Below: Photos taken at Clovelly - the sea floor (right), cuttlefish (left).

On the day of the fieldwork:

• A pre-snorkelling discussion of snorkelling skills and safety must take place
• Students and teachers should to carry a card detailing procedures to follow in an emergency
• A roll check must be completed each time students enter and leave the water
• Students without previous snorkelling experience must participate in a basic snorkelling course
• Marine life must not be disturbed
• A dive flag is mandatory for open water dive sites
• During snorkel sessions students must always be with a buddy.

Fieldwork activities that can be undertaken:

• Underwater photography and videoing
• Identifying species - variety, abundance, distribution
• Quadrat survey (you might like to read Investigating Marine Life)
• Data collection of biotic and abiotic features
• Observation of human impacts

Below: Photos take at Gordon's Bay - stingray (left), squid (right)

Whole school teams provide a good opportunity for teachers to engage in ideas and projects outside their faculties. You can access expertise beyond your immediate colleagues, you can share you ideas more broadly and feel like you have an impact beyond your own classroom. Yes, it involves extra work, but other than faculties, whole school teams are some of the most important structures that enable schools to function and thrive. 

Unfortunately we have all had experiences where we agree to become part of a team, turn up to the meetings weeks after week, but feel like nothing is happening. Numbers in the team start dropping off, and before you know it the team disbands. So, how do you lead an effective team? Just as importantly, how do you ensure that you are an effective team member (even if you don't lead the team)?

Tips for running a successful team:

Have long term goals. It is often worth having a look at your school plan, or the Schools Excellence Framework to see how your team fits into the bigger picture. What is the purpose of your team? How will it contribute to the School Improvement Plan? What training do staff need that relates to your team - either for the staff in your team or for the whole school? How will your team drive student improvement?

Have milestones for each term and break down the milestones into smaller achievable tasks. Check these off as you achieve them. For each meeting ensure that there are actions to be completed and that these have been allocated to people in the team. This will help to drive things forward, so that you aren't going round in circles. There's nothing more frustrating than turning up to a meeting where you talk about the same thing that was discussed the previous meeting, or where you spend time looking for the next thing to do. This is why it is important to have something to aim for and a plan on how to get there. 

Try to have some teacher roles within the team (even if they area bit vague). Roles could include: regularly taking the minutes, sourcing/analysis data, liaising with other staff (e.g. particular faculties), liaising with the Principal/Deputies, etc.

Be aware of people's workloads and what is achievable at different times. There will be times when some people are busy and others aren't. Help each other out and work together towards your team's goals. However, pushing through on your team's agenda when people are struggling with reports, or some other pressure is not a great idea. Pace out your goals, push items back as needed. Keep your eye on the prize, but slow progress over a year is better than rushing things through, and making mistakes or burning people out.

Maintain records and keep files organised. You might be running a particular whole school team this year, but you aren't the first person to do it, and chances are the previous people who ran the team had lots of positive ideas too. Archive files from previous years, but keep them organised so that you can find things as needed. We all know that education goes round and round in circles. Something that was pushed aside for some reason last year, might be just what is needed this year. Don't recreate the wheel. Revisit what has already been done - it might need some revision or updating, but you may not need to create something from scratch. Try to keep organisational tasks to a minimum in the actual meetings - use emails, shared files instead, and use your shared Google Drive, or other file sharing system for storing/organising files. 

Whole school teams can be a great way to connect with staff, be part of innovative projects and drive school improvement. Some of my best experiences in schools have been working in these types of teams. Ensure that you balance your workload, but find something that you are interested and dig your toe in!

The Michael Leunig cartoons over the last week have definitely captured my mood about returning to work after school holidays, so I’m going to share a few goodies.

​The juxtaposition between the self (the things I enjoy, things that give meaning…) and the role (responsibilities, obligations…). Where’s the middle path and how do I get on it?

​The inevitable ups and downs of a term.

​Dealing with your own (and everyone else’s) emotions. Hopefully we only have to deal with people at irritability stage and not further down the end of the hopscotch. ​

A comment on the end of last term (and probably every end of term). Got to throw some Growth Mindset and brain plasticity in there right??
​
Sometimes my brain is just too full and there is too much going on to absorb much else.

​
​And a bit of hope for what could be. It’s not all sarcasm and negativity - just got to focus on the good stuff and the stuff that matters and filter out all the other stuff.
Here’s to a good start to the school year!

Read related article: Balmain Foreshore Project - Introduction about a cross curriculum project that I am co-leading with our Head Teacher HSIE Mitch Arvidson and several other teachers.

