A day of exploration. What does it mean to know a city and what stories does a city have to tell?

A day of cultural and historical immersion. The Auckland Historical and War Memorial Museum provided a look at the rich cultural and natural history of New Zealand.

The Maori cultural performance was in a small theater, and we could truly appreciate the beauty in the performers' fluid movements and chanting that made you want to stand up and join them. As we toured the museum with a guide, I kept catching myself comparing what I was seeing to what I thought that I knew about Pasifika culture from Disney's "Moana." What a stark reminder that our first impressions of "other peoples" seep into us from all directions, and we need to learn from authentic voices, not commercial ones! - J.M.

First day of school visits. What does student learning look like in New Zealand and what values and practices shape that learning?

The schools that we visited had open, flexible learning spaces with no teacher desks and many high-low, structured-soft seating areas for learners (we didn't see the word "student" anywhere!). Learners even were barefoot if they chose to be! We wondered to what extent giving learners control over their learning spaces supports a pedagogy that focuses on learners self-directing their learning. Could this pedagogy be successful in our single-cell classroom buildings? - J.M.

Pointing: The foundation of a successful flexible learning environment is two-fold: courage and trust. School leaders and community members must first be brave. Change-makers must be brave enough to "take things away" in order to achieve new goals. Schools must avoid the mistake of simply adding more as they strive to create meaningful, positive, and sustainable change for all of their learners. To achieve these new goals, schools must also have a hierarchy of trust, ranging from the trust between the community and the school to the trust between the student and the teacher. Trust exists "where there is an alignment of beliefs." To ensure trust, all members of the school community must share a common set of values and beliefs about education, and that will ultimately determine the buy-in and success of new initiatives and sustainable change. However, courage is also the ability recognize when beliefs don't align and accept that some members of the community may not be a good fit for the school's new trajectory. - M.R.

Second day of School Visits. What does it look like to create a school community and culture of agency, curiosity, and hilarity?

Pursuing: "Agentic learning" is about teaching how to learn, rather than what to learn. The lines between teacher and student fade and the power dynamic shifts. All become learners with the teachers becoming experienced learners who are engaging with novices, while still allow both to learn from one another. What do these new values, initiatives, and learning environments mean for the traditional teacher aka the Sage on the Stage, the facilitator, and the learning manager? Is there room for these previous models of education in this paradigm shift of learning? - M.R.

Third Day of School Visits. "Flexible learning is not about Freedom, it's about Negotiation."

Believing: All levels of learning seem to require different approaches and so a flexible learning environment must be responsive to the individual needs of each member of the community. "Innovative practice is not trendy." To really know learning and education one must look at the research, establish values, and actively engage with each learner. The most common values expressed by multiple schools included, relationships, innovative practice, authentic learning, collaboration, and personalized learning. These beliefs and practices are applicable to all members of the community and so teachers are encouraged and often required to inquire and reflect on their own beliefs and practices. However, the ability to do this often comes from having leaders who are "warm and demanding," and dedicated to making time to consistently engage and provide meaningful feedback. - M.R.

Pursuing: Students remain with the same teacher for 2-3 years in order to build up rapport and trust. What would this look like in a middle school and high school environment? Would shifiting to a team teaching model and re-shaping the traditional model of discipline-specific classrooms improve learner engagement and outcomes? - M.R.