Activity 8: Key change in my professional practice

Using Rolfe's model: 

Step 1 (What): Identify one key change in your professional practice:

Reflecting back to how I was before Mindlab I am amazed at my journey and how much I have learnt from reflection on my practice, by trialling new ideas and discussing current educational policy. It has been a terrific experience working with my colleagues and sharing ideas with them. We have adopted play based learning in our Junior area which I lead with other people. Our goal was to encourage conversation and interest between the parent and their child by using Seesaw. “Technology provides a variety of ways for families, educators and schools to share information with one another and keep in touch. ” (Monell, 2016).

(Now what): Evaluate the identified change.

“You need to care for students, but you also need to help them get better in the one thing that can serve them for life—their day-to-day learning,” (Sharratt & Fullan, 2011). We quickly realised that it was not a child problem but a lack of confidence by teachers. The problem was the lack of expertise in digital technology. The students quickly overcame this in some cases and showed “student agency and self determination over learning contexts which relate to their interests, is initiated by students and holds relevance for them, (Gibson & Makisi 2011).

Step 3 (What next) Share your next plan(s) regarding your future professional development or your future practice.

It took a lot longer than expected because we had a lot of learning to do. We intended to change by actually changing our teaching style. At the end of last year I changed team from Year 2 leader to Year 1. My new class were used to having their work shared on Seesaw and taking photos and videos of their work. The change was in Play based learning and Seesaw was just a tool to share what was happening with parents.

Reflective practice: An Experiential Learning Cycle (Osterman & Kottkamp, 2015)

Stage 1: Problem identification

The teacher was definitely affected by lack of confidence, knowledge and expertise but was striving to overcome the lack. Parents who did not have smart phones or devices were similarly affected by lack of hardware and sometimes by lack of knowledge.

Stage 2: Observation and analysis

Gibson & Makisi “Students contribute to the information / knowledge that contributes to learning, alongside what is taught. From shared experience students and teachers help each other to know more about what they are interested in.” (2011). The students and I were in a reciprocal learning situation, helping each other learn.

Stage 3: Abstract re conceptualisation

Our problem was overcome because Seesaw was quickly a familiar tool for sharing so that learning was completed. The next was for me to work on how to engage the children and build relationships. This was less about Seesaw and more about Play based learning. My inquiry changed from learning to use a tool to rethinking my whole system of beliefs about my role as a teacher and how best to facilitate learning with my students.

Stage 4: Active experimentation

According to Alan Sears (2003, p.2), Lean production is a set of management strategies to eliminate the waste in work processes by increasing flexibility, reducing the core workforce to an absolute minimum by driving up productivity and contracting-out significant chunks of work. 

Now we have completed the first stage of play based learning by trialling it in our classes. Our next step is to combine all of the classes to use the time for outdoor play if that is what the students choose as well as indoor activities. Seesaw, which was such a big hurdle for us to overcome when we started our journey last year, no longer poses a problem for us to use. Our challenge now is to use it to record the learning journey for children as they play and work with others and develop the lifelong skills for the uncertain future.

References

Bolstad, R. & MacDonald,J.(2016). An analysis of participant blogs supplemented by teacher interviews. Wellington:New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Gibron,R. & Makisi, G. (2011).  7 Keys to Culturally Responsive Pedagogy From presentations to principals and teachers: LiPP / ALL, 2011 / 2012.

Monell, N.R. (2016) CAE, executive director of National PTA.retrieved from: https://learningfirst.org/blog/schools-should-use-technology-engage-parents

Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California.Corwin Press, Inc. Retrieved on 7th May, 2015 from http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files.

Osterman, K. F., & Kottkamp, R. B. (2015). Reflective practice for educators : professional development to improve student learning.(2nd ed.) New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

Ministry of Education (nd). Our code, our standards. Retrieved from

https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards

Sears, A. (2003). Retooling the Mind Factory: Education in a Lean State. Canada: University of Toronto Press.

Sharratt, L. & Fullan, M. (2012). Putting FACES on the data: What great leaders do! Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.For Journal of Staff Development (JSD) by Lyn Sharratt & Michael Fullan, December, 2011

Activity 7: Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice.

“If we look at a child’s colouring book, before it has any colour added to it, we think of the page as blank. It’s actually not blank, it’s white. That white background is just “there” and we don’t think much about it... When we talk about multiculturalism and diversity what we are really referring to is the colour of the children, or their difference from the norm, and how they don’t fit perfectly.” Milne (2013).

New Zealand teachers work in multi cultural environments generally speaking. Wallis (2017) spoke of making one small effort to say one Maori word a day such as Morena rather than Good Morning can show respect to the indigenous culture of New Zealand. Also pronouncing children's names the correct way is an important message that you value and respect them and are prepared to take the time to get it right.

In a study undertaken in 2010 researchers found that most teachers cared for secondary students in a culturally responsive way  as "culturally located individuals" (Savage et al, 2011). In our school there is an expectation that teachers will be culturally responsive and there is a close relationship between our local marae and the school.