In Term 4, a range of trial activities were run for the Balmain Foreshore Project, following the end of formal assessment tasks for Year 10 in Term 4. This time period was chosen for the trial activities because it is a low risk, low stakes period, and enabled teachers to experiment without impacting on report results, exams, etc. These included individual, hands on activities, excursions and a guest presenter. Only limited teaching of content occurred during the trial due to limited time available.

The first full implementation of the project is proposed for ​the second half of Term 1, 2023. It will result in a separate teaching and learning program for the Enrichment class, including different content, learning activities, etc. The students will also have a differentiated assessment task.

In this trial period, students have assessed the focus area, which is on the border fo the school. They have completed an environmental assessment and undertaken field sketches. 

Groups of students undertook aerial surveys of the focus area with the school's drones. These are intended to be used by students in future year groups to undertake comparisons to determine change over time. In total, around 20 aerial photos were taken as well as  some video footage.

Students went on an excursion to Cockatoo Island to learn about the history of the harbour and the different ways that the harbour has been used.

Students undertook monitoring of local mangroves using GPS mapping, photography and observation.

These trial activities were undertaken to study the Balmain Foreshore in the context of examining Environmental Change and Management (Year 10) of Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River but could also be used for studying Biomes (Year 9).

You may also like to read some related posts:
Balmain Foreshore Project - Introduction
​Gardening Below the Surface - Operation Posidonia
Balmain Foreshore Project - Implementation

​The Australian Geography Teachers Association held the AGTA Conference this week in Hobart. The AGTA Conference is usually held every two years, and was meant to take place last year, but was delayed due to COVID.

Lorraine Chaffer's presentation on The Great Southern Reef was a highlight for me. If you want to access her really detailed case study on the topic, her GTA NSW & ACT Bulletin edition on the topic is amazing. For NSW schools this is a great option for Environmental Change and Management, or Ecosystems At Risk because it provides the opportunity for fieldwork that is relatively local. As always, her presentation was detailed and comprehensive, but also included lots of practical ideas to use in the classroom.
You can view the case study here: Australia's Great Southern Reef Kelp Forests
You can follow Lorraine Chaffer at @lorrainegae

Mick Law from Contour Education presented on spatial tools. These were a selection of easy to use options to provide student access to geospatial tools and activities. Some of his suggestions were: Scribble Maps, Global Forest Watch, Atlas ID and Earth Nullschool. 
You can follow Mick Law at @Contour_Ed
​Visit the website at Contour Education. 

The theme of this year's conference was "The Active Geographer", and the conference included multiple field trip options. These field trips provide an opportunity for learning and inspiration outside of the usual lecture-style conference and were a great way to see some of the sites of Tasmania.

I attended the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies for an afternoon. We heard a presentation from Cayne Layton about the ecology and restoration of kelp forests and related fieldwork undertaken by the team at IMAS. We were also taken on a tour of the facilities used in IMAS' Ice Core Project, and heard about drilling and handling ice cores, and were able to enter the freezer facility (minus 18 degrees) to handle an ice core.
Follow the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies on twitter at @IMASUTAS
Follow Cayne Layton at @CayneLayton

One of the whole day field trip options was a visit to the Mt Field National Park. This involved lots of windy, dirt roads and beautiful views as we ascended the mountains. This is one of Tasmania's oldest national parks and is home to glaciated landscapes, lovely waterfalls like Russell Falls and giant eucalypts and tree ferns.

It can be difficult to attend a national conference like this due to the cost and time needed for release (I pay for it myself so that I don't need to negotiate whether I can attend, because I think it is really valuable and want to make sure I can go). However, it is well worth advocating for yourself or one of your faculty to attend. It is a great way of staying up-to-date with geographical research, hearing what other geography teachers are doing in their classroom, and getting inspired to think about things a little differently. It is also a great way to build relationships beyond your school, region or state and develop your professional network. The next AGTA Conference in 2024 will be in Darwin - start planning now.

What is the aim of the Balmain Foreshore Project?
The aim of the Balmain Foreshore Project is an initiative to provide a more specialised program involving more challenge and differentiation to extend and engage students in our Enrichment class. It involves the development of a cross-curriculum unit of work, incorporating critical thinking and focusing on research and hands-on application of research to rehabilitate a section of Balmain foreshore on school grounds. The project has been design in collaboration with the Head Teacher HSIE.

How does the project use Professional Learning Networks?
The project will be facilitated by professional learning of a group of teachers through creating a professional learning network with staff in a number of organisations to draw on expertise and access research to support the development of learning activities, and build teacher capacity. Advice was sought from a range of experts in the initial phase including Jenny Newell, the climate curator from the Australian Museum, Tim Flannery from the Climate Council, and Dr Jenni Mallela from the Australian National University. In addition to making direct professional connections, staff have used social media to learn about related programs and initiatives such as Operation Posidonia, Operation Crayweed and Operation Straw.

