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Week 32: Reflective practice - key change in professional practice

Wow....thinking back over the last 32 weeks while reading "Our Code Our Standards", the biggest change I can identify in my practice is professional learning; namely, critical evaluation of my own beliefs and assumptions, being informed by research and innovations, and seeking and responding to feedback ( The Education Council, 2017). Two key areas that I adopted or had to use: the collaborative nature of the course - while I work in a collaborative place at school- the assignments and group work each week helped refine and develop these skills further. Online blogging to reflect- This meant I needed to be concise in what I shared and be willing to hear back from others. In fact I found it better reading other peoples work because I found that I was not alone in what I was thinking. This helped me share things that I may have been feeling or experiencing. Now What At the start of this course I though PL was a strength of mine. Willing to look, seek and lea...
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Week 31 Activity 7: Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

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This week I am looking into Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice I am using Rolfe's model of reflection to help me with this reflection. What? Culturally responsive pedagogy is defined by Gay (2001, p.106) as “using the cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives as conduits for effective teaching”. I cringe sometimes when I read these words as a teacher its my duty to know the child in front of me and learn what they now and then do my upmost to help them get to the next step. Its not about me telling them this s the way, its about co constructing our learning  Within our school I  believe that we do promote the language of our cultures within our school. We do model ourselves as learners as we strive to learn the pronunciation of names and words from different languages.  An area which I feel we can work on is personal - human resources. This is ethnic as well as gender based. In a woma...
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Week 30: Activity 6: Contemporary trend in New Zealand or internationally

This week I am looking into a trend in New Zealand that influences education and is relevant to me.  I am using Rolfe's model of reflection to help me with this reflection. What? During our Lit review we used read lottos Core Education material- Therefore the trend I am looking at is the impact of Learner Agency, a trend identified by Core Education NZ.  This is supported by Dagger (2014) who talks about an increased emphasis on application-based learning.  Learner agency is about giving the learners the power to make choices and take action to become self directed life long learners.  Teachers once held the knowledge and were the transplanters of it. Now its co construction, which can be supported through technology.   The increase in the use of digital technologies has changed how teachers and learners can embrace learning.  Technology has allowed limitless opportunities for learners to connect with the outside world to further their learning and incre...
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Week 29 - PRACTICE - Professional Online Social Networks

HOW IS SOCIAL MEDIA BEING USED IN MY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DESCRIPTIVE I was blown away with  Statista (2018) and how far reaching Social Media is becoming. While I am an active user, I sense I still have quite some way to go in regards to both my Professional Learning and Classroom Development.  For the class it is mainly used as a way of connecting with home: Facebook- closed group shared with  families Seesaw- this is a ethical issue as shared last post  Personally I am part of a range of Social Media Teaching Groups through Facebook: e.g: as found below (I haven't listed them al)  Tauranga Mindlab 17-18 PYP Teachers - let's share some ideas School Kit Squad Daily 5/Literacy Cafe (NZ teachers) NZ Teachers (Primary) As well as Facebook I also follow a few pages that are relevant to my teaching practise such as NZQA so I hear about important and current trends. Our school also shares interesting and current reading...
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Week 28 / Activity 4: Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

Week 28 - Influence of Law & Ethics in Practice After reading through some of the other students responses, I sense and feel tnat Seesaw is a tpical issue to explore through the lense of ethics.  I will be addressing ethic around ‘care’ and some ‘grey’ areas around family digital contact and journal.  “making moral decisions was a daily activity for teachers, and that teaching was a moral exercise as it was essentially linked to being in a relationship with others” (Ehrich, Kimber, Millwater & Cranston, 2011, p. 175) Rolfe et al.’s (2001) reflective model Step 1 (What):   2018 has seen our school adopt Seesaw. Whilst this is aimed at increasing the number of interactions between families and school it does raise some issues.  Families  who aren't able to access the app Are children yet cyber safe? What will the interactions be like? Will it increase the variance between families? e.g. the families who are more p...
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Week 19 - Community of Practice

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Contribution of Teacher Inquiry Topics to my Communities of Practice Communities of practice (CoP) are groups of professional learners, supporting each other to achieve a shared vision through common commitment in the process of interacting and learning together, Wenger (1998). They provide a vital part of professional development where mutual understanding drives practice, Spillane (2002). Billett (1998) shows how the expert and the novice develop both knowledge and ability. The inquiry topics that I have identified as an area to develop in my practice are; 1) I nnovative and Collaborative Teaching: How can I/we monitor student learning in a collaborative environment? 2)  How can I use digital tools and collaborative practices to improve the learning of our students?  Inquiry 1:  I nnovative and Collaborative Teaching: How can I/we monitor student learning in a collaborative environment? Descriptive:  Monitoring students progress can ...
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Week 18- Reflecting on changes in my future oriented teaching practice

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Reflecting on changes in my future oriented teaching practice Theme 4: "Changing the script": Rethinking learners' and teachers' roles Education must change if we are going to meet the needs of the children coming through the gates. This is the curriculum, way they are taught and how it is taught. As the saying goes, you "can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results".  Society is and has changed, therefore the children within the classroom are different. They think, talk and act different to children even a few short years ago. This means we must redefine what we do and as well as encourage clear pathways where they too can enjoy success. When I was training as a Reading Recovery teacher I was reminded that their are many pathways that lead to success. Not one way, but many ways.  For this week I am exploring "Changing the Script"  This year I have tried to step back and give the children more oppor...
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