Changes in practice

“Change is a process begun not by learning a new idea from an expert but by recognition that something is not exactly “right” in one’s own professional practice.” (Osterman & Kottkamp, 1993)

When reflecting on the past 32 weeks it has certainly been a whirlwind trip.  I began wondering what the heck I had got myself into and what does all this mean for me and my practice.  It is in the second half of the course that the penny has dropped and I can now see the path I am on.  The reflection on my practice often leaves me feeling bewildered and wondering where to start rebuilding from.  I am fortunate that as a new entrant teacher my children change every term as they cycle through my class and I can continue to refine and build on specific aspects of practice with new students without having to wait a year to get new students at the same point in their learning journey.  I am working specifically towards greater student agency and collaborative practices in my teaching.  This is in line with Criteria 7: Promote a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment.  My inquiry is centered around collaborative practices and I am continuing through this process at present.

The leadership aspect of my job has been strengthened by my Mindlab studies and reading Osterman & Kottkamp (1993)

“Often, behavioral changes resulting from successful reflection are at

odds with the ongoing larger and organizational culture.”

(Osterman & Kottkamp, 1993)

has made me realise that my leadership reflection has empowered me to challenge further the organizational structure within my environment.  Under Criteria 5: Show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning.  I have shared in formal and informal settings some of the knowledge I have gained over the past 32 weeks.  I feel that I see many aspects of teaching and learning through a different lens to some of my colleagues and I need to be mindful that not everyone has been on the same journey as I have.  I find it incredibly empowering to be able to discuss with a colleague who has completed Mindlab alongside me issues, theory and practice.  We are both in our leadership team and interject our learning into this forum to strengthen discussions we have as a group.  I have also shared research with colleagues to support new initiatives and learning.  This sharing is by no means finished now that the formal part of these studies end. I have far too much more to say!

My next learning steps include taking stock of where I am in my career and where I want to be in 5 years time.  I need to consider if further study is practical for me with a young busy family and full-time classroom teaching position.  I can say that I have enjoyed the study just not the impact it has had on my family life.  

My professional learning dream is to have at least two of my team members choose to take on Mindlab studies to create a team that have 21st century learning skills at the heart of their practice.

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/RefPract/Osterman_Kottkamp_extract.pdf

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

Crossing boundaries and creating connections

I found this task interesting to get my head around.  The term Interdisciplinary in education historically has been used in many ways and has evolved over time to currently be used as the term curriculum integration or interdisciplinary curriculum.  For the purpose of this blog, I will use the first term.  

Curriculum integration involves students being involved in:

• the decision-making process about their learning
• working collaboratively
• developing different perspectives and synthesizing disciplines
• issues driven learning rather than topic-based
• learning that is scaffolded rather than teacher lead or directed
• learning areas related to the issues rather than covering all curriculum areas

Jones, 2009; Fraser 2013)

My own future focused goals are to use increased collaborative practices and real-world learning contexts.  

The benefits of me using integrated curriculum teaching with these goals are that I will be creating learners who use higher order thinking skills.  As I am beginning this when my students first start school I am creating the foundation for their time at school.  Ultimately my students will be developing skills for lifelong learning that are sort after out in the wider world as my students grow and move into the workforce.  (Jones, 2009)  

Fraser (2013) talks about how relationships and power dynamics come into play when using a curriculum integrated approach and how strong the relationships can be along with the students taking greater control over their own learning.  I see this as being a benefit to this approach when the teacher has the necessary skills to facilitate this approach.  I am finding it challenging to scaffold my learners into taking more control over their own learning and have had to start from a very early point of helping them to understand what learning is.  My New Entrants are often not developmentally mature enough to make connections from one discipline to another or have the language to express their learning or in some cases their everyday wants and needs.  An example of this is that activities that could be completed collaboratively are currently at the co-operative level at times, and in many instances, at the ‘do it next to another’ level.  The levels of scaffolding I employ are constantly changing from one task to another and from one child to another.   I like how curriculum integration allows for greater flexibility and less fracturing of the curriculum. (Mathison & Freeman, 1997)  Fraser (2013) talks about the challenge in needing to find the balance when using curriculum integration as the big picture needs to be maintained and curriculum areas are not overlooked.  I can relate to the feeling of not having enough time that Fraser (2013) says should not be used as an excuse for not innovating.  The emphasis should be on the depth of learning, not necessary curriculum coverage.

