Changes in Practice

Reflection on my learning journey and key changes in my practice...

There are 4 PTCs that stand out as having affected me the most with the Mind Lab experience behind me:

• 4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice i. identify professional learning goals in consultation with colleagues ii. participate responsively in professional learning opportunities within the learning community iii. initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills

I have been able to discover what's important and therefore what is worth spending time on. I can clearly articulate my learning goals just as we expect our students to - this makes for a focussed use of any time I have to spend on Professional learning. It has also enabled me to lead others to developing clear professional learning goals and with the management team, I have set up a new appraisal system through blogger (similar to the example on sites this week) where teachers can reflect on their practice and click to link it to the label (PTC) that relates to this piece of evidence. 

• 5. show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning i. actively contribute to the professional learning community ii. undertake areas of responsibility effectively

The leadership papers have been the most beneficial to me. In my role as DP I have been able to take a step back and consider my leadership style while learning about various leadership styles that get the desired results from the teams I work with. I have become more knowledgeable in up-to-date innovations in the education sector and have regularly been able to share this with staff either informally or in planned presentations at staff meetings. From the very beginning I  enjoyed the hum of excitement after sharing augmented reality apps such as quiver and aurasma in our staff meeting. This week I have been asked to take a 1 hour workshop for the staff on the STEM approach and have created a google slide presentation relating many initiatives that were covered in Mind Lab - all relating to developing 21st century skills. The most powerful change for me is being able to understand the 'why' alongside the 'what' and 'how' (Golden Circle, Simon Sinek) as this journey has encompassed theory with practical from the very beginning. Sharing the reason for it all - the purpose for what we do everyday and relating it to meeting the needs of 21st century learners has been enlightening for myself and for my staff. 

• 7 promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment i. demonstrate effective management of the learning setting that incorporates successful strategies to engage and motivate ākonga ii. foster trust, respect and cooperation with and among ākonga 

The practical learning through participating in the digital and collaborative papers set me up to provide engaging, motivating, open ended use of ICT learning activities for my students. Whanau have enjoyed seeing their children as fully active participants in their learning and often commented on the excitement of sharing their achievements through the class blog or through coming in to our classroom. Using ICT for learning was a focus for an early assignment for me and the strategies such as experts training others (tuakana teina) in the use of 'show me' to share their understandings are now embedded in my practice. 

• 12. use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice i. systematically and critically engage with evidence and professional literature to reflect on and refine practice ii. respond professionally to feedback from members of their learning community iii. critically examine their own beliefs, including cultural beliefs, and how they impact on their professional practice and the achievement of ākonga

Reflection is the key to progression for me now. Setting goal posts and asking myself how I am going towards reaching them?

 

"keep the four stages of the experiential cycle clearly in mind as road signs to guide learning and progress through the process" (Osterman, 1993 pg 9)
Reflection has become a far more conscious effort with structure and a clear process to follow to get the best from it. Frequently is a key for me - the Agile approach has given me the knowledge of how to organise my goals into achievable chunks where so I stop and check how I am going in relation to my goal posts often. I enjoyed this whakatauki as a beautiful way to encapture the Mind Lab journey for me.

WhakataukiTitiro whakamuri, kokiri whakamua 

Look back and reflect, so you can move forward

References:

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.

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

Crossing Boundaries and Creating Connections

Interdisciplinary and Innovation

The analogy of a rubber band stretching out to bring people into a space (Interdisciplinarity and Innovation Education, 2013) helps with grasping the notion of bringing colleagues together from all fields of expertise to pool together their resources, their knowledge and their ideas to plan together, make decisions together and set goals together. Keeping in mind the purpose of education as outlined in the Ross Spiral curriculum (2015) as being generating a higher level of understanding of the world we live in, there has to be a massive change in how we foster interdisciplinarity in our secondary schools. Different domains for subjects need to combine resources, expertise, vision, and assessment to work towards achieving a connectivness that supports this purpose.

Here is my interdisciplinary professional connections in a primary school setting. Much of the planning and curriculum delivery design is done together across syndicates and whole school. I call up support in various areas of expertise to work with me on getting the best recipe for all children.

I would identify a potential interdisciplinary connection goal as working more with experts in the community both local and globally. I recently worked with someone from Environment Southland to plan and design a project on our waterways. Seeing the success in this has inspired me to get experts involved early in intended inquiries to support development and planning. Using online connections will enable this to occur anywhere in the world. The benefits  also include students making sense of what they are learning. It  gives purpose and real world problem solving opportunities for the learning across all curriculum areas. It  provides a common reason for using science knowledge with maths or technological knowledge with the Arts. Motivation and inspiration flourishes if students have opportunities to be creative and innovative with what they know and what they need to know to solve problems. Self-regulated learning also benefits from students taking more ownership for the direction of their learning. Other desired 21st century learning skills such as collaboration and communication have greater opportunity to develop along with the use of ICT for learning - all due to becoming more interconnected with the right people as our role as educators becomes more of 'connector' to these resources.

References:

ACRLog. (2015). A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Retrieved from http://acrlog.org/2015/05/14/a-conceptual-model-for-interdisciplinary-collaboration

Ross Institute. (2015, July 5). Ross Spiral Curriculum: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Science. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHZhkB0FJik

ThomasMcDonaghGroup. ( 2011, May 13). Interdisciplinarity and Innovation Education.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDdNzftkIpA

Professional Online Social Networks

My current use of social media networks to enhance teaching practise and professional development...

I was fascinated to see WeChat mentioned in research conducted by The Open University (2016)  as a form of social media used by so many in China and one with so many uses. My daughter has recently started working in China and I have been introduced to this  app and all its uses to keep in contact with her frequently as a contributor, collaborator and communicator to her and her followers.

However on reflecting, my current use of social media in my workplace is more as a receiver of information rather than a contributor. I use the VLN (virtual learning network) and NZ Teachers (primary) Facebook group to get most of my information and ideas and to meet most of my professional learning goals. 

To be a 21st century educator as mentioned in Connected Educators (2013) I need to practice the 21st century skills that I expect my learners to use. My challenge is to collaborate, create, communicate and share resources on these social media platforms in order to enhance my teaching and professional development practice. Becoming more of an active participant rather than a passive one would enhance my experiences to support learning at a deeper level and I would achieve a greater understanding of my learning goals.

The key to successful social media use...

The key to successful pedagogy is the need for experts to engage and inspire. I monitor our class blog to ensure bianess and hostility is not part of the feedback between students and from others in the school and community. Teaching students that there are successful and unsuccessful sources and ways to use social media effectively is vital as is clear guidelines for all including students, parents and teachers on how to contribute and interact with others ideas effectively. Parallels between how teachers provide opportunities for students to personalise their learning through social media can be made when considering the value of social media for teachers professional development - in that it provides direct access to the information needed to support teachers own inquiries into their practice. (Melhuish 2013)

References:

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

NZ Teachers (primary) Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1390088457960727/ 

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