Week 32 - APC - Changes in Practice - Activity 8

Week 32 - APC - Changes in practice

Activity 8: Changes in my practice

The Mind Lab course has made a huge impact on me as a education professional. It is so important to be an ongoing learner if you’re going to be a teacher. A am a lot more reflective as a teacher now and also more aware of what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.

“...reflective practice is viewed as a means by which practitioners can develop a greater level of self-awareness about the nature and impact of their performance, an awareness that creates opportunities for professional growth and development.” (Osterman and Kottkamp, 1993, p 2).

Reflective Teacher Practice - You Tube

Short video which sums up my view of the value of teacher reflection.

(Retrieved from youtube https://youtu.be/0glFJMYv1JY on 28 - 06 - 16)

Key Change One

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

I’ve established and formed so many new networks, connections and relationships with like minded educators, near and far. I now really value taking the time to read people’s blogs and flick through the google+ news feed. Twitter has been the biggest breakthrough for me with regards to connecting to the wider educational community. My commitment to online professional learning and development of professional practice has never been so strong before during my teaching career. The Mind Lab course has resparked my love and passion for lifelong learning as an educator, and I now see the importance of being connected to online professional learning communities in this day and age.

Key Change Two

Criteria 7: Promote a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment that embraces e-learning and engages learners.

I feel I am more confident and knowledgeable about guiding students online so that they are safe, and able to communicate appropriately, and show respect towards others whilst working online. Digital citizenship isn’t an isolated topic that gets taught once - developing digital citizens requires ongoing lessons, intertwined within all subjects that utilize online learning tools. I am more confident in leading students as they engage in learning conversations with each other online. Being on The Mind Lab course has lead me to solidify and affirm what I already doing to promote collaborative learning environment. The students blogs are starting too look awesome as they add their digital learning objects. The more the students blog, and use tools such as google docs, google slides, and other digital tools, their engagement and motivation for learning grows. I see how they love sharing ideas and their work with others. They learn off each other and teach one another.

My future professional develop involves…...relaxing and playing! I want to re-visit and play around with all the cool things we learnt about over the last 32 weeks and get the students to play with them too. Makey-makey, coding, flipped classroom, design thinking, and augmented reality are areas I want to re-visit and apply. I want to keep developing student agency, and we have already started delving into this as we prepare our students for Genius Hour. Most of all, I just want keep learning, sharing, reflecting on my practice, and try to always have a growth mindset.

References

Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California.Cornwin Press, Inc. Retrieved on 7th May, 2015 fromhttp://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

Week 31 - My Interdisciplinary Connection Map - Activity 7

Week 31 - My Interdisciplinary Connection Map - Activity 7

Interdisciplinary Practice

What are the three models?

The Interdisciplinary Approach

• joins two or more disciplines
• critical-thinking skills
• in-depth content
• genuinely teacher directed
• some student contribution

The Integrated Approach

• more consolidated and realistic view of knowledge
• inquiry based, usually themed
• themes and activities are chosen and directed by the teacher
• goals are logical and consist of content, skills, and processes

The Integrative Approach

• students' and teachers' ideas
• student and teacher co-construct the curriculum
• goals are more affective - with the hope of having a positive impact on others, not just themselves
• personal purpose, collaboration, and citizenship skills

All the models/approaches summarized above make a vigilant push to provide students with more useful, and significant learning experiences, and encourages students to make connections to the real world (Mathison & Freeman, 1997).

Further arguments for interdisciplinary, integrated, or integrative approaches are listed by Stember (1991), where it is argued that, a) any domain is enhanced by concepts, practices, and processes from other fields; b) knowledge in the ‘read-world’ is connected and new connections are established daily; and c) the acquisition of knowledge is inhibited by a divided, decompartmentalized system.

A more holistic approach to teaching can take place if an an interconnected, theme-based approach is used. Teachers will have the freedom to acknowledge and respond to the needs of the whole student (Mathison & Freeman, 1997).

