Ako: Teacher Learning: June 2016

Sunday, 26 June 2016

Week 32 - APC - Changes in practice

Reflective practice can assist practitioners to understand and be able to evaluate their practice. This in turn leads to professional development.

Osterman & Kottkamp(1993) has contrasted traditional approach of professional development by outside experts delivering workshops for schools versus reflective practice model. They suggest that traditional approach results in knowledge acquisition while reflective practice can lead to change in behaviors via self-awareness.

Continuing learning is fundamental to keep one in a profession to be able to adapt to any change be it the new pedagogy, or new regulations or even a new environment. In this aspect, reflective practice should be established as learning habits and be used frequently to inform and improve practice.

Most professions have a professional body that regulates the career lifelong learning of its members especially in sectors that require working with people such as nursing, social work and teaching. It is important that a practitioner meets an expected level of professional standards and is able to provide examples as evidence.

In New Zealand education context, Ministry of Education (nd.) has set criteria for Practising Teacher Criteria (PTC) in e-learning.

12 Practising Teacher Criteria (PTC) in e-learning.

Professional relationships and professional values

Criteria 1: Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all ākonga.
Criteria 2: Demonstrate commitment to promoting the well-being of ākonga.
Criteria 3: Demonstrate commitment to bicultural partnership in Aotearoa / New Zealand.
Criteria 4: Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional personal practice.
Criteria 5: Show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning.

Professional knowledge in practice

Criteria 6: Conceptualise, plan, and implement an appropriate learning programme.
Criteria 7: Promote a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment.
Criteria 8: Demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn.
Criteria 9: Respond effectively to the diverse and cultural experiences and the varied strengths, interests, and needs of individuals and groups of ākonga.
Criteria 10: Work effectively within the bicultural context of Aotearoa NZ.
Criteria 11: Analyse and appropriately use assessment and information, which has been gathered formally and informally.
Criteria 12: Use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice.” (p.1)

During the last 7 weeks, several topics have been introduced to provoke your thoughts about a variety of aspects in your practice. You should by now gain a deeper understanding of how those aspects directly or indirectly influence your daily practice.

It should be now the opportunity for you to reflect and review your learning journey over the duration of this course, test new understandings, challenge assumptions and critically consider your practice in line with theory and research.

Saturday, 25 June 2016

Making connections across learning areas - messy and engaging.

Interdisciplinary connections between subject areas might seem innovative and new as seen in Hobsonville Point Secondary School but it is something primary school teachers have been experimenting with for years. The only way to fit everything in, at a depth that makes learning purposeful and interesting, is to mix it all up together like it happens in life!

But how do we define Interdisciplinary teaching? Mathison and Freeman (1997) suggest the purpose is to enhance learning by having two or more subjects work in together to help make the connections. They suggest that the interdisciplimnary approach is more teacher driven, an intergrate approach is inquiry driven and the intergrative approach is about sharing student and teacher ideas to co-construct the curriculum. The basis of all of these approaches is to make connections between learning areas and apply skills across different contexts.

Interdisciplinary connection map:

My interdisciplinary connection map is totally different from those of other Mindlab students because I have focussed on aspects I am so passionate about that they seep into everything I do as a teacher.

I love utilizing digital technologies for learning to scaffold student success. They allow students to create and share their learning as digital citizens with an understanding of the strengths and challenges involved in working ‘online’.

Being the Enviro School lead teacher has a huge impact on how I do everything. The five guiding principles are that of empowering students to take action for real change, teaching and learning for sustainability, honouring Māori perspectives, respecting the diversity of people and cultures and developing the skills in our students that will nurture both people and nature as a sustainable community. These Enviroschool principles tie in with my passion for Te Reo, raranga (flax weaving), Māori tikanga and empowering students to be independent change-makers.

My focus is to develop independence in learning and developing the Key Competencies so my students have the necessary skills for participating in the challenges of the 21st Century. A key component of this is self reflection, unpacking the metacognition behind their learning which will help them develop as a self directed learner. (Ministry of Education 2016)

Topmost in my mind is the way the Feuerstein Method has changed my teaching. I focus on unpacking - cognitive functions into manageable chunks, mediate learning by asking those challenging questions that help students identify effective strategies, while making connections from learning to other contexts and the real world. I believe that every student is modifiable and feel that it is my responsibility to give them the skills they need to grow. (Feuerstein 2010)

Finally, I strive to make learning engaging, for a purpose and social. We co-create learning as we struggle with an inquiry or problem based learning which requires us to use all of our skills and make connections across the curriculum areas.

