Under the influence of Big Picture Education

Last week I spent three days with my team at the Big Picture Conference in Wellington.  To sum up, it was amazing, affirming, inspiring and challenging. 

Some big questions being asked were: Can we shift? - Shift what? – Practice, mindset, pedagogy?  Can the Big Picture Education model inspire and influence schools?  Can it be done?

The easiest way to sum up the Big Picture Education Model is that it is student centred rather than teacher centred, with a strong focus on relationships and building on learners’ interests and passions. 

The time at the conference made me feel immensely proud to be part of the team at Hobsonville Point Secondary School.  We have a strong vision, which is centred on what is right for all learners.  A highlight was being able to present our story and show what is possible for Education.  This does not mean we have all the answers and I was able to talk about being okay with feeling uncomfortable.  Every day I feel challenged or am challenging others (respectfully of course).  It is easy, when feeling frustrated or uncertain to want to slip back into what we know and a couple of key actions at HPSS which combat this are, “respectful critique’ and ‘warm and demanding’.  If we had everything planned out for the next few years, then we would have lost sight of what is important – our learners. I love how Ros MacEachern talks about the plan we do have in place, in her latest blog:

“The 'plan' that was very firmly in place at the start of this term was the vision and values of our new school, Hobsonville Point Secondary, and all the supporting structures (or 'enabling constraints') that were so carefully built by the foundation staff last year; the learning hub model, the specialised learning modules and the big projects as well as our emphasis on blended learning. 

Whilst our kaupapa is never in doubt: innovate, engage, inspire; the 'way of doing things' at HPSS is obviously still evolving although I can tell you that it certainly involves a lot of passion and excitement and, importantly, collaboration and openness.”

Back to the Big Picture Conference: Some of the key messages were the power of the learner’s voice and their learning stories; along with the influence of the advisory model – that one key person for each learner.  It was really fitting that I told one of our learner’s stories to illustrate learning at HPSS, but also to talk about how ‘Big Picture’ has inspired our thinking.  It went like this:

Mackenzie (a.k.a Macca) likes to get to school early to hang out in her Community Space, Taheretikitiki.  It’s ‘cool’ because her Learning Coach, Steve is there and he always asks her about her weekend at surf club – a passion they both share. Monday mornings are 'hilarious 'because all the staff meet to play their ukuleles and sing really loud – like they think they are really good!' Macca likes that they have ‘no shame’.

Before going to her Big Learning Module for the day, Macca, and the 7 other kids in her hub check in with Steve around the ‘campfire’ where they touch base and share what there learning looks like for the day.  Part of that is negotiating and planning ‘mytime’ for the week– a chance to sign up to interest groups, or to get some extra support.  For Macca, it’s about what she needs at that time.  She thinks it’s good that Steve helps her negotiate, otherwise she’d just do all sport.  This weeks 'cool,' because she’s working with another student on an ad they are making and on the other days she’s planning to finish her surf life saving workbook before Rookies on Sunday.  She’s also signed up to ‘sports academy’ to plan her Taekwondo’ training schedule.  She’s loving that her sporting passions are an everyday part of her learning.   Macca signed up to the ‘Expressing yourself’ Module because it combines music, food, art, writing – all the things she’s into.  She’s surprised at how much fun she’s having learning – fun and learning haven’t always gone together for Mack.

 Tuesdays are ‘cool’ too.  The morning is spent in Hubs.  This week she has been preparing for her student-led conference.  Macca’s experience of parent-teacher interviews was  the teacher talking about her.  But now she gets to tell her learning story and show the evidence.  Tuesday afternoons are spent in Big Projects – Mack is ecstatic.  Last week all the Big Projects were launched – her top four picks were all ‘awesome’, but she’s got into ‘wilderness warriors’ – the coolest!  They are going to work with the community to support local wildlife – this will mean spending time at the zoo, learning about traps – and probably wearing warrior paint! 

Wed morning after Hub check in with Steve, Macca goes to ‘expressing yourself with music’ and then in the afternoon she has signed up to ‘Construction of Me’ – the highlight here has been using the microscope to look at samples.  Macca has been learning about her DNA – and is going to get to build it. 

Thursdays are ‘cool as’ because it’s a day of Spins: Life Fit, French Taster then Choreography and movement. 

Friday kicks off at 10am with Hub Time then her NZ Kiwi Icon module -  Macca’s surprised that Maths has been given a whole new meaning – it makes sense and has been fun, because it is linked to her designing and developing a sculpture.  Staff have PD Friday mornings, but Macca’s started to come to school early because it's a great time to work on her project.  

Macca’s summary of  school:  “Cool” – why? – “because it’s fun” – what do you mean by that?  It makes sense, not in an ‘it’s easy way’, but "I know what I’m doing and why?  The teachers aren’t grumpy and there’s none of that ‘no sir, yes sir stuff’ – first names makes it feel like we are on the same level.  If I say something is boring, they want to know why and do things differently.  I like my coach, he cares, but he asks lots of questions and I end up trying different things that I probably wouldn’t have done.  I’m doing heaps and there is lots of choice, but in Hub time with Steve I’m able to bring it all together.  Steve keeps saying about learning happening in and outside of the school building – I get this.  Steve and all my teachers know what I’m into and include this in my learning – it feels like they care about who I am."

