AirPods, Pumpkins, and the Gift of Connection

From Awkwardness to Awareness

Lately, I have been leaning into the ideas and work of Vanessa Van Edwards. She was recommended to me by a friend when I shared a personal challenge: feeling unsure about how to confidently share my ideas. We talked about how frustrating it is can be when people with great ideas are overlooked, while those with more charisma (or Woo, as Gallup StrengthsFinder puts it) seem to rise to the top. Enter Vanessa Van Edwards. I think this is part of her life's mission! 

As a self-described "recovering awkward person" Vanessa has so many inspirational ideas to share - from understanding the cues that we use, to gifting others with feel-good hormones through our interactions. I can listen to her book (yes, I'm an audiobook person) or watch her Diary of a CEO appearances over and over, and still find a gem to take away.

An AirPods Experiment

One of her recent comments was about how AirPods impact our connection with others. This prompted me to consider whether wearing my AirPods (which I often do) could be getting in the way of meaningful interactions. I decided to put it to the test.

Today, while doing the grocery shopping, I left my AirPods at home and opened myself up to interaction. It didn't take long. 

As I reached for a pumpkin, I heard someone talking beside me. I looked up to see a woman, slightly embarrassed at being caught talking to herself. 

"You feel a bit crazy when you realise you're saying things out loud," she said. 

I chuckled and told her about the AirPods theory - and we shared a moment of laughter. A moment of connection. 

That moment became even more special when we both turned up at the same register, and she said, "You look familiar." Turns out I taught her son six years ago, back when he was in Year 5. She filled me in on how he's doing, which was genuinely lovely to hear.

What I Would Have Missed

I think we both walked away from that exchange with a bounce in our step. It was a moment of recognition and warmth that could otherwise have been missed, drowned out by a podcast or shielded behind the comfort of headphones. It reminded me that there are opportunities like this all around us, but we have to make ourselves reachable to find them. 

Vanessa's work is helping me think differently about how I show up in the world - how I communicate and how I connect. There are so many small changes I’ve been making lately — and they’re adding up. I’m starting to feel more confident, more open, even a little more charismatic.

Who knows… maybe I’m catching a little Woo after all.

Back to the Blog!

It’s been a while. 

Not because I stopped thinking, or learning, or questioning — but because life filled up in other ways. Teaching, family, reflection… all still here, just lived more privately for a while. 

But lately, I’ve felt the urge to write again. Not to declare expertise, but to share thoughts in progress. To raise some questions. To stay connected to the part of me that makes meaning through words. 

If you’ve found your way here, welcome. There’s no big campaign or relaunch — just me, returning to this space when I can, to capture what I’m learning, noticing, and wondering about. 

I'm sure there are some things that need revamping and cleaning up on this site, and hopefully I will get to those. But for now, I am here sharing what it is to be me.

 

My Journey with ISTAA Experienced Teacher Accreditation #7

You know when you get busy doing life and then discover something that really needs to be made a priority? Well this post is just that. 

When I wrote the last instalment, after failing accreditation, I thought that the story of my experience had finally come to an end. Of course, I wasn't thinking that I would one day be writing again after passing accreditation. I don't think I was willing to believe that would be possible until it actually happened. 

It is now January 2022, and I was actually awarded my Experienced Teacher Accreditation Certificate in December of 2020. But still accreditation plagues my mind. Throughout the most recent attempt I felt anxiety every time my thoughts drifted to the accreditation. When I think of it now, it's with relief, but it still brings to mind those painful emotions. By my reading of our new MEA, I don't think I would have been required to do it under this new agreement, given that I started prior to 2003 and have MANY years of teaching experience! 

But it's done now. 

Choosing an Approach

The second time around, I did the Standards Based Approach rather than the Action Research Approach. I know that in some of my earlier posts I raved about the Action Research Approach due to the learning I gained from the experience. My commendation now has changed because I realise that the tight requirements of accreditation are not conducive to the learning experience that comes from action research. Part of action research involves taking risks and embracing failure. If you want a great learning experience, do action research. If you want to demonstrate your competence, do accreditation. In my opinion, the two should not run side-by-side. 

