Activity 8: Key change in my professional practice

Over the years I have had students achieve below their expected age level who I believe to be both responsive and intelligent. For some time I have felt that traditional
teaching was not working for those children. Although students were busy and working hard, they were not progressing as well as I thought they should or more importantly
had the ability to. This not only lowered their self-esteem, it also caused parents anxiety, which in turn put unnecessary pressure on their children. As the teacher,
I was left frustrated by the limitations and “fixed mindset” the traditional classroom offered in an attempt to progress these students.

There was a gap in my practice that I desperately wanted to fill (Osterman & Kottkam, 2015). My personal belief is that all students have strengths, values
and prior knowledge that if given the freedom to explore would give them the opportunity to feel success at school, and confidence to take the necessary learning
risks to set them up to be true lifelong learners (Ministry of Education, 2001).

Previously, I have attempted to individualise my students’ programmes, trying to connect with their personal interests, talents and cultures, but our explorations
seemed mere tokens as we were limited by timetabling of reading writing and maths. I also felt I lacked the skill and know how to make it happen. I did not know where to
go for the information I was looking for or even what I was looking for. All I had was data (student voice, parent voice, teacher voice, samples of student work, and test
results) that showed students lack engagement and ownership in their personal learning journey.

I saw my enrolment into Mind Lab as an opportunity to redesign my learning programme, into a programme based on curriculum and pedagogical knowledge, assessment
information and understanding of each learner’s strengths, interests, needs, identities, languages and cultures (Ministry of Education, 2017). I saw it as an opportunity to
revolutionise education in my classroom and teaching team through the use of digital technologies and collaboration of student and teacher.

Throughout the Mind Lab courses, I have come to a complex understanding of personalising learning through project-based learning, growth mindset, 21st-century
environments and learning skills. Digital native students, which is a new and evolving culture, need to be recognised and catered to in the modern classroom (Prenski 2001).
It is this knowledge of emerging research and theories that gave me the confidence to implement the necessary change in my classroom. I feel I am better prepared to
defend the changes I am making and justify them to the more traditionally minded educator and parent.

This year I have begun to implement students regulating their own timetables as well as personalising their learning through project-based activities rather than wholly
teacher directed activities. I have learnt that change can happen, however it takes time and effort. I have learnt to be more flexible and adaptable as students input
into their personal programmes. I have learnt what it truly means to take calculated risks, based on research, assumptions and reflections. I have come to a fuller understand
ing that as the teacher I do not need to know everything or even pretend to, I just need to be part of the planning to help students work out and continue on their personal
learning journeys. I need to be there to guide, plan, teach, question, answer, create, share, and explore.

I recognise that my journey has just begun; I will continue to explore student self-regulated programmes through project-based activities. As a year 5 & 6 teacher,
I am interested in linking the whole primary school student-learning journey (year 0 – 8). I love the idea of exploring play-based learning in preparation of the next stage and
what classroom environments and programs look like for each level. I am passionate about the idea of these programmes revolutionising the education system of
Aoetearoa.

REFERENCES

Ministry of Education (2017). Our code, our standards. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards

Ministry of Education (2001). The New Zealand Curriculum. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum

Prensky. M., 2001. Digital Natives, Digital immigrants., On the Horizon MCB University Press, Vol. 9. No 5.

 

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

Activity 7: Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

As I have pondered on this topic I have found it both interesting and difficult. I find it interesting that whenever indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness policies, vision, mission, and core values are discussed within the New Zealand education system it is limited to the Maori ethnic group. I find this difficult because whenever I listen or read comments around cultural responsiveness religious culture is never considered, yet this is the culture of myself and my children. I often do not comment just in case I offend or am interpreted as being culturally insensitive to ethnic cultures (such as Maori, Pacific Islander). I believe ethnic cultures are important; however religious and other cultures are just as important for many students that sit in my classroom.