Identify two of the potential connections from your map as your near future goals:
In the challenge of fitting everything onto the page in my map, I forgot to mention the possible future steps.....

1. Make closer links with the Marae and local Māori community. I hope to return to studying raranga (flax weaving) in 2017, which will continue to build my relationships within tthe Māori community, but also need to look at ways to make my teaching even more culturally responsive. One way is to take more of an active role in my local marae so that I can build relationships and incorporate these into my classroom.

2. Unpack the effect of Feuerstein amongst our learners. This will take the form of carrying out my research project, supporting new other teachers from the school in their training and developing a bank of resources that can be used in implementing this amazing method. This will also require further training over the next few years, so that I can teach the full range of enrichment tasks within our school Dynamic Thinking programme, while also embedding the approach across the curriculum with the aim of providing ‘Equity for all’. (Ministry of Education 2016, NEG 2).

The beneifts of making connections:
Feuerstein states that teaching specific cognitive functions should be done repeatedly and in isolation so it can then be embedded in a task. His key focus is to always make those connections between the strategy and where in the world it was being used. This is fine for an intense cognitive function programme but I believe that it is more motivating if the 'need' for learning arises from an authentic learning opportunity. This results in....

clear connections being made between subjects, strategies and encourages application into new contexts
more complex and challenging isssues can be unpacked - in depth rather than superficial 'coverage'
collaboration as a focus, using creativity, communication, problem solving and critical thinking to socially co-construct knowledge
authentic lines of inquiry engage and inspire students
student interest and voice leads the direction of inquiry or problem soving challenge
learning being fresh and interesting because it is driven by student interests

The challenges of interdisciplinary connections:
Uncertainity of planning:
These issues tend to sit with the teacher. Are they prepared to 'back-plan' or cope with the uncertainty of not having the planning completed for the term? Relying on student imput takes the control away from the teacher and requires flexibility.

Curriculum hour blocks:
The other current issue I can see in primary school is moving away from specific subject blocks. While we might be using reading or writing to support the inquiry or project based leawrning - why do we need to separate the day into 1 hour sections? Breaking down these barriers is fine in a single cell classroom but how do you manage three teachers and 90 students in the mix?

Tracking and assessment:
If the subject blocks are removed and we focus on 'Integrated Learning' how do you check that each subject recieves an appropriate amount of time, track the learning in separate subjects and keep it sorted in your own mind? How then do you explain this to parents who are set in the traditional apporach of hour blocks?

It is obvious that real life does not fit into small clearly labelled sections but is messy and skills from one part of life are always applied to other areas. This is the life we are preparing our students to thrive in. Lets give them the skills they need!

References:

Feuerstein, R., Feuerstein, R. S., & Falik, L. H. (2010). Beyond smarter: Mediated learning and the brain's capacity for change. New York: Teachers College Press.

Hipkins, R., Bolstad, R., Boyd, S., & McDowall, S. (2014). Key competencies for the future. New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) Press.

Lacoe Edu (2014, Oct 24) Interdisciplinary Learning [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA564RIlhME

Ministry of Education, http://www.education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/legislation/negs/ 11/5/16 uploaded

Ministiry of Education, Key Competencies. http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Key-competencies 26.6.16 uploaded.

TEDx Talks (2001, April 6). TEDxBYU - David Wiley - An interdisciplinary path to innovation. [video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ytjMDongp4

Week 31 - APC - Professional Context - Crossing boundaries and creating connections (Class notes)

One of the most important skills you will need to learn is to become “self-aware” as a teaching professional and to understand the context of your own discipline: it’s strengths and its limitations. When you can clearly define our actions as a teaching practitioner and the context of your practice you will able to move across disciplines to other areas of practice where you can make informed contributions on the practice of your own current and future practice along with emerging practice disciplines.

Working in an interdisciplinary manner does not mean disregarding individual disciplines. It requires the practitioner to have a rigorous grounding and understanding of their discipline and its relationship to other practices. Every discipline has its own intellectual history and future. Every discipline has a unique perspective about its subject matter, its own epistemology, unique methodologies and methods of research. Each discipline also has unique methods and techniques in practice.

