PRACTICE - Changes in Practice

Week 32 - Activity 8 / PRACTICE - Changes in Practice

The last 32 weeks of Mindlab has challenged and broadened my understanding of education and the wider world more than I ever imagined. I have experienced many highs and lows, constantly in a state of Yin and Yang.  Working in a teaching environment that has seen rapid change over the past 18 months, from teaching a new year level, walls coming down (literally), new procedures and systems and plenty of uncertainty has been difficult.  Mindlab has enabled me to become more ‘open minded’ and supportive of colleagues who have struggled to embrace the many changes. It has made me more empathic towards by colleagues and students because I now understand the stresses. What has undoubtedly kept me afloat is collaboration.  This was reinforced with the introduction of  21st Century Learning Skills (ITL Research, 2012) early in the course.  The Mindlab programme would not have been completed without the support of others. Our students are no different.

Mindlab has definitely helped me step back and become more reflective, both professionally and personally.  Osterman and Kottkamp (1993) describe reflective practice as a means by which practitioners can develop a greater level of self-awareness about the nature and impact of their performance, an awareness that creates opportunities for professional growth and development.

The  two  criteria in the  Ministry of Education Practising Teacher Criteria in e-learning, in which I see the greatest change in my programme are:

Criteria 4: Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional personal practice.  Mindlab has definitely ticked this box.  I have learnt about social-media and how this can be incorporated into learning programmes.  It is important to understand that we don’t have all the answers all the time.  My interdisciplinary connective map highlighted the many networks of people and organisations that are available to support our professional learning journey.  Learning about best practice which has been backed up by professional readings has set the foundations for my future teaching practice.   

Criterion 7 : Promote a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment.  I think over time I have been slowly sucked into a more data driven programme.   As the learner and not the teacher this year, personal experience (Mindlab) has helped refocus me.  Throughout the year, I found the face to face sessions supported how I learnt, access to Google + community,  online Mindlab weekly reading tasks, Mindlab CoP group, and working collaboratively with a colleague really beneficial. Osterman and Kottkamp’s (1993, p.14) identify theory and practice are integral and central considerations, and theory includes ideas derived both from formal research and from personal experience. This has allowed me to look at what is the best way to create a greater level of collaboration with my students. By incorporating STEAM activities, coding, Buddy classes and using Seesaw has helped create a more balanced and creative learning environment which has been supported with research.

Where to from here?  As in the past, my focus is always my students.  First and foremost is building relationships with them and colleagues.  Consolidating what I have learnt by using the SAMR model, I want to continue looking at ways to weave more STEAM activities and digital technology across the curriculum.  This will ensure I am meeting the needs of 21st century learners.  Empowering students to be anything they want to be and for me to keep evolving and learning.   

  

References:

Ministry of Education (nd). Practising teacher Criteria and e-learning. Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/

Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators. California. Cornwin Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files.

Research. I. (2012). 21CLD Learning Rubrics Activity Rubrics. Microsoft Partnership Learning.

Interdisciplinary connection map

Sunday, 29th October

Activity 7 - Interdisciplinary connection map

A curriculum that is interdisciplinary presents content, skills and thinking processes, and assessments through exploring connections among the disciplines.

Initially I found it challenging to understand the meaning of interdisciplinary connections and how this is linked to my teaching practice now and looking toward the future.  Once I understood the meaning of interdisciplinary...combining or involving two or more academic disciplines or fields of study: 2.combining or involving two or more professions (Dictionary.com).  This has helped me understand my specific role.  

My Coggle map has also helped me understand and clarify interdisciplinary connections.  It identifies the connections that we make everyday and the many branches that connect us to people.  In our teaching profession we are constantly ‘relating to more than one branch of knowledge’ without being totally conscious of it.  Only when we make more links does change occur within our environment.

Our school had status quo for a number of years.  With the appointment of a new Principal toward the end of last year there has been rapid change to ‘catch up’ with 21st century learning practice.  We are moving away from the traditional style of teaching toward FLS and collaborative teaching.  Online communities, professional development, more research on student learning and teaching methods has widening my experiences beyond my classroom and school community.  Mindlab has been a significant part of my reflective practice. This has made me a more informed teacher.  

My goal and focus is to work collaboratively with other teachers in a new FLS and to develop the concept of ako where the student and teacher learn from one another as well as drawing whanau into the learning.  

Keown, Parker, and Tiakiwai, 2005, p.12 ...in a reciprocal learning relationship teachers are not expected to know everything. In particular, ako suggests that each member of the classroom or learning setting brings knowledge with them from which all are able to learn.

