Week 19 Activity 3 - Community of Practice

Activity 3: Contribution of Teacher Inquiry Topics to my Communities of Practice Create a reflective entry where you critically reflect on how two potential and inspiring digital and/or collaborative learning related teacher inquiry topics would contribute to your Communities of Practice. Your reflection should be based on a reflective model of your choice.

I have chosen Jay and Johnsons Model of Reflection.

Step 1 - Descriptive

As yet I haven't decided on what my inquiry topic will be. I have chosen the two topics below as I think they relate well to what could be a possible area of focus and to my Communities of Practice. So for the purposes of this reflection, I will look at - 

Topic 1 - 21st Century Skills

Topic 2 - Computational Thinking

Communities of Practice - 

My Syndicate colleagues.

COL Hereora Techie Team - ICT Professional Learning Group.

Maybe even Mindlab peers.

The three aspects of Communities of Practice that will be focused on are - 

• Joint Enterprise - is a shared domain which is the "collectively developed understanding of what the community is about".
• Mutual Engagement - the members engage through interactions within the community, building mutual trust in the relationships.
• Shared Repertoire - is "the communal resources" that the community of practice produce (Wenger, 2000, pg 229)

I think the Hereora Techie team is a great example of all three domains and in terms of this reflection is key to helping build up our pedagogical knowledge and improve our practice.  

Figure - Techie Team PLG Purpose - https://sites.google.com/a/hereora-cluster.nz/hereora/techie-brekkie 

This is another reason why I chose the Topics of 21st Century Learning and Computational Thinking. The conversations and support from the Community of Practice will not only help build up the skills and thinking needed by our students but also help us understand and get our head around when the new Technology Curriculum is implemented. Therefore they relate to the Mutual Engagement and Shared Repertoire of the Community of Practice.

Step 2 - Comparative

I haven't asked the PLG what their of how 21st Century Skills and Computational thinking will help our practice. I wasn't at the last meeting, but they focused on what questions could be asked regarding the New Digital Curriculum.

In terms of my Syndicate Team, my team leader has expressed support and encouragement of how I am working with my small group of boys, with how I set challenges and encouraging them to problem solve and be resilient when completing the task. 

In saying this I have not discussed with colleagues about the topics yet, so at this stage, I cannot comment on it.

I think Computational Thinking and 21st Century Learning go hand in hand as when using Computational Thinking the benefits are -

• students are more effective problem solvers for situations beyond the computer science realm (Mohaghegh and McCauley, pg. 1527)
• it encourages students to create tools to solve problems, rather than existing tools. (Mohaghegh and McCauley, pg. 1527)
• When students learn to programme the process of learning is transformed. (Papert, Pg 21)
• Students become more active and self-directed. (Papert Pg 21)

Though the weaknesses are that -

• The system doesn't meet the needs of today's 21st Century Learner.
• A further digital divide will exacerbate an already serious achievement gap. (Future-focused learning in connected communities, pgs 6-7) 

Step 3 - (Critical Reflection)

I feel that my main focus is to continue to discuss with my Communities of Practice how we can meet the needs of all the students and help facilitate their learning. I like the idea of Computational Thinking and 21st Century Skills as topics in order to do this but I do need to research this more before committing to them as my focus of Inquiry.

Resources: 

Mohaghegh, M., & McCauley, M., (2016). Computational Thinking: The Skills Set of the 21st Century. International Journal of Computer Science and Informations Technologies (IJCSIT), 7(3) ISSN: 0975-9646, pp.1524-1530

Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. New York: Basic Books.

Part B - Assessment 1 Communication with peers.

For clarification of my name. When we had started doing school blogs years ago, we hadn't long finished our school production. I wore a Darth Vader suit as part of the staff item and was given the nickname Darth Ritchie by the children. So I used that as my moniker when setting up the blog, hence Darth R.

Practice Week 18 Activity 2 - Reflecting on changes in my future oriented teaching practice

Activity 2: Reflecting on changes in my future oriented teaching practice Create a reflective entry to critically reflect upon how you have positively changed your practice during your postgraduate journey. Your reflections should be based on a suitable reflective model of your choice.

I will use Gibbs Model for Reflection.

Figure - Gibbs Model for Reflection

Step 1 - Description

Sub Theme 1 - The Role of Current and Emerging Technologies 

I have chosen this sub-theme because I thought it related well to the Digital Assessment I did in the first 16 weeks of the course. I introduced Hapara Workspace to the children for their Literacy Must Dos. Reason for doing this included

• providing a digital platform for their learning.
• potentially be used as a tool for other learning areas
• provide flexibility for the children in their learning.

Our school has already spent a lot of time setting up the infrastructure so the children can use technology to enhance their learning. We are lucky enough to have 80 chrome books in our team and 9 iPads. 

It is not just with Workspace that there is a change. We had a coding club last year and this will be applied to my Sensory group of learners, where we learn through making and programming next term. This will build up their ICT capabilities and help them find success in their learning.

Step 2 (Feeling):

How did I feel at the time when the changes were made?

I felt good at the time as it provided a platform for the children's learning and they provided feedback that they enjoyed using the tool.

What did I think about the changes afterwards?

I feel there is a long way to go as the implementation is really still in its early stages and time is needed enhance how the children use the tool and we as teachers use the tool.

Step 3 (Evaluation):

How did the students/parents react?

On the whole, there was a positive response from the children, though a number did find the workload quite high and some changes were made. With regards to parents, I haven't sought feedback from them yet.

 What was good and what was bad about my experience of making these changes?

Good - The student agency improved.

            My colleagues supported the implementation.

            It was easy to set up.

Bad -   Other aspects of practice got in the way, e.g swimming and introducing Get New  

            Zealand Writing.

            Need more time to get a better picture of how it is working.

            Colleague knowledge in creating and using Workspace needs to be increased.

Step 4 - (Analysis)

Figure - Supporting future-orientated learning & teaching, pg 56 

I think the linking of strategies links to my change in that it is not only the students that are learning new technologies, it is building up the teacher's ability and use of pedagogy will help innovate and use technology in the classroom effectively. Workspace is primarily a tool, yet as we continue to use it I think it provides the teachers with a platform to introduce new ideas and innovations. It also potentially provides the children the ability to share their knowledge, skills, and creations with Teachers, Whanau and the community.

Steps 5&6 - Conclusion/Next Steps

I think the changes were good as student agency has improved. We are already making changes to the use of it in Literacy. I'd like to be the basis of sharing learning with whanau, whether it be every week or during conferences. Having it as a platform will allow the teachers to look at using other aspects of the curriculum and develop other innovations like 3D Printing, virtual reality, computational thinking and facilitating research skills as shown in the .

As Noeline Wright says teachers become facilitators of opportunities for students to engage in critical and analytical thinking and in turn by integrating ICT tools into the content areas and teaching both students and teachers become critical users of technology. (pg 35)

References - 

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/publication/schooling/109306

Wright, N (2010). e-Learning and implications for New Zealand schools: a literature review. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/e-Learning/e-learning-and-implications-for-new-zealand-schools-a-literature-review/executive-summary