Week 3 Begins

                                                                                                      Ideas by Declan and Han

  

the Neurotechnology and Scenario Writing groups had some great discussions today around the ethics of future innovations, who gets to decide what directions we head in and what skills we might choose to discard along the way.  Ideas were proposed around intelligence sharing between generations and cancer-detecting nanotechnology.  All very interesting and thought provoking as we looked at the possible interventions that could improve our everyday future lives.

Isabelle was the teacher while her "students" embodied "Zest", "Grumpiness" and "Sulking"

Jimmy used narration to move time along in this drama presented to show how Zest can be negatively used.

The Values in Action students were looking at their greatest strengths.  In the group we had love, gratitude and zest and the groups explored how these strengths can be used to keep our Thinking Brains in control when we are feeling confident, secure and happy.  Then we looked at how these same strengths can be used to turn around a situation where we are feeling vulnerable or anxious.  

The Future Problem Solving teams started work today on their second booklets, engaging closely with the concept of wearable technology and its implications for the future.  The problem challenges the teams have to write up, follow a very prescriptive format.  They must tie their problem back to the Future Scene Parameters (Where / When /What's the problem?), identify the issue and explain why it matters and what the consequences are.  They must write them in statement for and not use any definitive verbs...we are all getting used to using words like therefore, potentially, possibly and might and avoiding words like absolutely, end, will, and Beau's favourite - "obliterate"!

Week 2

Students from Kahurangi and the Navigator Centre relocated with me today to the library for the majority of the rest of the term. Our usual workspace in the MPS room will be receiving a face-lift which will be great to see closer to the start of July. 

The Neurotechnology crew explored a scientific paper and we practiced 'sifting' through complex text to look for information.  We found some cool new terms to inform our discussions and explored some of the existing devices that have been created with a brain-to-machine interface.

The Future Problem Solving teams joined with our three new Scenario Writers to explore our new topic around Wearable Technology.  Here again, there are new terms for us to get comfortable with as we get to grips with the pros, cons and possibilities of the topic.

 

The values in action team also met today,  putting drama on hold to explore our own strengths when it comes to the values we're already 'wired' to use, according to our personalities. The group took a survey that highlighted our top 5 traits and we had some great discussion around strong and soft traits. Values such as kindness, honesty, zest and creativity can all be used to help us navigate a variety of situations. We began to think about how kindness or humor can diffuse a tense situation or how enthusiasm and zest can change the angle of a conversation or lift the mood of a group.

I was pleased to hear about how much fun our MindPlus students had during their first day last week. We're so lucky to have this opportunity renewed in Palmy.

Welcome back to Term 2!

Welcome back to Term 2!  We have a lot of activities happening this term - the students have to keep on the ball to make sure they don't miss out!  Students have been selected for different learning contexts based on their strengths and on their availability as I work to ensure all students learn specific material and explore targeted skills.  Each Sunday, students will be emailed with the Whakaaro programme for the week to help them with their planning.  It is especially important as our MPS room will be out of action from next week being renovated, so our workspaces are likely to change from week to week.

Future Problem Solving

This continues for our three teams across years 6-8.  We are awaiting our evaluations of Booklet 1, submitted at the end of last term but the national administrator contacted me to say how pleased she was with the volume of work produced by our teams in a tight timeframe - especially in our first year.  We are focussing on Wearable Technology this term and have begun our research into this fascinating and fast-growing sphere.

Otago Maths Problem Solving Challenge

This maths extension will continue, with the May and June sessions happening at the end of each month.  We had exciting initial results from session 1 with one student earning 5/5 and two earning 4/5.

Inventionator 2021 

This will be happening for a small group of Year 6 students.  This is a new collaborative innovation initiative we are trialling this year - more will follow as we learn about it!  It filled up very quickly last year and was very successful.  Our students will be joining remotely, working through a series of digital wero (tasks) before joining with students all over the country for a Virtual Intensive over four days in week 7.

Neurotechnology 

A group of Year 7 and 8 students began exploring neurotechnology and consumer neurotechnology today.  Over the coming weeks the students will investigate current innovations in robotics and cybertechnology and will be working towards their own theoretical product launch to meet the demands of a specialist consumer market.  It's all brain implants and cyber-skin!

Values in Action

And to offer a break from the future (!),  students from Kahurangi, Haepapa and Tautoko will be exploring Values in Action, a soft skills, strengths-based intiative where we will be looking at self management under pressure, at our instincts and learned behaviours and how to "dial up" the strengths needed to manage anxiety in everyday situations.  One of the key areas of focus across the gifted community internationally in the last few years has been around well-being and anxiety management for gifted students.  We will be using drama and self-reflection to explore a wide range of skills we can all access to help us slow down or calm down, or alternatively, step up and engage in a dynamic way.  It is my hope that all Whakaaro students will be able to take part in this learning throughout the remaining terms.

MindPlus

Finally, we have a number of students joining MindPlus, launching this week in the Manawatu and we wish them well as they join with this alternative gifted education opportunity.   Attendance at MindPlus is marked with a special code for the Ministry of Education attendance registers.  If your child is unwell and does NOT attend MindPlus, it is important you let us know at school as we will be marking them as present at MindPlus otherwise.  Thank you for your help with this.

In conclusion...

So you can see, a lot is going on!  Should you have any questions, please feel free to email me - do keep checking this blog as our activities will be updated regularly - there will  continue to be a link posted in the school newsletter each week as well, alongside the library and sports blogs.

Let the fun begin!

Pou Toria