind tricks!

My students know how much I love Star Wars and this scene from the movie The Empire Strikes Back: Luke fails at raising his plane from a swamp but Yoda has no problem. Luke says, "I don't believe it". Yoda says, "That is why you fail". Refresh your memory -



Wouldn't that be cool? To believe you can do something is half the battle is it not. I wish I could be able to move objects around with my mind, like a Jedi knight.

Well I no longer have to wish. The power of the brain can now be harnessed to move objects. You don't believe? Take a look at the video on the Washington Post link.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/04/22/ST2009042204139.html?sid=ST2009042204139

Now...where do I get one from?

Virtual learning

I've been pretty active in my virtual world of blogs and the interweb of late. I find more and more that I use the search engines of the net and the material of wikipedia and links to classroom subject matter more and more. I hope my students are also engaging in this world of virtual learning.

What does this virtual learning stuff mean (I was going to add - for us in Stratford - but then I realised it's actually for us all, no matter where we are and who we are)?

So what does it mean? It is learning 'in essence or effect although not delivered formally or actually' (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary - an essential purchase made in my first year at Auckland University 1977) . This definition would mean excluding video conferencing from the umbrella term 'virtual' as it is still a formal situation - teacher with students.

Virtual learning, then, is about the internet and web 2.0 tools. Students can pick and choose from the galaxy of help on the net. Want to know about biology? Google (as I just have) - 'biology podcast' and you'll get 4,560,000 places to visit. Obviously the first ones are the most relevant as they marry the two words to give the best bet sites. The first on the list was http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/Science/Biology and the second was http://biologyoracle.podomatic.com/ - this is Andrew Douch's site. But, get this again - there are 4,559,998 other sites out there. On biology and/or podcasts!!! If you've just flicked into them for a nosey you will get a sense of the possibilities of 'virtual learning'.

So when I go into the blogs I follow, like Andrew Douch's, I learn informally and not actually. I can't actually see or talk to Andrew but I can listen to him (via his podcasts), read his thoughts (on his blog), learn about things biological and, if I want to, I can write back or ask questions. He's not actually there in the room with me. He (and I) may be in any part of the world when I read his blog. It's virtual learning. Now - I'm an English teacher who left sciences behind in the fifth form but I have actually downloaded his podcasts and listened to him discussing biological topics and learnt things (when - otherwise - I wouldn't even think to open a biology textbook).

Will virtual learning take off? Well according to Andrew it will. In fact he thinks it's inevitable that we will learn via our virtual 'teachers'.

And consider this: the most popular teachers in this scenario, may not
necessarily even be practicing teachers! They may be university students or
retired teachers. How relevant is it going to be for students to come to class
at all in this future? If the classroom teacher still sees himself as the ‘font
of knowledge’ for those students, then, it may not be very relevant at all.
There has never been a more important time for teachers to ask themselves “what value am I adding to my students?”, and even “what is my role as a teacher?” Nor
has there been a better time for schools to question the current models of
attendance and timetabling. (Andrew Douch 2009).

Andrew would love the New Zealand Curriculum document with its accent on Key Competencies that take the focus completely away from the teacher as 'font of knowledge'. I must say I've never been that, or aspired to be that. When I trained as a teacher in Kevin Pound's tutor group at Auckland Teachers' College in 1982, he made sure to impress upon us the need to join in with our students and take risks and say we don't know something if we didn't know something. I digress.

Next time you have a hankering to learn something - try searching on the virtual learning network that is within that huge ether world of the internet. It'll knock your socks off.

Influenza update

It is probably timely to again mention our influenza plans given the increased numbers of people in Australia who have proven to have swine flu.

The facts: 1) There is no change from the Ministry of Health on the status of the pandemic alert levels for schools - we remain on yellow alert. Please check this out at http://www.moh.govt.nz/influenza-a-h1n1 .

2) Anyone visiting New Zealand who thinks they have influenza is asked to see a doctor or call Healthline 0800 611 116 for advice. Please check out http://www.safetravel.govt.nz/ for further details if you are planning an overseas trip in the near future.

3) To date there is no evidence of community spread of the virus in New Zealand.

4) As per our pandemic plan (and common sense) - if you are feeling unwell the advice is to stay at home. If you continue to feel unwell - visit a doctor!

5)The Ministry of Health suggests that the families of students who have travelled to countries with considerable spread of Influenza A (H1N1) should keep them at home for a week on their return, even if they have no symptoms.

In the meantime - continue those good hygiene practices such as washing hands thoroughly, and using a disposable tissue when sneezing or coughing.

Yes...the lucky effect

I recently watched the latest Jim Carrey movie called 'Yes Man'. Jim Carrey plays Carl - a depressed loans officer in a bank. Carl is avoiding people and is recently single. He says, "No" to everyone and everything. Then an epiphany occurs when he visits a seminar by a self help guru. As a result he enters into an agreement to say, "Yes" to everyone and everything. There are profound results.

I enjoyed the movie. It's certainly not up there with Bill Murray's 'Groundhog Day' but it's moral compass is set along the same lines. Those lines being - if you embrace life and the possibilities of life - startling things can happen. For Carl, the voyage of self-recovery ends in a kind of personal redemption. As he embraces moments by saying, "Yes" to finds that he makes his own luck. Indeed his changed state of mind helps him be lucky.



Researchers have found that lucky people are far more satisfied with all areas of their lives than unlucky people. They expect good things to happen so they focus on the positive aspects and that is what they remember, not the bits that went wrong. Unlucky people tend to focus on the negative aspects of life.

Lucky people tend to be more outgoing and friendly, less anxious, and more open to new experiences. Lucky people enjoy new opportunities and look for them. They usually find them too.

