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Week 32: Reflective practice - Key change in professional practice

Step 1 (What): While completing the Mind Lab Post Grad course I have noticed several changes in my practice.   I am more aware of the affect my leadership has on followers and I strive to tailor my approach to cater for each teacher’s individual needs.   I have been exposed to many supportive PLN’s and plan to contribute to these on a regular basis.   I have realised the valuable insights that I gain from critically reflecting on my practice using a model.   Blended learning is an approach I would like to explore further.   But the change I would like to discuss today is using evidence to inform my practice, from my teacher inquiry.   My teacher inquiry will be completed as I take on a new opportunity in leadership at school.   The teacher inquiry was about the impact that collaborative teacher planning in a single cell classroom has on student achievement.   This is a change initiative I would like to lead in our school.   I have come to realise that after reflecting on my change i

Week 31: Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

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Step 1 (What): Cultural responsiveness is having high expectations for all student’s ability to achieve.   It is not finding barriers to make up excuses for a child not making progress, it is about looking at yourself, what do I need to change in my teaching and learning approach to support the child’s learning. School wide activities and events is an aspect we are beginning to strengthen.   Our events have parent’s involvement.   During culture weeks, parents lead singing, dance and craft lessons for students.   For other school events, parents are welcome and encouraged to take part. Planning and assessment is an area I would like our school to focus on.   When planning an inquiry topic, parents could be asked to come in and share their expertise and knowledge.   Parents could become apart of the planning, teaching and learning with the teacher and the class.   Step 2 (So what): I will use the action continuum to evaluate where I believe our school is at regarding cul

Week 30: Trends influencing New Zealand

Step 1 (What):  The trend of ‘heightened demand for career readiness’ has captured my attention.   I find this interesting because as we go into the future we do not know what careers we are getting students ready for.   This is so different to when I first left school.   I offered to work in hair salons for free to gain experience and this made me more employable than my school qualifications.   I believe it is like this in many industries. Once a degree is completed you hold a qualification but have minimal experience.   Experience seems to be the most employable asset.   The importance on this trend has a flow on affect.   Students at high school need to be ready for careers.   Students in intermediate need to be ready for high school.   Students in primary school need to be ready for intermediate.   What experiences do primary school students need to prepare them for careers in the future and help them develop these skills further in intermediate and high school. Step 2 (So W

Mind Lab Post Grad: Week 29: Using social online networks in teaching or professional development

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In this blog post I will reflect on how I use social online networks in my professional development using Jay and Johnson’s reflective model. Step 1 (Descriptive stage): In my professional development I have used Yammer, Facebook, Google +, blogs and videos.   Yammer is used as a sharing platform at school.   On Facebook I follow several teaching pages.   I am a member of several Google + communities from a range of long term courses that I have been on.   They were supportive during the course and were a valuable resource to refer to.   While at university I wrote a blog and could see myself develop as a teacher.   I have recently restarted reflecting using a blog.   I use YouTube to find videos to support my professional development as I find these are often more engaging than reading long articles. Step 2 (Comparative stage): The most popular social media platforms that the group has used to help with our own professional development are the personal social media, social

Mind Lab Post Grad: Week 28: Legal & ethical contexts in my digital practice

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Step 1 (What):   Recently I created a digital technology document for parents to give written consent for images of their child.   This week I reviewed the document and discovered that it does not clearly state that the school has permission to display images of children on blogs or the school website.   It also does not include video footage.   Does all this need to be included in the consent form? Teachers can see if students have permission for Facebook or not and are expected to check before sharing any images.   I believe this is a common ethical dilemma that I may have to face in the future.   A teacher has taken photos and videos of the students actively learning and has shared them on a public blog and the school website.   A parent is not comfortable with this even though the form was signed at enrolment. Step 2 (So What): I will use Ehrich, Kimber, Millwater & Cranston’s (2011) ethical decision-making framework to critique and my ethical dilemma.   With profe

Mind Lab Post Grad: Week 21: Deciding on my research question

Do collaborative tasks increase student engagement and agency in a primary school setting? From using the break-down question template adapted from Riel (2004), I have developed the following questions that I could use in my literature review. Inquiry question(s) working template Turning your inquiry topic(s) into an break-down inquiry question Your Inquiry Topics Break-down Template Your  break-down inquiry question Student engagement and agency with collaborative tasks for boys If I/we …(describe the plan action), If I use collaboration tasks To what extent/ how will it affect…..(the reaction you plan to measure/evaluate) How will it affect student agency and engagement in…. (in which group of people). In my year 5 and 6 students/boys? Turning a break-down inquiry question to an initial teacher inquiry question Your  break-down inquiry question Initial teacher inquiry question templ

Mind Lab Post Grad: Week 20 - Choosing a topic for my teacher inquiry

Do collaborative tasks increase student engagement and agency in a primary school setting? Collaboration is an area that I would like to improve in my practice in more ways than one.   Firstly, I would like to give more collaborative opportunities to students to increase engagement and agency.   I am interested in improving my own collaboration skills with colleagues.  Perhaps learning from this teacher inquiry will be beneficial for my practice in both of these areas. I believe that this topic can be highlighted in all six areas of the Kaupapa Maori approach.   However, there three aspects relate to the topic clearly. Tino Rangatiratanga - The Principle of Self-determination Students have meaningful control over their learning through collaborating together. Taonga Tuku Iho - The Principle of Cultural Aspiration Students feel safe, respected and their influence when collaborating is valued. Ako Māori - The Princ