My understanding of indigenous knowledge is the knowledge that is unique to a culture or society, that is passed to the next generation (Gaye 2002). For myself to have a culturally responsive pedagogy means having the ability to respect and learn from people from my own culture as well as from those of other cultures. In my case I need to be given the opportunity to learn from people from the same religion as myself as well as from other religions, ethnic groups and other cultures. This is also true for my students if they are to be culturally responsive. It is important to note that cultural responsiveness and indigenous knowledge isn’t restricted to New Zealand schools and it is also possible to teach all students to be culturally responsive without that idea devolving into simply meaning what a child's or teacher’s response is to the Maori culture.

Once again I am asked to comment and assess my practice against frameworks I find offensive and not holistically culturally responsive, only responsive to Maori.

I believe the New Zealand government and educational authorities have limited their definition of having culturally responsive pedagogy to teachers only being aware of the needs of Maori and the embedding of Mātauranga Māori in their classroom. Being culturally responsive would require teachers and educational leaders to recognise all students have their own culture as well as share a culture that comes from all being residents of New Zealand and engaging in the communities in which they reside. Looking at the cultural needs of all students would mean the school environment would foster a pedagogy that looks to the individual needs of each student within their own culture and works to create an environment of learning and personal success that bridges the gap between social life, home, and school. MANAAKITANGA: creating a welcoming, caring and creative learning environment that treats everyone with respect and dignity.

The above Action Continuum assumes Cultural recognition is only for those whose heritage is Maori. It is important to recognise the needs of Maori, and for the culture of Maori to be taught in all New Zealand schools because it is interwoven into the identity of our country and the identity of all New Zealanders, however, it is also important to bridge the cultural recognition gap of all students which would empower them as learners and help them to thrive.

Underachievement is not limited to Maori students. The idea that “white methodology” teaches in a way that is only fully understandable and beneficial to “white students” is warped and erroneous. This means schools need to create learning environments that accept and include the cultures of all students as valid and necessary for their self-worth and bridging the educational gaps that come from a lack of recognition. It is not so much that “challeng[ing] white definitions and structures” needs to happen as it is discarding traditional methods which are generally based around assessing how well a child can read, write, and do maths at a certain age. As an educator, I  need to explore how fostering cultural recognition and assessing to identified individual cultural values and norms can progress the individual learning of each student. When we start to validate and assess based on what is culturally important to each individual I believe you will not only see Maori achievement rise, but that of all students.

REFERENCES

CORE Education.(2017, 17 October). Dr Ann Milne, Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools.[video file].

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cTvi5qxqp4&feature=em-subs_digest

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

Activity 6: Contemporary trends in New Zealand

Today I am reflecting on application-based learning within the classroom. I currently work at a school that is recognised by ERO as providing a quality education to our students. However, in spite of our schools best efforts, I feel we are not truly preparing students for success in the world they will inhabit after leaving school. I believe part of the reason for this is because the emphasis is still on the traditional methods of teaching. The future world for the students we currently teach is changing and advancing at a fast rate (OECD. 2016). It is for this reason that myself and colleagues from the year 5 & 6 teaching team, in charge of 96 students, chose this coming term to collaborate our planning and change our practice to explore the implementation of application-based learning more fully. The purpose of our collaboration is to engage ALL students in their own personal learning journey through social media in some form or another.

Statistical data reveals that social media is not a fad (Statista 2018), rather social media is an evolution of global social communication. It is now imaginable to have communication between classrooms and teachers worldwide. Students can now connect with others (experts even) outside their classroom to gain the information they need to gain insight into a chosen topic. This allows students to explore topics of interest and problem solve with the guidance of the teacher, rather than be wholly reliant on teacher-driven information. However, this use of social media requires teachers to let go of an element of control by acknowledging that they are not the students “fountain of all knowledge”. As a year 5 & 6 team, our challenge with introducing application based programs is considering how we track individual students progress in a way that satisfies our principal and leadership team, without compromising the individualised nature of the project-based learning environment. Our team will still be required to report student progress against national benchmarks in reading, writing and math to our B.O.T, principal and parents. It seems that the application of a Rigor/Relevance Framework to help organise our learning environments will help to satisfy both need for formal reporting, yet allow students to progress on their own individual pathway.

