Week 32- Course Reflection

Professional learning -
I have decided to focus on the changes that my Mindlab experience has had on my Professional Learning. I looked at all of the Registered Teacher Criteria and selected this, as the Professional  Learning that I have done in the past 9 months far exceeds anything that I had done in my previous professional development as a teacher.
The inquiry based approach that our assignments in the Digital and Leadership papers in the course took allowed my colleague, Hella, and I too test the theories behind our teaching pedagogy and more importantly, examine whether the pedagogy that we were introducing was having a positive impact on our students. For instance, our first Digital and Collaborative practice assignment focused on the establishment of a "Makerspace" in our school. The professional learning, planning and technical learning that we acquired while setting our Makerspace up certainly developed our professional knowledge as teachers. We learnt not only about the pedagogy behind the "Maker" movement, but also developed our technical knowledge about many of the digital and mechanical tools that are required to develop an effective Makerspace. 
I also learnt a lot about my leadership style and skills completing our Leadership 1 assignment. We reflected upon the leadership required to help our students develop E-reports, in an effort to promote student agency. In order to justify the introduction of the initiative we looked at the meta analysis that John Hattie made and identified "Self-reporting" as a method that had a positive impact on the effect size of learners as a justification behind the initiative.

STEP TWO-  The change

I am going to focus on the impact professional learning had on our digital innovation, the creation of our Makerspace. The research that we completed around the ITL 21st Century Learning skills that we studied in the first few weeks on the course made it clear to us that the curriculum we were currently offering to our students was not meeting the needs of students in

• Collaboration
• Knowledge construction
• Self-regulation
• The Use of ICT for learning
• Skilled Communication
• Real-world problem-solving and innovation

By looking at these skills in detail we were able to formulate a plan for activities in our Makerspace that would help students to develop these skills. The students were overwhelmingly positive and excited about the learning that was taking place during the sessions. As teachers, we have been able to reflect on what works in a Makerspace and what changes we need to make in the Makerspace to allow students to reach their potential.

STEP 3- What next?

What has been made most apparent to me on this journey is the need to continue to engage in professional learning. It is too easy to focus solely on organizing a class and perfecting already established routines with students. This means that when it comes to adapting to the changes that are constantly taking place around us we are often left with our heads in the sand. This course has taught me to keep my eyes open , as the education landscape has changed so much in the time that I have been teaching without me noticing it. 

By increasing my professional learning I am also learning to be more skeptical about new initiatives and changes that are being introduced by political parties for political reasons, rather that ideas introduced based on pedagogical findings.

Thankyou

Week 31- Indigenous cultures

STEP ONE- Identifying the issue.

I understand" indigenous knowledge" to mean the amount of knowledge and level of understanding  you have personally about the culture of the indigenous people of a country. This knowledge is hard to quantify, as it can be divided into many different areas. Focusing on indigenous knowledge of Maori, one could divide their knowledge into pre and post European contact history, modern and traditional cultural practices as well as an understanding of economic and political factors concerning Maori. These categories can be looked at as separate or intertwined entities.

STEP TWO- So what?

My school follows the guidelines of the treaty of Waitangi and provides teaching of Te Reo and other aspects of maori culture to all our students. The aspects of our teaching that I am going to critique are the "Resources for Learning" we provide and the "Planning and Assessment" that we do.
I work in a school that has less than 5% Maori students. Therefore we have a tiny community to draw on, which means that we do not really have an understanding of the aspects of Maori culture that Maori view as relevant and important for children to learn about. This impacts on our planning, as we are not given firm direction. It also means that is difficult to gain community input in the classroom or a sense of what skills or learning the community feel is relevant. If we were to look at it on Milne's "Action continuum", you could say that, while not at the "Benevolent" stage, where we are still assessing the success of our Te-reo teaching by colonial standards, that is, the feedback we get from ERO about the inclusion of Te Reo in our long term planning.

STEP THREE- What next?

The alternative approaches we could take are interesting, and I would love to gain feedback or advice about what we could do. One option is to provide PD to staff around the importance of fostering Te Reo teaching in the classroom. TKI has a wealth of resources that can guide a thorough Te Reo teaching program at all year levels. TKI provides quality planning resources that can be easily assessed using the curriculum progressions on the website.
Another option is to move away from the academic model of teaching the language and focus on teaching aspects of Te Reo culture and history that are of interest to students. This would move away from using any kind of assessment, but would still require thorough planning. it would also require aspects of community involvement. We could look at to cobtact our local marae and find out about when intersting cultural activities or festivals are taking place, such as Matariki.

