Changes in Practice

Reflecting on my Journey

Wow! What a learning journey! My journey with Mindlab was I hoped to up-skill myself in the use of digital technologies - I have certainly done this.

In the beginning I felt overwhelmed and wondered if I had made the right decision doing the course. I was the only one from my school doing the course and at times felt quite isolated. In hindsight it would have been better if another teacher had done the course as well. 

Some weeks were more challenging than others. In the first 16 weeks of face to face I found I didn't always have enough time to digest everything I was learning. Over time I have revisited a number of sections and will continue to do this over the coming months, especially in the digital learning area. I always used the 2 week extension which was a godsend at times just taking the pressure off even if I didn't use it. I have made it to the end of this part of my learning journey and have found out some things about myself and my learning.

Criterion 4 Demonstrate commitment to ongoing  professional learning and development of professional personal practice.

 Being able to do Mindlab has certainly ensured that I have shown I am committed to ongoing learning and development. Through doing this course I have learnt so much that I have been able to share with my colleagues and then implement in the class. Being able to network with others face to face and then through blogs and G+ has been fantastic - sharing ideas and what is happening in other areas of NZ has been wonderful. It is good to know that others are facing some of the same challenges in their schools. 

I will continue to reread my notes and try to engage in meaningful dialogue with others in G+. I am going to try to continue to blog each month just to reflect on what I am doing and implementing in my class from my Mindlab learning. 

Criterion 8 Demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how akonga learn.

By engaging in research I have reflected on what I am doing in my class for my learners. I have talked with my colleague about some of the findings I found in my Mindlab research and we have changed and refined some of our practices within the classroom to help our learners.

 Our school is focusing on our students becoming Agentic learners - taking ownership for their own learning, self regulated learners, empowering them to have a voice, and using digital technology in all areas of the curriculum.It has been wonderful to revisit my Mindlab readings on learner agency and 21st Century skills to assist with what will work best for my learners at the moment and try new things in the class.

My dreams and goals

I have a new challenge ahead of me for next year. We are looking at Play Based Learning in our junior area of the school. I am going to use the 'skills' I have learnt in Mindlab for research to delve a little deeper into this. It is an exciting time but I am a little apprehensive about introducing this fully in our area. We have a lot of sound practices and routines that work and I'm not sure how PBL will work within this - certainly don't want to throw out what is working.

 As Osterman (1993) says 'new theories suggest different strategies that can then be tested through action. In short raising questions about practice begins a learning process that leads to behavioural change.'


 I need to proceed with an open mind.

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 on 7th May, 2015 from http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files.

Professional Context - Crossing Boundaries

INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION

My Interdisciplinary connections

I am sure that there are many more branches that could be on my map as this is only my professional connections at the moment. These will change over time.

What does an interdisciplinary approach mean and look like for me?

Andrews (1990) defines interdisciplinary collaboration as occurring "when different professionals, possessing unique knowledge, skills, organizational perspectives, and personal attributes, engage in coordinated problem solving for a common purpose" (cited in Berg-Weger &. Schneider, 1998). 
An interdisciplinary approach has more than one perspective and provides students with more meaningful learning experiences. For teachers it is the same. We have experts in all areas we can collaborate with to gain knowledge to help us with our teaching. I know I can talk to any of the people of the branches on my map for advice and guidance when needed.



What does it mean for my teaching?

As Jones (2009) states "the interdisciplinary approach synthesizes more than one discipline and creates teams of teachers and students that enrich the overall educational experience". For me it is my colleagues, some outside agencies, students and their parents. They are intertwined, all working together to improve the learning for our children. Mulligan and Kuban (2015) show how intertwined a successful model looks.

Figure 1: Our conceptual model for successful interdisciplinary collaboration

There are three parts to this successful model :-
                     -  workplace conditions
                     -  qualities and attitudes
                     -  common goals.

In my school I am lucky as I believe we have a very collaborative team.  .At our staff meetings and syndicate meetings all views and ideas are listened to and considered. We are always looking at how to improve our teaching and learning to enhance our programmes. In our staff room you will often hear teacher conversations about their programmes and the children in their class. These 'talks' at times can be the positives that are happening and/or at other times seeking ideas of what to do with those not making the progress they expect. These are informal but very valuable. The trust and common goals we have as teachers are shared without any bias. 

I have two goals for next year. One is being part of our local Community of Learning and sharing my ideas and feeling as though they are listened to and valued. Although this is a collaborative group it does not feel as secure as our own school environment. This will take time to trust others and share willingly within this group. 

