It all Starts Now. Key Change in my Professional Practice.

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.

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 😊.

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.

References:

ITL Research. (2012). 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. Retrieved from https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/ITL-Research

Ministry of Education (nd). Our code, our standards. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards

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.

Road sign Future [Digital image]. (2017). Retrieved April 2, 2018, from https://pixabay.com/en/roadsign-future-way-sucess-2570954/ 

What a Twit! Social Media and its use in the Classroom.

I used to love social media on a personal level (probably a bit too much😜) but have continued to pull back from this way of communication more and more in response to some of the things I was seeing and experiencing online. The increased personal attacks (that I was witnessing), lack of regard for others and general bombardment of advertising made social media for me at times, an unpleasant experience.

BUT... on the flip side, I discovered this amazing world of professional learning communities and have gravitated along this road now.

Just like for me, our students need to learn how to negotiate and navigate this polarising world of social media. That is one of our key roles as educators; helping to prepare our students to become responsible digital citizens so that they can interact and use social media to its fullest whilst being aware of the dangers it can hold as well.

In this post, I want to discuss the impact and potential that can be unlocked through accessing social media platforms on a professional learning level, using Jay and Johnson's (2002) reflective model, and reflect on a positive and negative experience I have had in my own personal learning journey when interacting on Twitter.

Describe:

The professional social media platforms I mainly use are Pinterest (ohhhhh you vortex of time and space), Twitter, Facebook, Google+ community and VLN (Virtual Learning Network). Each provides something different and a way of connecting with other educators on a variety of levels.
Melhuish (2013) describes in her thesis the key principals of effective social learning; learning that is social positioned, co-constructed and one that allows students to have agency over and drive their own learning inquiries. The ways and degrees in which people interact and participate on social media also has an impact. Some are active drivers of learning and discussion whilst others prefer to watch and observe from the periphery. For me, I am more of an active watcher- I get a lot from this and enjoy seeing different views and opinions. I occasionally participate in Edchat or other twitter chats and will freely share ideas and thoughts on google +. I am very selective about what I choose to comment on for a variety of reasons: passion about topic, moderator control or 'tone' on the chat and of course, time.

Compare:
As I have become more confident I have broadened out and commented more and more on different social media platforms. Here I would like to discuss positive and negative aspects I can see when interacting on Twitter.

I only use Twitter as a way of following other educators or education topics. The majority of my twitter experiences have been really positive. I love following new people, especially leaders in their professions that I otherwise would NEVER get to interact with. Having interactions like this is really exciting and pushes my thinking forward. I LEARN so much, get new ideas and as stated above, get to choose what I learn about and how I interact with others. Most moderators are sensitive to their users during chats and can skillfully elicit thoughtful dialogue and challenge participants to think on deeper levels.
On the other hand, we need to be careful that we don't fall into a 'cliche' of thinking too and only sign up or interact in conversation that only reinforces our own ideas. When we challenge or question others it needs to be done in a sensitive way too. Context and tone can often be misconstrued outside of face to face interactions.
One US tweeter I used to follow was a gal who was very tech savvy and I was learning lots of her tweets. One day she posted about assessing creativity and how to go about this. For me, this was quite an arbitrary topic and something that perplexed me so I posted, why would you want to assess creativity? I received quite a bit of backlash from the question and didn't really know what to do after that. I withdrew from the conversation. And here was where the problem lay; two different education systems, with two very different philosophies about teaching and learning. I have been into some American schools and know SOME of the differences in our systems. Instead of addressing our differences and having a really good conversation about assessment and creativity I unfollowed her and didn't participate any further. Did I bite off my nose to spite my face?? Maybe? Were our worlds too far apart?? Maybe? Should I have stayed and expanded on my ideas and thinking further? Maybe?
I did what I did- but that has made me super aware of what I post and need for understanding and appreciation of where someone is coming from when they post. I also need to have the courage to share my ideas though, in a thoughtful and considerate manner too. BUT only on forum, tweets etc that I feel safe. You can't control what others are going to say to you.

Critical reflection:

So what have I learned and where to next?

