What Do We Do It's Catch 22?

So the standards were launched from a school that is really worth holding up as a special place in Nationals "ideal school" list. Congrats to that school.

So while in sydney I had a few chats with Russ, Blueyonder, dorothy and MacAsh. we all differ in our angles and takes on this whole standard thing, but we all agree that rigour is a word missing in the discussions. there are so many arguments, but what is undeniable is that there are some crap schools who are butchering learning, crap leaders too.

So when good people (i know you are presuming thats you) tell you that "what happened to us as professionals, trust us" - that cant wash, so we must be accountable. It's a catch 22.

On the other hand testing, gathering, assessing, reporting, all that guff will also be butchered by those same lemons so what the hell are we doing.

So if you are in charge of all NZ and you want rigour then what is your solution. We do need a solution, there are some problems out there lets be honest.

moderated or shut down which one?

As you know I started a thread on the MOE website about the national standards.

Today I left this post:

I have been contacted (by fellow principals) and asked to send the standards back to the MOE unopened. It appears that the NZEI and NZPF who I have spoken too are not sure if they are arthur or martha. Its a dilemma but something that needs to be discussed, i'm interested if there is a groundswell on "return to sender" or whether it is another poor idea in this whole ugly vote winning saga.

I thought I was asking for opinion and asking whether it was just me, should we do something or is that an over-reaction. I wanted to know what people thought.

It was posted for about 15 minutes and then I received an email that said it had been moderated and it did not fit with the forum guidelines for educational leaders. Im pissed but not surprised.

If we speak up we get shot down, we cant have an opinion opposite to the govt. Ever heard of that in other countries? I could name a few.

return to sender

Stop running around worried about the new curriculum, league tables, and jobs and employment. National testing will effect kids the most.

Schools are going to butcher the national standards, they will teach to tests, parade their good results, tell parents how good they are. Classrooms will suffer, kids will suffer.

When Ka Hikitia was delivered to schools many schools sent the packages back unopened. They moaned and it was a monumental cock up. Yes they sent back an awesome document because it had some maori potential badges in it. It was a protest about nothing. BUT it was a protest.

There is a simple solution for national standards, send them back, unopened, return to sender. Anne Tolley will be massively pissed. There will be an uproar from media outlets. John Key might have to say something smarmy. John campbell will have a sickofantic approach to this one. sainsbury might be a little surprised. The thing is that the Nat Govt are winning this sales pitch and we have no spokesman, or in NZEI's case no spokesperson or significant politically correct minority spokesperson.

Just to ruin my argument the media will look for a spokesperson, and those plonkers at the union and federation will get up there and encourage colleagues to mumble mumble.

Still it was a good idea, thanks Invercargill, let me know if all your schools are going to send them back, I will look at getting a big envelope ready.

Rebels Mavericks and Tank Herring

So my mate Tank didnt beat his battle with cancer. Tank was a really good coach, a very sharp selector, he had great knowledge of scrummage, his attention to detail was excellent. He also built loyalty, encouraged players, and learnt from his mistakes. His gruff nature and piss taking was exactly what players loved, his generosity endless, and relentless pursuit of winning (shit he hated losing) was admired.

So Tank was never going to be selected as the Auckland Coach, or any other high profile coaches job. Tank was too rough round the edges, too frank, too grumpy, too innovative!

This resonates for me in leadership in education.

We have these mavericks in our schools, probably a lot like Tank, but they aren't celebrated.

When we look for people to motivate and lead our leaders we look elsewhere, in the universities, overseas.

We look for someone else, anyone else, we bring in australians, americans, poms, we get advice from those who speak eloquently, who wear nice suits, who have a slick presso and a nice sales pitch.

We actually need to hear from kiwis, people in the job, those who are making it happen, Bruce Hammonds wrote a good blog about Perry Rush, and Mike left a very true comment.

Rebels, mavericks, the GPC, they are out there, I'm gonna run a conference for all the nutters out there in 2010, and we will put all those principals in one room- imagine that.