My own pedagogical knowledge is constantly being challenged and questioned with the more reading and research I do.   My challenges I believe have shifted in writing this and is now, how do I integrate the real world learning into my programme while authentically sharing the decision making with the students.  Maybe  I am underestimating my students and just need to jump in boots and all.  This blog has certainly created more questions than answers for me this time around.

Fraser, D., Aitken, V., & Whyte, B. (2013). Connecting curriculum, linking learning. New Zealand: NZCER Press.

Jones, C.(2009). Interdisciplinary approach - Advantages, disadvantages, and the future benefits of interdisciplinary studies. ESSAI, 7(26), 76-81. Retrieved from http://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=essai

Mathison,S.. & Freeman, M.(1997). The logic of interdisciplinary studies. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1997. Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/mathisonlogic12004.pdf: This review of literature of interdisciplinary studies can help you explore more about the interdisciplinary approach used by teachers in their class.

Professional Online Social Networks

One of the biggest of the challenges I face when using social media platforms for enhancing the learning for my new entrant students are that they are not yet self-managing in using applications that require steps to be followed, eg. posting to blogs.  So a considerable amount of adult input is required.  In the past, I have had a class blog which ends up being a space that I as the class teacher initiate and contribute most of the content to.  Which is not how I envisioned it to work.  I also have struggled with engaging parents to contribute to our blog.  I have tried many strategies to share the blog and encouraged children to share their work at home via the blog.  Ideally, I would like parents and other children and schools to contribute to our blog so that my students can see how global networks can connect with them.  A big part of my work with children and using social media platforms is in educating them how to be safe.  As a school we use Hector's World to support this learning,  I find the stories helpful for the students and that they need to be revisited frequently to remind the children of safe practices.  I also model with the children how to be safe online and I talk through what I am doing at times with students to individualise this learning if specific students need further support.  As a teacher of new entrants,I am acutely aware that I am setting the foundation for our students as they move through our school and the world of connected learning.

I use a number of different platforms of social media to enhance my own professional development.  One of the platforms I use is the teacher's facebook page which is an interesting social media platform with a highly variable degrees of quality and quantity of professional learning.  I find that I constantly have to delve further into some of the content posted to this page as much of it can end up being opinion and not backed up with any relevant research or facts.  There are times when you can stumble upon some quality learning or threads of discussions that lead you to people who can support your own inquiry and professional learning.  The VLN is a platform that I dived into probably not long after it was created and I found it rather clunky and hard to navigate.  Since then improvements have been made and it is a platform that I need to re-engage with to connect with New Zealand educators in a more purposeful way due to the specific nature of the threads created on this platform.  I was interested to see how Kathy Cassidy (tvoparents, 2013) used twitter with her class and how connected they were with the world as I have struggled with this concept with the 5 year olds I teach.  I myself struggle with using twitter for professional learning yet I can see how easy it is for these children to connect.  I wonder if my circles are not yet big enough for me to see the benefits of twitter as a tool for professional learning.  My work completing this mindlab course has given me a renewed energy for professional learning.  The online component has worked well for me as an educator with a busy work life and family.  It has shown me how I can learn and connect with fellow mindlabers using google+ and via blogs. Now to work on the time management side of life so online interactions don’t consume me.

References
Tvoparents. (2013, May 21). Using Social Media in the Classroom.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno

Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

My own practice in using social media is one that I approach with heightened caution.  Some of the dilemmas I encounter regularly when using facebook include parents wanting to ‘friend' me, messages to my personal inbox, never quite knowing who is connected to who in a ‘friends’ sense and the security settings of others accounts.  So a long time ago I decided that I would never post or share information that I would not want in a public forum.   I believe this decision I made was very sound and is in line with the principles outlined in our teacher's code of ethics.

• “Autonomy to treat people with rights that are to be honoured and defended
• Justice to share power and prevent the abuse of power
• Responsible care to do good and minimise harm to others
• Truth to be honest with others and self.” (education council n.d)

There have been times since joining facebook that I have noticed colleagues have chosen to friend students who are too young to hold accounts and/or have not long left our school.  I have at times had conversations with staff members to point out the potential risks involved in this practice and to check that they are keeping themselves safe online.  One of the comments made to me was that they didn’t realise the potential risks and how using this form of social media could put them at risk.  I have also explained to them that I choose not be friends with people who choose have students as friends as I wish to minimise the access students have to my personal digital footprint.  Which I know is a big ask and very hard to achieve, I am trying to be responsible with the knowledge I have and my current understanding of how the facebook platform works.   

