A Goal for 2016; Instil Excellence as a Habit

Summer holidays....

Sun, beach, parks, bike rides, scooter rides, day trips, friends, family, walks, waves, drinks, BBQ. All things that I have spent my summer doing. In our profession this is the time of year that we really get to unwind and have a rest.

It is a time to reflect on the other important things that are in our lives. Family. My wife and I have spent this time with our three kids. Teaching them the important lessons, riding bikes, swimming, taking the time to read the history of a place or talk to the owners of the cafes that we visit. I am always teaching, training or educating, I just cannot help it. There is a lesson in everything and my 5 year old son, who is starting school this year, is so curious about this amazing world that he is growing up in.

This holidays has again encouraged me to see the fun and excitement in learning. There is a lesson in everything and everything can be a learning experience. The more natural and enquiry based the better. The more it will be remembered, the more it will be transferred into usable skills and the more context the lesson will have.

Enjoying the journey of growth and development as a father and an educator is fantastic. Having three kids is allowing me to see how much of their development is nature and how much nurture. It has been great to have the time to spend with these guys, real quality and quantity time.

My personal goals and challenges for 2016 can be compartmentalised. As an educator, my kids have encouraged me to look at how I can continue to make my lessons fun and engaging for my class. How I can harness the natural childhood love of enquiry to allow my students to gain 1 year of growth for the 1 year in my class. This follows the ideas put forward by Simon Breakspear and John Hattie, leading thinkers of education reform, and Andrew Taylor, the principal at The Kilmore International School; "...that every student deserves a year's growth in learning for a year's input of teaching, and this cannot happen when students are distracted of misbehaving."

Aristotle said "We are what we repeated do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit"

With these two thoughts in mind, one of my goals for 2016 will be; to instil the habit of excellence in my students and in my teaching!

What are some things that you want to achieve?

BreakoutEDUau Launch at Google Sydney

You are stuck in a room with a number of like minded people. You are told that you have been set a challenge - open this box - there are 5 locks on it. Your instructions are:

"There are clues around this room that link to the locks that are on this box. You have 45 minutes and whatever resources you have on you to solve the puzzles to open the box. GO!"

Weather was a little intense here.. 35C (95F) at 6pm. We'll cool it down at the next event! #BreakoutEDU #edchat pic.twitter.com/AkgRMZ59bv

— Breakout EDUau (@breakoutEDUau) December 11, 2015

Welcome to BreakoutEDUau.

This week I had the fantastic opportunity to experience the BreakoutEDUau launch at Google Headquarters in Sydney. 

I was part of the second launch group with trail blazing Australian Educators showing us the way; Kim Sutton, Chris Betcha and Nick Brierley. I have to say that there is no better way to launch an idea with educators than to get us to participate. Playing this game allowed me to see what this could look like in my classroom or even as a staff training exercise to get us thinking the way we want our students thinking.

This game was focused around the history of communication. The clues included invisible ink, images, codes, hieroglyphs, riddles, knotted strings, QR codes, websites and email addresses. There was so much opportunity to think laterally, work collaboratively and look at a couple of problems in a number of ways. It required persistence, group work, mathematics, history, use of technology and drawing on past knowledge.

This concept was launched in the USA earlier in the year by James Sanders- founder of @BreakoutEdu. On his website James states that:

Photo by @kehall16

"Breakout EDU creates ultra-engaging learning games for people of all ages. Games (Breakouts) teach teamwork, problem solving, critical thinking, and troubleshooting by presenting participants with challenges that ignite their natural drive to problem-solve."

From what I experienced this week BreakoutEDUau stays true to the experience that the founder had in mind. This educational concept was born from James Sanders playing the games in "Breakout Rooms" and from there he prototyped and developed the breakout box. If you are like me and like to meet the developer, James Sanders, and hear him explain the game and process of development then watch this interview.

The great part of this game is that you can use it as you buy it or you can make it totally your own. The BreakoutEDU community is growing and organically sharing ideas and clues, as well as whole games. This community will continue to grow as more educators get on board. 

Remember that it should always be about the thinking and learning!

This is perfect!

If you are looking for something new to truly incorporate the 21st Century Skills and those soft skills that our students will need in the real world then take a look at - 

BreakoutEDUau

Another Fantastic Example of Genius Hour!

