Changes in Practice

My 32 week journey………  +2

So here it is, the end, what joyous relief I feel tapping out these last few hundred words for the final assessment.

This course has challenge me in so many ways. How to maintain a life balance with family and friends. How to maintain my own class and try to stay sane. The endless assessments which were extremely trying, have served as a reminder, that yes, I do have an academic brain and that I can use it.

Osterman and Kottam (1993) state “reflective practice is viewed as a means by which practitioners can develop a greater level of self-awareness about the nature and impact of their performance, an awareness that creates opportunities for professional growth and development”

My professional growth  has been exponential. I made myself do this course so that I would challenge myself, not only by becoming a little more technologically savvy yet when I reflect on my performance I have gained so much more.

It feels like I have upgraded from the 1995 Mitsubishi  Galant with some 200,000 km’s on the clock and was a good safe car, but just got upgraded to the latest  2016 model about to be put on the showroom floor. I am using this analogy as I feel like the light has been turned on, in terms of being connected with other educators and terms of being enlightened to what the  education sectors are talking about. I feel current, I feel empowered.

There hasn’t always been the aha moments, in fact there have many times when I wondered why was I doing this, why was I sacrificing time with my family and friends.  There was even talk of quitting. But I continued to stick at it.

So what I have changed in my practice

• Criteria 4: Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional personal practice.

This course has shown a definite commitment to ongoing professional development. It has extended me and has made me a more relevant teacher of 21st Century learners. It also has been a vehicle  for me to listen to and question other people’s practice. Some of the best learning was actually off task discussions in group activities.

• Criteria 6: Conceptualise, plan, and implement an appropriate learning programme.

In the digital and collaborative  course where we planned  and in the second phase implemented a self regulated learning in mathematics. This has been and still is a learning programme that is has been received well by the students and results are conclusive that is is a self motivating tool.

So where to next…….

I am wanting to implement a number of things to my class. In the process of setting up blogs for the students. For me this is finding out who the best platform to use and what other teachers think.

Our school is in a process of updating it’s website and with that losing ultranet so this is the perfect time to look at a few different applications to experience with the class.

Masters?? Not really sure… well lets say never, but It won’t be started this year. It is time for me to put my full focus back into my family and my teaching.

Finally just want to thank my family as well as my colleague Jane( the girl next door) for all your support.

References

Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California.Cornwin Press, Inc.

Ministry of Education (nd). Practising teacher Criteria and e-learning . Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/Registered-Teacher-Criteria-and-e-learning

Week 31

Crossing Boundaries and Creating Connections

Jones 2009  states that the benefits of interdisciplinary teaching as;

• Higher order thinking
• Problem solving
• Collaborative
• Inquiry skills
• Relating to real world situations

Duerr. (2008) states the learners “cognitive development allows them to see relationships among content areas and understand principles that cross curricular lines. Their psychological development gives them the ability to understand people and to look at situations from various viewpoints”

This is all good and well, but it not all curriculum areas fit that easily into a thematic approach. The video clip showing the theme “What is Power” and sub question…... To find the area and perimeter of the carriages that carried the prisoners of war was a pretty far stretch at including mathematics. In fact I thought a little perverse. This is where I think inquiry planning has to ensure yes, it is authentic and useful and would you able to use it again.

The benefits for me to work in a more interdisciplinary environment is that in our team we all have our strengths as teachers  and we should utilise these more. We often integrate our science with our literacy to ensure that we are motivating our writers with  an exciting stimulus.

A weakness as that we have a rigid timetable, as we have an interchange for maths. Also we that we have a number of teachers within our school who find it hard to even consider interacting/connecting with other teams.

So to create  connections within the school, I am planning school Marae visit, but not as teams, but in buddy classes, therefore everyone experiencing a meaningful and real life situation.

Another problem is with planning and this is with each teacher’s interpretation of the plan, how much do they have in background knowledge, interest or understanding. Therefore in a single cell classroom situation, how do we ensure consistency and quality of what is being taught , even though it may have been planned collaboratively.

My two goals

I would like to continue to use Google + as a way to be connected and to see what the world of educators are saying. I have found it an excellent tool while studying and I can see the benefits it will have to keep me connected with my fellow Mindlab students and to also keep me up to date and relevant in educational thinking.

My second goal is the possibility of more study, not this year, but I think that if I was to do it  it needs to be sooner than later. It take a while for this brain to get back into the academic way of thinking and writing. (Much prefer blogs) I am still having an internal debate in my head about this goal.  Watch this space.

References:

Jones, Casey (2009) "Interdisciplinary Approach - Advantages, Disadvantages, and the Future Benefits of Interdisciplinary Studies,"ESSAI: Vol. 7, Article 26.Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/essai/vol7/iss1/26

Duerr, Laura L., 2008. “Interdisciplinary Instruction, Educational Horizons.”

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/3e/0c/3a.pdf

Professional Online Networks

I have a twitter account but it has sat there redundantly for a number of of years. In terms of Google+, I have found it a great way to connect with the students of Mind Lab. It was somewhere I would turn to if I was struggling with assignments or if I had a query people were posting such interesting and thought provoking articles, up to date and relevant.  I have been impressed by those people that put their blog on such a large forum.

Other online forums such as Facebook have been really helpful for ideas, posting issues in education.  I realise that I am only scratching the surface in terms of what I could be  connected to and that I could be connected in so many professional ways.

My use of social media has probably taken a sharp upward rise in the last year. It is reflected by ‘The Pit’ learning challenge model.  Yes, there has been quite  a lot of confusion and here I am doing the construction and consider part in this blog.

                 

                 

Our Year 7 and 8 team has gone BYOD   this year and we are in the process of creating our student blogs. Here is the thing…. I did not even have a blog account until recently. Like 10 weeks ago!

I had not delved into this area as I was unsure of how it could be used and whether I could use it for student’s learning. I can now definitely see the benefits, I am still just getting my head around the logistics and how best I can use it to enhance my students learning and engagement.

I enjoy being connected in my personal life with Facebook, why not be connected and work collaboratively  with others from over the world. Blogging for the first time has been really like pulling teeth for me. I actually felt sick when I did my first blog, what 8 weeks ago. It sat in the draft  for  at least 3 weeks……. I edited,  I revisited,  I reworded and still felt so nervous when I pushed the publish button. Let’s say the trainer wheels are still there, little wobbly, but the process is getting easier. Of course, comments and feedback always help.

Have I had my head buried in the sand, a little, probably a lot, This is the reason that I wanted to do this course to challenge myself to become more technologically savvy.

I actually was wanting to be more competent in front of the students. Yet the course has pushed my own weaknesses, those areas I have avoided. It has actually shown me how to be a more connected and the benefit of online social networks.

I have become more confident to share my views or opinions and not act like the stealth stalker, who was too chicken to dive into the social networking pool. But it turns out the water is just fine. It’s better just to just jump in!

References:

http://www.edudemic.com/social-media-education/

http://www.jamesnottingham.co.uk/learning-pit/