A day or two with Tom Markham

This week I spent one and a half days working with Tom Markham who is an expert in Project Based Learning.  I feel like I got a lot out of my one and a half days and I know that this blog post is one I am going to refine as I probably won't do it justice.  I have come away with a much better understanding and appreciation of PBL and the opportunities it will afford our children. 

This is such a big topic to blog about but here are a couple of things that resonated with me during the course

• Being a good PBL teacher comes about by talking and sharing skills and working together.
• PBL can be quite demanding- beyond the usual skills for teacher ( I like that it challenges me FYI) 
• Ice burg effect- the tip is the results that we can see but nowadays we need to dig deeper below the iceberg- persistence, failure, sacrifice hard work etc. are the things we don’t see and these are some very important skills.
• Social emotional development is achieved in high quality PBL.  Great projects encompass social emotional learning. 
• Rubrics are an important part of the assessment process. You need to have a set of great rubrics so that you can assess a number of different skill sets
• “If it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you”- Fred Devito

Many changes in education are driven by societal pressures, not so much by ministries because the way in which children need to be prepared to enter the world we live in today has changed significantly.  We work in different ways.  We are more collaborative and there are different skills that have emphasis placed on them if they are to be successful in the 21st century world.

The four c's are important in PBL

Collaborate (this can look different at different times.  At times the collaborative approach can be formal and other times this looks less formal.)

Critical thinking (we need to incorporate and deliberately teach these skills)

Creativity 

Communication

Through PBL we are setting children up to realise that we are learning at school, but we will never stop learning.  We learn everywhere and all the time.

Some of the things that can be challenging for the PBL approach in the beginning include

• Controlling mindset- it is hard for some teachers to let go and shift their mind set.
• PBL works best when we shift some of the control to the students but certainly not all of the control.
• It follows a process as illustrated below and for some, this is challenging.

The Driving Question

The driving question is considered by some to be the hardest part of PBL. It is rare for the first question drafted to be the final choice of driving question.  We spend a lot of discussion and time refining this.  The "why" behind the question is really important.  It is important that we know the reason why these children will be interested in this project and why we have chosen this (what is the benefit to the children.)

The Critical Friends Protocol was a very valuable exercise that was conducted with the teachers.  This could be very valuable for the students also.  The language of I like, I wonder, I suggest was especially useful.  In fact I saw many situations (not just in PBL) where this could be useful.  I noted that no project should be entering the classroom without having gone through this robust process.  

Rich attended the parent evening and I thought it was interesting to note what he got out of it.  He felt he didn't know a lot about PBL prior. (Clearly he doesn't listen to me as I suspected!!!!!!!!!!)  He was impressed with its application- He liked the fact that it can mature children earlier because their behaviour improves due increased engagement.  The proposals (driving questions)  put in front of kids need to be well prepared and researched to make sure that it challenges their thinking.  In order for this to be successful, you cannot just throw them int he pool of PBL, they need to be coached to be Olympic swimmers through a well thought out design.  It teaches them soft skills earlier such as self-management and problem solving, critical thinking, empathy, communication.  Something that he found challenging was understanding  how do you manage late adopters?

This was a great couple of days and it is always a bonus when you get to have a facilitator who was so friendly and genuinely passionate about his topic.

Changes in my Practice

Week 32

Changes in my Practice

Create a blog post where you first reflect on your personal 32 week learning journey through the whole postgraduate programme and provide a critical discussion of two key changes in your own research informed practice in relation to the Practising Teacher Criteria (PTC) in e-learning. Then share your next dream regarding your future professional development.

As I come to the end of my Mind Lab course I am able to reflect on my journey and what a journey it has been.  In some ways, it feels like it has flown by and in other ways it seem to have taken forever to reach the point where the light is shining brightly at the end of the tunnel.  It has been challenging to say the least- as I have tried to balance the busy life of teaching with family life and Mind Lab created a whole new dimension into my world.  One of the best things about the journey for me has been the people I have met and the connections I have made.  I even managed to reconnect with a couple of people I trained with many years ago.  It was great to have a sense of belonging and connectedness.  The face to face part of the course was fabulous and I enjoyed being part of our Christchurch community of Mindlabbers.  In the later part of the course, I felt that I wasn’t travelling the road by myself because we had the Google+ community where we could connect with others also.  I found the assignments thought provoking and challenging and mostly valuable.  It was nice to know I can still write an essay after all these years.  Probably the hardest part of all was the finding the time to actually sit down and complete these assignments.