"...by focusing the curriculum on a problem or topic rather than on a discrete discipline, there is an increased opportunity to formalize the process of problem solving. By approaching a problem or topic from the vantage point of many teachers and/or disciplines, students are exposed to more information and more views, providing them with the raw material needed to construct understanding" (St Clair & Hough, 1992, p. 19).

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

A disadvantage of using interdisciplinary, integrated, and integrative models is, how do we manage and sustain their divergent framework, and how do we assess and review them effectively? What directives and rules are required for teachers to adopt the model in the intended fashion? (Mathison & Freeman, 1997).

Another possible dilemma is what Jacobs (1989) addresses as the 'potpourri problem' where programmes become a tiny sample of a teeny bit of this and a skimpy bit of that and end up becoming courses devoid of an all-embracing logical structure or comprehensiveness.  

My future goal with respect to working in an interdisciplinary manner is to keep scaffolding and preparing our students for their Genius Hour projects, which they will commence in term 3 this year. Genius Hour lends itself well to interdisciplinary learning, especially the integrative approach. We are gradually giving our students more agency as time passes, but they will have even more ownership of their work once their projects get up and running.  

Another future interdisciplinary goal of mine is to use more inquiry based learning in maths so that students can take more ownership of their maths work.

References

Jacobs, H. H. (1989a). Interdisciplinary curriculum options: A case for multiple configurations. Educational Horizons, 68(1), 25-27, 33.

Jacobs, H. H. (1989b). Interdisciplinary curriculum: Design and implementation. Alexandria,VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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:

St Clair, B. & Hough, D. L. (1992). Interdisciplinary teaching: A review of the literature. Springfield, MO: Southwest Missouri State University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 373 056)

Stember, M. (1991). Advancing the social sciences through the interdisciplinary enterprise. The Social Science Journal, 28(1), 1-14.

Week 30 - APC - Professional Online Social Networks

Week 30 - Activity 6 - Professional Online Social Networks

What social media platform do you feel best supports engagement with your professional development? Why?

In Karen Melhuish’s Master Thesis (2013), she reports that generally (or traditionally), when teachers participate in professional learning, it has usually been decided upon by policy makers, senior management. Their professional development may be bound by tight budgets, or perhaps restricted by other impending school priorities. Sometimes professional learning may be forced upon educators, or they may feel they cannot have control of their own learning, even though research states that it’s important that adults learners have agency and control over their own learning pathways and processes (Darling-Hammond, ChungWei, Andree, Richardson, & Orphanos, 2009; Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2011).

In the ‘Connected Educators’ video (Office of Ed Tech, 2013, Sep 18), Tom Whitby, a high school English teacher and the founder of #edchat says, “...the idea of collaboration was always in education...go back thousands of years and educators would collaborate. But technology has taken us to a level where we can collaborate beyond our wildest imaginations.”

There are numerous benefits for educators if they choose to connect with other educators through the use of professional online social networks, Other people who shared their views on the ‘Connected Educators’ video, expressed that connecting with other educators online is the most impactful thing you can do as an educator. It helps you reflect upon a question we may ask ourselves, ‘how do you know you’re doing well?’. Teachers can share ideas with communities worldwide, almost instantly, anywhere, anytime. Engaging with others through Twitter helps educators to feel supported, reassured, and never alone. Tweet a question and have an answer 5 minutes later from a teacher in another country. Some educators even felt that all their professional needs are met through the use of Twitter. Our desire for learning as professionals can be met using technology tools such as Twitter (Office of Ed Tech, 2013, Sep 18).

In Karen Melhuish’s study (2013), she found that 46% of teachers she surveyed, decided to join the VLN Groups Network was because they wished to be more engaged in professional learning.

The main reason why I am on Twitter is because I believe it helps to quench my thirst for my own professional life-long learning. I think I am moving from being mostly a ‘lurker’, to being someone who contributes more of my own ideas, thoughts, and perspectives online.