Just wanted to share another amazing example of how Genius Hour has impacted my classroom.

Here is Christos presenting his genius and research about democracy. He is 10 years old and has a respect for government because of his research than many adults.

Genius Hour's - Educational Value

It has been a few months since my last post but so much has been happening. Genius Hour has continued to be a force in my classroom each week and there have been some significant development in my students over that time.

I want to share with you two of standout moments recently.

One of my student's put the forward "Dyslexia from a kids perspective." as his task. He did lots of reading and questioning. He also spoke to an expert. The following video was how he decided he wanted to share his learning from the experience. This is a must watch! He was keen to connect it to Dyslexia Empowerment Week. He has taught me so much over the past term.

Another student wanted to look into "How to develop a good soccer player." He did much of his research at home and the product of the research was a website. The web design become a large part of the learning process and he decided to launch it and continue its development. The components that make up a good soccer player are there but how to develop this is still coming. It has been a great journey so far.

#Ghana Project

My class has been on an exciting journey recently. Literature is taking us outside our own world and all the way to Africa, more specifically, Ghana.

My class has been reading the Short Listed CBCA Australian Book of the Year 2015 Figgy In the World by Tamsin Janu. There is so much reality about the culture of Ghana that my class wanted to learn more. With the power social media, Facebook and Twitter, we have been able to connect with the author and with Mr Pete Freeman.

From @MrPeteFreeman

Pete Freeman is young and passionate grad student from Illinois, USA who has spent his summer holidays working in Ghana to research and promote education for women and children in developing countries.

My Year 4 class from Sydney, Australia used Google Hangouts on Air to connect with Pete from his home in the US, having just flown home from his time in Ghana, this week. They were so excited to be talking with someone who had been on the ground and in the culture that we are reading all about and is so vastly different from their own.

Pete shared many stories and the students had so many questions to ask. This was an amazing and authentic global connection lesson that my class will not forget. The conversation went for over an hour and could have continued. If you are interested in watching some of the chat, it is online and available in a cut down form, only 17min. However, if you follow the link through the image you will see my students reflections from their learning. These are unedited and a true reflection of some of the things they took away.

Thanks again to Pete Freeman who was so willing to talk with a class of student from Australia. You have enriched their world with your generosity. My class is keen to talk again with Pete about his increasing work throughout developing countries. 

I believe that opening up our student's eyes to how truly connected we are is so important to their future. It can expand their understanding of how blessed they are. This knowledge is power and what they do with that power is up to them. I for one am excited to see what can and will come of it. 

Students Remain Ultra Keen about Genius Hour

Genius Hour Week 3 and 4

You know that your students are engaged in a task when they even do it well when you are not there.

Last week I was not able to be in class with them during Genius Hour, however, true to its concept the students quickly accepted the challenge to share their genius with the world.  The teacher on my class did not have to concern themselves with management strategies. She said that it was Genius Hour time and they all scurried off to work. 

This week they were much the same. Keen to get going, excitedly heading to the classroom after Wednesday lunch ready to find their space and get working. These work spaces are all different for each student. Some choose the regular desks. While others lay on the floor sit outside with their chromebooks and other texts, some are finding the cosiest spot possible and building a fort to work in...they are choosing or trying to find the learning space that best suits their task.

I had one student come and ask if he could listen to music while he was reading about democracy. My response was, "Sure, if that allows you to focus." He quickly disappeared eager to try it. Interestingly, he came back 10 min later and said,"Mr Hosking, I think I need silence to understand what I am reading, can I go outside instead?"

He is learning how he learns best. I could not have been prouder. Obviously, not all are cruising along as well as others. Some have asked for more structure, others have asked if I can just set the task. These are all things that we are working through.

I now have a couple of students who are finalising their presentations ready to show their chosen audience in the next few weeks. I have another student who is at the stage of filming his video for his presentation. All are working and learning.

My students confidence and eagerness is inspiring. Genius Hour is definitely worth a look at and a try. What could you loose other than some control? But is that so bad?

Education, it is changing and I am so excited to be part of it. Why not jump on the ride?

It's all about the Student Engagement!