The other is to bring thinking skills such as de Bono's hats, HOTS, Blooms, Gardeners, Ryan's thinking keys, back into our classroom and school. We have focused on Growth Mindset this year and this is great but as we are going to focus on inquiry and integration next year, I believe we need to bring these skills back to help with the 21st Century Skills of critical thinking, communication skills, collaboration, and creativity. 

Students and teachers will advance in critical thinking, communication, creativity, pedagogy and essential academia with the use of interdisciplinary techniques. Jones (2009)





References

Berg-Weger, M., &. Schneider, F. D. (1998). Interdisciplinary collaboration in social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 34, 97-107.

Jones, C.(2009). Interdisciplinary approach - Advantages, disadvantages, and the future benefits of interdisciplinary studies. ESSAI7 (26), 76-81. Retrieved from http://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=essai


Mulligan, L. M., & Kuban, A. J. . (2015). A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Retrieved from http://acrlog.org/2015/05/14/a-conceptual-model-for-interdisciplinary-collaboration

Professional Online Social Networks

Social Media use in Teaching and Professional Development

Using Social Media both personally and professionally is a normal part of our lives now. Most of us use it in some form or another, be it Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube, or Instagram. 

How do I use Social Media in my teaching?
In my Junior class we use Seesaw for students to share their work with parents. The content can only be shared to the child's journal when a teacher has reviewed and accepted it. Children can video, take photos or record themselves. This is a fantastic way for student's to show their learning to their parents that day and it is a journal of their learning over their time at school. 

In what ways has Social Media been beneficial to student learning?
Seesaw for me was a great tool to use to check up on children's understanding in our topic for instance when we did the water cycle. Children drew a diagram, labelled it and then explained on their Seesaw Journal the process.  It showed those children that still had gaps in their understanding. For the children they are learning how to video and take photos and what they have to consider e.g background noise, location within the class, keeping still and in focus. They are making the choice of what they want to share with their parents, what they are most proud of be it writing, art, or maths. Children get to share their learning again by talking with their parents about what they have learned.


What are the challenges that arise when you use Social Media in your teaching?
Some of the challenges is having enough devices and ensuring they are always charged, making time to post regularly on their blog and choosing the right content. Another challenge is when new students arrive in the class they don't know how to use Seesaw which sometimes can be annoying although on the positive side of this it means that other students can show them how to use it without my assistance.


The Social Media I use in my personal/professional life most often is Facebook. I am a member of a number of pages related to my teaching and often read through to see if there is anything of interest for me. Sometimes I will comment but I mostly look, read others posts and get ideas. I also use Google+ although this has been a new experience for me and one that I hope I can continue with after finishing Mindlab.

Like Melhuish (2013) said it does give affirmation of practice, advice on experiences within the classroom, new resources, and mentorship and this certainly allows people to connect with and learn from others who were previously inaccessible. These people can at times be on the other 
side of the world. As on the video of Connected Educators, posting a question late at night in one country you may get an answer from someone on the other side of the world. 

Social Media is here to stay and we as educators need to embrace all that it offers us. I think as an educator I need to keep exploring and upskilling with different forms of social media and using these in my class. 

Reference

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

Office of Ed Tech. (2013, Sep 18). Connected Educators. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=216&v=K4Vd4JP_DB8

Influence of Law and Ethics

Influence of Law and Ethics

In this digital world I find being faced with using Social Media sites like Facebook quite daunting now. It is not the actual use of Facebook but the content that can is posted and then it can be shared with who knows who. We have a school Facebook page and classes post pictures regularly about what they are doing and learning. Most of our parent community is connected to the page and there are often comments and 'likes'. I have my own personal Facebook page but am not friends with my students or school parents. My account is private but it is still amazing what people can see.

Education is changing. Digital technologies are everywhere and they are impacting on what. where, how and why students learn and who they learn from. Ministry of Education - Digital Technologies. Our students are growing up in this world where Social Media sites are a part of their life even in the early years of primary school. A number of children I know have ready access to their parents accounts and can easily navigate a number of sites - Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat. 

Hall (2001) recognised that decisions that teachers make are more frequently questioned and challenged. We are often confronted with ethical dilemmas. He suggests that teachers should recognise ethical problems when they occur and having skills and strategies to help solve these dilemmas. He has come up with a set of questions that could be used when facing an ethical problem.

What is the problem?

 • Using Facebook to showcase children's work in the class. I am not against this but feel that our students and to some degree our teachers don't realise that what they post is on there forever. There are children that are not allowed to have their photo on the Internet. This is their parent's right that they don't want their children our there in the big wide digital world at this moment in their lives for whatever reason. As in the video shared on Mindlab our parents all sign an agreement when their child starts and it would be wrong for us as a school to go against the parents wishes.

Who are the main stakeholders and what are their interests?

