Mater Dei Primary School TOOWOOMBA

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Mater Dei Primary SchoolTOOWOOMBA

• Our Unique Journey

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Our Context

• 480 children from Prep to Year 7
• 2 streams of each class and 2 multi-age classes
• Full support from School Board and Parents
  Friends
• School Development Plan and Accreditation to
  happen during 2007
• Stable staff (only 1 change in 2007)

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Our context - 2

• Situated in north-eastern corner of Toowoomba
• Geographical situation 3 learning venues (2
  staff rooms)
• Very supportive parent community
• ISMT no one facilitator, all members share
  responsibility

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Our challenges

• Split campus resulting in
• Communication difficulties
• Staff relationship issues (not being together
  regularly)
• Diagnostic Inventory results
• Students/Parents very supportive
• Staff - polarised on many issues

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Diagnostic Inventory Comments from Teaching Staff

• Put into place a system that allows all staff to
  integrate once or twice a week
• More transparent decision making with genuine
  consultation of staff

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Promoting positive relationships of staff so
that professional conversations take place
readily. Shared responsibility no
blame. Physical separation of the 3
schools Whole school professional development
so everyone is thinking along the same lines
and working towards a more united and affirming
staff.
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Why IDEAS?

• Initial push - our Principal speaking with Frank
  Crowther
• Change needed within school the need for this
  change to include staff
• Parallel leadership sharing skills and talents
  from all professionals on staff

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Burning issues from our first IDEAS gathering

•  How will the program demonstrate that the
  concerns raised have been truly heard and
  meaningfully addressed?
• Who actually prioritises the issues that are
  addressed and the ones that are let slip?

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Possible challenges in beginning the IDEAS process

• Passive resistance from staff
• Perception that process would be driven by Admin
• Role of ISMT
• Awareness of issues by staff that needed to be
  addressed prior to exploring anything new

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Taking the process forward

• Beginning of Visioning phase
• Developed trust
• Gathering in a circle

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Our Diagnostic Inventory Analysisfrom Frank
Crowther

• As a staff we worked to complete our School
  Report. We became bogged down in the process and
  opted not to complete it.
• Frank Crowther agreed to write a brief analysis
  of our Diagnostic Inventory to give us an
  objective perspective.
• We intend to revisit our Diagnostic Inventory
  results and attempt a School Report at a later
  point.

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Our simple ideas

• Whole school morning tea every Friday
• Continue social emphasis prior to IDEAS gathering
• Changing time of staff meetings
• Meeting in a different classroom for each staff
  meeting (Show and Tell by the class teacher for 5
  minutes prior to meeting)

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Staff Reflections final IDEAS gathering for 2006

• I feel that the IDEAS process is valuable. Not
  only in creating a whole school vision, but in
  allowing staff to get together and talk. To feel
  valued in our thought and opinions. The
  discussions are positive steps in building a
  better school and hopefully a closer staff
  rapport. I look forward to the direction IDEAS
  will give the school.
• It does seem like we are all committed to it and
  will actively see the process through. It has
  enabled staff to communicate more thereby
  encouraging more positive relationships among
  staff. Great to make everyone participate
  actively in the process.

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I was overwhelmed with the emotion people placed
into the discussion today. It is fantastic to
see everyone come together and express their true
feelings. The journey has been very positive and
seems to be making people more aware of the
issues around the school. I think IDEAS is
part of a very powerful process. It has been a
real opportunity for staff to share on both a
professional and personal/sometimes intimate
level. I dont think we can overestimate or
begin to realise just what impact this level of
discussion will have on the way we move forward.
I sense a real feeling of hope and unity. I
trust in shared wisdom and hope this will sustain
the process of IDEAS. The opportunities to
listen reflectively to others and to continue to
build a genuine appreciation of their unique
perspectives and life experiences has been
extremely valuable to me.
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Our 2007 journey

• Moving into the Envisioning phase
• Initial discussions on Vision statement
• Introduce the term pedagogy
• ?naming personal pedagogies
• ? setting up opportunities to
• learn more about
  
• authoritative pedagogy
• ? finding what we have in
• common in our school-wide
• pedagogy

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Continuing our 2007 journey

• ISMT discussion
• Meeting with USQ IDEAS consultants which provided
  motivation and some new ideas
• Weekly meeting as ISMT
• Plan at least a term advance but allow for
  flexibility
• Suspend Visioning process and begin looking at
  Pedagogy. Let Vision and Pedagogy development
  twist along together
• Engage teachers as you would engage children in
  your classroom

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Continuing our 2007 journey

• Beginning PEDAGOGY discussions
• Each teacher was asked to write about their best
  practice in their classroom (15 minutes)
• Each teacher shared their best practice with all
  other staff
• All reflections were laid out to be read by all
  teachers as we look for a thread that we had in
  common
• This gave a starting point for our School Wide
  Pedagogy this showed us what we do in unison.
• All reflections were given to our IDEAS
  consultant who gave us an unbiased view of our
  links

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Exploring Pedagogy

• Exploring our personal pedagogy through multiple
  intelligences
• Teachers were given about 2 weeks notice to
  choose a song and a visual image that represents
  them as a teacher
• Allowing about 5 minutes per staff member, each
  person plays their song, displays their image
  and, if appropriate, uses words to explain their
  message

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Where to next?

• Continuing regular meetings
• Greater inclusion of students and parents
• Aim to have a Vision by the end of September
• Aim to have our 3 Dimensional Pedagogy developed
  by the end of Term 4, 2007
• Move into Actioning phase at the beginning of
  2008

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Some ongoing challenges

• Moving from the superficial to a deeper look at
  pedagogy
• Challenging each other without laying blame
• Letting go of what isnt effective to make room
  for what we will discover
• Including new members in the ISMT and enabling
  them to feel welcome and up to speed

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Mater Dei Primary School TOOWOOMBA