 In our Reading Together Programme we include other cultures by holding the workshops at local Marae which is the first time in New Zealand as well as at the local Sikh Temple. We have a large number of cultures at our school and each year we either take the whole school to one of the local marae or have a whole school hangi. 

Each year our Maori immersion unit has a school wide event to celebrate Matariki where they come and perform or teach the children games, waiata or invite them to join them in sharing kai. We have  whole school Kapa Haka and Indian Dance groups which children from all cultures are invited to participate in. Every term there is a Whakatau to welcome all new people incuding staff and students to the school and every Assembly begins with Karakia and Waiata.

Culturally responsive pedagogy is defined by Gay (2001, p.106) as “using the cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives as conduits for effective teaching”. It is reflected in five elements including knowledge about cultural diversity, the culturally integrated content in the curriculum, the development of the learning community, the ability to communicate with culturally diverse students and culturally responsive delivery of instruction (Gay, 2001).

 In all of our meetings and most classrooms Karakia is said to begin and end the day as well as before eating kai. We know and teach the local legends about our mountains and one of our local kaumatua brings in his carvings to show progress and explain what they mean. Other kaumatua bless new buildings when they are built and are invited to speak at prizegivings, Anzac Day ceremonies or other school celebrations. 

While there is always room for improvement, we have come a long way towards becoming more culturally responsive to the point where staff who are not making an effort are in the minority. There is now an after school Te Reo programme for parents who are finding that their children know more of the language than they do. Staff are also invited to participate in this and there has been some take up of the offer. 

Although Maori were guaranteed under Article 3 of the Treaty of Waitangi that they would be able to achieve educationally it was not until the early 2000's that the 500th Maori person gained their PhD. Bishop (2009) attributes the increase in Maori achievement at secondary school to agentic teachers which I believe we have at our school also. These teachers are repaying the accumulated debt owed by New Zealand society to Maori who are just as highly educable as anyone else, by making a difference to their students. They care, have high expectations and school wide goals, they engage their students, they acknowledge their culture, background and they create a learning context where all students can access an education to a high level. Students are attending school more regularly, their needs are addressed and they and their families feel connected to their teachers and their school. 

References:

Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009).Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5),734–742.

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

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

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

Milne, B.A. (2013). Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. (Doctoral Thesis, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10289/7868

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

Pohatu, T. W. (2011). Mauri - Rethinking human wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.review.mai.ac.nz/index.php/MR/article/v...

Savage,C, Hindleb, R., Meyerc,L., Hyndsa,A., Penetitob, W. & Sleeterd, C.(2011) Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum .Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 39(3), 183–198: (Available to download from Unitec Library)

Unitec. (n.d). Learning and Teaching at Unitec Institute of Technology. Retrieved from Booklet.http://www.unitec.ac.nz/ahimura/publications/U008817%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Booklet.pdf

Wallis, N. 2017). https://www.radionz.co.nz/.../what-3-to-7-year-olds-need-to-learn-nathan-mikaere-wal...

Trends in Education

As educators we not only have to be aware of students academic needs but also their social and emotional well being (Visser &Gagnon 2005). 

A healthy lifestyle through the rise of the middle class means that increasing numbers of young people are leaving school well educated, healthy and aspirational.

We have noticed trends or fashions guided by philosophical knowledge in education over many years. When I first started teaching in the late 1970s the trend was for very formal teaching and maths used a textbook. Nowadays maths is taught through hands on manipulation of equipment. Some of the methods of teaching are cyclical and I have seen them return after years when it was thought they were not conducive to education. Play based learning and developmental share many of the same attributes. when I was at teacher's college we were taught how to question children as they played and now the current thinking is to extend children's play by engaging with them and extending their interactions where possible. The importance of learning to read at five is slowly being replaced by new understanding that a happy child who has transitioned well to school is set up for life long learning and that forcing children to read when they are not showing any interest has a negative effect on their attitude to literacy.

KPMG (2014) put out a report saying that learners need advanced digital skills to flourish in the future market place as well as other key competencies. This seriously important research is backed up the findings of the  National Intelligence Council (2017) who talk about a rapidly changing middle class, the rise of automation and the lack of jobs for a large proportion of the population in the next 20 years. The Horizon report by NMC and CoSN in 2017 also points out that there are going to be many more people living past retirement age and not working. Fewer people will be needed due to robots, Artificial Intelligence and machinery designed to take the place formerly done by menial workers. The education of young people growing up in this rapidly changing culture requires a break from traditional reliance on reading, writing and maths as core subjects and more emphasis on the current trend of play based learning where students have to think creatively, problem solve their own inquiry and think imaginatively about what they are doing. Oral language and the key competencies are seen as vitally important components of a future citizen. The trend to engage children in their own learning by setting up play areas where they can initiate their own activities is a response to all of the reports and studies that tell us what Pearson summarises in saying that its all changing more rapidly than we can keep up with. By trying to future proof by encouraging students to think for themselves is surely a positive trend by conscientious educators who readily admit that we can only guess where we will be in 20 years as the rate of change escalates.