This quote is relevant to both students and teachers (teachers are also learners).  Through collaboration, it also can create an enthusiasm which Jacobs explains would not happen in isolation.   This is supported in the video Interdisciplinarity and Innovation Education which identifies the need for shared language and using experts in other fields.    

The first step is the recent change to the physical environment, with a wall between the next door classroom being removed.  This is just a small piece of the puzzle.  Being in the early stages of working closely with a team of other teachers means that our teaching pedagogy needs to be similar.  With access to a wider online community it will help us identify some of the pitfalls to avoid.  Teachers engaging with other teachers and communities can see other practices that are relevant.  

A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration is an excellent example of a model that has worked.  This will be a good place for our team of teachers to begin the evolving journey of working collaboratively.  Small steps, communication and reflection will be key to successful teaching.  Ultimately, students at the heart of what we do is paramount.        

References:

Mathison, S. & Freeman, M. (1997). The logic of interdisciplinary studies. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL. Retrieved from: http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/mathisonlogic12004.pdf

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

Using social media in the Classroom

Monday 14th October

Activity 6: Using social online networks in teaching or professional development

Creative Commons Image
When I  reflected on this week's Blog topic about using social media in my classroom I considered myself to be a laggard!  Once I began looking for images relating to social media it was reassuring to know that I engaged in different forms, both professionally and personally, more than I expected.

I enjoyed watching ‘Inviting the World into the Classroom using Blogs and Twitter’ because it was based around teaching 6 and 7 year olds, same year I teach.  The teacher made a very valid point that these students have been brought up with the internet and their parents have ipads, iphones and digital tools.  As teachers, of 21st century students we need to make social media available to them at school.

My biggest concern using social media in the classroom is internet safety.  I take my responsibilities as a teacher seriously, as outlined in the NZ Education Council  PONO: showing integrity by acting in ways that are fair, honest, ethical and just.  If something inappropriate was uploaded or an image of a child that has a social media ban was used, the consequences could be far reaching.  However, on the flip side of that the Sean Lyons from Netsafe talks about how social media can be a great tool as long as the right safeguards are in place.

As I already touched on in my previous Blog, I use Seesaw as a social media platform for students to share their work and for me to message parents and whanau.   My next step is to use Seesaw as a blogging platform, which will allow the students to showcase their work from the classroom with the broader community.  Seesaw summaries Blogging... as giving students an authentic audience, their classmates, parents and other students around the globe, encouraging better work and providing opportunities for real feedback.  This will also eliminate the risk of any internet safety concerns as it only goes to the immediate family, also I need to approve any work, videos, photos that need to be uploaded.   

Social media comes with many challenges and pitfalls, however the benefit of connected classrooms and the powerful learning opportunities engaging with other students from around the world provides many opportunities for 21st century students.  As teachers, it is our responsibility to make sure our students are taught how to use social media safety. Melhuish, K.(2013) states preparing learners to be future-ready requires learning approaches that teach students to be responsible citizens, contributors and innovators, equipping them with agency and autonomy in planning what and how to learn, and helping them develop cultural and interpersonal understanding

References:

Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrived on 05 May, 2015 from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/han.

New Zealand Teachers Council.(2012). Establishing safeguards.[video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49216520

Sharples, M., de Roock , R., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., Herodotou, C., Koh, E., Kukulska-Hulme, A., Looi,C-K, McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., Wong, L. H. (2016). Innovating Pedagogy 2016: Open University Innovation Report 5. Milton Keynes: The Open University. Retrieved from http://proxima.iet.open.ac.uk/public/innovating_pedagogy_2016.pdf

Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

Monday 9th October

Activity 5: Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

Ethical dilemmas surrounding teachers and education have always been around.  I think now, with the rapid pace of technology the issues are more complicated and varied.  As Hall, A. (2001) identified, today’s teachers are frequently confronted by ethical choices in situations that did not arise, or were relatively unproblematic for their counterparts 30 years ago.

In the 21st century many of us are now ‘connected’ via facebook, Twitter, email, Instagram, Snapchat and countless others.  When I think about an ethical dilemma it is related to our responsibilities to communicate and connect with parents and whanau about their child.   

As the Practising Teacher Criteria 1 below identifies:  establish and maintain effective professional relationships focussed on the learning and well-being of ākonga - communicate with families, whanau and caregivers.