I would like to explore VLN which is a social networking site provided by the Ministry of Education. Do you use it? If so, do you find it helpful?

What are potential challenges that teachers need to be aware of when integrating social networking platforms into teaching activities? Why?

Making sure the students understand that you need to be cautious about what you put onto social media or anywhere on the internet. They also need to be aware of the threat of predators and cyberbullies (Social Media For Kids, 2014, Aug 15).

From viewing Joosten’s presentation (2013, October 22), I gleaned that as teachers we need to be mindful that ‘face-to-face’ interaction is important for developing social skills in our students. Finding a healthy balance between that, and ‘online social skills’ is key.

References

Darling-Hammond, L., Chung-Wei, R., Andree, A., Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). Professional learning in the learning profession: A status report on teacher development in the U.S. and abroad. National Staff Development Council, Stanford University: California, US. Retrieved from http://www.learningforward.org/docs/pdf/nsdcstudy2009.pdf

Joosten, T.( 2013. October 22). 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

Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2011). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development. Oxford, England: Elsevier Inc.

Melhuish, K. (2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato.

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

Social Media For Kids (2014, Aug 15) Social Media For Kids® The Social Media Education Experts.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2rOekhi20E

Activity 5 - Week 29 Influence of Law and Ethics on Professional Practice

Influence of Law and Ethics on Professional Practice

Image from: http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/what-social-media

Long gone are the days where I did all of my planning and assessment on paper, filing it neatly into different sections of my folder, then handing it to my team leader to sight and initial. My students had exercise books, that only I would see, and occasionally their parents might see from time to time. Planning, assessment, reflection, evaluations, students work etc - all pretty much constructed by one individual person.

How times have changed! Social media has changed the way I teach and the way my students learn.

“Social media offer spaces for innovative teaching in classrooms.” (Henderson et al, 2014, p 1). Texts can now be jointly constructed, more than one individual can collaboratively create work together, almost anytime, anywhere (Henderson et al, 2014)

But with all this sharing, viewing, collaborating, networking, and information at the touch of our fingertips, we need to be mindful of ethics and laws.

Educators who use social media appropriately will develop learners who will be respectful and positive in their interactions on social media.

(http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/)

The Code of Ethics for Certficated Teachers governs my teaching practice.

The professional interactions of teachers are governed by four fundamental principles:

• 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.

(The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certficated Teachers)

These four principles are similar to my own teaching values:

• Respect - treat others how you want to be treated.
• Responsible - you are responsible for your own actions.
• Lifelong learner - don’t stop learning!
• Growth mindset - belief + hard work = achievement.

I really like this perspective on social media:

Social media: A Māori perspective

At our school, when the students enrol, they and their parents/caregivers must sign an ICT agreement. The ICT agreement is used to address cyber safety and support digital citizenship. Digital citizenship is intertwined in our teaching programmes. But despite this, I am still amazed at the naivety some of our students when it comes to sharing their personal information online. Regardless of how much teaching we do around the appropriate use of social media, we still have issues such as: students entering surnames and contact details online, students taking photos of others and uploading them without permission, and cyber bullying. There has been cases of weekend cyber bullying activities happening between students, that then spill out onto precious school time. One particular case involved feuding parents, arguing back and forth through their child's Facebook pages! In that particular instance, Senior Management stepped in and sorted the issue with the help of the local police constable. We are currently not a BYOD school (yet) but students are allowed to bring their phones/devices whereby they are asked to hand them into their homeroom teacher every morning. Not all teachers enforce this, so there remain issues where students are caught with their devices in class or in the playground by staff.

Where to from here?

At a staff meeting have some ethical scenarios where staff can discuss what’s happened and the best way to work through the problem.