How will the project shape teaching and learning?
The project will result in the creation of a specific teaching and learning program for the Stage 5 Enrichment class which focuses on the core subjects of Geography and Science, but draws on expertise developed in various subjects. The project will engage students in practical, hands on learning, create a community connection by involving students in the monitoring and rehabilitation of a local environment, meaningfully engage students with wider political/community discussions and issues, and provide a solutions focus - not focusing only on problems, but how students can bring about positive change and be active citizens.

How will the project address real world issues?
The Balmain Foreshore Project provides opportunities for students to engage in multi-week projects which address environmental issues in our community. The plan of the project is for students in Year 9 and 10 in Geography topics such as Biomes and Environmental Change and Management to engage in a single monitoring and rehabilitation project. Each year group and each year will have the opportunity to choose a focus from issues such as marine pollution, sustainable moorings, seawall panels, IBC aquaponics, seagrass planting, seahorse hotels or cray weed planting. 

You may also like to read some related posts:
Balmain Foreshore Project - Trial Activities
​Gardening Below the Surface - Operation Posidonia
Balmain Foreshore Project - Implementation

Action Research is an inquiry process which examines a particular problem or issue, puts a series of actions in place and reflects upon the implementation of the action to determine success or failure.
 
Action Research allows us to engage current research, but is mostly focused on improving practice in our own local setting. According to DEC Action Research guidelines the process is made up of four main stages: planning, acting, observing and reflecting. Planning involves identifying an issue, examining similar projects and secondary sources, developing questions and methods. Acting involves trialing a change in practice, collecting evidence and adjusting the project if required. Observing involves analyzing the evidence, disseminating information and writing a report. Reflecting involves evaluating the process, implementing the findings and revisiting the process.
 
While a formal action research project can be labour-intensive, and time consuming, most decision making and leadership of teams should incorporate most of these elements anyway, even if just informally.
 
Running your action research project
 
Planning:

• What issue/s are you going to address?
• What data already exists at the school level to support your decision-making?
• What research/evidence will drive your decision-making?
• What questions will you ask?
• What methods will you use?

 
Acting

• What are you actually going to do to address your issue?
• What specific strategies will you use?
• What are the criteria/measures of success?
• What are the plans for implementation?
• What evidence will you collect to assess the success/failure of your strategies?

 
Observing

• How will the evidence be analysed?
• How will the information that you gather be disseminated to the whole school or wider community?
• How will you document your findings? (this is important to ensure continuity of the gains you have made).

 
Reflecting

• How will you evaluate the process?
• How will you implement the findings - do they have wider implications? Can the strategy continue?
• What are next steps?

 
Designing roles and tasks for your team.
Explore the Professional Standards for Teachers. Use the standards to help you identify the tasks and roles for the group. Consider that while you may have some very experienced staff members on your team, there may also be beginning teachers, or those who are already overstretched. Create opportunities that cater for a range of staff.
 
Choose a standard that is relevant to your leadership opportunity, and explore it at each level. 

• How can this standard translate to activities for the staff in your team?
• How can the standards drive the direction of your project?

 
Explore the standards here:
https://www.aitsl.edu.au/standards

Use the standards and your responses to the questions above to plan out your team's activities over an extended period. Ensure that you provide opportunities for staff at different levels of the careers. 

Action Research is a great way to undertake whole school projects to improve outcomes for students while also providing opportunities to build teacher capacity and provide opportunities for staff to address the standard at various levels.

You can read about some of the Action Research Projects I have been involved in here:
​BYOD
.

I had decided with absolute certainty that I was leaving teaching and education all together. I was tired, deflated, done. Overburdened by the struggles with the system, the structures, the administration, trying to do everything with nothing, and the politics. Just done. I have been contemplating this for a while, but the idea was cemented in the past 6 months. However, this last week was a revelation. I found a purpose again. I'm writing this for the many teachers that I have spoken to that are tired, that are thinking of leaving the profession, that have had enough. Hold on.

The last few years have seen all of us pushed to the absolute edge of what we can achieve, of what we are willing to put up with, how much criticism we can take in the media, or how much support we can provide for our students (which is gladly given, but can sometimes be hard). Teachers are taking huge numbers of extra lessons to keep schools running. While this is amazing that they are willing to do this, each extra that a teacher takes results in further fatigue. Executive staff have spent all their energy trying to keep their schools safe and operational. On top of this, the general population has found this period difficult - managing acute health issues with stretched services, supporting friends and extended family through COVID, and for those in rural areas - floods, fires and plagues. Literally biblical stuff. The cumulative burden of managing the last few years has seen huge numbers of teachers leave the profession, and morale at an all time low. 