References

Bishop, R " A Culturally Responsive Pedagogy", taken from Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

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

Milne, A.(2017).Coloring in the white spaces: reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

TKI, http://hereoora.tki.org.nz/Unit-plans

Week 30- Global Trends

I chose to look at the National Intelligence Councils "Global trends- Paradox in Progress" report to inspire this weeks blog entry.
The section that appealed to me dealt with "Ideas and Identities driving a wave of exclusion." In the introduction to the chapter it states that "Growing global connectivity amid weak growth will increase tensions within and between societies."
I interpret this statement to be referring to the increased capability to share ideas and communicate in impoverished or developing societies that have historically experienced civil unrest or religious conflict. It is also referring to the use of overt nationalism in countries such as Russia and China, where the threat of Western democracies is exaggerated in order to exert governmental control. Ideas are spread so easily through social media that it easy to reach a mass audience with an idea quickly and repeatedly, regardless of the wealth of the audience.

So how does this have an impact on Rm 7 at Churchill Park in Glendowie, not a well known location for ideological unrest? Unfortunately, when something goes viral it can spread quickly and easily. An example of this is the demonizing of Donald Trump in my class in the lead up to the U.S elections last year, Sure, Trump has his faults and was not every ones  first choice to lead the free world, but I was still taken back by the way that my students found it hilarious to ridicule and find humor in displaying his image. The reality was that apart from being a man who wants to build a wall around Mexico, the class had no idea who he really was, except to say that he was really bad.

This is an example of how growing global connectivity can drive exclusion. It is certainly a challenge for teachers today to inform students about the rights that people have to freedom of expression and the need to respect these rights. Our students need to realize that just because an idea goes 'viral' and is being shared by millions on the internet, it is not necessarily the truth or morally correct. We need to make sure that students do not become prejudiced towards other cultures or religions by what they see or read on the internet due to the ignorance of world issues that can arise due to our geographic isolation from the rest of the world.

In primary schools we need to begin teaching kids about the way that they internet is used by the  media to report the news and that reporting can differ depending on the point of view that it is being reported from.

References

National Intelligence Council, "Paradox of Progress", January 2017

Week 29- Professional Online Social networks.

Part 1

Social Media plays a large, if somewhat heavily regulated role in my classroom. I teach year 5/6 students, who are 9 and 10 years old, so legally, there are many constraints around my use of social media in the classroom.

These constraints make it difficult for students to be able to form learning communities and share ideas within class, however, I have found that some forms of social media can be used in the primary classroom that reflect the Education Councils "Characteristics of Social Media".

I use Google classroom as an efficient tool for organizing my classroom, sharing website links, setting tasks and engaging in online discussions with students.

Firstly, using Google classroom to share links to websites has been an excellent time saving measure in my class. Students no longer have to copy links or urls off the board.

Google classroom has a task setting function where you can set work for students. Again, it is a great way of keeping the class connected.

Finally, teachers can initiate class discussions, where students post responses to questions They can also post their own ideas and initiate their own discussions. The great advantage of this is that the teacher has control over what can be posted and who can post. This is particularly important, I have found, as students vary mark-ably in their abilities to use social media sensibly.

Part 2

Alternatives. Whilst it is common for children under the ages of 13 to have Facebook and Instagram accounts, I do not think as a teacher we have an obligation to uphold laws. I have, however, seen other alternatives that, while not as open as twitter, or instagram, will allow students to share ideas and learn from online communities. I have just signed up for the "100 Word Challenge", a writing website that provides weekly writing challenges to students around the world. Students can then go and comment on other children's work, providing real opportunities to give feedback and take literary criticism. This forum is perfect for younger students as it is "walled" and is regulated by a central source. Another type of controlled social media is the ability for students to comment on each other’s work using Google Education apps. I have found this to be successful in the past as it provides students with valuable peer feedback. Scaffolded instructions about how to provide feedback should be given first, to ensure that students are providing meaningful and constructive criticism. There are other online education forums that are also regulated, but still allow students to engage, like See Saw.

How does this reflective process impact my thinking?

Currently, the social media contact that my students are having is being restricted to their immediate peer groups at school. These are students who are from similar backgrounds, have similar thought patterns and have been taught how to provide feedback and to share ideas in similar ways. I think the students will gain so much more if they are able to connect with students worldwide. This is why it is important that I establish the 100 Word challenge in my class and get students contributing to it regularly. The kids will get a real kick out gaining feedback on their writing from a student in Spain, as well as giving their writing an authentic purpose.

If there is anyone out there with any ideas about other social media platforms that can be used by students I would to hear from you.

References

"Minimum age requirements for Social Media", taken from, www.adweek.com/digital/social-media-minimum-age/, 2014

“Chracteristics of Social Media”, taken from https://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/what-social-media