To work across disciplinary boundaries you will need to understand key elements as they are represented within each discipline. You will need to understand how the community of practitioners and scholars who i) pursue the creation of new knowledge in a discipline, ii) who teaches and practices within that discipline iii) operate in the context of the discipline; and the communities that the discipline serves.

Interdisciplinary practice allows individuals who are based in their practice discipline(s) to focus on collaboration and participate in finding solutions to the increasingly complex problems occurring in the world today. When working in an interdisciplinary manner we need to draw on multiple perspectives, practices, epistemologies and methodologies to identify how these can be utilised to solve real world problems.

Friday, 24 June 2016

Social Media - Does it have a place in Education?

The world is changing pace rapidly so how do we to prepare our students for 21st Century when we don’t have the skills ourselves? We as teachers are supposed to model being ‘lifelong learners’ then where and when do we learn? How do we measure our effectiveness or get inspiration? Who acts as our mentor or critical friend when there is no money or little time to invest in these tools?

It is social media that inspires me to ‘hack learning’ in my classroom and continue to be that ‘lone nut’ that stands out as doing something a bit different. For me being ‘Connected Learner’ (Office of Ed Tech 2013) it is not the key aspect of being a 21st Century Educator. Being a connected learner is essential for my growth, my excitement and what drives me to continue the journey in becoming a better teacher. It is the air that I breathe as an educator.

This is good because relying on ‘management’ to provide relevant PD to my particular interests or needs is not realistic. Melhuish states “It is recommended that educators explore ways to make strategic use of social network sites within a clearly articulated inquiry, focused on student outcomes.” (2013, pg 179)

How do/would you use social media to enhance your professional development? Why?

Being actively involved in my Twitter Community of Practice has has allowed me to make connections with colleagues around the world. I can participate in discussions about current educational trends across continents due to the ability to access this PD at any time or place. This provides a never-ending, free ‘conference’ where we share resources, challenge ideas and discover the next inspirational book to read. Twitter is like a spider’s web of AKO that binds us together in learning from and supporting one another. Gone is the past where resources were hoarded and classroom doors closed. The sole purpose of being a connected learner is to support those around you and be enriched by sharing their expertise. I am lucky to be connected to colleagues from around the world that challenge and inspire me to be better.

Other social media tools that help support my learning journey are using Google Docs to collaboratively plan, Google + groups and Facebook pages for discussion with like-minded people on issues like ILE or Collaborative Teaching. The VLN Groups network are an excellent resource but the most effect on my practice has come from Twitter.

2. What are some key features of social media that are beneficial for teaching and learning? Why?

Why would we ask students to ‘power down’ when the come to school when we are charged with preparing them for the 21st Century? Surely our job is to engage students while teaching them how to effectively use these tools to collaborate and create in a safe way. (Education Council 2016). Digital citizenship has to be at the heart of our classrooms along with moving from the act of consuming to actually creating. (Seaman, & Tinti-Kane, 2013) Pearson’s survey in that same document shows there was an increase of 21.3% from 2012 to 2013 in social media use in teaching.

In our classroom, we make use of many social media tools to motivate students, support their learning and share that journey with whanau.

Every student has their own blog which acts like an e-portfolio tracking their progress across time from Year 4 - 8. This is a place to share writing, oral recordings of reading fluency, reflections, slide presentations for inquiry, movies and many other exciting pieces of learning. It gives students an audience and purpose to present their ‘best’ and the thought of ownership and their learning being seen by ‘the world’ is highly motivating.

Through blogging we have an opportunity to teach Cyber Citizenship - with a purpose. We also have a huge focus on students giving constructive comments and following the next steps suggesting in those from teachers, parents and peers. This reinforces the concept of us all being both the teacher and learner. This could also be seen when my students not only participated in 5 Sentence or 100 Word Challenges but also wrote comments on the writing of other students. To be a Cyber Citizen, we can’t expect to just receive comments but we also need to give back to our community.

Teaching students to use a range of apps and tools allows them to make choices about which would be most effective in achieving their desited goal. This requires them to take their audience into account and evaluate each tool. These are all skills of a much higher level than just ‘consuming’ drill and skill games! They are the skills of a 21st Century Learner.

