Leadership mentoring

This was a useful session -the time flew by and conversation took its own natural path.  

We spoke about my feelings of inferiority in comparison to the current leader.  Kris suggested having this conversation with the leader with the aim of becoming confident in my own style.  I realised that it's important to request feedback from a mentor rather than trying to second guess.  

We spoke about conflict in light of a TED talk I watched recently which proclaims conflict can lead to deeper thinking and thus needs to be embraced.  



Kris had some sentence starters for me which could be useful in different situations/

• Ok, I hear you have a different point of view.  I'm prepared to ....
• This is important to me, thank you for taking the time to ....
• This is really important to me, I'm wondering of we could talk about it another time?
• This is going a bit fast for me can we chat again tomorrow?

I also need to be mindful of expressing my agreement as often as my disagreement rather than assuming no comment mean I agree!

We talked about an ideas mindset and clarifying the purpose of the meeting.  Is the meeting for generating ideas or decision making?  Is there an ideas section on the agenda?  Try allocating time for social chat either at the start or end of a meeting.

Gem:  The key is dealing with the unexpected in a leaderlike way

Mediterranean Fanworm elimination programme

This week Rex and his crew are monitoring the local marinas and boats for fouling and Mediterranean fanworm. One boat is so bad that it needs to be hauled from the water for cleaning.

This is an unwanted organism in NZ and unfortunately has already become established in Lyttelton Port, Whangarei and Waitemata Harbours.

Boat owners can help elimination efforts by ensuring the hull of their boat is clean and anti fouled.  They need to take particular care if coming from Auckland as this is where the highest densities of fanworm are.

The fanworm may adversely impact on native marine species and potentially reduce underwater scenery impacting on dive scenery.  They could also clog dredges and foul fishing gear.  Initial studies do suggest impacts on species and nutrient flows.

This project is a good example of participating and contributing - a decision has been made that this is an issue and actions taken such as the monitoring programme.

What might this look like in the classroom?

Could someone like Rex come to school to share knowledge about fanworm and the issue.  We could connect this to what we know about other invasive species in  NZ. 

People initially brought possums for fur and deer to hunt.  As knowledge has changed over time we know realise that the NZ environment can't adapt quickly enough to cope with these introduced species and some of our native animals have become extinct and endangered.

With this in mind we could engage with a range of scientific texts and consider how we can take positive action. 

Tuning kids into science

Carol McHardy – Primary School Teacher –

Glenview Primary School

A lot of students are turning off science in the late primary and intermediate years.   Better engagement in science is required to create a more scientifically literate society as well as promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers. 

The Royal Society of New Zealand administer a programme (Science Teaching Leadership Programme) for teachers of years 1-10 where they are placed in a science organisation for two terms to work alongside scientists and find out what scientists do, focusing on the Nature of Science.  The Nature of Science is the over-arching strand of science in the New Zealand Curriculum.   This placement has a curriculum development and leadership component to assist with professional development at the teacher’s school.

During this seminar, I will give some background information then show you some of the experiences I have had while at NIWA.  For example: Sorting and sifting benthic animals for Marine Ecology; National Water Quality Monitoring; collecting sediment samples, working in the ecotoxicology labs;  helping with a fish surveys; taking samples at an experimental wetland; observing how many fish make it up a culvert and preparing samples for analysis.  (lots of photos)

I then connect the dots by linking my NIWA experiences to the New Zealand Curriculum and the classroom.

This flyer was circulated among the science faculty and also to the media apparently!  Ange I decided to go to support Carol, hear about her experience and glean ideas for any presentations we may do.  Dave hinted that a presentation (with refreshments!) would be good to do for our hosts.

After a few technical difficulties Carol was able to begin outlining the need for the programme, the three main components of being hosted by a research facility, curriculum and leadership development.

Some ideas that I got for my presentations are:

• a screenshot of the actual science curriculum page showing the strands and a paper copy of the document itself could be interesting
• a photo and information about me at school
• information about the current state of science and the impetus for the STLP
• what the STLP is
• concrete examples of NoS in action from my perspective and how this might link to concrete examples of NoS at school
• gems from each photo/experience
• a few pictures per slide so that the detail can be seen
• issues and solutions for teachers (why science not happening and what can be done)