Space, Energy and Agency

CPPA conference, Richard Newton - St Claire School, Dunedin

School Design:
New Zealand...
Awhina - classrooms built around a central quad - could become a learning space or store room.
Learning Street - mezzanine - wide space collaborative space to link one and two story buildings.
Boulevard Design - big open space but the kids saw it as a walkway.
Diferent spaces, open space and breakout areas.
Multiple tables and work areas - seminar opportunity.
Teachers as activators and worshop leaders.
Strong element in NZ is glass - coveys connectidness, interaction, transparency...
Colour is a critical part in design.

UK...
Supersize classrooms - big spaces even in old buildings.
Innovative definition of space using sheets, fabric etc. for a cave.
Scaled furniature and bathrooms for little people.
Learning street - blocked off and private practice - no glass.
Learning commons - curved corridoors, data projector, little areas like a kitchen or work spaces.
Soft, noninstitutional furniature.
Rooms outdoors - discovery, inquiry, multipl intelligences outdoor play.
Willow domes and teepees to define space.
Lots of iPad activities that reflect paperbased tasks - really just worksheets.

Learning Theory:
David Hargreaves: Beliefs we hold, modles of how the world works

Teachers:
Lion tamer: control, do this now, keep kids busy, stuff

Entertainer: focussed on relationships, make school fun, will they like this - manipulation, busy, managed

New Romantic: unconditiondal positive regard for the ;learner and learning, student agency.
Teachers us a few of different styles - especially in an emergency e.g. fire alarm.

Michael Absolom - Clarity in the Classroom:
Control: control by power - busy, managed
Caring: control with good intention
Learning Focussed: learning at the centre, child agency

Teacher as New Romantic:
In charge of process and programme
Manage emotional well being.
Managing quality learning activities.

Self managing Learner: clarity of purpose, aware of choices making, make choice, purpose, articulate their decisions.

• self confident
• know how to learn
• self regulation
• interdependent
• in control of their own learning
• learning aware
• engaged through mixed level workshops
• able to make choices

E-Tools: 
Agency - power to act, be informes, enable learners.
Connectivedness - opportunity to connect around the worls
Ubiquity - can use it anywhere, any time.

Pedagogy - SAMR model - are we just doing worksheets on a device?  Re-define the task!
Google tools - free resources - use Hapara and the cloud.

Modern Learning Environment:
It is all about learning
-  enagagement, agency, teacher
- impossible to have three kion tamers in the same classroom

As teachers we have become settles and are collecting stuff. We need to be nomads, always looking forward to the next challenge.

Greenland in 1480AD
Metal model - as the climate changed...
We are farmers - animals brought inside, fed kelp and seaweed.
We are traders - not much spare to trade with.
We are Europeans - 

They ignored the wisdom of people surviving beside them and as a result their population collapsed. The Inuits survivied - changing their approach as the environment changed.

As schools we need to adapt to this massive acceleration of change or we will become a relic.

Have a think:
What is the mental model that guides your practice?
How are these serving your learners?
How well will they serve your learners tomorrow?
Adaptability is critical.