Week 3 - Artefact of learning

The ukelele is my artefact representative of learning....

As it starts with the Pedagogical practices  (youtube clip on beginning learning) that lead to the Andraogical practices (https://www.thenukes.co.nz/) of co-constructing knowledge and then this leads to Heutagogical practices  (sheet music) of creating and becoming self directed.  It is also open to change and adaptable to all styles and cultures.

It also incorporates what we now about successful learning; that it is to be actively engaging, you want to learn the material, learning is personalised, not standardised, yet there is some structure (like learning the 3 basic chords).

It involves interaction as you need a listener or can play in a group.  Intellectual ability is not fixed, ie - you can learn one chord for or many leading to create your own music.
Ukelele and learning can  take place in a variety of settings, like in the classroom or on an island!

Week 2- Self directed learning

A few readings this week, yet being a visual learner I enjoy the one my Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey suggesting how to self directed learning integrates a wide range of skills and attributes that link with one another.  The ten trends they say....






I used a staff meeting 5 minute meeting to integrate some of these self directed learning by adding links to other aspects that teachers could research further into themselves.  I stuck the timer on then invited each to play a ukelele so active in their learning, working to their own level.  They had dots on them for quick scaffolding to learn the chords. They also had the option of choosing other instruments to play.  They afterwards could downloaded a pdf which I emailed it to the staff for later online you tubes, tutorials and references to refer to.  This meant that not all information was summited in the moment and led to a lot of positive feedback from staff as presenting information was quick, sharp and informative.

 

This means even teachers appreciate personalised learning...




References :

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning & teaching: A New Zealand perspective. Wellington: Ministry of Education. Retrieved from:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sally_Boyd/publication/307981642_Supporting_future-oriented_learning_teaching_A_New_Zealand_perspective/links/5803e46708ae310e0d9f5016/Supporting-future-oriented-learning-teaching-A-New-Zealand-perspective.pdf

Bevan-Brown, Jill; McGee, Alyson; Ward, Angela and MacIntyre, Lesieli. Personalising learning: A passing fad or a cornerstone of education? [online]. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 46, No. 2, 2011: [75]-88. Availability: ISSN: 0028-8276. [cited 01 Aug 18].

New Zealand Ministry of Education. (n.d.) Personalised assessment practices in a secondary context. Retrieved from: http://assessment.tki.org.nz/Assessment-for-learning/School-stories/Personalising-assessment/Personalised-assessment-in-a-secondary-context

Leadbeater, C. (2005).‘The Shape of Things to Come personalised learning through collaboration’. Retrieved from:

http://charlesleadbeater.net/wp-content/uploads/2005/01/The-shape-of-things-to-come.pdf

Strauss, V. (2013). ‘Personalization’ of learning: Genuine or slick marketing? Retrieved from:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/17/personalization-of-learning-genuine-or-slick-marketing/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7e1a7ae8e160

http://www.my-ecoach.com/online/resources/925/PersonalizationvsDifferentiationvsIndividualization.pdf

http://www.personalizelearning.com/2013/03/new-personalization-vs-differentiation.html

http://core-ed.org/legacy/thought-leadership/ten-trends/ten-trends-2013/personalisation

Prince K. (2014). A vision for radically personalized learning. Retrieved from:https://youtu.be/y9ZX9ApLLh0

Week 1 - The Three Gogies

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZBpDTbReSkvZhjuZT9tTQ56xjAOV2hip/view?usp=sharing

The Three Gogies

I looked to my own practice to integrate the gogies
1. Pedagogy
2. Andragogy
3. Heutagogy

This is so I could see the similarities and differences in the gogies in my everyday practice.

References...

1. Jackie Gertein blog, see:

https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/tag/heutagogy/

This blog has interesting definitions of pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy. Can you see any differences in the ways each one is articulated and defined? For example, pedagogy seems to have a clear role of the educator and learner - is this the same for andragogy and heutagogy?