As a teacher of Year 2’s, I consider these children to still be young and relatively ‘new’ to the education system.   There could be many possible issues that arise which requires you to make contact with someone at home.  The NZ National Curriculum aims for all young people to be confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners.  For this to be successful part of it involves establishing a trusting and reciprocal partnership with parents and whanau early on in their education.  This is also reflected in teachers Code of Ethics:  

Communicating with adults, via landline during school hours isn’t always feasible as there are many expected and unexpected scenarios during the day.  Contacting parents, whanau and caregivers in the evening, using my cellphone allows continued access to my number.  This gives people the opportunity for ongoing communication regardless of day and time, who with the best intent are committed to the care and welfare of their children.  As a result of this I feel an expectation that I should be available 24/7 to communicate with parents and whanau.  The lines are getting blurred between work and a teachers personal life.

Henderson, M., Auld, G., & Johnson, N. F. (2014) suggested that teachers create a social networking profile specifically for their professional work.  Seesaw has allowed me to achieve this.  Parents, caregivers and whanau can download the app and immediately see what the student is doing during the day.   It has recently added announcements to all families or students in the class to privately message individual parents.  This has taken away the feeling of having to instantly respond and has kept the boundary between home and school separate.

References:

Education Council. (n.d). The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers. Retrieved from; https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards

Hall, A. (2001) What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers

Henderson, M., Auld, G., & Johnson, N. F. (2014). Ethics of Teaching with Social Media. Paper presented at the Australian Computers in Education Conference 2014, Adelaide, SA. Retrieved from:  http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/session/ethics-teaching-socialmedia

Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum

Thursday 5th October

Activity 4 - Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum

The school I teach at has a roll of 566 students, this includes 75 Māori children. This number, in comparison to other schools is a small percentage, which could be seen as a disadvantage.   

I have always believed that teaching is about building relationships and student engagement.  How can anyone expect our students to learn if we haven’t created an inclusive, safe and culturally supportive learning environment?   Bishop discussed the importance of agentic teachers holding the key to raising Maori achievement.  These teachers understand the importance of learning context, learning conversations, cultural experiences and integrating knowledge. This supports students to achieve in a predominantly European styled education system.   The long term implications on disparities of Maori in our education system will impact socially, politically and economically.   

To strengthen cultural responsiveness The Ministry of Education designed a document Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners (Ministry of Education, 2011).  The 5 competencies support personalised learning to ensure every student, particularly Maori reach their educational potential.   

The competencies are:

• Wānanga: participating with learners and communities for the benefit of Māori.

• Whanaungatanga: actively engaging in respectful working relationships with

           Māori learners.

• Manaakitanga: showing integrity, sincerity and respect towards Māori beliefs,

           language and culture.

• Tangata Whenuatanga: affirming Māori learners as Māori.

• Ako: taking responsibility for their own learning and that of Māori learners.

Part of my class culture is using the tuakana teina relationship, an integral part of traditional Māori society, which provides a model for buddy systems (Ministry of Education).  The Cowie report found that for many students from Maori and Pasifika backgrounds, teaching other students younger or less skilled than themselves offers a culturally authentic opportunity to show and share what they have learnt.  One aspect of my teaching that I would like to develop is to become more creative with how students demonstrate their learning and understanding of a topic in more meaningful ways.  With more technology available the opportunities are endless.  This is supported in Cowies research which found students thrive when they have multiple and diverse opportunities to develop, express and receive feedback.  Some key areas that Cowies report identified which I do, but can strengthen further are having oral discussions, visual presentations, dramatisation, videos and producing a physical model.  These are effective ways to communicate ideas and share what they have learnt.

Our school Kapa Haka group, Te Roopu Puke Taumata is a celebration of Te reo Maori, tikanga, and waiata. The kapa haka has grown stronger over recent years with a group of 130 students taking part in this years Tuwharetoa festival.  This is the result of a strong and committed team of teachers who are willing to teach the roopu (group) more about Maori culture, no matter what their personal cultural heritage.

As a school we need to continue to be cultural responsiveness to all cultures, however Te Reo Maori is uniquely New Zealand.  I will continue to develop my culturally inclusive classroom,  Bishop (2012) factor of caring for Maori as Maori at the centre of all that I do and also extend this to all cultures within my classroom to truly be culturally responsive to all my students.

References:

Bishop, R. (2012, September 23).Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al.(2011).Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki. Wellington: Teaching Learning Research Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/9268_cowie-summaryreport.pdf

ERO 2016

Sunday 1st October

The Broader Professional Context

Activity 3 - Contemporary trend in New Zealand or internationally

Trends come and go, often going full circle in a ‘repackaged’ format, fashion is an example of this.  Technology on the other hand is evolving so rapidly no one is really certain what will come next.  The definition of a trend is ‘a general direction in which something is developing or changing’ (Cambridge Dictionary).  According to the OECD (2016), trends that are shaping, education in particular include: globalisation, urbanisation, family matters and technology.  Our future is unpredictable but looking at trends can help inform policymakers about planning for the future.     