Apart from blogging, we also use a range of other Social Media tools. We use twitter as a reflection tool where students need to make a summary, have it correct and think about their audience. (@coolkiwikids) This gives us a platform to share learning but also has the opportunity to make connections. In the past we have been involved in #kidsedchatnz, quadblogging and #kidscafeNZ which developed into running a kids ‘educamp’ for blog buddies from another school. Making connections helps develop empathy as students see the similarities between them and students in other countries or circumstances.

Another tool we find valuable is the LEARNZ Network for Virtual Field Trips. This gives students an opportunity to participate in activities that might be impossible to attend in 'real-life' and make connections with experts in the field. This next week we are actually participating in making the 'Bird Survey' video that will be shared with other students.

Being a GAFE school also gives our students great joy as they love collaborating in projects and co-writing stories which they then post on their blogs, from where whanau can comment. Google Docs and the use of Hapara Dashboard to track student learning gives me opportunity to build those relationships Joosten reports are needed for learning (2013). I can even comment on learning that students are working on in the weekend!

Classrooms are no-longer the centre of our learning. They are the base from which we reach out to a rich wealth of connections with other classrooms, students and experts. I am excited that the classroom I have the pleasure of working in looks so different to the one I began my teaching career in 20 years ago.

Thursday, 23 June 2016

Week 30 - APC - Professional Online Social Networks (Class Notes)

Social media in teaching

The digital era has seen social media popularity expand across sectors and at different levels. In education, social media has been increasingly adopted to enrich the learning environment. Pearson’s survey (Seaman & Tinti-Kane, 2013) shows that there was an increase of 21.3% from 2012 to 2013 in social media use in teaching.

A study investigating social media use in teaching (Silius et al., 2010) showed that student motivation for social media can enhance study. While this study was conducted with university students, its implications can be applied to other contexts as learners of any age have substantial access to social media networks.

Promising as it seems, social media is not without its critics. A recent Pearson survey revealed 56% of respondents believed social media to be more distracting than helpful to students. Further, effective learning will vary from student to student according to their knowledge and competence of these platforms.

Social media in professional development

Technology accessibility and the pace of advancement to all communities both local and international has resulted in changes to aspects of the general education system, including the professional learning medium for educators (Melhuish, 2013).

Social media platforms have been able to provide personalised learning which is need-based and flexible in time and location. Teachers can use online social network to seek information, share ideas and even contribute to the development of deep knowledge.

In the New Zealand context, the Ministry of Education has introduced an initiative to enhance professional development via online social networking. The Virtual Learning Network is a platform where educators can engage in professional conversations. Melhuish's (2013) study has suggested that VLN Groups can enable an informal type of professional learning for teachers.

Activity 6: Using social online networks in teaching and/or professional development

After reading the Class Notes, create a blog post where you critically discuss the use of social media in teaching and/or in professional development in relation to any two of the following questions:

What are some key features of social media that are beneficial for teaching and learning? Why?
What are potential challenges that teachers need to be aware of when integrating social networking platforms into teaching activities? Why?
What social media platform do you feel best supports engagement with your professional development? Why?
How do/would you use social media to enhance your professional development? Why?

References

Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrived on 05 May, 2015 from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/han...

Seaman, J., & Tinti-Kane, H. (2013). Social media for teaching and learning. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonlearningsolutions.com/assets/downloads/reports/social-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-report.pdf#view=FitH,0

Silius, K., Miilumäki, T., Huhtamäki, J., Tebest, T., Meriläinen, J. & Pohjolainen, S.(2010). Students’ motivations for social media enhanced studying and learning. Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal, 2(1), 54-67. Retrieved from http://www.kmel-journal.org/ojs/index.php/online-publication/article/view/55/39

Saturday, 18 June 2016

Ethics in my practice...

My ethics are what determine how I react in different situations and might be different from someone of a different cultural or religious background. However, there is a code of practice that governs our behaviour as teachers: Code Of Ethics for Certified Teachers.
The key focus is that in dealing sith students, whanau, colleagues, The BOT, cluster colleages.....

We treat people with respect
We nurture all students and encourage them to think critically
We promote student wellbeing
We collaborate with whanau for the good of their child
We respect privacy and confidentiality
We collaborate with and support colleagues
We promote our school in a positive manner

There was probably much more but this seems to be the essence of it.... and should be what is at the foundation of all my actions as a teacher.