• As teachers, we need to share these experiences on social media with our students- both the positive and negative in the aims of keeping everyone safe. Social media provides such a rich and wonderful learning opportunity for students and for a teachers' professional development.
• We need to be willing to have professional discussions without attacking- critique instead of criticising.
• We also need to be aware of different perspectives and be aware of others experiences.
• Social media can break down isolating barriers depending on how much you want to get involved in this form of interaction.  You can link to ideas and people that can push and challenge your thinking
• Events that happen in real time serve as a source of rich learning material- something that social media does extremely well- just be careful of potentially 'surprising' things that may come up with un-viewed material too (when sharing with students).

References:
Jay, J.K. and Johnson, K.L. (2002) Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher
education.Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85.

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 https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10289/8482/thesis.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

Ochoa, R. (2009, May 13). Twitter_Good_Bad [Digital image]. Retrieved April 1, 2018, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosauraochoa/3528880050

Future Oriented Learning and Teaching

Today students face an uncertain and ever changing future (2Revolutions LLC, 2012). Bolstad, Gilbert, McDowall,Bull, Boyd & Hipkins (2012), note that a paradigm change in education is needed to help students meet these demands; “The old understanding of knowledge is no longer sufficient” p. 14. How we use, apply and think of knowledge has changed. Students need to be actively involved in their learning rather than passive recipients of content.

The 2012 report written by Bolstad et al, Supporting Future-oriented Learning and Teaching - a New Zealand Perspective, outlines key themes for educators to work towards to help prepare students for 21st century life.

1. Personalising learning 
2. New views of equity, diversity and inclusivity 
3. Knowledge to develop learning capacity 
4. Rethinking learner and teacher roles 
5. Continuous learning 
6. Partnerships and relationships 

Two sub-themes also flowed through their work:

1. Current and emerging technologies 
2. The role of the collaborative process 

I found it difficult to not see the connectedness between these themes. The Ministry of Education (2012) also commented on this; “What is needed is, not more effort focused on the parts of this system, but strategies designed to put these ideas together: to join all this up in a way that is driven by a coherent set of shared ideas....”

At the heart of my change in practice since working with Mindlab, has been a focus on ‘knowledge to develop learning capacity’. This moves away from traditional subject/ content/ learning area focus towards a shift in thinking to ‘knowledge as a verb’, Ministry of Education (2012). Creating and using new knowledge to solve problems and find solutions, with ‘just in time’ teaching and learning.

A colleague and I created a learning experience to develop our students’ collaboration skills. Although this was our focus, the learning outcomes were much broader than we could have ever imagined.
So what did we do?
Noticing a lack of student voice in our community correspondence we implemented HTV - a student-led and designed digital television programme. As educators, we wanted to allow our students to take charge of their learning, work collaboratively and leave their mark. We put a lot of work into the foundations of this project. Setting up a shared vision and purpose of HTV, establishing an understanding of collaboration, co-constructing success criteria, and setting up frameworks to support students as they took over the running of the project through agile and design thinking learning processes.

Then...we handed the reins over. This involved a rethink of the roles of both teacher and learner. Together we were learners. Students were in charge of organising their learning, making decisions, sorting out disagreements, researching and finding solutions about how to do things. They had use and apply their digital learning in a professional way to create the HTV episode and hold a premiere evening for whanau and caregivers.

Was this the regular and tidy learning programme- no?! It was messy at times and pushed me out of my comfort zone. I had to stop myself from directing students and allow them to make mistakes. If I did that it would take away their decision-making processing, their autonomy and their voice; and that was really challenging! I became the question asker- what do you think, can you look at this in another way, who else could help with this etc?

My students too, found this very challenging - why wasn’t I playing the game? Wouldn’t it be easier for me to just say what to do or give an answer? Some students found it very hard to make decisions in case they were ‘wrong’. Others didn’t seem comfortable having to think for themselves. And on the other hand… some students just flew- they relished in the opportunity and surprised us with how they worked, what they learned and the skills they demonstrated.

Constructionist theory (Papert & Harel, 1991) underpins this learning. Bers (2007) outlines four key elements important to constructivism in the classroom.