Being reflective is something that goes with the job.  Even if we are not conscious of being reflective I think we constantly are reflective to some extent.  Teaching is something that is never far from the front of mind for most of us and I find myself always looking back and wondering how it could have been better.  What Mind Lab taught me was to look forward into my practice more.  The Practicing Teacher Criteria (Ministry of Education, nd) requires us to be reflective, however it can be difficult to reflect individually on each criteria as they cross over and are interconnected.

I feel that in my Mind Lab journey, Criteria 1 (Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all ākonga.) and Criteria 4  (Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional personal practice) saw the biggest changes in my practice.

Criteria 1 is about establishing and maintaining effective professional relationships.  I believe I have demonstrated that I have established positive relationship with my learners and colleagues through working collaboratively with them.  Google docs has been a great way to plan together both with my teaching team but also with other professionals if required. This is a great way to work because we share ideas and resources so that everyone benefits.  Through this course I have challenged my thinking around why we do what we do (collaboration) and tools and strategies to help support it.  I have become more aware of how connected we need to be as teachers with each other and I have developed some new relationships with other professionals from different schools throughout my Mind Lab experience.  I believe that every professional relationship has something to offer.

How have I demonstrated a commitment to ongoing professional learning?  I had to stop and think about how passionate I am about continuing my professional learning journey now that Mind Lab has come to an end.  I have decided that my learning journey is exactly that- a journey in which I have come to another cross roads.  Fortunately I have had my eyes opened to many more opportunities in education and I want to continue with my journey to keep learning and introducing new ideas into my classroom.   Exactly how that is going to look for me remains to be seen but I know it will involve more learning in some way, shape of form.   Mind Lab has enabled me to think more critically about what I am doing and why and to take more risks with technology.  It has also really got me thinking about the challenge we as educators face with the 21^st century skills.  I am committed to continuing my professional leaning journey and Mind Lab has had a significant part to play in this fact.

This 32-week journey has given me the confidence and mindset to try new things out in the classroom and to be more reflective in so doing. I really wanted to increase my knowledge and gain experience of digital technology and the part it plays in today’s education system.  I found that my journey through Mind Lab has gone a long way in enabling me to begin to do so. 

Where to next for me?  I have just begun an online course around PBL so that is something I will continue to learn about in the next wee while.  I am looking forward to getting more of a handle on how PBL for juniors and putting it into practice.  From there –who knows? I am open to suggestions!  Thanks Mind Lab- it has been a great ride.

Week 31

Professional Context- Crossing Boundaries

Create a blog post where you first draw a map which demonstrates your current and potential interdisciplinary professional connections Identify one of the potential interdisciplinary connections from your map as your near future goal. Then, critically discuss the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary practice in relation to the identified connection.

When I stop and think about how my teaching has changed in the last few years I am actually quite amazed.  It is fair to say that the biggest shift in both my teaching and my mindset has happened in the last couple of years since I have started working at St Francis of Assisi and with the introduction of Project Based Learning (PBL). I didn’t realise how “connected” I have become.

As Mathison and Freeman point out, the introducing of two or more disciplines, pedagogical approaches, skills and people is not a new concept.  This concept goes as far back as the 1920’s.  In order to discuss Interdisciplinary connections, we first need to know what interdisciplinary means.  Interdisciplinary “involves the bringing together of two or more things under one roof” (Mathison &Freeman, 1997)

I see many benefits of the interdisciplinary approach.  Jones (2009) states “the interdisciplinary approach provides many benefits that develop into much needed lifelong learning skills that are essential to a student’s future learning.”  Jones (2009) goes on to say that “ Interdisciplinary techniques are not only important for a student to learn any one single discipline or solve problem in a synthesized manner, but it also enriches a student’s lifelong learning habits, academic skills, and personal growth.”

The Ross spiral curriculum encourages an interdisciplinary cohesive integrated programme.   Students acquire the skills native to each discipline and examine the world as a hierarchy of interconnected systems.  This could be related to PBL because it has a focus on the ‘process’ as well as the ‘knowledge’.  The children need to show they can apply that knowledge to their everyday lives.  Project based learning lends itself well to interdisciplinary learning because it is follows a theme and a process and has a final authentic “product” as its destination so it helps students gain a deeper understanding of a particular topic through engaging and, of course, authentic tasks.

If I am to delve into my own practice, I feel that I cannot help but be an interdisciplinary teacher to some extent because I am part of a team where we work and plan collaboratively.  Dr Deana McDonagh (2011) explains that we should be encouraging our students to see life through a variety of lenses and perspectives.  I believe that working collaboratively is a step in the right direction to ensuring this happens. In today’s education system we need to be constantly aware of the individual learning needs and therefore, we often find ourselves bringing in a number of outside agencies to help us with our planning and help us to create programmes which will provide best practice for the individual learners.  If you study the mind map below you will notice there is a wide range of internal and external connections. Each and every connection is important and provides a different perspective to a situation and often fresh ideas.  This reminds me of the saying that “it takes a whole village to raise a child.”  I have identified this as an area for future focus.  If I am to be teaching PBL and using authentic topics and problems for my children, then I need to look more closely at my external connections so that I can draw upon the expertise and knowledge of other professionals and community members to help enhance our PBL. I take a great deal of comfort from knowing that I don’t always have to know everything and that there are other people who are know more about certain topics and who can be of support with particular subjects that I can call on.