Planning and Guidance

Having chosen the approach I would take, I planned out what I would use and started collecting early. I was VERY specific with pointing out the evidence and explaining this in my annotations. I also worked closely with the staff member at our school responsible for accreditation. I was upfront and honest with him, explaining my experience, my concerns and my fears. He took on the responsibility of being my supervisor. We met together fortnightly before COVID to keep me on track and ensure that my documentation was thorough enough. More than ever before, I was open to feedback and willing to make any suggested changes. 

Time Management

While it caused me great anxiety, I fought through whenever I had a good chunk of time, and worked to make things easier to come back to when I had small pockets of time available. Fortunately I scheduled my observation lessons at the end of 2019 and the first few days of 2020, so by the time COVID hit, I had already finished these. Due to the challenges of COVID, we had the option of extending the deadline. Initially I intended to take this option, so that I wouldn't get caught out by a mad rush to finish up. However, my supervisor assured me that I would be okay to hand it in earlier, thus finding out my results before Christmas. This made sense as I had all my evidence and was mostly through writing my annotations, and just needed to finish up a few things and get the Head of School Report. 

Being Thorough

I really went over everything with a fine-tooth comb, using the checklists they gave to make sure I had covered EVERYTHING! My supervisor also went over everything and was responsive to my panicked emails seeking clarification. Never in my life prior to this had I been so thorough. By the time I handed it in, I couldn't find fault with anything. 

And I passed with no need to resubmit. This was an incredible relief. 

What I learnt

Through this experience I've learnt that there are times when perfection is required. Times where I have to go above and beyond to ensure I have been thorough in meeting and demonstrating requirements. Times when I have to make sure that what seems logical in my head is spelled out clearly and explicitly for others. I've learnt that I can draw on the expertise of others for feedback along the way rather than trying to do things all on my own. And I've learnt that I can recover from my failures, but the memory of them probably won't pass! My self-confidence definitely took a hit from this failure. I didn't realise how much so until last year when, having finally conquered this challenge, my confidence seemed to lift again. I think on some level I was worried that I wasn't worthy of being an Experienced Teacher after all. That my skills weren't up to it, and that it was not just accreditation that I was failing, but my whole career! While that wasn't always on my mind, there definitely were times that I doubted myself. 

These days I have friends doing their accreditation, and the main advice I have is: 

1. Don't do the Action Research method. 
2. Get started early and plan what you will use. 
3. Be thorough and explicit when showing your evidence and writing annotations. 
4. Keep checking with their documentation to make sure you are within the guidelines. 
5. Get feedback from someone who knows the process well.

My Journey with ISTAA Experienced Teacher Accreditation #6

Unfortunately this journey didn't have a happy ending. It fact, it feels like my biggest fail yet. While I was putting everything together, it felt like I was on track, however I failed to meet most of the descriptors according to the criteria the AIS had, and once I failed I had no means for resubmitting. My disappointment over this has been a real struggle for me. Usually if I've failed at something there has been something I could do about it to recover it. I tried everything I could think of here, but it has come to the point where I just need to let it go, learn the lessons and move forward.

I'm taking a year off accreditation and then will reapply at the end of 2018, but this time will choose the Standards Based Approach. I hope to try action research again, but not in an assessment capacity, and only if I have someone to walk with me through the process. I think I bit off more than I could chew.

I still believe, however, that there were many positives that came from my attempts at action research around Growth Mindset, formative assessment and feedback this year. Personally it has helped me to deal with the setbacks better (including this one!) and has greatly improved the relationships I have with the students I teach. In my opinion - though difficult to prove - students academic results have improved as a result of the actions I put in place - be that related to growth mindset, formative assessment or feedback.

