Part B - Interaction with professional online communities

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. I have since changed it for later posts.

Week 32 - PRACTICE - Key change in Reflective Practice

Activity 8: Key change in my professional practice


Create a reflective journal entry in which you reflect on your personal 32-week learning journey and critically evaluate ONE key change in your own professional practice in relation to either any ONE of the themes from the Hack education research or any ONE of the themes from “Our Code, Our Standards”.


Then share your plans/dreams for your future professional development or your future practice.


I will use Rolfe's model of reflection to help me structure my blog post.


Step 1 - (What?) Key Change in My Professional Practice


The Key Change I am going to focus on is the standard of Teaching - Teach and respond to learners in a knowledgeable and adaptive wat to progress their learning at an appropriate depth and pace.



Image is taken from pg 20: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf (Education Council of New Zealand, 2017)


I have chosen this one because when I started this course I was most interested in how I can successfully apply digital learning to my practice. I liked how the first Digital Assessments allowed me to plan and implement a change in my practice. The feedback from the students was valuable and provided my colleagues and I, with the opportunity to adjust how we used the digital innovation and the time it took up.


Step 2 (Now what): Evaluate the identified change

Using Osterman and Kottkamp's 4 Stages of Reflective Practice - An Experiential Learning Cycle (2015), I will evaluate the identified change.



Stage 1: Problem identification


The previous year we had found that student engagement was a problem and the use of technology was not always being used educationally. We discussed ways in which we could help the children develop their literacy. We decided it was important to implement the change as student agency is an important component of learning and I believed the use of HaparaWorkspace was the tool that could do that. As Osterman points out, "Regardless of how the problem emerges, its recognition motivates us to develop a deeper understanding of the situation, particularly our own role in the situation." (pg 73)


Stage 2: Observation and analysis

We initiated a use of Workspace at the end of the year and the data of completed work helped confirm our identification and interviewed year 5 students to get their feedback on their initial thoughts. After the initiation of the use of Workspace, with modelling and set time frames, we saw a rise in submitted and completed work from the data and interviewed more students to get their feedback.


Stage 3: Abstract re conceptualization


I did a lot of reflecting with a colleague, who was an early adopter in using Workspace. This allowed us to see what we thought was working and change what we had done. I could've also sought advice from my Community of Learning colleagues as they might have made changes to their use of the programme to help the learning of the students.


Stage 4: Active experimentation


As a result of our reflection, we adjusted the time frame for the use of Workspace to help those who felt pressured to complete work. My colleague also integrated the use of flip grids that allowed the children to share their learning.


Step 3 (What next) Share your next plan(s) regarding your future professional development or your future practice.


One of the great aspects of doing the literature review and planning of a teacher inquiry was the fact that it allowed me to look at other aspects of my pedagogy. Introducing Workspace brought a digital element to my practice, but it has to be remembered that it is just a tool for learning. The important thing is that I build up a good educational relationship with my students and get them thinking and taking ownership of their learning. I'd like to incorporate more project-based learning in my practice to help develop their problem-solving skills, reflective skills and improve my formative assessment when providing and receiving feedback. I think Workspace has the potential for the students to structure and share their learning and build on their success.

Resources:
Ministry of Education (2017). 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.

Rolfe et al (2001) retrieved from https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf

Week 31 - PRACTICE - Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsibility

Activity 7 - 

Create a reflective entry to demonstrate your critical understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness.

Then, critically evaluate how your practice or your school’s practice has been informed by indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy in two of the following areas (ideally you would be able to evaluate one that is done well, and another that would benefit from improvement):

I will use Rolfe's Model of Reflection to help me structure this blog post.

Step 1 - (What?) - What is your understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness and what are two of the areas you want to focus on?

Watching Bishop's video what I took from what he said was that near the end where he talks about the culturally responsive pedagogy of relations and that to be culturally responsive you need what he calls Relationship-Based Education.

Caring for people, caring that they learning, creating learning relationships. (Bishop)
That way their indigenous knowledge comes through and helps them grow and find educational success through the feedback. 