I personally feel that we have hope as we accept research presented by Wallis (2017)which gives us insights into how children learn and when they are ready to learn. While I am near the end of my teaching career my students are just starting their learning journey and many of them are curious, able to discuss in a sophisticated manner and relate well to each other. Wallis helped us to see the trend away from a restrictive curriculum to a more child centred approach and teaching as a collaborative activity with the child driving his own learning. 

References:

Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Davis, A., Freeman, A., Hall Giesinger, C., and Ananthanarayanan, V. (2017). NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

KPMG International. (2014). Future state 2030: the global megatrends shaping governments” [Video]. KPMG International Cooperative: USA. Retrieved from http://www.kpmg.com/Global/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/future-state-government/Documents/future-state-2030-v3.pdfNew Media Consortium. (2017).
NMC and CoSN Release the Horizon Report: 2017 K-12 Edition [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-rPhEltg9o

National Intelligence Council. (2017). Global trends: The Paradox of Progress. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from https://www.dni.gov/files/images/globalTrends/documents/GT-Main-Report.pdf

OECD. (2016) Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/trends_edu-2016-en

Pearson. (2013). Global trends: The world is changing faster than at any time in human history.[video].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZiTQy3g1g

Visser, L., & Gagnon, K. (2005). Defining “Trends” and “Issues” in Distance Education. Conversation with Donald Paul Ely Y. Visser, L. Visser, M. Simonson & R. Amirault (Eds. de la serie), Trends and Issues in Distance Education. International Perspectives, pp.83-89.
Wallis, N. (2017) www.nurturingyoungminds.co.nz/workshop.html

Wilson, B. (2012). Trends and issues facing distance education. In L. Visser, Y. Visser M., R. Amirault & M. Simonson (2nd Ed.) Trends and Issues in Distance Education. International Perspectives (pp.39-54). North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Global trends in education

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

We decided last year to try and have the goal of using Seesaw in our classes to share children's work with their parents. We set up our Seesaw account and starting posting after inviting parents to join. The NZ Teachers Council says 'Social media provides a great opportunity to collaborate and communicate with parents and whānau' (2017).There was an immediate uptake by parents who wanted to be involved in their child's school day and appreciated having their child's work, photos of their child and videos with their child in to view. As Melhuish (2013) suggests one's own familiarity with social media results in ease of use for other purposes such as in the classroom. 

 I also used Pinterest a lot to get some fresh ideas for many aspects of the curriculum such as crafts, maths and literacy. I have printed off many ideas and made them with my class. 

Now that we are undertaking Play Based Learning I have joined several Facebook sites such as Play Based Learning Group, New Zealand Primary Teachers Facebook page and Number Agents to name a few. I am a Facebook user myself and previously posted photos and comments on my own and other people's sites. 


I use Youtube or Facebook nearly every week to learn how to do or make something related to school such as paper helicopters, frog life cycle or for songs with lyrics and engaging graphics - sometimes I bookmark these to show my class or reuse myself if I need them later.


 Universities have been mindful of protecting their students from plagiarism and teachers in primary schools also require students to submit original work or reference where their source came from. It is a barrier to widespread use of social media the Babson study (2009) found that unless some fundamental changes take place to address concerns about the privacy and integrity of submissions, this adoption of social media will be very selective and continue to lag behind faculty use of social media in other aspects of their lives. 


When I use social media in the classroom I love it if it goes well but when it fails to load or comes up with extra sites which I do not want to show my class I get into a state of panic or become very irritated with technology. I have noticed that my students become very absorbed in the screen and that it is far more powerful to teach fractions for instance through funny animations than by me talking and explaining. But now that we are understanding more of how people learn and that it is a combination of many factors Sharples et al (2016) point out that no one approach is perfect and we 

continue to watch and learn from our students as they show us what engages them. For my own practice of 40 years teaching primary age children I have continued to add levels of understanding to how children learn and I am not convinced even now that I have the answer. Leslee Allen in her Facebook post called Number Agents (2018) has mentioned that she realises she is not the fount of all knowledge and that she merely has a role as a coach and supporter when children are ready to read. It is her understanding that with a bit of just in time teaching children will teach themselves reading strategies when they need them. 

References



Allen, L. (2018) Number Agents - Learning through play - Facebook - retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/groups/505280046303113/?multi_permalinks=959649554199491&notif_id=1520070934091847&notif_t=group_highlights&ref=notif

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

NZ Education Council. (n.d.). What is social media . Retrieved June 16, 2017 from http://teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/what-social-me...

Seaman, J., & Tinti-Kane, H. (2013). Social media for teaching and learning. Babson Survey Research Group. Retrieved from http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/social-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-report.pdf

Sharples, M., de Roock , R., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., Herodotou, C., Koh, E., Kukulska-Hulme, A., Looi,C-K, McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., Wong, L. H. (2016). Innovating pedagogy 2016: Open University Innovation Report 5. Milton Keynes: The Open University. Retrieved from http://proxima.iet.open.ac.uk/public/innovating_pedagogy_2016.pdf