As the school innovators of this change (project-based learning), we continue to face some resistance from other teachers and leadership. They are concerned that without

the main focus on reaching standard benchmarks in core subjects, these subjects will lose integrity and the majority of student learning will be mediocre at best. They are concerned students will not learn the foundation skills and knowledge necessary to progress effectively through the remainder of their schooling.

However, I see project-based learning as an opportunity for students to be more engaged in their own learning journey and to connect what they learn in the school environment with the greater world around them. This is a topic of interest on the New Zealand e-learning site (Ministry of Education 2018), along with other contemporary trends. However, if a teacher is not spending the time to broaden their own mindset and explore these types of websites, engage in conversations, or participate in professional development around these evolving trends, then the impact of this evolution within the New Zealand education system is limited by the time and resources individual teachers have. Even with the greatest of intentions, teachers are limited by available time, money and school pressures. I feel that until policy makers or senior leadership within a school realise that these trends have the ability to revolutionise today's education system and empower today's students, then the development of these trends within the educational system will remain slow. The true empowerment of teachers to explore and develop trends will come as policy makers and school leadership gives teachers the much needed support of developing these trends in the classroom, rather than being swayed by ill-informed parents and stakeholders in which educating young minds is not their professional duty.

REFERENCES

Rigor and Relevance Framework;, retrieved 2018 from https://www.robeson.k12.nc.us/Page/29425

Ministry of Education (2018) Enabling E Learning Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/

OECD. (2016) Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/trends_ edu-2016-en Daggett, B. (2014).

Addressing Current and Future Challenges in Education. Retrieved from http://www.leadered.com/pdf/2014MSC_AddressingCurrentandFutu reChallenges.pdf

Statista (2018). Number of social media users worldwide from 2010 to 2021 (in billions). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/

Activity 5: Using social online networks in teaching or professional development

This week I have reflected on how I am using social media in my teaching practise using the Jay and Johnson’s (2002) reflective model.

As a “digital immigrant”, (Prensky 2001) I find the public social media world quite intimidating and overwhelming at times. There is so much new information to learn, and new applications are always arriving. I feel unqualified to keep up with it all. In fact at times I think it is just another thing for me as a teacher to try and do.

Yet within the confines of my own personal community of practise, I do find elements of social media empowering. This year I have been developing my flipped classroom practise, so either creating clips for students or using already created youtube clips to help preload students learning for the coming weeks tasks. I have introduced google classroom as a management system for students to access instructions, videos and timetables. Students are currently using blogs to post reflections and evidence of learning for parent comments. Google documents and emails act as collaborative learning spaces where students help guide planning, while collaborating with each other through wonderings and creations.

These simple changes have seen a massive amount of improvement in student engagement and the personalisation of students learning. Time is now set aside during my planning and teaching schedule to help students find resources around topics of interest.

I am not ready to allow my year 5 & 6 class to use twitter or facebook as an opportunity to connect with a wider community. I struggle to grasp that a child needs to leave the confines of their school, or community to find someone who has a similar interest than they do (Magette, 2014). I don’t believe the time taken to monitor student activity and ensure students safety while using social media for the purpose of seeking feedback from a wider audience is justified. I recognise that at year 5 & 6 students need to understand they belong to a global world, although I am not convinced that twitter is the answer to ensure this happens. Yet when students know that their work is being shared on seesaw or uploaded to youtube, I, like many teachers find students quality of work and engagement to the task becomes more serious. This is an area I don’t plan well for, and I should.  

One of the difficult things to work out as a teacher is ‘balance’, the debate continues about what teachers should spend their time on in the classroom. A myriad of comments and arguments can be found about how teachers should be spending time teaching reading, writing and math knowledge to their students (using digital or traditional methods). I along with many of my colleagues agree that in this day and age it should be a combination. Now the question is what is the balance between the two methods. I believe student engagement and focus on the task should help guide the teacher to know. How do our students in class learn best? Once we answer this honestly, with no prejudice to one particular method, then we truly are making the best use of social media, rather than just doing it because it is there to use.

