The year 2017…

At the beginning of the year, I was a focused classroom teacher who knew that I needed to change my practise to engage my students in Numeracy. I had ideas around what I could do to change my own practise and hypothesised around what would accelerate my learners.

In Term Two I was given the role of Mentor teacher for a new BT to our classroom and also was in charge of the TA’s during numeracy time across the two classes. This is where I began to change my ideas around leadership and impacting change. I had the power to change the way that Numeracy was being taught and applied Learn, Create, Share on a huge scale! It was during term two that I got that chance to “prove myself” as a leader, (funnily enough it was positivity and relationships that got me through). This also gave me the courage to put myself out there and I applied to be the Education Programme Leader (EPL) for our cluster.

In the middle of the term I found out that I had won the EPL position, which came as a huge surprise to me. I recognised the huge impact of positive relationships with a wide range of people. I truly believe that it was the conversations I had at MIT and with Dorothy that made me suitable for this role. It’s not that I didn’t believe in the power of relationships before, it’s just that I had never experienced the impact on such a grand scale. I am truly grateful for all of the support I have been given this year.

Term three was a huge challenge for me. I was out of my comfort zone and following another leader as they worked. I was eager to do things, but recognised the importance of doing things “one step at a time”. I took term three as an opportunity to build relationships across the cluster. My Spark MIT inquiry did not get the chance to develop over the term. I had to “let go” of my fantastic class so that they could build relationships with their new teacher and came to realise the power I now had in my new role.

Term four, and I am sitting in the front room at Spark for the last time. I am thinking about the year I have had and all of the change that has happened. I have learnt so much this year, grown as a teacher, as a learner and have made some amazing friends.

My inquiry was lead by a range of people after I left the school and the results show that students have been accelerated in their Numeracy. They have had an authentic audience through their blogs and have a positive outlook on their own learning. Maybe it was the seed that I planted that got students on the right track, maybe it was the fact that these students were feeling successful, or maybe it had nothing to do with me at all. In any case, I am so proud of my students and where they are in their learning.

I think my biggest take away from the year would have to be: “Don’t be afraid to ask, because if you don’t you will never know what may have happened.” I have learnt to not be afraid of what may go wrong, to put myself out there and lean on the people around me. After all, “Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.”― John Lennon

And at the moment, everything is more than okay! My students are accelerated, I am loving my new job, and I have a fantastic day to spend reflecting in a beautiful space. Life is good!