References

Connecticut’s Teacher Education and Mentoring Program. (2012). Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educator: Facilitator’s Guide. Retrieved from: http://www.ctteam.org/df/resources/Module5_Manual.pdf : This guide compiles several scenarios of ethical and professional dilemmas that teachers may encounter.

Henderson, M., Auld, G., & Johnson, N. F. (2014). Ethics of Teaching with Social Media. Paper presented at the Australian Computers in Education Conference 2014, Adelaide, SA. http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/session/ethics-teaching-socialmedia

Ministry of Education. (2015). Digital technology- Safe and responsible use in school. Retrieved from: http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Managing-and-supporting-students/DigitalTechnologySafeAndResponsibleUseInSchs.pdf: This is a guideline from Ministry of Education to help school understand and ensure safe and responsible use of digital technology.

http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/what-social-media

Activity 4 Week 28 - Indigenous knowledge & Cultural responsiveness

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsive Pedagogy

According to Professor Russell Bishop in the Edtalks video, (September 23, 2012), culturally responsive teaching practices are strongly based on relationship centred education. Bishop states that a culturally responsive teacher:

• builds caring relationships with their young Māori students.
• cares for Māori students as Māori - the teacher cares about the academic performance of young Māori students, and hold/show high expectations for them.
• creates a learning context where young Māori students can draw on their own funds of knowledge and apply it in a classroom setting.
• provides opportunities for the students to co-construct the learning outcomes. Relevant feedback and feed-forward takes place to assist the student with their learning journey.
• takes into account the students performance to guide their future teaching.
• implements effective co-operative teaching and learning so there is a culture of learners among learners (Bishop, R. 2012).

How does my school address cultural responsiveness in practice?

We are extremely fortunate to have a bilingual unit at our kura, Ngā Rakau e Rua and Te Pihinga, from years 3-8.

The Positives - Cultural Responsiveness at Our Kura

• Culturally safe learning environments established with basic whanaungatanga and tikanga Māori within some teaching activities.
• Te Reo Māori, at a basic level is evident in some programme design and content.
• Manaakitanga and rangatiratanga.

There is some commitment among staff to do tertiary study, either Te Reo Māori or Tikanga, through the Wānanga o Aōtearoa. The kinds of te reo or tikanga Māori that is used in akomanga often consist of: basic commands, short conversations, greetings, colour names, numbers, group names using te reo, Māori action songs, waiata, terminology for topics, standard tikanga practice such as no sitting on tables, pillows, and no touching of the head. Māori topics OR topics from a Māori worldview that have been taught in the last few years: Treaty of Waitangi, matariki, rakau, hauora, mihi mihi, and te kupu o te wiki. In some classes, the te reo programme happens on a set day of the week for 40 minutes, but te reo is is used and encouraged/integrated into the weekly programme as much as possible, with the focus being pronunciation and students feeling supported in the learning of te reo. To support a bicultural environment our school encourages Kapahaka participation and places value upon this. Our kura usually incorporates Māori language and customs in whole school events and assemblies. Almost everyone speaks a little bit te reo Māori. We also allow students to wear taonga around their necks - not confiscating them.

What needs improvement -  Cultural Responsiveness at Our Kura

• Te Reo Māori being fully integrated through curriculum content, learning and teaching, in more classes, not just the bilingual classes.

There are some teachers who do not confident in speaking te reo Māori in our akomanga, sometimes because they do not feel they will pronounce te reo incorrectly. Around the same number of teachers do not feel confident teaching te reo and tikanga Māori to our ākonga. Some teacher spend little allocated time, per week, for the teaching of te reo and tikanga Māori. Our on-going challenges are to ensure all planning incorporates tikanga and te reo, and we also need to incorporate tikanga into school wide practices more often. Raising Māori achievement should also remain a major focus.

How can we raise confidence of Te Reo being spoken and taught in classes that are led by teachers and students alike?

References

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

Unitec (n.d) Poutama - Mātauranga Māori in the Living Curriculum. Unitec Institute of Technology.