My Journey with ISTAA Experienced Teacher Accreditation #5

Wow! The past year has been crazy busy as I have worked through the Experienced Teacher Accreditation as well as working on my Masters of Educational Leadership. I've thought about blogging a few times, but just haven't had the time or head space at the end of the day. Now, having reached the end of my accreditation, I thought it a good time to tie up the loose ends here.

Overall
My overall evaluation of the Experienced Teacher Accreditation - Action Research Pathway, was that it was a very worthwhile use of time and excellent professional learning. I went into it hoping to make good use of the year and hopefully learn along the way. I knew I needed to do the accreditation, but I didn't want to spend the year just trying to tick things off a list of descriptors. The action research pathway was the answer to this.

The Challenges
There are many elements to juggle within the Action Research Project, and it takes some time to get your head around it all. You still need to be ticking off descriptors and collecting evidence throughout the year AND it should be related to the action research project. I found myself second guessing myself a lot throughout the process and not really sure if I was on track. There were no success criteria or word counts or any other guide for what was required for parts like the Description, Analysis and Evaluation. I'm hoping I got there in the end, but won't be surprised if I need to revisit some things in order to get final approval.

Going in I didn't really know much about action research, and I still feel a little in the dark about that. I ended up finding some readings through my university which helped to clarify a few things, particularly as I came to the analysis stage. I struggled to understand whether I needed "hard" proof of my findings, or whether it was about interpretation. I feel I ended up with a little of each just to be on the safe side.

My Project
For my project I investigated the impact of Growth Mindset on Year 1 students' academic achievement through formative assessment and feedback. I felt that Growth Mindset coaching would make students more receptive to feedback, resulting in improved outcomes. I used Class Dojo videos as the stimulus for discussion in mini lessons and then followed through with Growth Mindset feedback and statements. I also used parts from "The Growth Mindset Coach" by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley. Following on from this I worked with students on giving and receiving feedback.

Results of my Action Research
I used a Mindset questionnaire at the beginning and end of the project to determine how students' thinking changed throughout. It also showed me students with a tendency toward a fixed mindset, making it easier for me to target them with individualised coaching when they were struggling with a difficult task or unwilling to attempt something challenging. The results from this questionnaire showed that students had shifted toward a growth mindset during the project.

I also looked at students' academic progress during this period and found that their reading levels improved by a greater rate than my class during the same period last year. At the end of the year I will have some comparison data for spelling as well.

Beyond the quantitative results, there were also the experiences of the students in the class. I selected some case studies and found that there were significant results amongst students who began in the lower quarter of the class. For example, one made significant progress throughout the project and was bumped up to a higher level for spelling, reading and maths, and he rose to the challenge each time. Another made HUGE gains with his reading, going from a PM level 10 to 27 in just six months. These results suggested to me that while all students benefited and improved, those who were lower performing and also had elements of fixed mindset had the most to benefit from the program.

I had thought that it would be through feedback that improvement would be made, but now I think that the change in mindset actually impacted in many ways:

• students were interested in feedback and could see that it was to help them learn
• students wanted challenging tasks and were happy to put in the effort to learn
• students realised that they could actually do things if they just stuck at it
• students felt free to engage and contribute ideas, knowing that they wouldn't be shunned if they made a mistake
• as their teacher I didn't give up when they persisted with bad habits, but rather kept working at it with them, knowing that they can change - even if it takes longer.
• I got better at giving immediate feedback when I could see there was a problem, or making a note to return to it soon.
• I enlisted the help of parents to work on some things when the class had moved on to something else
• I made an effort to cater for all students - providing a challenging task for all - even when this made things less streamlined and comfortable.

Going Forward

Having been down this path, I'm afraid I can't go back. I'm hooked! From here on in, I know the Growth Mindset will be a part of who I am and how I teach. I will also continue to work on improved formative assessment and feedback to complement the Growth Mindset coaching and ensure that all students are pushing toward their potential.