What happens when you throw the ever-changing aspect of social media into the mix? Keeping our students safe becomes a much more challenging task than it was 20 years ago.

I have been blogging with my class for at least 6 years, students have had individual blogs for three years and my students have been using Titter as a reflective tool for the same amount of time. According to the NZ Teacher's Council (2012) the purpose of using social media must be established and I can attest that blogging has increased student writing due to a sense of ownership and audience. Using Twitter allows for the succinct sharing of reflections and both of these tools allows us to connect with a wider community of learners, where we can begin to collaborate and have access experts from around the world.

So how do my personal ethics and choices protect both me and students from potential issues?

I migh not call myself an early adopter but I was pretty close behind. I value the professional support I gain through Twitter and the opportunities that social media bring to education. But how can I make use of this resource and keep myself professionally 'safe' in my professional environment?

My personal twitter account @kiwiallana is where I share my learning as a teacher, blog posts and Mindlab assignments. I am careful to make my posts positive and think carefully about what is professionally appropriate for posting. This account is not shared with students.

The class share a separate account @coolkiwikids where they post reflections and images from class. These are identified only with a first name and images must be checked before posting.

My personal Facebook account is very inactive but does allow me to connect with family overseas and is mainly limited to how my garden is growing or how many mice the cat has caught - nothing that could be a bad example to students should they 'happen' to see any of the posts. I do not 'friend' students or their parents. I have also chosen to not 'friend' the school so that my personal Facebook account has no connection with my professional life. I do know of a colleague who was intentionally 'stalked' by students and understand the importance of keeping everything professionally appropriate and separate.

Digital Ethical Issue:

Within the school environment, we have so many systems in place to protect our students but have also been very lucky to not have had many major issues arise. As a result, I will unpack something that I can see being a possible digital issue.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kyteacher/3578441521

All senior students at our school have personal 'Blogger Blogs' and Google Drives which are tracked through Hapara Dashboard. Students have completed a series of 'Cyber Citizenship' lessons at the beginning of the year, signed annual safety and image sharing contracts then completed a BYOD Quiz before creating their own 'safe' password and learning about how to use their blog. This year our inquiry included lessons on blogging skills including their digital foodptints and acknowledging sources. There are still workshops being run throughout the year for students to upskill in this area.

The educational purpose of these blogs are for student writing, reflection and to share their learning with family and the wider learning community. We train students to make constructive comments on one-another's work with clear next steps as they are AKO kids and are excellent teachers of their peers.

But what happens if a student posts an inappropriate image of another on their blog, or makes 'bullying' type comments on another student's work or in the form of an e-mail?

Hall (2001) would suggest that there are a series of questions to ask when dealing with a digital issue. For us the steps would be very clear and based on the contract signed which determines our school expectations.

This type of behaviour would be picked very qucikly. Any posts, comments or e-mails would be sent to our ICT co-oridnator and teachers via the 'Linewise' and 'inappropriate word' filter. We also have the protocol of students only saving blog posts with TBC (To Be Checked), then the teacher giving advice or posting the piece for them, until they have earned the right for independent posting.

The facts of the incident would be unpacked then students and parents would be referred back to the signed contract about appropriate use of ICT. As a restorative school, the people harmed would be identified and a way to restore this relationship would be set in place with the students involved. If it was a more serious case, a restorative conference would be set up between the two families, with a trained facilitator to unpack the steps required to restore the relationships, a plan and monitoring would be set in place. In all instances there could be a period where the student was removed from the school wiifi, followed by close supervision and tracking.

Any learning opportunities would be unpacked from this event for the remainder of the class and the need for futher training in what is 'appropriate use' would be establised and carried out. Systems would be reviewed to see ifchanges need to be made for the future.

Pandora has been let out of the box and in most instances, devices and social media are an effective tool in making connections, collaboration and sharing learning. There could be no suggestion that these tools should be removed from our classrooms. We do, however, need to have strong systems in place to protect our students from potential issues that might arise.

Source:

Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers

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. Retrieved from http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/attachments/HendersonAuldJohnson_EthicalDilemmas_ACEC_2014_0.pdf:

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:

New Zealand Teachers Council.(2012). Establishing safeguards.[video file]. Retrieved fromhttps://vimeo.com/49216520

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