REFERENCES:

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

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

Online Social Networks

Week 30

Professional Online Social Networks

Create a reflective entry where you critically discuss the use of social media in YOUR teaching OR professional development.

When I started to think about whether I use social media in my teaching, initially I thought- certainly not.  The children I teach are five for goodness sake- no I do not use social media in my teaching.  Then I had a rethink.  It turns out that I actually do use social media in my practice- in fact quite a lot it is just that it might look a bit different at my end of the school than it would up the school in Year 7 and 8.

I started to think about some of the ways I do use social media in my practice. There are a number of ways that I do.  I use Facebook a lot, not just in my social life but also in my professional life.  In my social life I am very much a ‘lurker’ on Facebook.  I love to read what other people are up to and to occasionally ‘like ‘or on a rarer occasion comment.  It got me thinking about why I am a lurker in my personal life and I think if I am honest, it is because of my profession.  I am fully aware that what I post could easily connect with my professional life and I really don’t want to be implicated in anything and for that matter- I actually just don’t really want my two worlds to collide.  My professional life is different again.  I am connected to a few teaching pages on Facebook that I have got to a point where I almost rely on them.  I am often inspired to use the ideas in my practice that I see on these social media sites.  If I need advice or have a question, I can jump on Facebook to ask my “friends.”  I have also enjoyed the way in which my ideas and inspiration does not have to be found in my own back yard- it could be from anywhere in the world.  Once or twice I have even shared some of my ideas that hopefully have been helpful to other teachers.

To a much lesser extent I use twitter and blogger in my teaching.  I use twitter again as a lurker and I have sometimes stumbled across readings or information that I have interested me in my practice. I could and probably should be far more actively involved in using this as a platform for my teaching.

The children I teach are too young to have their own social media accounts or even an individual blog and this is possibly the biggest challenge to me as a teacher.  We use a blog to connect with the parents and whanau in our community to keep them up to date with the goings on at school.  I have also used Seesaw in my practice to connect with interested parties about children’s work and progress.

A lot of criticism has been aimed at social media and the effect it has on the way students process and retain information and how distracting it can be.  I certainly believe that the social media needs to be carefully monitored but at the same time I feel that it offers opportunity for learning and interactivity far greater than it was when I went to school.  The technology that we are using in our classrooms and the skills these kids are gaining is reshaping the landscape of education.

  Joosten (2012, p.6) explains that in today’s word is a virtual place where people can share anything with anybody anywhere.  The reality of the world today is that we are connected with many different people in our personal lives and also in our professional lives.  We can connect with people from all over the globe including experts in our field and better still, we can pretty much do this instantly.  The children we are teaching today have lived their whole lives in this world of the internet and do not know a world without it.  

I think the challenge we face as teachers is to accept the social media and the connections it creates is here to stay and the classroom or physical school environment is not the only place our students are gathering to learn and do their work.  They will be gathering on line.  For me personally, I need to find some ways that I can increase the use of social media for the children themselves, rather than just me using it. Davis (2017) agrees that it can be a challenging to incorporate social media into lessons. There are many gray areas for teachers to navigate, such as setting guidelines, accessibility at school, and student safety.   These need to have robust guidelines if we are to implement the use of social media successfully and this, I feel will be one of our challenges.

 For children to go to school and not be exposed to technology and the connections it enables us to have and the learning it enables us to do would be to fail to prepare these kids for living in the 21^st century and after all, isn’t that what school is supposed to do- prepare our students for the future in the world in which they will live and hopefully thrive?