1. Learning is designed in communities, is interactive and students evaluate, assess and debug their learning as they go. 
2. Technological tools are used for collaborative teamwork and feedback. 
3. New ways of thinking assist in the creation of powerful ideas which have a personal connection for students. 
4. Learning about learning through technology. Students use technology safely, make positive contributions to themselves, their community, the world and technological development. 

So what have I learned from this?
Students need to be challenged and given more opportunities to think for themselves, to create together, to give back to their community. Messiness is okay (truly it is) and the learning gained from this can be uncomfortable at first but is so empowering. That way we can more fully prepare students for their futures.

References:

2Revolutions LLC. (2012). The Future of Learning. [Online Video]. 1 March 2012. Available from: https://youtu.be/xoSJ3_dZcm8. [Accessed: 30 November 2017].

Bers, M. U. (2008). Blocks to robots: learning with technology in the early childhood classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306

Build Learning Capacity [Digital image]. (2010, October 14). Retrieved December 1, 2017, from https://pt.slideshare.net/StonefieldsSchool/community-consultation-14-october

Creative Clip art Thinking Cap [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2017, from http://moziru.com/explore/Creative%20clipart%20thinking%20cap/#gal_post_4664_creative-clipart-thinking-cap-1.gif

Ministry of Education.(2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching: A New Zealand perspective. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306

Papert, S. & Harel, I. (1991). Constructionism. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing

Leadership, Engagement and Agency

I didn't blog last week.

So thinking back on my last couple of sessions at Mindlab, what to blog about...

Firstly Leadership one has been completed. I'm not extremely happy with the final essay but was pleased to get this completed. So glad to get these things completed, and handled in on time.
It was interesting to reflect on my leadership and followership style. I am definitely more more comfortable in and as, an active follower. So many different theories etc go alongside leadership and followership but I like to think that those personal attributes and emotional intelligence's separate effective leaders from those that are ineffective. I also can see that there are many times where different leadership styles are required depending on the situation and requirements of the team being led.

                       

This week we started to investigate student agency and student engagement. I was pleased about this because it's something I'm very interested in.

Here is my interpretation of student engagement according to the following article: Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2016). Engagement in Australian schools. Retrieved from http://www.acleadersresource.sa.edu.au/features/engagement-in-learning/workshop-1/Handout_4_Engagement_in_Australian_Schools.pdf and how I think students show these types of engagement levels.

At the end of the day, I strongly feel that relationships are part of the key component to student engagement. How a teacher relates to their students is paramount, how a teacher supports a student in their learning but not just academically, how a teacher sets the tone for the classroom environment is strongly based on and built upon- relationships.

Student agency
Agency - the new buzz word. I was at a conference presented by Kath Murdoch about Inquiry Learning last year, when I first heard the word. I admit I scoffed a bit at the time; 'Student Agency- what the heck is that?!'
My tutor Jonathan, summed it up quite well: 'Agency is the power of creativity.' I love this idea and know as a student I personally would have loved more agency at times. I was lucky though that through my own education I had some pretty great teachers who, although didn't know the word, allowed their students a lot of agency. Now whether a student wants to pursue their agency or not is another thing. I am personally finding that in my own practice right now. Some students do not want to make their own choices, they want to be told what to do and how to do it- that is safety, that is doing the 'right thing', that is not getting things wrong. The challenge is bringing those two worlds together or to start small and then build up to the real power of choice and creativity. At the moment my colleague and I am trying to start up a pretty big project for our students that will allow them to make their own way, make their own choices and be pretty much as creative as possible. Some students are EMBRACING this, but others are very reluctant. This is frustrating for me as a teacher who can see all these amazing possibilities in her students, but also I can understand that for students taking risks and putting themselves out there is "terrifying". In my experience, as students get older and as social media becomes a bigger part of their lives, those risk taking behaviours of putting yourself out there, and showing celebrating your own strengths to others etc, can put unwanted big targets on those students as well. Especially Kiwi kids. Last week in class, we looked at the latest PISA results which showed that New Zealand kids showed a very high percentage of bullying. This is an issue for our students and by our students too. It's a big part of our culture. Tall Poppy Syndrome is well and truly alive and kicking in NZ.
I think that all these things are inextricably linked; culture, agency, mindset, relationships. Being a teacher is not just about delivering a curriculum these days.