Pink Shirt Day 21 May

Pink Shirt Day is an antibullying campaign that celebrates diversity and creates environments where all people can feel safe, valued and respected. RESPECT is our term 2 school value so Pink Shirt Day was an ideal way for us to live that value...... I'm sure your staff came out in full force and were all glammed up in pink - this was our contribution............small yet mighty.

What I would like my teacher to know about me....

Today I met my 2019 NCEA L1 students and after initial introductions, I set myself a challenge to learn each students name within a timeframe of 10 minutes. This was a ploy for me to gain their trust AND to teach them about expectation in my class. After student 1 told me their name, I shook their hand, welcomed them to my room and repeated their name. I did the same with student 2, but then repeated names 1 and 2 before moving on to student 3.

When I mispronounced a name, a few students laughed at me ......................just what I was waiting for .................. this was a teachable moment about appropriate behaviour/responses when someone is trying to learn. Apologies flew across the room and when I called a student by the wrong name a short while later, I was met with responses of his correct name - what fast learners?

I managed to learn and pronounced all their names correctly so I think I got off to a pleasing start.

We discussed our school's values and I explained how, as a teacher, each one applied to me.

For the next phase of the lesson, I shared my Y11 academic data which compared my 2018 achievement with other decile 1 schools and with NZ schools nationally. That seemed to impress a few and silenced others; the challenge was set, WE NEED TO DO BETTER.

I then got students to take a mini whiteboard and marker and write down one thing they wanted me to know about them. A few of their responses are listed below


 
 
 

No child left behind

We can learn a great deal from our gorgeous learners.

After a somewhat disruptive day taking sporting, cultural and class photos throughout the day, my year 10's were in top form for the last period of the week. We are building our confidence with the Algebra strand in maths and had an option to do a Quizlet Activity, where each learner works at their pace and can compete against the clock for some activities OR a quizizz activity where the class competes against each other.

On our first attempt, we had an accuracy rate of 56% and there were numerous requests to give the quiz another go. When I questioned students, they informed me that they were aiming for 80% accuracy. After numerous attempts, we reached an accuracy rate of 83%. I thought, mission accomplished.......................... Well......................students decided to shift the goal posts and were aiming for 100% accuracy.

Students decided that collaboration was the way to achieve this goal. The school bell rang at 3.00 pm and all remained behind so that no child was left behind. They stayed until the last student completed the quiz and we have pics below to prove our 100% accuracy rate.

What a way to end the week!

The Dunn Way

With the start of a new school year, there are mixed feelings of both excitement, for the successes that lie ahead and sometimes fear, of being separated from friends and teachers from the previous year.

Day 1
Learners were given mini whiteboards to draw something of interest to them and the rest of the class had to put words to the drawing. It proved to be a good ice-breaker particularly for those new to the college.

My first challenge as a teacher, after introducing myself, was to learn and PRONOUNCE every single learners name correctly by the end of that 50 minute period. I could hear a few giggles because learners had little confidence in me and for good reason. They did not know and trust me at that stage, so it was my time to shine. I made a volunteer say their name, shook their hand, repeated their name and said "lovely to meet you". This was repeated for each learner, but I had to keep repeating the first name, second name, third name etc. On a few occasions, I slipped up and mispronounced a name or 2 or called a learner by the wrong name and when learners laughed at me, it was an ideal opportunity to introduce "The Dunn Way"

The Dunn Way focuses on the 3 R's
ROUTINES
RELATIONSHIPS
RESPECT

Respect - in this learning environment, we respect all learners by encouraging and supporting them. Teacher: So what can we do next time I mispronounce your name
Learner: Tell you how to say our name the right way.

We were off to a promising start and were all on the same page about RESPECT in Mrs Dunn's class.
Good RELATIONSHIPS were already forming as learners were excited and I think a tad bit impressed that I knew their names which I used at every opportunity.

The last half of the lesson was an introduction to de Bono's Hats and using that knowledge to solve logic puzzles and critical thinking challenges. I threw in a few literacy strategies (word definition and chunking) to build learner confidence.

A minute before the bell rang, we rehearsed our end of lesson ROUTINE where we stand by our seat to check that we have packed up our belongings and the room in an acceptable condition ready for the next class.

Day 2
I was quietly impressed as I stood at the entrance to my room to greet each learner by name and watched them head for the mini whiteboards to attempt our critical thinking challenges. It seemed as if we were all accustomed with our 3R's (ROUTINES, RELATIONSHIPS, RESPECT). 

As much as I was trying to make a good impression on my learners, they were doing the same. Much praise was bestowed upon them as I thanked them for every effort made:
-fabulous uniform
-entering the room quickly
-getting to class on time
-respecting the learning environment

After about 20 minutes of critical thinking activities, done colaboratively or individually based on learner preference, I put forth a suggestion of taking a 2-minute break and in unison, my precious angels said, "no Miss let's continue working"......music to my ears.

My challenge is to
-be consistent with the 3 R's and maintain high expectations
-continue to remember to thank learners when expectations have been met and not take them for granted
-keep learning exciting so that learners continue to trust me as their teacher and willingly engage with their learning
-contact whanau within the next few days to introduce myself, let them know how their child has settled into class routines, thank them for sending polite and respectful children to school and to see what both of us can do to best support their child.

RISE values in action

On the first day of term, I set myself a goal to learn each students' name, in each of my classes...........wait for it........by the end of that period.

I had a strategy.

After initial welcomes and introductions, Student 1 told me their name, I shook their hand and repeated the name out aloud. I did the same to student 2, but before moving on,  I repeated names 1 and 2. Student 3 said their name, I shook their hand, repeated it loudly and then recalled names 1, 2 and 3 etc until I had been around the entire class. With my foreign accent, I struggled with a few pronunciations and students' initial reactions were to laugh at my effort.

That is a no no in our learning environment and was the perfect opportunity for us to discuss our school value RESPECT.

The RESPECT discussion was well worth it and students soon replaced laughter with words of encouragement.  +Brenton Moyes  +Venini Thaver