REFERENCES

Davis, M ( 2017) Social Media for Teachers: Guides, Resources and Ideas. Retrieved from: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-media-resources-educators-matt-davis\

Joosten, T (2013) Pearson:Social Media for Teaching and Learning.  Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/tjoosten/social-media-for-teaching-and-learning-27456257?ref=http://professorjoosten.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/pearson-social-media-for-teaching-and.html

Bridging The Gap

Today I went to a course that was about "Bridging the Gap."  If I am honest, I literally couldn't think of anything worse today than having to head to a couse/seminar- not really sure what I should call it.  I was feeling tired and it had been a big day- my daughter had just gone to her first ever night away from us (school camp) etc etc (I digress).  Ayway, my point is that I am really pleased I went to the seminar and I came away feeling professionally refreshed (but still a bit tired.)
It was designed to get us thinking about the transition between preschool and school and the challenges that this presents.  Here are some of the things that got me thinking (in no particular order):

• It is a fact that the vast majority of children in NZ are attending some form of early childhood center and for a very large percentage this begins in their first year of life. The services offered in NZ are incredibly diverse and this is something that, as a country, we value.  The diversity in services is quite significant and their approaches do vary too.
• Te Whariki drives the play based learning philosophy in these centres and provides a basis for working with parents, children and whanau.  Te Whariki provides a rich array of planned play based learning experiences that facilitate and focus on specific learning outcomes and thoughtful and intentional pedegogy. 
• Play based learning helps to meet the emotional, cultural, social, academic and behavioural needs of the children.
• Probably one of the things I really have taken from today is that we say that children are starting school and they are not ready, yet it is us, the school, that is not ready for the children. It is true that children are different than what they were 10 years ago and they have different needs today than they appeared to have 10 years ago- but they also have new skills than what they did 10 years ago- because we live in the 21 century- a  time of change and evolution.  It is not wrong- it is just different.

We looked at the psychological and physiological aspects of what is happening with these kids, and while I found that interesting, I feel that it is not what I took away.
A couple of teachers talked about what they are doing in their classrooms to help bridge the gap for these wee ones.  They set up a play based learning session from 8.30am-9.30am and they discussed the benefits of the quality time this is for these kids.  It is great for the children to 'ease' their way into the school day in a more familiar setting that is similar to preschool.  It is also great for the parents because they can spend time settling their children into the day, knowing they are happy and the teachers are given the opportunity to build realtionships with the parents.
We brainstormed some activities that could help facilitate self regulation which inlcuded:

• Teaching the children relaxation and breathing
• Physical activity
• Regular food/water comsumption ( Play Eat Learn)
• Teaching children about their body temperature
• Games and activiteis that encourage stopping and starting or extremes e.g: loud/quiet etc
• Playdough
• Painting/colouring
• Sensory materials
• Music, etc

All in all I found that I have my "concentration face" on as I contemplate this.  I am a processor and I am still thinking about how it would/will all look in my class, but I am convinced that I am willing to try the playbased approach, but I am nervous as I potentially step out of my comfort zone and will I muck it up?  Actually, upon reflection- is that even possible?  Maybe this translates to excitement????

ETHICAL DILEMMA’S IN MY PRACTICE

BLOG POST 5

WEEK 29

ETHICAL DILEMMA’S IN MY PRACTICE

The Oxford dictionary defines ethics as moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity.  The Ethics Centre states that “Ethical beliefs shape the way we live – what we do, what we make and the world we create through our choices”.  They also state that “Ethics isn’t just an exercise for philosophers or intellectuals.  It is at the core of everyday life.”  We are given the ability to think and to make choices of how to act in various situations, so in theory, we constantly should be asking ourselves whether or not we are making ethical choices. As professionals, this is paramount.  Ethics is about relationships and being true to ourselves and all that we stand for.  It is also about having the courage to deal with difficult situations in such a way that we are consistently checking that we are doing what we believe to be the right thing.

Social media is a part of my everyday life these days.  I am an avid Facebook user and having travelled for a number of years, it is a very easy, instant and free way to maintain contact with many of my friends and colleagues from times gone by.   It is also a very good way of me keeping up with fresh teaching ideas and to be alerted to professional readings and initiatives that might help me in my practice.

I can see the benefits of using social media in the classroom.  It can immediately create an authentic audience for students and students can gain feedback instantly from ‘friends’ all over the globe.  It is also a very effective way of connecting with parents and the wider community.  Our school currently has a Facebook page and it is used to celebrate success and to give information.  It receives comments and occasionally questions from parents. 

The ethical dilemma I see that could easily happen is teachers becoming Facebook friends with students we teach or their parents.  When teachers, or any professional for that matter, become connected with students or parents on social media there could become a crossover between personal and professional lives.

Some of the problems I see that could arise becoming friends with our students/parents include blurring the line of professionalism between the teacher and the learner and the relationships between them, perception of  as favouritism, personal photos and information getting into the wrong hands

Through sharing information on Facebook, the circle of influence becomes wider so we need to become extra careful of what posts we are liking and commenting in order to protect other teachers as well as ourselves.

