Sports-Learning Journal for 'The Sporty Ones'

I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Manaiakalani MIT programme. Although my project pace was moderate, it allowed me to explore how to support sporty students in achieving academic success, a long-term endeavour.

My project evolved from surveys and conversations to personal motivational posters, then to parallel sports-academic learning posters and reflections, ultimately leading to a digital sports-learning journal. This journal focuses on ownership, responsibility, and accountability, concepts inspired by Gilbert Enoka, the All Blacks Sports Psychologist.

The primary objective is to facilitate the transfer of athletic aptitude to academic learning, with the journals serving as a scaffold for academic success.

With the invaluable help of our mentor, Matt Goodwin, who helped create the parallel posters, I put together a journal for each sporting event/code for intermediate students. Sources of the content were from various junior athlete handbooks and sports diaries.  In addition to this, are pages for the academic subjects for the sporty students to improve in: maths, writing and reading.

I anticipate co-constructing and refining these with students, teachers, coaches, and whānau.  We have already implemented journals for Sports Camp, Netball, Rugby League, and Volleyball. Upcoming journals for Term 4 will cover Touch, Basketball, Cricket, and Athletics. 

Scheduling dedicated time for students to engage with the journals and receive feedback is crucial for impacting their academic subject learning. Sharing their learning goals, strengths, and challenges with teachers, coaches, and whānau will further support their academic improvement.

My next step in 2026 is to begin a two-year study with a group of Year 7 "sporty ones" to analyse the journals' effectiveness.

Finally, I extend my huge, sincere thanks to Matt Goodwin and Dorothy Burt from Manaiakalani MIT Staff, and Justine Todd from KPMG, for their unwavering support throughout this journey.  Fa'afetai, fa'afetai tele lava.

In summary, please find the links to the:

Parallel Posters & Sports-Learning Journal here: Pt England School Sports - Sporty Ones

Presentation slides here: Sporty Ones - Sally's Pecha Slides

QR code to 'Sporty Ones'

DFI: Session 2 Workflow

Today was the second part of the DFI - Digital Fluency Workshop that I am completing in nine sessions. Excellent, high quality material on learning more ways to become an effective teacher by using digital tools to deliver knowledge and content. Here's a checklist of what we are covering in the coming weeks: Google Certified Educator Checklist Level 1

The focus of today was around boosting workflow to turbo charge learning. We have access to google slideshows that explain in detail how these spaces work:

• Connecting with each other / Reflections
• Hangouts
• Manaiakalani Pedagogy: Learn Create Share
• Google Keep
• Gmail
• Calendar
• Tabs
• Practical: Hangout with a small group
• Blog Commenting

These are some personal notes I have made for myself to remember for future use. All information is found on our DFI agenda that has multiple links to numerous slides around each topic. It's awesome.

Google Hangout (Google Meet)

This is great and requires practise to remember it's great use.

You are able to talk face to face with a group of people, share knowledge of work from your laptop that people can view, make comments in the chat space while you're talking online. You can record and save the hangout on your drive.

I could use this app to communicate with coaches, outside agencies, meetings and groups of students.  An example of a topic would be to create an effective captain's speech.  We could share and analyse examples of captain's speeches before creating our own.  

Hangouts and Drive: Rewindable video

What is effective teaching in my area? Manaiakalani Pedagogy

• Effective teachers make the difference
• Not a facilitator but teaching alongside students and to students
• If it’s worth learning and teaching - it’s worth creating a rewindable resource. This is an example of what is turbo charging teaching.
• A new way of learning, removes barriers, creating solutions to problems

Google Keep

Download the APP on your phone. Another fantastic resource. It's a lot more than taking notes. One way to use this with students or for personal use is to take a photo of a portion

Strip text that is needed for your learning: e.g. use authentic text, take a photo of an article or part of it, press the 3 dots and click on next (it copies and pastes the texts).

Archive - birthday gift, digitise life story e.g. handwriting each year

Pin list to be at the top e.g. school to do, sports to do

How do you keep a copy of this in archives?

Label everything and archive them to be hidden away

What is effective teaching in my area?