It is all about the student engagement! This is what my week has been about. As we all know there are so many things that happen in the week of the educator, but this week was like I entered into a theme park on Monday and left on Friday.

This theme park had so many attractions that could be focused on but I am keen to share about the killer roller coaster of student engagement.

I was prepared and excited to be coming back from mid-year break. I was ready to introduce the new topics for the term, however, I was most excited about introducing Genius Hour to my Year 4 class.
My stage also had planned an immersion activity for our PBL unit: Was life the same for everyone? (colonisation). My stage then had an innovation planning day on the Friday with a science focus to allow us, as Jr School teachers, spend time with our HS head of science, promoting investigations from a true scientific direction.

I felt that my week was going to be excellent. I could not have been more correct.

Student rapport and engagement have always been central to my teaching. Always on the look out, as many of you are, for something to grab the students and make them see themselves as you see them. Genius Hour has grabbed me this year. While this concept, from research appears to be gaining legs in the US, here in Australia there are only some small pockets of educators talking about it.

When I introduced GH to the class this week I was blown away by their excitement and enthusiasm. Feel free to track how GH is going in my class through the "Idea Share" section on my blog. I am going to post there about all the trials and tribulations that occur along the way. There was one reaction that literally made me leap in the classroom as I heard it.

Framing the moment - I have finally explained to my class what GH is. There had been one small poster on our board and the students had been asking for two days what it was about. I followed the lead of those before me (Chris Kesler) and prepared as suggested with multimedia presentations, I even used the 'Kid President" video, which was a hit. The students have learned the 3 Rules that GH will run with and they are going somewhere in the classroom to brainstorm ideas. One student (JW) jumps up, a few moments later than everyone else, who have run off to get their ideas down before they fall out of their heads. JW runs to me and says excitedly, in a strong and proud voice:

"Mr Hosking, I am going to tell the world about dyslexia from a kids perspective!"

If that is not engagement, I don't know what is. I cannot wait to see what comes from that first thought, but JW has the Genius Hour bug as the next day his mum came up and said that he was "bouncing off the walls excited to learn" when he got home.

As I said, student engagement was a roller coaster this week.

The whole of Stage 2 were buzzing, it was sport day but their teachers were dressed up in 'weird' clothing from the start of the day. We were in character, the everyday British people of the 1770s. What the students learnt was that we were actually people from the first fleet to Australia. Today was our trial and the four classes were directed by guards, also dressed up, into the 'courtroom' ready for the judgement. The trial started and we were sentenced.

Student engagement was high. So high, that it all felt too real for some of the students. After some debriefing all was fine. However, while it was fun and I would do it again in a heart beat, the spotlight was thrown onto the idea of failure. I could see this as a failure, or as a set back to what was trying to be achieved. I choose not to. I see this as win! Next time I will take into account and be better prepared for this as a possibility in student reaction. However, it was great and the students are asking questions and looking for answers as to why people were treated this way and why the need for transportation.

Image from @HostBrian

A good roller coaster ends with you wanting to have that thrill back. Teach Like a Pirate was that end. Thanks to the enthusiasm, and experience of Dave Burgess, I am highly motivated to keep the thrill of this week a reality in my classes permanently. At the beginning of the week I had only heard of the book Teach Like a Pirate but had not read it and not really looked into the idea. I was invited to tag along with a colleague to a PD evening with the Pirate himself, Dave Burgess.

I have to say that I am 'hooked'. Dave Burgess was motivating and entertaining. His enthusiasm for the students in his class is unmatched. Working with some of the hardest students in his district he has planted the love of learning in their lives.

Some of the key take homes for me include:

• Teaching is not supposed to be easy. It is supposed to be WORTH it!
• It is not enough to be good, you have to inspiring.
• If you had to sell tickets to your classes, would anyone be there?
• Use hooks to engage the students and then deliver content at their peak engagement.

These are questions that I look forward to asking myself more regularly. What are some of the questions that you ask yourself to gauge if you are on the right track? 

Walking away from the most entertaining and motivating PD sessions for some time, with a new book to read and a head full of possibilities, I could not help but smile. I am looking forward to the next ride on this roller coaster.

 These images are available on Dave Burgess's site.