2. The ‘School in the Cloud’ - this video is an inspiring TED talk about self-organised learning environments:

https://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud#t-730638

3. The first two chapters of this book are useful to get into Heutagogy:

Blaschke, L., Kenyon, C. & Stewart Hase (2014) (Eds.). Experiences in Self-determined Learning.

https://uol.de/fileadmin/user_upload/coer/Experiences-in-self-determined-learning.pdf

Chapter 1 -An Introduction to Self-determined Learning (Heutagogy) Page 15

Chapter 2- Heutagogy and Systems Thinking: A Perfect Marriage for Conducting Learning Experiences. Page 314. Example of the term Pedagogy from Australia

4. Example of the term pedagogy from Child Australia is useful

https://childaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CA-Statement-Pedagogy.pdf

5. Paper that discusses some differences between pedagogy and andragogy

https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTS/Summer-Fall-2000/pdf/holmes.pdf

6. A book that has a good first chapter on Andragogy - a quite detailed history of it.

Merriam, S. (2001). New Directions for Continuing: The new update on adult education. No. 89, Spring Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, California

Chapter 1 - Andragogy and Self-Directed Learning: Pillars of Adult Learning Theory by Sharron Merriam https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/348f/4ec482384d90bafad92e226fa4471ff56539.pdf

Other References

Blaschke, L. M. (2012). Heutagogy and lifelong learning: A review of heutagogical practice and self-determined learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13(1), 56-71.

Blaschke, L. & Hase, S. (2016). Heutagogy: A Holistic Framework for Creating Twenty-First-Century Self-determined Learners. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

B. Gros et al. (eds.), The Future of Ubiquitous Learning, Lecture Notes in Educational Technology, DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-47724-3_2 https://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9783662477236-c2.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-1519498-p177541637.

Hase, S., & Kenyon, C. (Eds.). (2013). Self-determined learning : heutagogy in action. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305778049_Self-determined_Learning_heutagogy_Where_Have_We_Come_Since_2000

Reflective entry #8: Reflect on how you have changed your practice during your Postgraduate DCL journey

The Postgraduate DCL journey. 

On reflecting so far, I can see I have up-skilled in the knowledge of coding and STEAM as a practice and the importance of developing a hands on approach to learning through developing play based methods. 

Assessment has been evidential through videos and children self and peer reflecting rather than traditional formative test formats. Osterman and Kottkamp (1993)

In this model, the Cycle of Experiential Learning, is recommended by Osterman and Kottkamp (2015, p.70) in their “Reflective Practice for Educators”

(Osterman and Kottkamp, 2015, p.70)

Stage 1: Problem identification

The problem articulated was that children's literacy needed to be improved as a whole school, as well as, a classroom setting, with new and modern methods of engagement such as coding. 

1.  The problem that arises in practice is facing that learners are entering into a new global market and that many of their jobs may be replaced by robots in the future.  Myself as a teacher therefore needs to teach in relevant ways to meet these demands. 
2.  It is important to implement the change to be better service leadership for the learners under my care. 

Stage 2: Observation and analysis

  I have gathered data that shows evidence that through coding; children's literacy can increase in a greater fluency. Therefore; the insights I have gained is that students, when engaged and self driven in their learning, can aquire greater results of achievement. (a bit like teachers really) 

Stage 3: Abstract reconceptualization

New theories in coding and research that suggests the benefits of coding across all curriculum areas helped to implement change in my inquiry.   The global trends on robotics for the future, were also perspectives that needed to be considered. 

I have found that by adapting the circle of inquiry myself and seeing the benefits to the learning process.  My teaching practice has changed as it has become more a process of inquiry.  It has adapted the 21st Century skills and more aware of global trends that are occurring in education. 

 pp.87-88 of “Reflective Practice for Educators” (Osterman & Kottkamp, 2015)

In “Our Code, Our Standards”.  The key change in my professional practice links to the commitment to the teaching profession where we look at 

1. demonstrating a commitment to providing high-quality and effective teaching

• In my inquiry I have provided high quality and effective teaching through using coding with 6 year olds to engage in the STEAM process.  It has helped to achieve whole school aims also as well as in the community of learning to raise literacy.  • This linked with the spiral of inquiry; "It is specifically designed to change outcomes for learners in important areas" Kaser, L. & J. Halbert. (2017)
• I would like to, in the future, build on this further with continuous PD on STEAM practices and incorporate them into my teaching. I have taken a staff meeting to teach other staff the makey-makey and supporting my peer teachers on how to use in their classrooms also. This achieves the code of conduct on peer leadership.  I would like to continue also linking these practices to the A in STEAM as being the music unit holder of the school, to have a strong leadership in this area.

Stage 4: Active experimentation

After applying a metacognitive lens towards my initial goals which were to up-skill in the latest technology and to be knowledgable in the latest teaching styles, to be a contemporary learner and to inspire to inquire.  I can see that  goals have and are continually being achieved. It has been a learning journey and I have recognised significant changes to my teaching approach. 

Overall; I have implemented the new practice of play based learning and STEAM practices for juniors.   Through this, I have learned that hands on learning means children become more engaged and the benefits to success across curriculum areas is greatly improved also. 

References

Bolstad, R. & MacDonald,J.(2016). An analysis of participant blogs supplemented by teacher interviews. Wellington:New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Kaser, L. & J. Halbert. (2017). The Spiral Playbook: Leading with an inquiring mindset in school systems and schools. C21 Canada. Retrieved from http://c21canada.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Spiral-Playbook.pdf

Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California.Corwin Press, Inc. Retrieved from hhttp://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/RefPract/Osterman_Kottkamp_extract.pdf

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

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

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

Reflective entry #7: Evaluate how your inquiry impacts on future inquiry/practice

Evaluate how your Inquiry impacts on future Inquiry/practice

My reflection, based on a reflective model such as Rolfe's model which we have broken into these three steps below: evaluates how my inquiry on coding to increase literacy impacts on the community of our school and their families that I engaged with, their current needs of enhancing 21st Century skills, and your future practice to further develop this research based teaching practice in daily teaching practice. 

Step 1: What is the actual impact after the ‘Take Action’ phase?

The observed impact of the 'take action' phase, is that children have become better engaged in their learning and are partaking in a pattern of spiral of inquiry themselves.  I have noticed also as the evidence suggests that the children's results in the other curriculum areas, such as science and mathematics have increased also as well as, literacy.  As the research in other countries alerted me to initially.  

The coding at school also has filtrated into other areas of learning and sparked interest in children gaining an awareness of their own potential and the feeling when new doors are opened up.  This is something that cannot be measured, yet just as valid I believe in changing attitudes to become more positive towards education as a whole and teacher practice.  I suppose a spiral of positivity. 

Step 2: How is the actual impact different from or similar to the anticipated one?

My inquiry impacts on the community as children have the attitude to take better ownership of their learning and have a greater enjoyment of school as a result and this type of learning goes home also.  Like on the tki maths example "They wanted their teachers and students to co-design maths learning together".  Four different sets of parents  have commented at parent teacher interviews that they ‘fake’ being well to come to school. I think his is a good indicator of enjoyment.

Step 3: What is the impact on future inquiry/practice?

What I would do differently is have better confidence in myself and the research to take bigger risks earlier on.  I ask he questions as in research; 
Do teachers always set tasks? 
Do learners feel they have choice about who they learn with? for greater owner ship of learning. 

To have the growth mindset myself to think I can do it, I may fail, yet do it anyway. Instead of treading lightly in the name of research.  Get a gradual change is more concrete in the long term results.  To foster the culture of inquiry in students.  I would also set up better STEAM I already have a 6 year old wanting to create an ancient civilisation made from junk in the holidays (next terms concept). She wants to add makey-makey sounds of the people when she comes back to school.  We will see where this goes! 
As it says in Stoll (2015)  Spirals of Enquiry is a different way of approaching enquiry which confronts, challenges, shifts paradigms and energises!

References

Halbert, J., Kaser, L., & Koehn, D. (2011). Spirals of Inquiry: Building Professional Inquiry to Foster Student Learning. Paper presented at 24th International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement. Limassol, Cyprus. Retrieved from http://www.icsei.net/icsei2011/Full%20Papers/0053.pdf

Ministry of Education (n.d.). Primary school teachers use maths assessment to increase student agency. Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Snapshots-of-Learning/Spirals-of-inquiry-Maths-assessment

Ministry of Education (n.d.). Stories from the field. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leading-learning/Spiral-of-inquiry-leaders-leading-learning/Stories-from-the-field

Stoll, L., and Temperley, J. (2015). Narrowing the Gap with Spirals of Enquiry: Evaluation of Whole Education’s Pilot. Whole Education, UK. Retrieved from http://thesendhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/narrowing-the-gap-with-spirals-of-enquiry.pdf

Reflective entry #5: Discuss how ethical issues are being addressed while you are taking action (20%)

Reflective entry 5: Discuss how issues of ethics are being addressed while you are taking action 

The ethical issue that I want to focus on in this entry is the mis use of internet use.  That the 6 year olds were looking up zombie clips when meant to be looking up 'scratch'.  

Due to the New Zealand context of our classrooms.  I have found the simple questions as asked in the Waikato reading; Hall (2001) to make the following ethical questions on my inquiry and to reflect that there is a dilemma for inquiry if we do not use implications.  

Which community members should be given priority?  

It is the children in my care and their families.  Why ? because it is my commitment for learners and their whanau as a professional responsibility stated in the code of conduct for teachers. 

2.4 In the conception, design, conduct, reporting and dissemination of the research there should be thoughtful concern for the rights and interests of all the individuals, groups and institutions involved and affected by it. 

What restrictions are there to your actions? I set up of class with any computer internet access facing the teacher desk. I have linked the Ipad use to the daily 5 programme and the target groups which I work 1 on 1 with.  I therefore had to consider that we are using the internet for the set purpose. .

Which courses of action are possible?

The consequence of this is that I had to take action. I should ask myself. Like having the computers facing me when working with a small group and checking in with internet gurus to monitor that all is well on the googling of scratch.  I have limited apps on the IPads and there are whole school bans on sites however, safari opens up a new world that a 6 year old child can access in a blink of an eye, zombies, that maybe appropriate at home for some, cause a new level of offense to others.  It is also a question of staying on task and adapting good work /study habits.

How should the course of action be implemented? 

I looked at the whole structure, as well as the class and then the individuals involved, as well as the wider whanau. At parent interviews, I have had to listen to the parental concerns and with others explain the internet guidelines as a school. In class; set up new guidelines of freedom in the inquiry process.   To monitor carefully the internet history.  I chose to initially talk to the whole class about appropriate internet use and linked to the analogy of diet, that we choose to feed our bodies healthy food for healthy bodies, likewise with our minds.  The monkey see no evil, hear no evil, fits in with our special character, yet also is a learning curve for all children as the internet and how to use it responsibility is a skill,  they all can use.  It is also good to talk one to one with those concerned on the specifics. 

I re-looked at the internet policy of the school reading it out in child speak so that the small group of children involved are aware that these are rules in a wider sense created by the school as a whole for all. 

It caused me to reflect when digital learning happens in the classroom there is an internet etiquette on when is the time and what kind of questions to ask myself from this reading by Hall (2001) 

References

Connecticut’s Teacher Education and Mentoring Program. (2015). Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educators: Facilitator’s Guide: Understanding the Code of Professional Responsibility for Educators. Connecticut, US: Author. Retrieved from http://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SDE/TEAM/Module_5_Supplemental_Scenarios-Facilitator_Guide_January_2015.pdf?la=en

Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards.Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

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

Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. In IIPE Conference, Brisbane.

New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE). (2010). NZARE Ethical Guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.nzare.org.nz/portals/306/images/Files/NZARE%20EthicalGuidelines2010.pdf

Reflection entry #4 Apply a Reflection Model to discuss something that has happened in my Inquiry so far, and how it impacts on taking action.

Reflective entry 4:

In Finlay's article it states; ‘while we commonly assume that teaching leads to learning, it is the experiences which teaching helps create that prompt learning, not primarily the acts of the teacher’.”
 (Redmond, 2006, p.226)  

This is true in my class with reflecting, you can have the “courage to work competently and ethically at the edge of order and chaos” (Ghaye, 2000, p.7).  I am therefore using Rolfe’s Model of Reflection (Otago Polytechnic, n.d. ) to reflect on my practice so far. 

Step 1 (What): Describe something that is significant and has happened during your Inquiry so far

A notable event that has happened so far is recognising that I needed more ideas to engage the children in my inquiry.  Getting ideas and momentum was the most difficult.  I realised that to counteract this was attending the lecture on robotics and STEAM at the University of Auckland, Epsom Campus.  Chris Rogers is from TUFT's university, Chicago, America and he talked about his philosophy of education as it relates to coding and robotics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DblvNncjR9o

Step 2 (So What): Evaluate the most interesting/important/useful aspects of this event

Attending this event has allowed me to develop my practice as it created a boost in the purpose of coding and the reasons why we do it.  He asked us what do we want children to learn, curiosity and challenging exisiting thinking were some outcomes.  It made me reflect do I provide in my current classroom climate situations for this to occur?  The support therefore was not just from readings but from real life bumping shoulders with other educators and creating robots ourselves  serve a need. In working with a other educators we created a robot that could move without wheels, a fridge door that talked to close and shared with other educators their designs.

Chris shared various ideas relating to Music which is my unit, making instruments and having the brief of performing a concert creates more open ended 'tasty' designs and 'experts' in certain areas rather than a status quo 'cheeseburger' scenario. 

The affect it had on my future practice or understanding: is that it inspired me to adapt some of these ideas back into the classroom. I developed lego scenarios for students on animals and made them come to 'life' with makey-makey sounds.  This proved successful and the levels of engagement fro the students were outstanding.   The experts advice worked giving a simplistic brief for children such as to create instruments for a concert, or make a cute animal and allowing children to 'breathe' and create their design meant a variation in the outcomes.   

Step 3 (Now What): Analyse the implications from this event to the rest of your Inquiry

In the future I can now adapt these practices of STEAM more and more and create innovative ways to bring them into the classroom.  With the new 14th June NZEI negotiations taking place mentioning to relook at the way teachers are 'assessed' through appraisals, can provide a future vision for more risk-taking and learning with students to create innovative projects integrating this with other learning areas.   I also have found that not only my target group wants to adapt these practices yet every child in the class wants to give it a go, so I have had to adapt my classroom practice for the last two weeks of term to allow the space to create 'energy projects' for all students, based on the ideas from Chris and also from what I have read on play based learning.  I have in my classroom now, boats, submarines, microphones, cars and rocket ships. Six year old  students are researching on Ipads how rockets are designed, whanau engagement is up as they mention in the morning their lunch time bands, engagement is up! 

You can see the results in my seesaw blog page; 

6 year olds coding = Increasing literacy engagement. 

https://blog.seesaw.me/room1942019/#!/item/item.c3b3fdf4-42e7-4c41-8e4e-96549a4208aa

References

Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. Practice-based Professional Learning Centre, Open University. 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.

Reflective writing https://www.op.ac.nz/assets/LearningAdvice/d0a1fac268/Reflective-writing.pdf

Rogers, Chris, Youtube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DblvNncjR9o

Future PD opportunities https://www.teaching.co.nz/professional-learning

Interesting blog.

Reflective Entry #3. Cultural responsiveness.

I have a vege garden.... my coriander grows better as it is on the side.  It has the sun, the warmth, it isn’t pecked by the chickens.  It is fenced off in great growing conditions. My broccoli, however is hen pecked.  It is withered it is worn. 

As being culturally responsive is what we pay attention to and what to stay away from.  The analogy of planting seeds, is that with diversity  we weed, water, watch and let grow.  Just like my fence from the chickens, community is ‘companion planting’ based on a rich connectivity in public and private space and to orchestrate activities in both.  That in this there is strength in relationships in both. Edtalks also mentions; Communities have multigenerational structures and a vibrant community is not invented or forced, but grown. 

For culturally responsive pedagogy I position myself as a learner to support diverse ways to develop, express and strive. 

Community need(s)

Living in Tai Tokerau, it has been identified as a larger Maori population NZ wide.  An aspect as picked up by the Education CoL and the achievement aim of raising Maori achievement in literacy, particularly in Maori Boys.  This is the wider aim of my inquiry also. Our school vision has 'enhancing mana' as seen by the community as being the most important for our students.  This links to - mauri ora life force of student engagement success in kapa haka just as important, to feel safe valued and ako - learning styles kinesteheitc  Maori boys part of uplifting his identity and hapu iwi contribute through formal and informal means of chat.   Tai tokerau as a whole needs to uplift Maori learners and create situations for tino rangatiratanga.  However, under Dr Anne's critical thinking, I need to ask, is this perception coming from a place of expectation from me to be more pakeha or embrace Maori as Maori?  Reading the Culturally Responsive Curriculum Scorecard prompts me to make changes, awareness is key. 

Personally; what resonates with me is the Mauri model from Pohatu, as it links with well-being of the teacher in relation to energy, to be in a state.  It reflects on 3 states

1.  

Mauri moe = to be asleep, you have potential yet you still haven't moved forward and improved your own practice.  

Mauri oho - waking up from a sleep - starting to participate in discussions and meeting with whanau, learn wiaata, 

mauri ora - to be really alive and thriving in an active state, whanau engagement and commitment as a whole group.   In reflecting on my own practice  I can the kapa haka and incorporating matariki in our energy coding concept.  I am aware of pedagogies that engage Maori students, yet this can grow. 

I have participated and contributed to others study on these concepts. I use te reo as much as possible as doing the inquiry, as I am interacting with the students.  I would like to engage in speaking more te reo to whanau in correspondence on their results

I believe, I am in between Mauri moe and Mauri oho.  I am learning also to recognise these states more as it relates to my culturally responsive pedagogy as I teach. 

Therefore, the community can be continuous and organic and an ongoing journey.  I am in the purple zone yet no 'colonisational' hen pecking, as Dr Anne suggests, yet an awareness as educators we are all planting the seeds, creating environments for a community of responsiveness.

tihei mauri ora

References

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al.(2011). Culturally responsive 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

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

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

Milne, A.(2017).Coloring in the white spaces: reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

NYU Metro Center. (2019). Culturally Responsive Curriculum Scorecard. Retrieved from https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/media/users/atn293/ejroc/CRE-Rubric-2018-190211.pdf.

Pohatu, T. W. (2011). Mauri - Rethinking human wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.review.mai.ac.nz/index.php/MR/article/v...

Reflective entry #2: Discuss how aspects of law, regulations and/or policy impact on teacher inquiry.

Reflective entry #2: Discuss how aspects of law, regulations and/or policy impact on teacher inquiry

There are many aspects of law, regulations and policy that relate to teacher inquiry.  In page .18 of the regulation ‘Our Code, our Standards’:  It states that in these professional learning standards, teachers can "use inquiry, collaborative problem solving and professional learning to improve their professional capability to impact on the learning and the achievement of all learners".

In our school the codes and standards are embedded into the appraisal process as a teacher inquiry google slide, which we write reflective notes and add evidence beside each code of conduct.  Teachers have an opportunity to create an over all encompassing inquiry.   In my case, it is in coding and how it raises the standards in other areas.  I also through my research, "engage in professional learning and adaptively apply this learning in practice."  In coding and makey-makey, the inquiry process is reflected in my school practice, as it is tied up in my appraisal in a yearly bases. We gather feedback from senior leaders and record this evidence and then use the evidence to see if we meet this code.  

On the online platforms it covers the Professional Learning of "seek and respond to feedback from learners, colleagues and other education professionals, and engage in collaborative problem solving and learning -focused collegial discussions".  This research has been interpreted into the school policy and imbedded into teaching practice to improve learner outcomes. 

When I inquire into and reflect on the effectiveness of practice in an ongoing way, I can identify inquiry from a range of sources;

This ERO’s report lists the characteristics that were evident in effective appraisal systems and “inquiry” is one of them.  As a result, it refines and strengthens teaching as inquiry and therefore measuring this by moving from a focus on compliance to a focus on continual improvement. 

Additionally, P.92-101 in the reading ‘Teaching as Inquiry: form, purpose and application in New Zealand Secondary Schools’ by Wood (2015)  It suggests that leaders need to make the Teaching as inquiry process more robust, valued and an essential component of the school faculty and individual teacher self review. It can kill two birds in one stone as it can relate to Professional Development aims also.  

Wood talks about the length of the teaching inquiry to be over a year is better rather than a short 6 -4 weeks.  He also suggests that it is an inquiry and not to be related to assessment and data gathering on teachers. These elements are evident in my schools inquiry process. 

Broadly speaking and in looking at the wider context, the Communities of Learning in Northland, affects Teacher inquiry. In the CoLs, it states the role is to be reflective competent personal and collaborative inquiry - "be wiling to learn and then unlearn and then to relearn". 

Sinnema (2005) suggests that evidence about student outcomes can be a focal point 

The policy of the Community of learning also affects teachers enquiry, as it has the achievement aims on well being stated. One of the purposes was to "strengthen the use of effective inquiry approaches to teaching across schools to achieve the shared learning outcomes"  It says as part of the role to lead structured opportunities to assist the ongoing development of effective approaches to 'teaching as inquiry' so it does include the code of conduct aims. 

 I have found that the inquiry that I am undertaking in coding has raised my passion for teaching and ignited a new journey of administering practices that work well for students, as well as nourishing myself to be a life long learner myself also.

References

Education Council (2017). Our Code, Our Standards. Retrieved from https://teachingcouncil.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

Education Council (n.d.). Appraisal as a catalyst for improved learner outcomes. Retrieved from https://teachingcouncil.nz/sites/default/files/ERO_Appraisal.pdf

Wood, C.(2015).Teaching as Inquiry: form, purpose and application in New Zealand secondary schools. (Published Master's’ thesis). Unitec, Auckland, New Zealand.