MIT2020 Crazy 8's - IDEATE

Session 6: The Crazy 8's

After spending one and a half days unpacking the problem it was now time to come up with possible solutions. 

We had to come up with eight possible digital solutions. After we had written these down we read our colleagues crazy 8's and put stickers on the ones we liked. 

This was followed up with a googly eye for our very favourite. 
It was interesting to see what solutions people prefer and some great conversations were had around the 'why'.

My ultimate 'crazy eight' solution was ...

Creating a digital portal for whanau to connect with the ENGAGE programme with games, exemplars and information in Te Reo Maori and Pasifika Languages.

This was the solution that I had envisioned so it affirmed my decision to explore this solution to my challenge of partnering with whanau to implement the ENGAGE programme at school and at home.

MIT2020 Connections & Resource people (who)

Session 5: The Who

This session was aimed at us to think about who might possibly be involved in the project. 

Who does this Moonshot project involve?

Colleagues- Engage teachers within my school and the MIT team

Whānau- They are at the centre of this project

Students- Those participating in the ENGAGE Programme to develop self-regulation skills.

Who am I collaborating with on this project?

Whānau

Sonali- also designing a digital tool for implementing ENGAGE in our schools

Who are my team?

Whānau

Dorothy and Matt

The MIT Teachers

Experts that may help me with the digital side of things (unsure who this may be yet)

My school colleagues including the support of my principal and DP

Lee- Cultural perspective; how to address this challenge through a Māori perspective

Luti- Cultural perspective; how to address this challenge through a Pasifika perspective

Who has a voice in this project?

Whānau

What will work for them? What will work for Whānau that are least engaged?

MIT

Who: 

• Learners - All students participating in the ENGAGE Programme
• Colleagues: co-designers, collaborators, sounding boards etc
• Experts: The ENGAGE Team; People to help me learn to create a digital tool

MIT2020 How Might We- bringing multiple optimistic viewpoints to the challenge

Session 4: How Might We Turn This Problem Into An Opportunity...

Gifting each other ways to turn our challenges into opportunities. We wrote our perspectives onto post-it notes and stuck them to each others MIT challenges.

Here are my colleague's questions

How might we...

• assess home engagement
• keep whānau engaged in learning in the long term
• encourage siblings to participate in ENGAGE at home
• foster an understanding with whānau around why their input/involvement is important and valued
• support the cultural difference in your community
• get whānau buy-in?
• engage wider whānau to be involved? Do they have time to help?
• think about what parents want
• make a non-organisational space to get together and talk
• help whānau understand the benefit they will experience in the home if their child develops the self-regulation skills through the ENGAGE programme
• model Engage to non-English speaking families

MIT2020 Empathy session - using role play and a poster do gain deeper understanding of the needs of the people involved

Session 3

Understanding the needs of whanau is going to be instrumental when it comes to creating a home/school partnership to implement ENGAGE both at school and at home. The following activity allowed us to show empathy to those at the centre of our challenge. 

Activity: Role Play

In pairs, each person demonstrates what this problem looks like when it is happening in the classroom.

For me, it was important to roleplay the challenge parents may have, understanding what is happening at school and the role we are asking them to play at home.

The scenario I acted out was a scene I have experienced during whanau conferences (a student lead meeting whereby the student, parent and teacher discuss learning goals for the year ahead).

Alethea played the teacher and I played a Tongan Parent with very limited English language.

Communication between teacher and parent was difficult and both parties had a different understanding of roles regarding education at school and at home. It showed how difficult it must be to understand what the school is asking of them and for them to know how to best support their students at home. It also showed the value our parents put in the education of their children.

The outcome of this activity was the importance of finding another way to communicate and connect with whanau in a way that they will understand. It also indicates that what we are currently doing to connect with parents isn't working.

For my design to be successful I am going to have to communicate with whanau through their own languages to find out how they perceive the challenge and what their needs are. I need to see this challenge through the eyes of the parents within our school community.

MIT2020 Tweaking and Redefining the Challenge

Session 2

Dorothy, Sonali and I came together over coffee and cake to relook at our challenges.

There were two main challenges we had identified relating to implementing the ENGAGE programme within our school. Both Sonali and I had already started implementing the programme and had similar experiences regarding the challenges. However, we were individually leaning towards separate problems.

Sonali was steering towards the digital collection of data and the practical side of teaching and formative assessing the programme within the classroom setting whereas I was steering towards home/school partnership and the challenges we have faced in this regard to date.

Therefore my challenge has been redefined as

Partnering with Whanau to implement the school-based ENGAGE programme at home.

MIT2020; School Hall scenario bringing a wide range of perspectives to the challenge ( a confronting experience for some!)

MIT Seaside Hui

MIT teachers came together at a Seaside Hui to begin work on the design process of creating a digital tool to address challenges faced within our Manaiakalani schools. 

Session 1

After a leisurely start to our day, swim on the beautiful beach, breakfast and morning coffee we came together for the first time as a group.

Activity: Role Play

Dorothy and Matt welcomed us into a 'mock' school hall to a 'whanau hui' to discuss some of the issues within our local Coromandel School.  

We were each given a card with the character we were to play, all concerned parents interested in the challenges that were to be discussed.

As each challenge was presented (by Matt the 'Acting Principal') we were to voice our concerns and opinions from the perspectives of the character we were playing. Dorothy (playing an ERO officer visiting the school) gave another level of perspective, the possible perspective of the Ministry of Education and the questions they may ask regarding the challenges we have identified. 

To be fair it took me a while to work out that the challenges we were role-playing were in fact, each of the challenges we had identified in our Moonshot Proposals. When I did it was actually really confronting to hear other perspectives of parents who saw this challenge differently to me. It also illustrated that actually, the challenge that I had identified was not actually the problem that I needed to focus on. It became apparent through this process that the challenge was in fact:

Partnering with Whanau to implement the school-based ENGAGE programme at home. 

How can we communicate better with Whanau so they can be partners in the Programme, empowering all parties involved?

MIT2020 Five Whys - Examing The Problem In Detail With A Partner

Prior to the meeting my colleagues at the Coromandel Hui we were buddied up and set with a challenge to unpack our problem using the 5 Whys Method. My buddy was Aletha DeJong from Hornby Primary.

We were to make comments on our buddies (Ale Alethea DeJong slide deck asking one 'why' at a time in response to their answers to help them unpack the problem.

Initially the thought of thinking of 5 why questions in answer to our buddies responses were daunting. However, as the process began and we learned more about the challenge our buddies were addressing the wonder and curiosity set in and the 'whys' flowed. In fact so much so that I sat eagerly waiting for my buddies response with the next 'why' ready to go'. By the end of this process not only had we unpacked our own challenge but gained a beautiful understanding of our buddies problem before even meeting them.

What a brilliant connection formed with colleagues we will be working closely with over the next year. Below is the '5 Why's' process unpacking my challenge.

MIT2020 Moonshot slide deck

2020 is a year of growth and exciting opportunities in my teaching pathway.

I have been lucky enough to be accepted onto the Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers (MIT) programme and set with the challenge of designing a digital tool in response to an identified challenge within our Manaiakalani schools. I was accepted into the programme, along with Sonali Carter, as participating teachers in the ENGAGE Programme, designed to develop student's self-regulation skills.

On acceptance, I needed to provide a Moonshot Proposal. This was an initial proposal that would later be tweaked as we began the design process.

This is where it all begins...