 •  There are a number of stakeholders - parents, the school and children. Our parents have a vested interest in their children and their learning and safety. The school wants to ensure that children have the opportunity to learn digitally and safely.

Which stakeholder should be given priority? Why?

 • My main stakeholder are the children in my class as I have a responsibility to promote the well being of my learners and protect them from harm -  in this case it is keeping them safe digitally. 

What restrictions are there to your actions?

 • I am bound by the Education Council Our Code Our Standards Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession and our schools Policies on Internet Use, Cyber Safety and Social Media Guidelines.  





Which courses of actions are possible?

 • I need to be mindful of the children from my class and posting photos of those who are not allowed on the Internet. I can blur the face of those children who are not to be on the Internet.

Which courses of action are least acceptable? Why?

 • I could not post anything on our school Facebook page but this would not be accepted as parents would start to ask why our class has not posted anything.

It is tricky to ensure that I cater for all children but this ethical dilemma for me and the way as a school we have solved the problem means that others are not missing out. Our school guidelines say we must treat professional social media or networking space and communication like a real world classroom and professional workplace. 

I think all children, staff and parents need to be reminded regularly of the 'reach' of our Social Media world and the implications of our complacency at times of this 'reach'. It may not just be your immediate friends and families that are following.



References

Education Council (2016). Our Code Our Standards – code of professional responsibility and standards for the teaching profession.

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

Ministry of Education. (2015). Digital technology - Safe and responsible use in schools. Retrieved from http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Managing-and-supporting-students/DigitalTechnologySafeAndResponsibleUseInSchs.pdf

New Zealand Teachers Council. (2012). Commitment to Parents/Guardians and Family/Whānau. [video file] Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49804201

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness in my Practice

After reading all our material for this week I feel that as a teacher indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness is when we acknowledge all our students, where they come from and what they bring to the class and school environment. As Bishop said on his EdTalk (2012) we need to be teachers who have agency that can weave together everything to create a learning context where Maori can share their experiences, cultural understanding and knowledge to conversations in the classroom.

Using the Mauri Model I think our school sits in between the Mauri Oho state and the Mauri Ora state. We have woken and are more aware of our Maori learners and their needs. We are highly motivated and committed to ensuring all our students achieve.

In Ka Hikitia is states that high quality teaching, supported by effective leadership and governance, makes the biggest ‘in education’ difference to student  outcomes across all parts of the education sector. 

Over the last  few years we have been very focused on ensuring our Maori learners achieve to the best of their ability and have implemented a number of initiatives. Our school has a Maori Achievement Policy and have based our Tikanga Maori and Te Reo Curriculum Statement on Ka Hikitia. All learners will be exposed to and understand the significance of the local community’s cultural heritage. They will each have a role to play in nurturing our local environment. Students, will have the opportunity to learn about Māori Culture, Tikanga and Te Reo, as an integrated part of the curriculum. We have regular meetings with our Maori whanau to build strong relationships with them and if these students are below they have IEP's that are shared with the families. These meetings are paramount to our caring and learning environment. 

We are updating our vision and have had a number of meetings with our local community - kotahitanga to ensure we get all ideas. Our vision incorporates our values of 

• Rangatiratanga - Respect for ourselves  
• Manakitanga - Respect for others 
• Kaitiakitanga - Respect for the environment

In our school we have Kapa Haka groups taken by a teacher and Maori parent. All students are involved - seniors for two terms and then juniors. We have end of term celebration days where our children share their learning for the term with their parents in the morning and then stay and have a picnic lunch. This enables all our students to present their work in a way that they choose. It could be written, a drama, orally or using digital technologies. 

We have parents who are fluent in te reo come in to our junior classes and share popular books.We have a child read the English version alongside.

 

As teachers we need to be using Tataiako (2011) as it will help support our work to personalise learning for and with Maori learners, to ensure they enjoy education success as Maori. The cultural competencies are Wananga, Whanaungatanga, Manaakitanga, Tangata Whenuatanga and Ako. I believe we are having robust dialogue with parents and are actively engaged with them. We show respect towards Maori beliefs, language and culture, affirm Maori learners as Maori and are working towards Maori learners taking responsibility for their own learning.

An area we are working on is incorporating a Maori aspect in all of our integrated topics whether it is the language, culture, stories or different ways of presenting our finished topics. This is ongoing as is the consultations with our whanau. For a predominately European school I believe we are making progress towards acknowledging and respecting the diversity, knowledge and expertise of our Maori community. We are embracing change.