According to The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certified Teachers (Education Council, n.d) Teachers have a set of guidelines we must adhere to in order to maintain professional integrity.  If teachers were to become friends on Facebook with their students I believe that they run the risk of breaching the areas outlined including Commitment to learners (develop and maintain relationships based upon the best interests of the learners),

Commitment to Parents/Guardians and Family/Whanau: respect their privacy, respect their rights to information about their children establish honest and respectful relationships, Commitment to society: teach and model those positive values which are widely accepted in society, Commitment to the profession advance the interests of the teaching profession through responsible ethical practice.

 I believe that we as teachers need to have an understanding of our digital footprint and in so doing, realise that we need to maintain our professional responsibility to our schools as well as the wider profession.   We need to model appropriate etiquette around social media and keep forever mindful of who we are connecting with and what we are posting.

REFERENCES

Education Council. (n.d). The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certificated

Teachers. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-ethics-certificated-teachers

Oxford English living Dictionaries, definition of ethics (2017), retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ethics

The Ethics Centre

http://www.ethics.org.au/about/what-is-ethics

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS IN MY PRACTICE

BLOG POST 4

WEEK 28

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS IN MY PRACTICE

In order to discuss culturally responsive pedagogy, it is important to first address what this means. Gay (2002) defines culturally responsive pedagogy as teaching ‘to and through [students’] personal and cultural strengths, their intellectual capabilities, and their prior accomplishments.  Gay (2002) also explains culture as being made up of two elements.  These elements are visible culture and non-visible culture.  Visible culture includes the crafts, music and technology the can be seen while the non-visible includes beliefs, perspectives, feelings and opinions – the things that cannot be seen or touched.

In New Zealand schools, we have a moral obligation to be culturally inclusive of all students, and this is especially highlighted for our Maori students in the Treaty of Waitangi.  Cowie et al (2011) highlights the fact that if we continue to create educational opportunities based on a European, white, English speaking model, then we would be doing a disservice to our students from diverse backgrounds.  There are many things that we can learn from our indigenous cultures including that all people are connected by humanity even though we are all different, the importance and value of human relationships, the importance of spirituality, the value of our land and the need for it to be respected.  In today’s education system, we need to have some knowledge of Maori and indigenous cultural practices if we are to be culturally responsive teachers.

Jacqueline Jordan explains that culturally responsive pedagogy has at its heart “culture”   It is about world views, beliefs, language and values. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8)

For me personally, I believe that it is about having an understanding of and an appreciation of the ethnic diversity and the rich knowledge each of our students bring to our learning spaces and being responsive to this is vital in helping these students learn and grow in an environment that nurtures these cultures.   As teachers we need to be culturally responsive to our children.  Positive Relationships with students and with communities are paramount to becoming culturally responsive as well as a willingness to embrace new languages and customs.  We need to ensure each child can feel valued and respected in their learning environment if they are to become engaged learners.  (Cowie, et al 2011) acknowledge that teachers need to seek out and affirm student and community knowledge.  In order to do this teachers need to be comfortable to share the learning and to also take a turn at becoming the learner as is modelled in the tuakana teina model.

There are several facets to being culturally responsive.  Like any aspect of teaching, we need to be reflective of our practice.   If I use the Mauri model to reflect on our school wide activities, I would put us at the e Manawhanui ana level (highly motivated). (Potahu, 2011).  We are a new school so becoming culturally responsive is still in the developing stages, however I believe that our students and staff are offered a wide range of activities.  Our Kapa haka group is very active.  We employ kaiako of Kapa haka and the large number of children who actively participate in this is impressive.  We have students from many cultures involved in Kapa haka.  We have a strong presence of Maori language in our school.  Children and staff are actively involved in Liturgy in our school which has a strong element of Te Reo.  The staff and parents have been given the opportunity to study Te Reo at school on a weekly evening class.  This includes two marae overnight visits.  The staff, have a Te Reo lesson on a fortnightly basis and we are given resources to use in our classes.  As always, we can improve on these school wide activities, but given we are a school that has not even been open two years, I feel this is certainly an area in which we are at the very least, on track for.

I know that there are many elements of my practice and within the school where we can and should improve. The use of Te Reo Māori within my class comes quickly to mind.  It is often said that our students are our most valuable resource and we need to utilise their expertise.  As teachers and a school we need to nurture their confidence in their own abilities to take the lead and make good use of the Tuakana Teina model.

REFERENCES

Cowie, B.,  Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., Kara, H., with Anderson, M., Doyle, J., Parkinson, A., Te Kiri, C. (2011)Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki

Gay,G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2) 106-116.

 Potahu, T. W. (2011). Mauri - Rethinking Human Wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.review.mai.ac.nz/index.php/MR/article/v...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8 -culturally responsive pedagogy

CONTEMPORARY TRENDS

BLOG POST 3

WEEK 27

CONTEMPORARY TRENDS

There are several definitions of what a “trend” actually is.  The Cambridge English Dictionary  defines a trend as  a general development or change in a situation or in the way that  people are behaving. 