REFERENCES

Jay and Johnson’s (2002) reflective model  

Magette, K. (2014). Embracing social media : a practical guide to manage risk and leverage opportunity. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.(Available in Unitec library).

Prensky. Marc., (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1., On the Horizon., Vol. 9 Issue: 5, pp.1-6

Activity 4: Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

It is true that with the increased use of technology in education brings new challenges and ethical dilemmas to the teaching profession. This week I have considered how plagiarism and intellectual-property violation seems to be an accepted norm for the teaching profession. Sounds harsh I know, but true nonetheless. Now with technology and easy access to more information, plagiarism and the intellectual-property violation is on the rise. Since I have been teaching, I have known many teachers to copy from books, download videos, music and so on all in the name of enriching students’ lives.

Teachers are constantly on the hunt to present information to their students that is relevant and engaging. It is equally true that teachers’ salaries do not reflect the extra time, energy and cost that is spent in providing this information for their students. Hence, teachers are drawn to the internet. A one-stop shop for video’s, music and visual aids that are not only relevant and engaging but also easily accessible. Making these resources almost impossible to ignore.

On the other hand, we have the corporate entities who create these videos, music and visual aids, whose bottom line is to increase profit share for their shareholders. Obviously, if the corporation is unable to sell their products, then they are unable to fulfill their obligations to their employees, shareholders, debtors and so on.

The ethical dilemma comes when teachers do not have the resources to pay for copyright use. It is not that a teacher wants to be dishonest, rather that they don’t have the means to pay for the resources they feel they need, which in their minds justifies their dishonesty.

As I consider this dilemma in my own practice, I cannot help but wonder what message I send to my students when I download music and movies off the internet. I also think about my personal values and ethics that I want to be true to. Last year our schools' big idea was “integrity”. My students and I spent the year learning about what Integrity looked like in different situations. Our catchphrase “making the right choice, even when no one is looking” rings in my ears still today. If I expect my students to Have integrity, and the Education Council (pg. 2 2017) expects me to have integrity, “PONO: showing integrity by acting in ways that are fair, honest, ethical and just.” The solution for plagiarism is simple, do not do it. An accepted norm that is illegal does not make it right. “As teachers, we respect our trusted position in society and recognise the influence we have on learners, their understanding of the world and the future wellbeing of our society.” (Education Council 2017). As teachers if we don’t make the links of what the consequences to our collective actions are to the global picture, then how can we expect our students to.

REFERENCES

Lisa Catherine Ehrich , Megan Kimber, Jan Millwater & Neil Cranston (2011) Ethical dilemmas: a model to understand teacher practice, Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 17:2, 173-185, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2011.539794

Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards. Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/file…

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D. and Jasper, M. (2001). Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Literature Review Reflection

I have just completed my literature review and all I can truly say is what a mission. My overarching question was, how can personalised e-learning programmes affect student achievement in numeracy and literacy for primary school students? 

This had to be one of the most frustrating and rewarding projects I have ever done. I doubt I will get a great grade for the assignment. Seriously I just hope I pass. I truly didn't have much of a clue how to write a literature review or how to get all my thoughts down succinctly and I know I didn't reference properly. Yet I learnt heaps. I learnt so much around personalising learning, 21st-century teaching and e-learning, that in itself was very rewarding and certainly has changed me as an educator. 

I was overwhelmed by the amount of work that the New Zealand Ministry of Education has already put into developing e-learning in New Zealand (n.d. Ministry of Education). I appreciated the time that the literature review "made" me learn more about what e-learning looks like in other schools around New Zealand.

I have become convinced that teachers must recognise that students in the classrooms today are very much different learners to when I was at school, or even when my children were at school (Prensky 2001). I believe we are doing an injustice to the children in our classes if we continue to teach them or try to teach them in a way we were taught.

To be honest I haven't actually worked out what the best method to teach these 21st-century learners is. This is an area I need to continue to explore within my collaborative community of practices (Wenger 2000). This I feel confident will begin to happen as I plan my teacher inquiry research. 