This is reiterated by Cowie et al. (2011) where culturally responsive pedagogy thrives when students are given the oportunity to develop, express and receive feedback on their learning but also provide an authentic context to show and share with others what they have learnt. (Pg 4).

Positive learning relationships between teachers and students and the use of feedback are a common theme, as I found in my Literature Review looking at the Maker Movement.

As result, I am going to focus on -

• Planning and Assessment
• Learning Activities

Step 2 - (So What) Evaluate your practice or your school practice in light of one of the following frameworks or use one you are familiar with.

For this evaluation I will use Milne's Action continuum.

I have chosen Planning and Assessment and Learning activities for my focus. It would be disingenuous for me to say that as a team, we do one better than the other, so I will focus on some positives but will primarily focus on what we can do better.

Looking at the continuum it shows how far we need to go in terms of our Culturally Sustained Practice. 

For the two areas of focus I can provide some positives and areas of improvement.

Planning and Assessment -

Positives -

• Identifying the differing cultural backgrounds of our students (Maori, Pasifika, Asian, Afghanistan)
• Resources and learning styles.

Areas of improvement -

• Feedback (Finding the time?) (The correct type of feedback)
• Using community groups to help the learning.
• Assessment is still Whitestream (It's what we know how to do).

Learning Activities - 

Positives -

• Beginning to change our pedagogical thinking about how we teach (e.g. Storytelling)
• Lots more collaborative discussion and sharing of learning among the students and teachers.
• School trips (Styx Mill Eel trip. Looking at sustainability and how it relates culturally).

Areas of improvement -

• Still token attempts that are based on previous styles of teaching (e.g. Treaty of Waitangi)
• Need to consult with the community more and get them to help us more culturally sustainable.

Based on what I"ve listed I think as a school and team we are moving from the "Benevolent" stage of the continuum to the "Some language and Cultural Content". We have a long way to go but I'd like to think as a school we are heading in the right direction.

Step 3 - (What Next?) What might our school need to consider or take action on to move up a level of cultural responsiveness. What are the next steps?

Based on where I think our school is at in the continuum the next step is to move to the embed the indigenous and culturally centred structures. How can we do this?

So far we have taken these steps.

• As part of our Community of Learning, we have two leaders who are helping the schools develop their cultural practices and support them.
• Our teacher inquiry is based on helping Maori Boys develop more success in their writing.
• Our Te Reo resource is helping both Teachers and students develop their knowledge of the Maori Language

What's the next step?

• As a team, think about how we structure the school day and learning? Do we need to make it less timetabled?
• Improve our feedback and build up stronger relationships with the learners, whanau and community so their knowledge is being used educationally and help the students know what their next steps are.
• Continue to develop our Te Reo and use it more in the class so it becomes embedded.

While this only touches the surface it will help us become more culturally responsive and allow us to go along the journey with our students. After all, as teachers, we are lifelong learners as well.

Resources 

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al. (2011). Cultural responsice pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki. Wellington: Teaching Learning Research Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/9268_cowie-summaryreport.pdf 

Edtalks. (2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

CORE Education. (2017, 17 October). Dr Ann Milne, Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. [video file]. Retrieved from https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cTvi5qxqp4&feature=em-subs_digest

Week 30 - PRACTICE- Trends Influencing NZ or Internationally

Activity 6 -

Critique and evaluate practice in the context of different audiences (local, national, and/or international) and their perspectives'.

I will be using Rolfe's mode of reflection to structure my blog post.

Step 1 - (What?) Identify a trend most relevant to my practice.

I am going to focus on Digital Learning as my trend as it is becoming a major factor in my teaching and the learning of my students.

I chose this trend as I enjoy using Digital Learning myself and for students, it is a natural fit as they are growing up with it.

Not only that it is a much more efficient way to share learning and provide instant feedback to the students.

As Daggett states, we need to embrace the power of technology to make learning relevant (pg 4).

Step 2 (So What?) - Analyze how the identified trend impacts global and New Zealand Education

Daggett points out that Social Media makes learning meaningful for students and says that the likes of creating videos have doubled from 15% to 30% (pg5). This means that students using technology to not only help them find meaning in their learning but also build up their skills. He also says that schools will flourish as they embrace it and change the way they deliver education.