According to Visser and Gagnon (2005), the term “trend” refers to the statistically observable change or general orientation of a general movement (Visser & Gagnon, 2005).   Wilson (2012) acknowledges that these changes would have an impact within a field or wider environment.

A Global trend that is identified by the US National Intelligence Council (2017) “Global trends paradox of progress” as well as the KMPG International’s (2014) “Future State 2030”  is the fact that technology advancement  is moving very quickly and that it is affecting every area of society.  This is evident in the education sector with the mere presence of the different forms of technology that are integrated into the classrooms and teaching environments.  Robinson (2010) also refers to the changing role of the teacher in the 21^st century classroom and attributes this to the fast emergence and development of technology as the reason for the need to change. We now live in a world where our learners are exposed to a whole new world of instant information because knowledge is at the fingertips of everyone who has technology available and access to the internet.

The Trends Shaping Education (OECD 2016) refers to this trend as the “Brave New World”.  This trend has specific relevance to my position as a teacher in the 21^st century environment as I realise more and more every day that teaching is not restricted to the boundaries of the local community in which you work. Over the last few years, technology has moved so quickly that teachers are increasingly connected in a variety of ways. This means that I need to keep up to date with the latest changes and advances in technology so that I can expose my students to them in order to better equip them with the skills required in the 21^st century.

In the OECD (2016) report, there is much evidence to support the uptake of technology across the world.  This is evident in our daily life with the increase in internet use including online shopping and global use of social media.  Teaching is ever evolving and now learning has moved beyond the simple imparting of knowledge towards actively seeking knowledge and their learning has made the shift from a localised to a globalised environment.

The Paradox of Progress (National Intelligence Council 2017) report explores the change in people’s communication, work and how we live due to the introduction and ever developing changes in technology.  It could be argued that the ever developing technological word we live in is partly responsible for a change in attitude of students.  Some of the observations I have made include a lessened attention span and impatience if things don’t happen instantly.  The world of technology is at our fingertips and little patience is required to acquire knowledge.   On one hand I feel that the education system needs to adapt to these technological advances and not resist them but on the other hand I feel that potentially we risk the loss of the social interaction of the students and the important skills associated with human contact.  It concerns me that the teachers of today could be ‘replaced’ by technology and I see part of the role of the teacher to be integral in the development of social interaction.

REFERENCES

Cambridge University Press (2017), Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus, retrieved from: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/trend

KPMG International. (2014). Future State 2030: the global megatrends shaping governments. KPMG International Cooperative: USA. Retrieved from https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2014/02/future-state-2030-v3.pdf

National Intelligence Council. (2017). Global trends: The Paradox of Progress. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from https://www.dni.gov/files/images/globalTrends/documents/GT-Main-Report.pdf

OECD. (2016) Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/trends_edu-2016-en

Robinson, K. The RSA.(2010, Oct 14). RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Visser, L., & Gagnon, K. (2005). Defining “Trends” and “Issues” in Distance Education. Conversation with Donald Paul Ely Y. Visser, L. Visser, M. Simonson & R. Amirault (Eds. de la serie), Trends and Issues in Distance Education. International Perspectives, pp.83-89.

Wilson, B. (2012). Trends and issues facing distance education. In L. Visser, Y. Visser M., R. Amirault & M. Simonson (2nd Ed.) Trends and Issues in Distance Education. International Perspectives (pp.39-54). North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Play, Eat , Learn

Recently we have started our new initiative of Play, Eat Learn.  This means that we have made some changes to our timetable in order to allow this to happen.  The children are given time to go out to play before they eat at both morning tea and lunch.  When they have had a chance to play, they can then go on to eat their lunch and then carry on with their learning.  I see some serious positives for this initiative.  I feel that the main advantage of playing before the children eat, is that the children are not rushing to finish eating so they can get on with the playing.  I also think that after they have been inside ( usually) learning, then they need to have a run around.  I also find the transition from learning to play is very quick- which is great if you are on duty.  I might be worng but I think I have noticed less arguements and problems in the playground.  I see some advantages regarding the way we are running our "eat"part of the day, however I am unsure as to whether or not this is to do with the order of playing first or not. These advantages are that I think the children are more hungry so therefore they eat more lunch. I like the way everyone has the same amount of time to eat so this eliminates the rushing to play problem.  I have noticed a lot of chit chat with the children at eating time- sometimes a bit too much chit chat ( or rather a bit much volume.) I think taht on the whole, this is positive as they are building their realtionships with each other.
On the other hand I can see a couple of possible issues with this- one being that the children are eating quite late in the piece ( especially for lunch).  My reasoning for saying this is that I know that when the children are at preschool, they begin kai much earlier eg 11.30am so to leave it till 1.00pm is challenging for the little ones I feel. This will be something they will get used to but I think that when they first start school , it might be tricky.  I have to admit that I sometimes feel a bit guilty eating before the children too.  The only other issue I can see is that the little children sometimes need more time to eat their lunch than what they have.  I believe that this would only apply for my end of the school, in fact- I wonder if the senior part of the school experience the opposite problem?  And on the whole- these are little things. ( I guess I am trying to be reflective!)
Another part of our new initiative is the carb snack in the morning,  I think that for some of the children, this is vital and I certainly believe that without it, it would be bad news.  Happily, I am sure that most of the children get a good breakfast before coming to school but this is not he case for everyone.  The children like the carb snack and they are very happy to be involved.  I don't recall anyone who has declined the carb snack.  Obviously introducing such a thing comes with it's logistical issues- we have got onto those eatly in the piece and  it seems to tick along nicely for us.
We have also introduced the 'drink to think' initiative too.  I feel that personally I am probably one of the people to benefit the most form this as I am not great at drinking water and I am enjoying it- although my trips to the bathroom have certainly increased!!  The chidlren have also really appreciated the drink bottles being available all the time..  Some of the children are better at rememebering to drink it than others but I am trying to model this for them.  Initaially, they were always wanting to go to the toilet, but thankfully  this has settled down.
I am very keen to find out how the Omega 3 initiative goes as well down the track if we go ahead with this.  I have tried this with my own children and I saw almost instant results which surprised me.  It appeared to have a calming or leveling affect.
All in all, I think that to comment on the outcomes of these new initiatives is too early as we need to give it more time to reap the benefits.  It is great that we are trialling these and as it is with anything, we get used to it and if I was told it was going to change back to the 'old way' - I think I would be dissappointed

APPLIED PRACTICE IN CONTEXT

BLOG POST 2

WEEK 26

APPLIED PRACTICE IN CONTEXT

We are a school borne out of the earthquakes and we are the result of two schools closing down and opening as a new entity.  Most of the 375 children attending our school have come from one of the two schools that closed. Some staff have come from the two schools and there are a few (including me) that have come from elsewhere.  Our Lady of Fatima and St Paul’s are the two schools that closed and both schools were steeped in a history of their own. Stoll (1998) states that a school’s culture is shaped by its history, context and the people in it and that a school's age can impact cultural change.  I feel fortunate to be a founding member of our new school and to be able to help establish our school culture. 

We are a decile 8 school with a number of cultures represented. I think it is fair to say that the decile 8 would be an indicator of the socio economic status of our school.  Our school is situated in an area in Christchurch that has been specifically designed to have a real cross section of socio economic groups.  We are surrounded by some quite grand homes which are deliberately interspersed with some state housing.  This area of Christchurch has been purposefully designed to attract an eclectic group of people.   Because we are a Catholic school, our area is naturally widened and therefore we are getting students from the new subdivisions in the area, hence the decile 8 being a fair indication. It is interesting to note that we have in excess of 20 preschools feeding our school.   We have a vast majority of students who are of New Zealand European descent and the smaller groups we have represented include New Zealand Maori and Filipino and African among others. 

Building relationships with parents and most importantly children underpin my practice.  As a new entrant teacher I aim to be part of a culture where all children are supported in their transition to school and where children and other teachers in my team feel supported to take risks to achieve our common goal. 

Stoll (1998) suggests that relationships, organisational structure and learning nature are the basis of all culture.  We are working in a collaborative environment and since the beginning of our school opening, we have seen a strengthening of identity as a team and trust as we work together to achieve a common goal.  As we have collaborated we have seen an increase in communication and collegiality and I believe we are now at a point where we can be supportive toward each other to encourage best practice. 

The organisational structure of our school is transparent.  Our senior leadership team are integral in helping to develop our school culture.  They work collaboratively and give extra opportunities for us to work collaboratively as a team to establish working relationships and they are very supportive and caring. 

Our school is divided into four hubs.  Each hub has a unique culture which contributes to the overall culture of our school.

The learning nature of our school has been ever evolving since we opened. We have recently constructed our vision - “Choosing to be an innovative Catholic Learning Community that inspires and empowers learners to succeed.”  The staff were involved in this process and therefore I feel I have a lot more ownership around this.  The building of our vision continues to include the wider school community including our Parish and families as we are all collectively responsible in achieving this.

One of the issues we have in our community of practice is the fact that our vision is still so new and we need to embed it into our school over time.  We need to make it a part of our everyday life.

Because we are such a new school, I think we are on a journey of developing our school culture and we have to continue to tread carefully and be ever mindful of the reason we came to be.  This will be, at times, challenging I am sure, but exciting too.