Finding your purpose
This week I attended an event with teachers across the state that was really inspiring,  helped me to reset my thinking and find my purpose again. So much of my energy and thinking has been stuck in the day-to-day - the activities, the admin, the operational stuff. Drudgery. There really is so much of it that it can be hard to step away and maintain a view on the bigger picture - to see the forest for the trees - the purpose. And without purpose it can be hard to maintain momentum.

Strategic plans 
​Your purpose can't be just anything. Have a look at your system strategic goals, (for DoE teachers it can be found here - DoE Strategic Plan) and your school plan as a starting point. If you're lucky there might be something that immediately jumps out at you.

Passion
Think about the things that matter to you - what do you care about? What do you most value? Is there any relationship between this and what is already happening in your school or region? Or is there a link between this and the school plan?

Strengths
What are your strengths and weaknesses? You can make a personal goal about improving yourself, but for actually finding a purpose, a reason for getting out of bed in the morning, it is probably easier to centre it around something you are already good at. Your purpose should involve applying what you are good at to bring about positive change for students and/or teachers. 

Timeframe
I'm a pretty changeable person and for me I will usually have a purpose for a few years, achieve what I wanted and then do a reset. A purpose can be something long-term that will shape your career over a long period, or it can be something  that is guiding you for a few years. If it is a short term goal, it might be better using this as a PDP goal for a year.

In short, find a reason to love your job. We spend a lot of time at work. If you don't love it, or at least something about it, you won't be able to continually meet the demands and keep your head above water.

Read more:
Finding your purpose in Education

The next thing is finding time to fulfil your purpose...

Getting out of the weeds
We are all leaders - whether you lead a faculty, a subject, an extra-curricular activity or a school. One conversation I had this week stuck with me regarding the idea of getting out of the weeds. I love a good garden metaphor, but I am always very sceptical of "business speak" and some elements of leadership theory making its way onto the educational landscape. However, this has some merit. My philosophy of leadership has always incorporated a strong element of service - not in the customer service sense, but rather in the sense of service to others - helping, supporting, and meeting responsibilities. Of course, I'm a believer in having a vision and driving things forward. I also understand that I need to know the staff and read their cues, and know when to ease on the brakes for a while - pulling the work back to keep people in the game long-term. The risk of pulling work back off people is that the workload becomes overwhelming and sometimes I end up with jobs that should be delegated.
 
Getting out of the weeds basically means maintaining focus on the parts of the job that add value, reducing micromanaging, maintaining staff energy, and trusting and leveraging existing leadership in the faculty, team, school, etc.

How can you do this as a teacher, faculty head teacher or team leader?
​- prioritise big-picture thinking to drive decisions
- hold working meetings. Meetings where everyone sits around and listens to one person talk, or even where everyone is talking are often not productive at all. Set an agenda, and use meeting times to actually get something done. A quick meeting is a good meeting.
- Lock in time on your calendar to do tasks. Prioritise the important items at the beginning of the week and leave the to do list for brain-dead time at the end of the week
- Find something that inspires you and your team to keep the momentum going.
- Find your tribe - surround yourself with people with a similar vision or purpose.

5 strategies leaders can use to stay out of the weeds
Get out of the Weeds

Peace Park development

A community protest was held on 30 May 2022 to protest the development of a parcel of land adjacent to Peace Park. The event included guest speakers and was attended by local politicians.

30 Trevenar Street Ashbury is a rectangular parcel of land, of 6,688 sq metres located in the bottom south-west section of Peace Park. The parcel of land was originally owned by the state government, but was given to Ausgrid. When Ausgrid decided to sell the parcel of land Canterbury Council made recommendations that the land be rezoned to open space. 

The land is currently zoned R2 Residential, but both the former owners and real estate agent had been informed that the local council intended to rezone it to RE1 Public Recreation. 

The land was sold to a property developer. 

Click to view the Protect Our Peace Park website

Canterbury racecourse redevelopment

A number of community groups have emerged to communicate community concerns regarding the development of Canterbury Racecourse. These include:

Canterbury Racecourse Action Group
​
Canterbury Racecourse Action Group - submission to Parliament

SydbankAlliance - The battle to save Canterbury Racecourse as open space
​
Canterbury Park Racecourse - Jo Haylen MP

Chubb and Tyres4U redevelopment

The Ashbury Community Group was formed in 2015 as a way for local residents to engage with council regarding the Chubb and Tyres4U site rezoning. The group conducted door knocking, hosted regular community meetings, met with council and disseminated information to the community.

​Click to view the Ashbury Community Group website.