Coming to the end of my Mindlab journey is bittersweet in many ways. I feel a sense of achievement but also know that this is where I really take what has been learned and continue to grow from here.
What:
There are many things that have stood out over this learning journey, with a culmination of many changes impacting my professional practice, but possibly one of the biggest shifts for me has been the way I view and act out my role as a facilitator of teaching and learning in the classroom. So, (typical to me!) I have chosen to evaluate that change in relation to a combination of one element from the Hack Education (Parsons, Lynch, Han & Thorn. 2017) research- Future Focus, with one of the Ministry of Education (nd) Standards for the Teaching Profession- Learning Focused Culture.
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| Elaboration of the Learning Focused Culture Standard. Ministry of Education (nd). |
Now what: evaluate the identified change
When teachers, or other professionals, critically evaluate their practice the use of a framework can be an effective tool to help identify and facilitate further change. The Cycle of Experiential Learning, recommended by Osterman and Kottkamp (2015, p.70), is what I will use during this evaluation. It is important to note that this process was not as neat or as orderly as it is presented here đ.
| Experiential Cycle stage | Analysis of
My role as a facilitator of teaching and learning in the classroom. | Relation to
Future Focused concept and
Learning Focused Culture Teaching standard |
Problem Identification:
What was the problem? What drove me to make the change? | In my classroom I had noticed through the introduction of the ITL research (2012) collaboration rubric that although my students were cooperative they were not be being collaborative. If there were no behaviour issues, students were speaking nicely, taking turns and being respectful I had thought they were being collaborative. I was deciding on roles for students to undertake during the learning process also. | In order for quality and effective teaching and learning to take place students were behaving well but being quite passive recipients in their learning. Who was really owning learning? Was there much risk taking going on? Was diversity and the unique contribution all learners bring to the table, really being valued?
For learning to be sustainable and future focused students need to be agentic. |
Observation and Analysis:
What data is gathered?
What insights did I gather about the problem that drove change? | Both myself and my awesome trusty colleague worked together to develop collaborative skills in PE and in Inquiry. We took this time to sit back, and once given tasks to students, observed what the students were doing. How were they being collaborative? How was driving the learning? What changes were being made and when? Who were the contributors? Who made decisions that moved learning forward? Who didn’t do these things? Why?
This was really insightful and through our observations, surveying students and other formative assessment methods we came to see that students found it very difficult to drive their own learning. They were very careful in not making ‘mistakes’ or putting themselves out there in from of their peers, they were hesitant in making their own way- which we believe is essential and at the heart of learning.
During this time as well it became really important to see the supportive and collegial role my colleague and I were providing for each other and undertaking also. Our collaboration was visible and tangible for our students to see. | The concept of preparing students for an unknown future and equipping them with the skills and experiences in which to be risk takers and to drive their own learning became more and more obvious through this stage. Were we really providing learning opportunities in which our students were able to flex their cognitive and skill building muscles? If we didn’t provide these opportunities we ran the risk of maintaining the status quo which we felt would be a disservice to our students.
Of huge concern for our students at this time because of their age group (12-13 yrs) was the idea that to be an effective learner is to be vulnerable- many of our students were just not ready for this and this needed to be carefully managed. In creating and maintaining a positive and safe environment for learning children need to feel safe- not just physically but also emotionally. This needed to be catered and planned for. |
Abstract
Re conceptualisation:
What new learning theories or research provides useful background to implement change?
What other perspectives be relevant to consider? | During this time we researched and designed learning activities that focused on students developing skills in context. The focus of setting the purpose for learning, the ways in which we all could be effective learners became of paramount importance. We then handed over the decision making process to the students. We could see the integration of the skills, the interactions leading to risk taking, choice making and collaboration in our classes. | An effective learning environment is one in which students are given the opportunity in which to be agentic. Together in our classrooms we were all learners- none of us had ever set up, planned or designed a web based television episode before. Students were reflective and able to identify their own next learning steps- ones that would be relevant and useful to them in the future. We were working with individual strengths but collaborating across classes, digitally. We were reaching out to our community and involving them in the process. We began to see a change in reluctance as students began to take over their learning. |
Active Experimentation:
What new strategies or ideas you have tried to implement in your practice? What have you learnt from the change/ experience? | What did I learn? I learnt that I didn’t need to direct and take the lead in the classroom; my students were more than capable of doing that for themselves. I had to let the reins go but that it was definitely not a free for all situation. The time effort and structure put in at the start led to the students feeling safe enough to take risks and move their own learning forward. Researching and investigating, design thinking practices and students’ agency over this time period has allowed us to have the confidence to know what we are doing is not just based on a whim or the next faddy thing out in education. | Our next learning step for our new group of students is to now work on establishing design thinking as a delivery method for student learning. We are building on agency, future focus, and creating problem solving, risk takers. All of which need to be fostered in an environment that has learning and growth at its heart. We have lots of opportunities to work with each child and grow their own strengths.
We hope that these skills and the experiences they have will equip them for their futures, and that these skills will be sustainable and relevant in these futures as they find and solve problems they may face. |
What next:
I want to continue to grow my professional practice. I am really aware of the need to maintain critical reflection and ensure what is happening in the classroom will equip my students for their future and build their learning capacity. I know that I truly value collaborative teaching approaches and see that teacher collaboration is vital in the progression of my teaching and learning programmes. Essentially I have learned that I can not do the thinking for my students, that they have to be given the opportunity to solve their own problems and be the agents of their own learning. I will continue to embed ICT into all my learning but know that this is an area I can really look into more next. I have HEAPS to do!
I will try my best to continue to grow and I will always be a learner.
Osterman, K. F., & Kottkamp, R. B. (2015). Reflective practice for educators : professional development to improve student learning.(2nd ed.) New York: Skyhorse Publishing.
Parsons, D., Lynch, J., Han, B., & Thorn, R. (2017). Hack Education: Crowd Sourcing the future of education in New Zealand. In Spaces and Pedagogy: New Zealand Tertiary Learning and Teaching Conference Proceedings 2017. Auckland, New Zealand: EPress.