When I reflect on a current trend in my teaching practice, technology was the first thing that came to mind.  I have been teaching since 2010 and technology has evolved at a rapid pace, creating many discussions, left questions unanswered, many teachers confused and some excited by the prospect of technology becoming a ‘norm’ in education.     

So where to begin?  I think firstly at the NZ Curriculum which outlines ‘Digital Technologies will be part of The New Zealand Curriculum, beginning at Year 1 from 2018.’(Ministry of Education).  The MOE recognised that technology is shaping our lives, future jobs, how we interact with family and communities and connecting us with the wider world.   

I don’t consider myself to be particularly ‘techy’ and teaching Year 2 with 6 class ipads  offered further challenges as to where and how to begin.  Using Bee-Bots and Edison to teach coding in my classroom was a good solution and platform to begin.  Coding, in the simplest of terms, is telling a computer what you want it to do, which involves typing in step-by-step commands for the computer to follow (International Business Times).

Coding is something that teachers, teaching 21st Century Learners need to give students the opportunity to learn and engage with.  Not only does it prepare our students for the future it also makes learning fun and allows students to take more risks in a collaborative learning environment.  

e-Learning Industry identify 4 benefits of learning coding at a young age:

1. Educational benefits: This type of education helps kids to learn the basic inner workings of computers. Kids can feel successful at getting a computer to do what they tell it to do.
2. Computational Thinking: Computational thinking is a combination of advanced mathematics, algorithm development and logic. The development of computational thinking involves considering a problem and breaking it down into single-action step

3. Creativity, Thinking Fluidity: Children have creative and fluid minds that allow them to think in a more “out of the box” way. The nearly endless ways of coding and solving problems can inspire kids to grow.

4. Job Opportunities: The current generation of children will need to be literate in technology in order to be competitive in the future job market. Not knowing how to code will be comparable to not knowing how to read.

The challenge for me now is how do I implement these skills into the curriculum and achieve maximum coverage in other curriculum areas.  I need to further investigate linking STEAM and weave the technology skills into my programme to ensure they don’t ‘stand alone.’   Working collaboratively with colleagues and alongside my students will ensure we are working together to prepare them the 21st century.    

References:

https://elearningindustry.com/education-future-of-elearning
International Business Times

Ministry of Education

NovaNews

Trends Shaping Education. (2016) OECD Publishing.

Wednesday, 27th September

Your Professional Context: socio-economic, culture & professional environment...

Activity 2: Current issues in my professional context

The school I teach at opened at the beginning of 1964 with 207 pupils.  There were six classrooms.  The school now has an increasing roll of 552, with the ethnic composition of NZ European 76%, Maori 10%, Chinese 1%, Fijian 1%, Indian 1%, Southeast Asian 1%, Other Asian 2% and Other European 8% (Education Review Office 2013).  

Hilltop School is a decile 8 rating.  This decile rating may seem high but there are families who financial struggle on a daily bases.  Deciles are used to provide funding to state and state-integrated schools to enable them to overcome the barriers to learning faced by students from lower socio-economic communities. The lower the school’s decile, the more funding they receive (Ministry of Education).  

I have lived in this community for the past 18 years, firstly as a parent and then as a teacher.  During this time I have seen both internal and external changes take place in the school culture and climate. Stoll (1998) defines school culture along three dimensions, the relationship among its members; the organisational structure including the physical environment and management system; and the learning nature.  Because of it’s central location and outdoor opportunities the community was predominantly retired and holiday homes.  It continues to have holiday homes, however due to changing lifestyles many younger families are now living in this area.  

The school is at a transition stage with a new leadership team and a clear vision for the future gaining momentum.  (Stoll, 1998) in midlife, the school is well established but needs to continue growing and renewing.  As a school our values of respect, responsibility, integrity and kindness are strongly promoted by leaders and teachers and contribute to the school's positive tone for learning.  Stoll and Fink identified 10 norms that reflect the school culture.  Many of these I can relate to as our school strives to educate students in the the 21st century and not become ‘stagnant and decline’ (Stoll, 1998).  Introducing electives, BYOD and moving towards FLS are ways that enhance collegiality and are shaping our children’s future.  This does not mean change is easy, it can be uncomfortable.  Changing mindset within the school and working with the community to develop a shared understanding of educational initiatives will promote a positive culture for the school.        

References:

Education Review Office

Ministry of Education

Stoll. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture