Materials Technology Reflective Blog using the Gibbs Model - Term 3

Reflecting on changes in my future-oriented teaching practice.

Deciding to undertake postgraduate studies after 25 years of teaching, was initially very exciting and I felt that it would be the key to revolutionize my teaching into 21^st-century teaching and learning.

My initial concept of doing the Minlab course was that it was going to teach me a few exciting apps and this would then change my existing practice. After 18 weeks of this course, I could not have been more wrong.

For me, personally, Mindlab got me to begin critically reflecting on my practice and asking myself the searching question; ‘Am I preparing my students for the 21^st century?’ The simple answer to this question is that I could do better.

I am basing my reflective practice on the Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Description

My change initiative, to date, has been slow. Introducing a digital component to my Hard Materials technology class was a learning journey for both my students and myself. For this learning journey to be successful, I had to change my mindset to embrace a new challenge and immerse myself in this challenge. Bolstad mentions that people do not learn as well as ‘spectators.’ Good learning requires active participation and engagement.

Feelings and Evaluation

As the introduction of a Digital component to my practice was something totally new to me, I had to first try out this initiative with a selective group of students. I had to collaborate and ask my colleagues for help on how to teach and introduce this technology to my students, “drawing on each other’s strengths and knowledge to best support learning.”(Bolstad R. Gilbert.J MOE June 2009)

Talking to my colleagues and asking for support allowed me to overcome my insecurities. My students were really excited about this new technology as it was a great way of improving communication.

Analysis

To date, the use of Google classroom within my Technology class has been very positive. My students find it very easy and efficient to share their ideas, design brief and plan of action for me.

For me personally, I find myself becoming better and more confident in using this technology. I can now provide constructive feedback to my students and this allows my students to come better prepared for my technology class.

The challenge is to move past seeing learning in terms of being "student-centered" or "teacher-driven", and instead to think about how learners and teachers would work together in a "knowledge-building" learning environment.  Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012)

Conclusion/Action Plan

The goal is now to embrace this new way of using a digital technology component to my teaching and exploring what other aspects of technology I can introduce into my technology class.

To achieve this, I would need to collaborate and network with other Hard Materials teachers. Sharing of ideas, successful units of work and also gaining constructive feedback on how to cater for students with different learning needs. This will now be my primary focus.

The nature of my curriculum area involves a very high percentage of been creative, hands-on and providing solutions to practical problems. Although there are aspects of my curriculum area that overlaps with the classroom curriculum, I need to focus my collaboration with Hard Materials teachers in other schools and businesses within the greater school community.

Form a partnership with local business people is the direction that many schools are moving towards. Networking with the Futureintech Organisation to get professional Tradespeople to showcase career pathways will be inspiring for my students to physically see and interact with.

Reference:

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

Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf

Week 32 - Activity 8: Key Changes in my Reflective Practice

Week 32: Applied Practice (Activity 8)

Key Changes in my Practice

Has Mindlab made a difference to the way I approach my Teaching Practice? The simple answer to this is Yes! Was it easy? No, it was not. I found myself navigating into a journey that was new and constantly reflecting on what I could do better to improve my teaching practice.

For this reflective Blog, I will be using the Rolfe, et al (2001) model of reflection to speak about the codes and standard of my practice. In ‘Our Code, Our Standard,’ MOE (2017) teachers have a major impact in shaping futures and supporting children and young people realize their potential and prepare them for their place in society.

As teachers, we are entrusted with the responsibility to guide the learning journey of our students and with this, we are expected to act with high levels of integrity and professionalism.

The standards for the Teaching Profession are made up of six standards that provide descriptors of high-quality teaching practices. For this reflection, I will discuss how Professional Learning and Professional Relationships has impacted on my practice.

What?

As a seasoned teacher, for two-thirds of my teaching practice, I taught using a set syllabus and a prescribed text-book. I was comfortable and my practice was routine. The only goal of my practice was to prepare my students for their final external examination paper.

In the last decade or so, the educational curriculum and teaching practice have changed. My practice had to be modified and constantly reflected upon to teach;

•        using an inquiry model
•        problem-solving using collaboration and,
•        to develop a positive growth mindset to support and improve learning achievements.

Is it challenging? Yes, it is! Every aspect of my practice is now based on constant reflection and feedback. If I am going to make my teaching practice relevant, I need to;

•        Ask for help when I do not understand something.
•        Collaborating within a team. Sharing of ideas and supporting each other.
•        Planning lessons that cater to all my students.

Now, what?

Osterman and Kottkamp (2015) speak about "Reflective Practice for Educators" as a good tool. I have found that the best feedback you can receive is when you allow for a student's voice. I value the opinion of my students and this has helped guide me to make changes to my practice. My students feel motivated and valued when my lessons are designed around what their interests are?

In my practice, I have found that the integration of modern technology with traditional teaching methods to be the right balance to stimulate engagement and improve educational achievement.

Frequent communication with parents and whanau to celebrate their children's achievement is a positive form of collaboration and this further supports the vision of our school has an inclusive institution.

What next?

There is no doubt my professional development has been greatly influenced by doing the Mindlab postgraduate study. Constant reflection and using a reflective model to guide my thinking has made a huge impact on how I interact with my students. My lessons are now structured so that, my students see the value in their learning. Reflective practice has now become a functional habit, Osterman, and Kottkamp (2015).

Using a positive growth mindset in my teaching practice as allowed my students to be motivated and develop a sense of self-belief that they can achieve with hard work.

For my personal growth and professional development to be evolving, I need to make the best of the opportunities that are presented to me. Participating in Professional Development courses expands my exposure to network with other professionals in the field of education. 

Reference:

Osterman, K. F., & Kottkamp, R. B. (2015). Reflective practice for educators: professional development to improve student learning. (2nd ed.) New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

Ministry of Education (2017). Our code, our standards. Retrieved from

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

Week 31 - Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness in my Practice.

Week 31  – Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness in my Practice

Activity 7:

For this reflective Blog, I will be examining my understanding of Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness. I will also relate my understanding of the topic of how it is catered for within our school practices. I will also reflect on how Identity will help to raise student achievement in our Indigenous students? I will be using the Rolfe et al.'s (2001) reflective model to guide me in my reflective blog.

What?

I am a migrant to NZ. I come from a country where we as “non-white people," was subjected to decades of apartheid and oppression. Our schooling set and the educational curriculum was structured so that we were divorced of any true identity. Our educational system was very rigid and it was designed to stop us from celebrating our heritage and cultural diversity.

Moving to New Zealand 15 years ago, I have taught in 2 intermediate schools to date. The ethnic composition In both these schools had a very high percentage of Maori and Pacifika students. My first experience at teaching in New Zealand was an eye-opener and a foreign experience to see how policies and expectations are implemented to cater for the educational upliftment and acceleration of our Indigenous students.

At my current school, we have 3 school expectations, which is explicitly taught to our students:

1.     Respect for Others

2.     Care for the environment

3.     Pride in ourselves

The respect for our cultural diversity, heritage, and religious tolerance is part of our daily teaching practice at our school.

So, What?

Although we are a school with a high percentage of Maori and Pacifika students, we also have a healthy Indian and Asian population of students. To me personally, I somehow feel that the focus is so heavily in favor of improving Maori and Pacific student achievement, that we tend to forget about the needs of our minority ethnicities. Most of the programmes we have in place to improve student achievement are strongly focused on benefiting Maori and Pacifika students. The landscape of New Zealand is changing rapidly and there is so much diversity and I think we need policies in place to reflect and support this diversity and identity.

There is no doubt that our indigenous learners, at my school, are well supported. We have many programmes in place to recognize specific target students and implement an accelerated programme to raise learning achievements. The learning progression is tracked, analyzed and presented to our Board of Trustee. The Board, with guidance from our senior management team, provides additional funding to support these initiatives.

At the Hui and Fono evening, Maori and Pacifika Whanau are invited to talk about their children's learning. This is a yearly event with a specific focus on sharing achievement data and linking this with the Learning Vision of our school. For 2018, the focus was on the Area of Identity.

·      How does identity relate to success?

·      How is identity reflected in our school?

·      What does identity look like?

·      What does identity mean to you?

As a school, we believe that Identity is a very important concept for our students to understand. Identity provides our students with a sense of purpose and this allows them to reflect on where they come from and where they want to be in the future.

What next?

One of the visions of our school is to teach through collaboration and engagement with all Stakeholders, that being the teacher, student, and whanau. Bishop (2009) speaks about the key to making a difference and achieving success with Maori students is agentic teachers, which supports the vision of our school in teaching through collaboration. I believe that although we have all these programmes and interventions to support and uplift the achievement success of our Maori and Pacifika students, the achievement data, when analyzed, says that we need to do more.

In our recent Hui and Fono evening, the turn out of our whanau was very poor. Why is this happening? Why is our whanau not showing a greater level of support and involvement in the learning of their children? These are concerning questions, that we as a school need to address. Strategies around the marketing and promotion of these evenings need to be revisited and openly discussed so that changes could be implemented. With these changes, we are hoping that there will be greater interest and participation in these events.

The upliftment and cultural responsiveness of our Maori and Pacifika students is the responsibility of both the school and whanau. There is no doubt that has a school we try our very best to celebrate our diversity. Cultural concerts, open evenings to celebrate the learning of all our students and cultural dress-up days are important events that showcase our diversity and it helps to develop respect and tolerance. The school is then viewed as an inclusive institution that values our diversity.

Reference:

·       Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009).Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5),734–742.

·       The Ministry of Education. (2014). Beyond the Classroom: Homeschool
Partnerships. Retrieved from
http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Beyond-the-classroom/Engaging-

·       Pakuranga Intermediate School – Principals report – Hui and Fono Review 2018.