Top tips for getting lucky:

Be open to new experiences and breaking out of your normal routine.
Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well.
Visualise yourself being lucky before an important test.
Welcome any new friend.
Expect things to go well.

Acknowledgements - http://harvardmagazine.com/2007/03/the-lucky-effect.html and http://www.principalsdigests.com/

International students at Rotary

The Stratford Rotarians recently invited some international students to address their meeting. Both St Marys' and our school responded with students. Emelie and Tassio represented us extremely well. Emelie is from Sweden and is part of an AFS programme. She is here until the end of the year. She spoke about the differences between education in the two countries and about her plans for the future. Tassio is from Brazil and while he started off as an exchange student, he loves New Zealand so much he now has permanent residency. Tassio told the Rotarians about some of his New Zealand experiences and how he appreciates the way NZ backs up their rules and regulations with consequences (unlike what he says happens in Brazil). I was very proud of both students. They represented Stratford High School with distinction. Incidentally the photo also shows the three Japanese girls currently at St Marys'.Two are fee paying students and one is an exchange student. My thanks to Stratford Rotary for hosting this annual event.

Another May newsletter

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe" (Anatole France).

According to Wikipedia, Anatole was a french novelist, born 1844. He won the Nobel prize for literature in 1921 and died in 1924. I'm telling you this to fulfil a promise I made at assembly when I used the above quote. That promise was to find out who Anatole France was! I'm very fond of this quote as it incorporates each of the four elements I think are essential to success - dreaming, planning, acting and believing!

It's nearly June and a good time for us to do a bit of a stock take on progress through our goals so far. Thus we may avoid any mid-year slump in energy, enthusiasm or perseverance. Our students hear a lot about goals and targets and the danger is that they go through a process of sensory overload. As an educator the trick is to keep a balance of having the concept of goals in the students' consciousness without turning them off. All students have their three poutama goals that they should keep in mind and review about now. How are you progressing towards them? Are the targets realistic? What have you done to realise your targets? Do you need to adjust any targets?

The school, of course, has its goals and targets for the year. To refresh memories these relate to: raising Maori achievement via the Te Maunga Tuu professional development initiative; implementing the New Zealand Curriculum; an emphasis on extending each student to reach their potential (with particular emphasis on improving pass rates and the numbers of merit and excellence endorsements); and continuing the focus on differentiated learning, with an emphasis on year 9 and year 10.

The individual departments use the school goals as a springboard for their specific goals. From these come the staff's individual goals that are discussed in appraisal interviews.

Even the Senior Management Team has its targets. Every 5 weeks we develop our targets and then every three days we discuss these in our strategic planning meetings. Our current targets focus on school wide appraisal, the New Zealand Curriculum and our Te Maunga Tuu initiatives. As you can imagine we know our targets thoroughly. Students could take a lead from this. I often advocate that students write out goals in large type and pin them to the fridge or the mirror in their room. Anywhere that they can see them everyday. If they are always visible and therefore always in your mind, the chances that you will achieve them are greatly enhanced.

As parents and caregivers we also have goals and targets. They can be modest in size (washing the car regularly, seeing sons and daughters play sport for the school and so on) or a 'go for gold' type (planning an overseas holiday, changing careers, running the Boston marathon for instance). How many of us share these goals and targets with the family? If we don't, maybe we should. Let's aim to demonstrate the power of achieving goals to our students. I'd like to encourage you to share your goals, as I have aimed to do here.

"Nine tenths of education is encouragement" (Anatole France).

Professional development

I recently wrote a post on a Principal association that I belong to - the Taranaki Secondary School Principals' Association (TSSPA). I recently attended two other regular Principal meetings in my diary. The first is a professional learning group (PLG) that is made up of a select few local Principals - Liz Malone (Eltham Primary), Richard Bradley (Toko School), Kelvin Squire (Stratford Primary), Rae Sullivan-Brown (St Joseph's School), and Leo (Rawhitiroa School).

Apart from Liz being a Manchester United fan they are an all right bunch. We meet roughly once a term at Eltham Primary (geographically about 10 minutes south from Stratford) in Liz's office (apart from having to look at pictures of Man U it's a good place to meet). Our agenda items are always pretty fluid because Kelvin's brain engages far faster than the rest of us and we've usually moved from an agenda topic to 25 other non-agenda topics in the space of seconds. I find the meetings really stimulating as far as my professional development goes. Trying to keep up with Kelvin's leaps definitely keeps us all on our toes. I usually take panadol with me!

This last meeting's discussions ranged around the New`Zealand Curriculum, oral hygiene in Stratford, wet weather procedures, literacy payments, Taranaki Electricity Trust grants, learning management systems, data that the primary schools collect and data that my High School would like to receive from the contributing schools. And when I say 'range' I mean range! These are never linear discussions. But that is why they are so stimulating.

The second regular meeting is the Central Taranaki Educational Leaders' Association. This is a group chaired by Richard Bradley, comprising all of the educational leaders in central Taranaki. This includes the two secondary schools - St Mary's and us, the big Primary schools to the smallest Primary schools. Our recent meeting included an address by Ernie Buutveld from the Principals' Federation. I always learn things from this group. Apparently NZ now has a minister for 'Special Education'. Who knew? This is the Hon Heather Roy from the Act party in case you were wondering. I also found out that UNESCO has four pillars of learning - Learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be. I quite like this.

Also in the professional development field - I've attached two new blogs to my watch list. One is from the aforementioned Kelvin Squire (something of an institution in Stratford), and the other from an American Principal - Michael Smith (something of a legend to me). Michael's not afraid to be funny. Actually he couldn't NOT be funny! And you should read his blog...and Kelvin's.