References

Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A cultu   rally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success: The Maori Education Strategy.  retrieved from https://education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/overall-strategies-and-policies/the-maori-education-strategy-ka-hikitia-accelerating-success-20132017/strategy-overview/critical-factors-for-success

Tataiako Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Maori Learners (2011) Ministry of Education

The Broader Professional Context - Contemporary Trends

Contemporary Trend in my Practice

There are several trends taking place in our education system in New Zealand and internationally. Some of the trends in NZ at the moment are Modern Learning Environments (MLE), focus on 21st Century Skills and incorporating Coding into our curriculum from 2018.

For me working in a MLE is a trend that is still being debated whether it is more or less effective for our students. Interesting they are not referred to as MLE by the Ministry of Education anymore but Innovative Learning Environment (ILE) as this has greater recognition internationally. 

I think ILE reflects more of what the learning environments are like. I know in my school we need to call our MLE an ILE now as we co-teach, are working collaboratively, constantly evaluating what we are doing and what we need to do for our learners. Interestingly Smardon and Charteris (2016) spoke of 'open plan' classrooms in the 70's but this was dependent  on the willingness and capabilities of teachers to make this work. Some may remember these classrooms, I don't. Now a lot of our school leaders are working towards ILE classes. I think teachers still need to be willing to work in these environments as it takes a lot of give and take to make these great spaces work. As stated on tki 'an innovative environment is one that is capable of evolving and adapting as educational practices evolve and change - thus remaining future focused.' 

In an ILE students learn at a level appropriate to their development, collaborating, independent learning, working together and problem solving, reflecting and evaluating. These are some of out 21st Century Skills. The flexibility within these classes is that students and teachers can work in individual areas, shared or break out spaces . Students need these flexible spaces for flexible learning especially as we are becoming more technology focused. These learning spaces support the delivery of programmes that cater for a diverse range of learning needs and abilities.






An ILE is an ecosystem that includes the activity and outcomes of learning. It includes the physical, social and pedagogical context in which learning occurs. It is a holistic concept.



We need to be educating our students with the skills to ensure they are able to feel confident with technologies that are shaping their future. We need to be aware of the advanced skills students will need to succeed.  These include 21st Century skills such as global languages,advanced digital skills as well as social and emotional intelligence (OECD, 2016).  All of these can be nurtured within an ILE classroom.





References

Ministry of Education (2017) Enabling E-Learning retrieved from  http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Innovative-learning-environments

Knocking down walls and buying new furniture? What are innovative learning environments really about (2016) - Dianne Smarton and Jennifer Charteris in the NZ Principal Magazine, March 2016
retrieved from https://issuu.com/nzprincipal.co.nz/docs/nzp_t1_2016_

OECD. (2016) Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Professional Context

Current Issues in my Professional Context

A brief description of the socio-economic status of my community.

A school’s culture is shaped by its history, context and the people in it.(Stoll, 1998)

My school is in a rural community predominately dairying. Our school was founded in 1867 and we have celebrated our 150th this year. This bought our whole community together past, present and the future generations. A number of our students are descendants of the first pupils at the school.

                                                          

Most of our 143 students live on dairy farms with parents working within the industry either as share-milkers, managers or workers doing milking and general farm duties. A number of these are migrant workers, with a majority coming from the Philippines.

Papakaio - Place of the Ngaio Tree

Our school ten years ago used to only have approximately 5% Maori the remainder being European. We now have 10% Maori, 20% Filipino, 5% other nationalities and the remainder European. 

The last ERO report (2014) stated that we have a caring and respectful culture. New students are well supported and welcomed. This is still true today as we have more Filipino students joining our school with a number having English as their second language.

School environment

At this time of the year we are always mindful of the stress our parents are under as it is calving time and a number of parents are working from dawn to dusk and beyond. This is the time of the year that families are often stretched to the limit. As teachers we take this into account in our classrooms and the playground ensuring that school is always a safe, caring and happy environment for our students.

Our school encourages parents to be actively involved in our school community. In our classes you will find parents helping in all areas on a daily basis. They come in to listen to reading, work with maths groups, bake, garden, and do art activities.  At the end of each term we celebrate children's learning with an open day. Children are able to show their parents what they have been doing and then look around the other classes to see what has been happening in them. This happens just after morning tea and then we have lunch with our families often with a BBQ. One of our highlights was the Filipino community making and sharing lunch with our whole community. We have worked hard to have a school with an inviting climate and culture where everyone is valued and appreciated - staff, parents, children and the wider community.

Way forward

Looking at our school using Stoll's five scenarios, we are a well established school, with strong community ties, but we are always growing, moving forward ensuring our new families feel welcomed, an ever evolving and changing environment. This is more so now that we are a multicultural school and we are therefore consulting with our 'new' community around our vision to encompass all our values and ideas. With the help of our strong leadership team we as teachers are embracing this change and learning with our students.

References

ERO report 

http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/papakaio-school-08-08-2014/

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