The OECD points out that online use connects people and shapes their behaviour. This has increased by 16% in OECD countries (Pg 102).

It points out the challenges of online use. Like how can educators develop students critical capacity to use and contribute to the increased wealth of information. As well as how students can develop the skills for the future and how can teachers be prepared to use the technology (pg101). This is an important aspect as it is scary when new things are introduced and some teachers feel they don't know how to use technology well.

Step 3 - (Now What?) Critique and evaluate practice in the context of different audiences (local, national, and/or international) and their perspectives'.

In terms of the impact of the trend, I can discuss what has happened locally with regards to my own practice.

How has it been addressed?

• We have built up our use of technology by leasing chrome books and accounts for the children.
• We are working within our Community Of Learning to help build up our digital pedagogy.
• We have started using different programmes to help children's learning and build up their skills and our own.

What are the barriers/limitations?

• The technological ability of the teachers to implement the programmes.
• The students being so far ahead of the educators.
• Access to the technology at home for learners.
• Which digital technology do we use? Why? How long does it take to implement?

What Changes need to be made adopted?

• A pedagogical adjustment to how the students learn.
• Teachers become facilitators and learn with the students. As Daggett says a strong teacher-student relationship makes the learning relevant. (Pg 4)
• Timetable adjustment?

How can the curriculum be developed?

• Make the learning more project based.
• Use the Key Competencies to help develop the 21st Century skills needed.
• Gain professional development in applying the new digital curriculum.

Resources -

Daggett, B (2014). Addressing Current and Future Challenges in Education. Retrieved from http://www.leadered.com/pdf/2014MSC_AddressingCurrentandFutureChallenges.pdf

OECD/ (2016). Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi/org/10.1787/trends_edu-2016-en

Week 29 - PRACTICE - Professional Online Social Networks

Activity 5: Using social online networks in teaching or professional development

Create a reflective entry where you critically discuss the use of social media in YOUR teaching OR professional development. Your reflection should be based on a reflective model of your choice.

I will use Jay and Johnson's reflective model for this post.

Jay and Johnson’s reflective model

Step 1 - Descriptive

At present we use Hail for a range of social media needs. It allows us to post content on our team blogs, share links to Facebook and Twitter, email parents and students. This works well as we can cover a range of areas with one online programme.

We also use youtube, but this is primarily done through Hapara Workspace. It allows us to control the videos that the children see and match up with their learning.

Facebook and Twitter are primarily used to share what is going on in the school. This is controlled by the teachers at present and my question would be, how can we allow students to use these platforms, when things like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ have an age restriction?

With regards to professional development, we use Google Docs to work and comment on our Professional Learning Group. In my case it is the ICT group for our Community of Learning.

Step 2 - Comparative - Reflect on alternatives and other viewpoints or in light of research

My answers to the survey were very similar to the results of other teachers. We use Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and Youtube for sharing about student learning. One of my colleagues has even got the children to start using Flipgrid to share their learning experiences. This is something I would like to begin doing myself, but also start using things like Wikispaces so the children take more ownership of their learning.

Social Media in Teaching

I like the idea of using contributing to how social media can be used, and as Magette states, the students not only develop new skills but also become productive digital citizens and build up their social and emotional skills. (pg, 70).

Social Media in Professional Development

Whittaker et al. talks about how educators are creating connected communities to for their practise and how it benefits the community and students. (pg, 13). And as part of our community of learning, it shows that we as teachers are using Social Media to upskill ourselves and support each other. However I would like to look into what ways we can make this communication more efficient.

Melhuis does point out that while networking does seem positive there is a risk that it creates an affirmation of the current practice without question.  (Melhuis pg 43).

Step 3 - Critical Reflection 

Implications - 

Based on what I've read and in view of my current practice I think the following needs to be implemented in my practice -

• Including the students more in how different social networks work will help overcome the fear teachers have of how to use them and give the students more agency.
• Make sure I model how to be a good digital citizen and how it will help students become better 21st Century Learners. 
• Questioning other teachers about how they use social media in their practice will help me develop my own programme as well as providing a consistency across the Community of Learning.