Macca is a foundation student at HPSS.  She is also my daughter, however, this is not an isolated story, but the story of a Hobsonville Point learner.  Each of their stories have common themes:  Strong connections with a key person – their coach who guides and supports them.  Learning being fun and relevant.  Large chunks of time to allow for Inquiry.   Choice and exposure to a number of opportunities that either link to or ignite passions. 

Telling Macca’s story, was a chance to show how Big Picture Education has inspired our thinking.  But, Hobsonville Point is just my latest chapter in my Big Picture story. 

I then tracked back to Opotiki College where I was a Deputy Principal. Ten years ago there was not just a desire, but a real need for change:

• The need to build a more positive school culture
• The need to address stand-downs and suspensions
• The need to address a growing drug and gang problem
• The need to lift our kids achievement
• The need to develop strong partnerships with our community
• The need to challenge our ‘most punitive school’ label

With Maurie Abraham (now Principal at HPSS) at the helm leading change we embraced:

• Restorative Practices
• Te Kotahitanga
• A strong values based programme

It was about making the shift from Relationship based Behaviour Management to Relationship Based Pedagogy. 

Over a five year period the shift was dramatic (in a good way)  - BUT questions still needed to be asked and addressed:

• What about the small group still leaving without a qualification?
• What about the students still achieving below their potential?
• What about the students achieving successful academic results but who were not engaged?
• And what about the students leaving with academic qualifications but not as confident, connected, actively involved, life long learners?

The questions was: How where we going to combine all these effective initiatives and ensure we were meeting every learners needs?

So, the next chapter started when Maurie, on sabbatical, visited ‘The Met’ school in Rhode Island.  To cut a long story short he retuned with a solution:

-       One Kid at a Time – he handed me this and said I think you should read it. This followed with Denis Litkeys ‘Big Picture Education’.

The solution:  Advisory groups – ensuring that every child had at least one key person that they could connect with.  The Big Picture Education model was the catalyst for a Pedagogical Shift.  We couldn’t just keep tweaking:  

IF YOU KEEP DOING THE SAME, YOU WILL GET THE SAME!

Pedagogical Shift  required a change in practice and therefore a change in structures to support the practice.  Along with the Learning Advisory model, also put in place was:

• 100 minute blocks to provide opportunity for projects and inquiry
• High Impact projects to expose learners to opportunities
• Passion Projects – to ensure we were making teaching and learning relevant to our kids interests.

We were definitely building the aeroplane as we flew it and some key aspects were highlighted:

• Unstructure requires structure.
• Just because staff have the right mindset, they still need support in developing the skills to be an advisor.
• Relationships that are warm and demanding are the key to a rigorous advisory. 

The Advisory Model brought everything together – restorative, rigour, relationships, passions, student centred…

So, now, back to HPSS for the most recent chapter in The Big Picture journey: 

Our School Curriculum is made up of 3 equal parts:

• Hubs (Learning Advisories)
• Project Learning (Forming partnerships to make a difference in the world we live in.)
• Specialised Learning Modules (Learning modules that integrate curriculum areas and are framed by inquiry)

We brought our Leaders of Learning on board for the beginning of Term 3, 2013. My team and I are responsible for the development of the Hub (Advisory model) and each Learning Team Leader leads a Community which has 5 coaches (advisors) with their Hubs. The work my team has done has been phenomenal and it has shifted me from ‘what I bring from Opotiki’ to the model we are developing for our learners at Hobsonville Point. 

Some WOW moment so far: 

• The relationships developed between coaches and hubs.
• The positive impact from whanau through our commitment of each coach making      contact home every 2 weeks.
• The power of conferencing and working alongside our kids to evidence their learning    stories. 

I summed my conference presentation up with what I know now:

• The Hub and our role as Coaches allows us to make learning relevant, connected and personalised for ALL our learners
• The importance of making your  Hub your Herd / your Pack  / your Flock
•  Be a learner in your Hub
•  Don’t stop finding ways to know your learners (It’s not a Term 1 task
•  Assume nothing! Suspend Judgement – Open to Learning
• Build relationships through learning conversations and high expectation
• Be  Warm and demanding
•  Track Learners learning journeys from a dispositional base (Hobsonville Habits)
•  Grow learners capabilities to be inquirers and Self-Directed Learners
• Create structures and resources that ensure rigour, but allow for flexibility and personalisation
• Develop sustainable connections with whanau
• Negotiate / co-construct LearnPaths to ensure exposure and coverage
• Don’t give up on anyone!

-       Learning Advisories are the key.  If that is the one thing a school does, then they will make a difference to a learners experience at school.  Underpinning an effective Advisory is a strong dispositional curriculum – it is already there – in the form of the Key Competencies.

Back to those big questions: 

• Can we shift? Shift what? – Practice, mindset, pedagogy …  ABSOLUTELY! 
• Can the Big Picture Education model inspire and influence schools – ABSOLUTELY! 
• Can it be done  – ABSOLUTELY!