Its Simple

Is it just me or are schools/NZers too serious. We have the responsibilities for the future of children, we have to mark all this stuff and collect everything, and collate everything, dont forget all that inquiry learning and copious amounts of meetings. Ok, all of that stuff occurs in nearly every school but I just cant stop thinking that people are over analysing everything, looking for work and angles to make life difficult. All of the best teachers are motivators and relationship builders, all of the best leaders are the same. Its that simple.

If you want to take things seriously as a teacher/leader then work on relationships with your peers, parents and kids, when you have those ducks in line the learning has a place to grow. It is the water and fertiliser. If you dont have relationships and motivation you just have a plant and your fingers crossed.

Newspapers from truth to crap in ten years!

For years when I was smaller, littler, and a much younger Podgorani I carried the news of the world to the doorstep and hospital bed of many. As a herald boy I had the delivery of truthful information in my reliable hands for many years. The herald was gold, the truth, the bible, what was written was indisputable. Back in those clean white days the only paper that dared to flirt with scandal was ironically "the truth" it was the tabloid of the day, with its page three girl and its scandalous headlines.

Oh how times have changed, check out this crap from the herald this morning. Residential school Westbridge had 24% of its students not achieve average progress in reading (did 76% therefore achieve average progress). The school is focussing too much on behavior and not enough on achievement and it needs to close. This is just absolute crap. Pick the worst behaved 25 boys from Taupo to Cape Reinga, place them in one secure (prison) environment and then judge the school on achievement! How about judging them on who can sit at the dinner table and have a conversation without a fight starting, or verbal abuse being thrown about. Give these teachers medals, give the principal a medal and shut up NZ Herald you are a pack of tossers. They lazily read an article leaked to them by some politician looking for political gain, and sensationalized it for a headline doing irreparable damage to an honourable Principal and dedicated staff. They could have found out the real truth, taken a day to look at life in a school behind bars and seen first hand how much, skill, passion and aroha is delivered by dedicated teachers who teach in the most thankless job in NZ, now there's a story.

A colleague wrote in a blogpost that the national standards are a joke and that why don't we just start fudging test results and send in fake scores. There were other sarcastic remarks and it was written totally tongue in cheek. The wonderful paper the Dominion Post found out about the post and then made a song and dance about about faking scores. Maybe they should have made the effort to contact the writer of the post and ask for a serious comment - no that requires work.

Look at Kelston Boys vs Auckland Grammar. It was a media circus, and apparently still is.

People when you get a call from the media, never ever ever trust them. They are lazy and unethical, they just want the easy story. They are the new scum of society, they are right up there in trust, with the petrol companies, and banks.

Graham Henry I thought you were going a bit nuts, but now I see with clarity the media are scum sucking mud rakers, and you actually haven't changed, apologies Ted. p.s don't consider steven donald he's crap.

A Cognitive Psychological Tool.

I needed a really intelligent title to this blog, and you got it.

Scenario

teacher: As a teacher you keep asking a question of your principal, its a difficult question to answer but its bloody important. The principal agrees with you saying "I know, I know, its a difficult one" and then they do nothing. You ask again, and have a good chat about it again, at a time when the Principal seems ready to be approached. Again nothing happens, its too hard so it gets ignored, so you stop asking, BUT you don't stop caring.

principal: Here is what you thought the first time they asked that question: This is a massive can of worms, one that I'm not sure is the highest priority, but it is important. You also know that answering this question will require very uncomfortable conversations with long serving staff, and it will require courageous conversations, consultation with lots of people and a long sustained process. You kind of think, I might park this puppy until it really has to be faced.

teacher: your cant give up caring, and you don't want to stop asking.

how do we solve this problem ? try Johari Window ?

@mumbleboy introduced a very nice tool to analyse leadership in our school and for others to feel that they can be open and honest without slamming a hammer on our already fragile personalities. This was really helpful and one that can help with the scenario above as it enables people to tell you whats in your blind area. The Johari Window was devised in 1955 and really is worth a read and for those of you who are brave enough, to experiment with. We all have blind areas that we just dont see, and everyone else can see it. How many passes does the team in white make. Have a read - follow the links, google it yourself, it could be quite powerful.

Even just thinking about your blind spot for yourself as a teacher, leader, dad, mum, or whatever, it's worth considering.