At the end of 2022, we had finished another round of Rongohia te hau - “the sniff test”. This comprehensive system looks at classroom observations, data and surveys from whānau, students and teachers.
Rongohia te hau finds the things in your kura that are working well and also identifies the areas to work on. At our kura, an area to work on is Wānanga - in particular making sure learning is visible and clear for our learners, teachers and whānau. We identified this as a staff, through looking at the Rongohia te hau data together at a staff meeting, that we really want to be clear in our communication and explicit about our learning/teaching. This
became our Ngā Whetu/guiding star for our professional learning in 2023.
One of the ways we will achieve this is through a professional learning model called Jugyou Kenkyuu (a Japanese professional learning cycle) aka JK. This approach that Nic Mason, our Tumuaki, brought to our kura from his previous school Russell Street. JK is an approach that involves 5 teachers who get together to plan the perfect lesson.
The perfect lesson was developed by looking at common needs across the school, with a focus on our Ngā Uara/Value of Māuitanga - Fun, Creativity and Innovation and Wānanga. When we started to plan, we looked at the lesson through these lenses and made sure we added a sense of fun and visible learning to our lesson that would support the common need to be learnt.
This lesson is then taught by one of the 5 teachers with the other teachers observing different aspects of the lesson. After the lesson is finished, the 5 teachers get together to reflect and ask questions. The perfect lesson is refined and then taught again. The 5 teachers then come back together to reflect and refine. This perfect lesson is then shared with staff and also can be implemented in other areas. It is the pedagogy of a perfect lesson that is being looked at, not the teacher themselves.
At our kura, we have had one trial of JK and the biggest takeaway is the collaboration of the group of teachers working together to add ideas, critically question each other and reflect together. We are going to implement this with all staff in Term 3. We keep our Ngā Whetu, Wānanga - Visible Learning at the heart of the JK process and learn together through talking about teaching and learning.
Principal / Designated contact: Nic Mason
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