Effective teachers make the difference

Not a facilitator but actually teaching

If it’s worth learning, teaching - it’s worth creating a rewindable resource i.e turbo charging

Removes barriers, new ways of learning - make it a life changer…solutions to problems

GMAIL

Need to set up emails to be pre-sorted as they received so important messages are read and responded to, filed and archived.
Other notes:

• Archive emails - do not delete, you may need past information
• Label, label, label emails
• Important and unread - learn how to sort these
• Use filter to help sort emails
• Once I've already read
• Note to self - tidy email inbox
• Schedule emails e.g. if working at 11:30pm at night, can schedule email to be sent at 7:00 a.m. 

Google Calendar
I currently use 2 calendars:
School Sports (visible to all - tournaments, games, important sporting events)
Sally - personal for appointments, other events

More information can be found here: Calendar: Rewindable Video

One Tab
You can amalgamate all tabs that you have opened under one called 'One Tab'

For Homework: 'CREATE'

Create a calendar event with Marie from Panmure to practise a 'hangout/meet' time.

Connect on the 'hangout' before session 3.

Face to face chats + texting = increased participation

March 2016 Intermediate girls softball team at the
Auckland Inter-Zone tournament, Rosedale Park, Albany

How do you get more children playing sport?  How do you get whanau support?  How do you find good volunteers?

There are a couple of ways that have been effective so far:

1. Face to face chats
2. Texting

In this digital day and age of multiple social media networks, it's the face to face conversation with someone, that is still engaging and effective.  Texting a volunteer or whanau directly, is what I also find is successful.

I'm fortunate, that in my role, I'm able to walk around and be available to chat with students, families and the local community.  My office is located in a handy place that's near the main school and hall entrance, the toilets and the office reception area.  It's the central location of our school where I see lots of students and whanau - it's the opportunity to 'catch up' with them.

Face to face chats with students is basically having a chat with individuals to see if they'd be interested in playing a sport, what sport etc.  I listen and try to 'read' their reactions, their body language and what they're trying to say.  Then I offer options that they'd possibly be interested in or offer solutions to what hinders them from playing.  I chat to them about the benefits for them, encourage them to 'have a go' and invite them to 'join in' anytime.  I leave the conversation to say that I'm available to chat more about it, to go away and think about it and to contact me anytime (whether I'm out at a practice on the field somewhere or by leaving a note in my office mail box or by email).

The texting form of communication is so good too.  There's always someone who has forgotten to give their parents the newsletter or they'd missed watching P.E.N.N, or they'd forgotten what the coach had said or they can't even remember what day it was today...

By texting a parent or whanau member directly, they'd receive the most recent news, given friendly reminders and are informed about any changes.  By being accessible by mobile phone (99.8% of adults I imagine, have one) is very helpful for parents so they get answers straight from the adult in charge.  It's also a good way to gage what support is needed, an opportunity to be encouraging and positive in all circumstances and most importantly, a favourable time to share how great their kid is.

It would be interesting to see how much more we can engage our students and community when the sport site is updated...

Inquiry Focus 2016...ummm...

I've pondered a lot on what my inquiry focus should be this year (10 weeks later...) - a specific focus on analysing my current teaching practise in sport and to share this evidence with the world on how that can be improved for better student outcomes for our Maori and Pacific Island tamaiti.

I've narrowed it down to 2 areas of personal and professional interest.  First, there's the sport site...using this online location as the one place to inform a larger focus group: everyone in our school and local community.

Then there's another area that absorbs my interest, the 'face to face' interaction I have with a selected group of children, like the sports council (house / sport captains) and the 'gifted' students who are in every sports team - these children that I see almost daily.  My desire is to see them become all rounded happy athletes, who embrace education and develop a resilient and reputable character.

Undefeated Winners of the Auckland Cricket U12's Girls
Quikhit Grade 2015/2016 season - Melville Park, Epsom

The second group is the one that drives my practise to become a better teacher, coach and manager.   But maybe one way to work smarter and to reach a larger number of athletes and the community (apart from the sports council & gifted students), is by developing the sport site as the hub for everyone.  A place to learn from, to teach from, to inform, to celebrate, to accelerate.

Okay, now that I've made that decision on what to focus my teaching inquiry on, I need to share what's been going on...