However, what I am sure of is that we (teachers) are wasting our time if we continue to use the traditional methods of learning with this new generation of students. Rather we need to use e-learning to help guide students personalise their own learning journeys. It excites me about the prospects e-learning can have to help children achieve in core subjects like math and literacy to use as foundation skills to inquire into project-based or problem-based activities that they are interested in.. 

REFERENCES

• Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2),225-246.

• Prensky. Marc., (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1., On the Horizon., Vol. 9 Issue: 5, pp.1-6, 

• Ministry of Education (n.d)., retrieved from  http://elearning.tki.org.nz/

Activity 3: Contribution of Teacher Inquiry Topics to my Communities of Practice

One of my Community of Practice (CoP) is year 5 & 6 syndicate of 5 teachers at Pirongia School. Our “joint enterprise” (Wenger, 2000) begun when we inquired into student self-regulation. We genuinely wanted to know how student agency could indeed “accelerate student learning and achievement (primarily in writing).” Our “mutual engagement” (Wenger, 2000) is meeting weekly to discuss our thinking around student learning, student engagement, current teaching practises and any relevant professional readings we may find and want to share with one another. We are goal oriented following the spiral of inquiry model (Helen Timperley., Linda Kaser., Judy Halbert., 2014.) engaging in robust, honest discussion, which builds a mutual trust in the team. We have a “shared repertoire” (Wenger, 2000) of communal resources collected in our teacher drive. It is here we store our shared planning, teaching resources and inquiry documents that each teacher can add to during their personal reflective time or during team meetings.

Already success around shifting from “teacher directed” classrooms to more “student centred” has been shared. Now implementing other 21st century learning skills (knowledge constructions, the use of ICT for learning, skilled communication, real world problem solving and innovation) and focusing on a more blended classroom would be great contributions to our CoP inquiry. It will be within this community that we feel empowered and supported to continue to make real genuine change of practise.

As the team leader I recognise that my team don’t always have the same sense of urgency as I do. They are motivated and enthusiastic about turning their classrooms into 21st Century learning hubs and they are willing to adopt new ideas to make this happen. However, there is also an underlying feeling of anxiety as they challenge the traditional practises our school has done for the past 8 - 10 years (that contradict the ideas of 21st Century Learning). During staff meetings and impromptu conversations around challenging these traditional practises I recognise that my CoP rely on me to articulate our vision to try and remove any prejudices that others may have. This is possibly because I have done more professional reading and professional development (Post-grad Mind Lab) around our students being innovative thinkers and using technology to prepare for the future in education. Or possibly this is because they are still trialing new things

themselves and don’t have the evidence (yet) to support their changes and feel some threat when management come and observe practises.

Hallinger (2003) noted that change draws attention to leadership becoming more diffused within the school, therefore uncertainty may increase rather than decrease. This is a result of more ‘voices’ (teachers, parents, students) engaging in the process of providing leadership for school improvement. As a result, school leadership requires a higher tolerance for uncertainty from the principal and an ability to live with a messy process of change. This is for the principal to work through. Teachers within the CoP need to welcome visits and conversations by management and other teachers as an opportunity to remove some prejudices and show quick wins (Kotter, 1996). It is important teachers remember the purpose for change (accelerating student learning) and check that this is happening because of their change of practise (implementing 21st century skills and the blended classrooms). Making teachers accountable for the change as they learn along students will help make the change stick (Kotter, 1996).

REFERENCES

•  Hallinger., Phillip (2003) Leading Educational Change: reflections on the practice of instructional and transformational leadership, Cambridge Journal of Education Vol. 33, No. 3, Carfax Publishing.

• Kotter, J. (1996). Leading Change. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Review Press.

• Timperley. H., Kaser. L., Halbert. J., (2014) A Framework for Transforming Learning in Schools: Innovation and The Spiral of Inquiry; Centre for Strategic Education Mercer House 82 Jolimont Street East Melbourne Victoria 3002.

• Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2),225-246.