I address other ethical dilemmas as they arise and I choose to do this by contacting the person directly to discuss the issues either in person or by phone.  If the issue is one that can quickly escalate or I believe could spiral out of control and impact on me as a teacher or my school, I inform my principal and seek guidance on how to address the issue.  I am a firm believer that social media platforms are not the place to address issues with others and that I would be doing harm if I chose this method to communicate my problems or to comment on others.  

I find that is often a fine line for me as a teacher when putting myself ‘out there’ as I consider how this will be seen by others and what potential harm I could cause for others.  In an ideal world, others would do the same and the world would be a happier place with more consideration for others, tolerance, and harmony.

Note to self: In writing this post it has brought to my attention the fact that we have not formally revisited the use of social media with our staff this year and with the changes in staff at our Kura this year it would be timely to do so.  

References:

The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers. retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-ethics-certificated-teachers-0

Indigenous knowledge & Cultural responsiveness

Week 28

As a young person growing up in a small town I have been immersed in Māori culture and tikanga from an early age.  Māori language was spoken to me without the expectation that I would reply. I was part of the extended whanau of my neighbours without having any blood ties and as a child, I thought nothing exceptional about this.  It is these early experiences that I believe that have shaped me in my thinking and responsiveness to Māori culture.  I chose to begin my teaching career in a kura with total immersion classes except for one junior and senior mainstream class of which I was teaching in the junior one.  From there I moved to a decile one predominantly Māori school with a rumaki unit.  These early teaching experiences showed me the importance of building relationships based on mutual trust not only with the students I was teaching but also the whanau.  My cultural responsiveness throughout my teaching is based on tikanga that I was taught as a child and what I have since learnt is acceptable practice within Te Arawa.  

Russell Bishop talks about six elements that agentic teachers do daily and the importance of education being “relationship centred education” (Bishop 2012) he also states “relationships being paramount to educational performance” (Bishop, 2012).  I strive to base my practice around these relationships and within my educational setting we are all working toward Māori students achieving educational success as Māori (Ministry of Education, 2011).

In our setting, we are developing stronger relationships with our Māori community in many ways.  The first being strengthening the communication and consultation with our Māori community.  We began by identifying at risk learners and then engaged their parents in a group called te rōpū hurihanga.  This was made up of our principal and three other staff members along with Māori leaders in our community.  This group generated discussions around the wants and needs of our Māori community and how as a school we could support their tamariki.  This group has become more self managing and is driven by the community it then feeds back to the school.  Members of this group have taken the initiative to engage our wider community about the education of their students.  We are also working on developing a strong tie for our school with a community marae that is right on our doorstep.  We have used this marae to facilitate professional learning and our school has been welcomed on to the marae and now we are able to access this for learning and engaging our community.  As a school, we are still developing how to best use this to support our students.  Mason Duri (2016) talks about Whanau and education being the keys to Māori potential.  It is our challenge going forward how we work with whanau to maximize this.

An area that we are exploring further in our new entrants is the place of play based education and how this can support the needs of maori achieving educational success as Māori (Ministry of Education, 2011).  Mason Duri talks about the “potential for maori students never being greater than it is now”  (Duri, 2016) as their is a higher uptake in early childhood education.  This is an area we are developing as we can see how engaged our students are in learning within the early childhood setting and how can we then maximise this potential moving into the primary setting.  We want to develop greater skills in collaborative learning and 21st century skills to support Māori to achieve the goals, principles and pathways (Duri, 2016) as outlined in outcomes from the 2001 hui Taumata.  We are currently at various stages of engaging in professional learning, research, visiting different educational settings to see what may work for our learners and community and most importantly engaging our community in what they want for their learners.

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

Duri, M (2016) Realising Māori potential, RTLB professional learning seminar - Maximising Educational Outcomes for Maori; 15 March 2016; Tauranga, New Zealand

Ministry of Education (2011) Tātaiako - Cultural Competencies For Teachers of Māori Learners. New Zealand. Ministry of Education.