REFERENCES

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

BLOG POST 1- Louise MacKay

WEEK 26

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

 It had never occurred to me before that my Community of Practice (COP) is embedded into many different aspects of my professional life.

Wegner and Treyner (2015) acknowledge that this is a relatively new title to give to an age old phenomenon and define a community of practice as being “groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” 

I have reflected on who makes up my COP. I am aware that I am a member of a number of different COP at different levels.  These include my school community including my team ( hub) and the staff as a whole, my preschool teachers network group, the mind lab family, my professional learning group to name but a few. I am involved at different levels and I might add, at different times, with these COP, however there are two groups that I consider to be my “main” COP for the time being and for the purpose of this post, I will concentrate on my teaching team and my preschool networking group. My teaching team consist of 5 teachers, in my Hub at my school.  My preschool networking group is a group of about 20 teachers from different preschools in our area and the teachers in my hub at our school. I set up this group to share ideas, and develop relationships with the preschools in our area to help make the transition to school smoother for the children. 

 Wenger (2015) identifies three main characteristics that must be present to form a COP.  These are the domain, the community and the practice. The domain is the area of shared inquiry of the key issues, the community is about relationships among the members and their sense of belonging and the practice is about the knowledge, methodology, the documents and the resources.  (Knox 2009)

The shared domain with my teaching team at school is the children we teach and ensuring that they receive the best education possible and that their individual needs are being met in a nurturing and caring environment.   Our community is fostered by coming together regularly as a hub and as a team to pray and sing together, we share our successes as a hub by meeting for a weekly hui and we meet several times a week to learn together.  In my teaching team, we work together to learn from each other and to collectively work out how to meet our goals so that we value other people’s knowledge, expertise and opinions and allows for us to expand and exchange this knowledge.  This happens in several different ways.  We have weekly meetings to share ideas and plan collaboratively, we have individual as well as group professional discussions.   Currently we are working collectively on our values and our school vision as we are a newly opened school so this has been valuable in developing the COP ensuring that it is the combination of these three elements that constitutes a community of practice. And it is by developing these three elements in parallel that one cultivates such a community. (Wegner 2000)

In my preschool networking group, we have a shared domain of helping each other to ensure the children have a smooth transition from the early childhood setting to school. I am the leader of this group so I feel responsibility to ensure we are meeting on a regular basis to share ideas and expertise and build up a collective bank of resources.  Every member of the group is continuing to build relationships with each other and share knowledge to better themselves as teachers and ultimately to ensure the transition to school for these wee people is as smooth as it can be.

The members of both my COP understand the shared purpose of belonging to the community and are committed to regular interactions.  This has lead us to build up resources and knowledge and we all have someone to turn to if we need advice with anything.  I think our communities are something we need to continuously develop and nurture.

REFERENCES

Knox, B. (2009, December 4).Cultivating Communities of Practice: Making Them Grow.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk

Wenger-Traynor, E & B. (2015). Introduction to communities of practice. http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press

Maths at Hoon Hay

A morning at Hoon Hay school
This morning we travelled to Hoon Hay school to see their Maths programme. I have had some time to reflect on a couple of points that I took from the morning.  Wendy Dent was the presenter and she talked a lot about using mixed ability grouping in Maths.  At first I was surprised to hear that this was how they group children through the whole school in Maths.   This, I feel, linked in nicely with the whole Growth Mindset approach.  Wendy talked about how the children that are ability grouped often see themselves as being better at something that others or not as good as others.  They judge their own ability by how they perceive others ability in the group eg If they are in a group with Fred who isn't as good at Maths as Mary, then they begin to believe they too are not good at Maths.  If we, as teachers use mixed grouping, then this confuses the perceived heirachy and all children learn to believe in themselves and in their ability.  They can also learn from each other.
We saw the different classes using a problem solving approach which was really interesting.  It was great to see the NE classes so engaged in solving the problems.  Each class ( regardless of level) did a lot of talking about the problem, what information they knew, what information they didn't know from reading the problem and then went away with a Maths buddy and worked on different ways of solving the problem.  I found this really interesting and it was great to see a system or a "formula" work across all the levels of the school.
I liked the way the childern worked so well together.  In the NE class, the teacher had a great "hook" for the children which involved having a mystery envelope with a number in it.  They had to make the number as many different ways as possible.  I will use this in my own practice.  The teacher was saying that it has now become a bit of a competition between the children who are trying to 'outdo' each other with winning the most ways of making the number.  I have been thinking of some ways that I could expand some tof these sorts of activities.
It was great to listen to someone who is so passionate about teaching maths.  I found her to be quite inspirational.