My own questions to ponder - 

• If we open up the use of different social media that the children are currently using, how do we get round the age restrictions?
• Where do we find the time to upskill the teachers who are afraid to use new social media?
• Will the children contributing to social network use make them better digital citizens, as they own their learning? Or will they abuse the use of it because they are more advanced than the teachers in using it?

 Resources - 

Melhush, K (2013). Online Social Networking and its impact on New Zealand educators' professional learning. Masters Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrieved from https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10289/8482/thesis.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y 

Maguette, K (2014). Embracing Social Media: A Practical Guide to Manage Risk and Leverage Opportunity. Rowan and Littlefield Publishers.

Whitaker, T, Zoul, J, Casas, J (2015). What Connected Educators Do Differently. Routledge.

Week 28 - Influence of Law & Ethics in Practice

Activity 4: Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

Create a reflective entry where you first identify an ethical dilemma that you either have faced or might fact in the future, in your own practice that is linked to digital or online access or activity.

I have chosen Rolfe et al.’s (2001) reflective model of reflection and the questions in the model to help me structure this assessment. I will use Ehrich et al. (2001) ethical decision-making model
to discuss the competing forces.

Identifying the Ethical Dilemma -

I will use the Abuse of ICT in school from the class notes as my issue.

As a school, we set up ICT use by -

• Asking parents and students to sign an ICT agreement.
• Signing a separate agreement for the use of their own device at school.

The example is using the internet for learning and inappropriate language was used in searches we encountered as a team was -   

Incident - 

• A few students who were supposed to be working and decided to look up sexually inappropriate words in an internet search.
• Tried to get others to do the same. 
• One of the students came to us and said what was going on. 
• The students were asked to hand over the devices they were using.

Action Taken - 

• The students were reported to the Deputy Principal. 
• We informed him of what has happened and he talked with the students involved. 
• Afterwards, he discussed the situation with the principal. 
• Senior management phoned the families of the children.
• The matter was dealt with internally. 
• The children involved were told that it was in breach of the ICT agreement they signed and as a consequence, they were banned from all devices for a week.

Critique or analyse the ethical dilemma identified in Step 1 and the outcome solution(s).  

Using Enrich et al. (2001) ethical decision-making model (pg 178), the Critical Incident covered the following competing forces.

Organisational Culture - As the actions of the children went against the school's policy of using the Internet.

Society and Community - The search had implications for the safety of children in the team and contacting parents meant that there was the embarrassment of having to deal with their child's decision making.

Individuals - Choices - The actions went against our school values, (responsibility, honesty, caring and respect). The actions not only went against the schools ICT policy but as senior students, they did not use the School Values and set the example for other children in the school.

Decision - The decision to ban the students for one week had implications for the students and our Senior Team. The students were unable to access a tool they enjoyed using. As staff we had to adjust our programme to cater to those new needs, which caused a sense of frustration.

Examine how the analysis and solution(s) in Step 2 are relevant to your practice and Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession.

To paraphrase Rolfe et al question, "what do I need to do in order to make things better? (Pg 1),

it meant we have to constantly monitor what our students are using the devices for. We also need to reinforce what being a good digital citizen looks like and make sure the students show the school values in an ICT situation. 

With regards to the Code of Professional Responsibility, it covers the Values, especially - 

Whakamana: empowering all learners to reach their highest potential by providing high-quality teaching and leadership.

Manaaktanga: creating a welcoming, caring and creative learning environment that treats everyone with respect and dignity.

Whanaungatanga: engaging in positive and collaborative relationships with our learners, their families and whanau, our colleagues and the wider community.

https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards 

By following those aspects of the standards, we develop better relationships and help students make better choices in their learning. The children also have the support of both their teachers and whanau.

Resources - 

Ehrich, L. C. , Kimber M., Millwater, J. & Cranston, N. (2011). Ethical dilemmas: a model to understand teacher practice, Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 17:2, 173-185, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2011.539794

Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards. Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/file...

Adapted from: Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001) Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf