Applied Practice in Context - Activity 6

Professional Context - Broader Context

What's certain is that the world is changing faster than at any time in human history.

Philip Stephens, FT, December 2012

Global trends such as increasing migration and climate change, national trends on government spending in health and pensions, familial trends of child well-being as well as technological trends (Education & Skills Today, 2016) lead us to ask, "How will these trends will influence education?"

Contemporary Issues

In this activity, I have been asked to identify two contemporary issues or trends which are influencing or shaping New Zealand education and are most relevant to my own practice.

Below is an illustration of the 10 Trends that are expected to make a growing impact on education in New Zealand, according to Core Education's team of researchers, digital experts and educators.

The two trends that I wish to evaluate are Cultural and Economic;  in the areas of diversity and computational thinking.  

Cultural - Diversity

Core Education refer to cultural diversity as being pedagogies that cater for diverse learners and groups of learners, UDL, different belief systems and multiple languages in schools.  At the beginning of this year, I began working as a Learning Coach at Ormiston Primary School in Flat Bush, South-East Auckland.   This school opened at the beginning of 2015 and is attended by children from a variety of ethnic groups - many coming from homes where English is their second language.  

The school is also a satellite unit for the Kelston Deaf Education centre.  Sign language is prominently used right across the school.   The aim is to help students with hearing difficulties integrate into school life and achieve educational success.

Impact on my practice

Currently, the school role is 250 and will eventually, with further building plans in the pipeline, cater for 700 Learners.  A large proportion of these learners will come with diverse needs and cultural backgrounds.  As of December 2015, the ethnic composition at Ormiston Primary School was:

• Māori 3%
• Pākehā 7%
• Chinese 26%
• Indian 25%
• Cambodian 10%
• Fijian 10%
• Middle Easter 5%
• Other Asian 3%
• Other 11%

The cultural diversity that is already present in my school (from both cultural identify and the deaf learners) has meant that I am having to make a change to the way that I have previously taught.   My own cultural beliefs and language are almost alien to this school's environment, even though I live only 17 kilometres away!  

I have spent that past ten years working in a school which was predominantly mono-cultural - with cultural backgrounds, expectations and beliefs that were close to my own.  The authentic learning experiences that I planned were derived from my own cultural world and were accessible by my students.

Now, in this culturally diverse environment, I am having to review my 'Pakeha' way of thinking as many of these students have had limited 'kiwi' experiences.

How do I address this trend?

Questions, conversations and collaboration.  These are the three actions that I will initially undertake in order to get to know my Learners.   If I am to meet the needs of these Learners, then I need to know more about their cultural background, what makes them 'tick' and how we can get a balance between the culture at home vs the melting pot of culture at school.  This will mean getting to know not only the Learner, but also the family.  Whanau and community involvement will be one way to access and embrace their culture. 

I feel that the move away from the traditional 'industrial' model aligns with the acceptance of diverse cultures and needs of each learner.   I'm looking forward to working within an environment that is quite unique, yet a reflection of how our world is evolving to be a melting pot of cultures.

Economic - Computational Thinking

Core Education describe this trend as the impact of STEM on curriculum, coding, the drive for skills for employment vs holistic education outcomes for all, and play-base curriculum.  

According to Sir Ken Robinson (2006), schools are killing creativity by standardising learning and consequently not enabling personalised learning.  National Standards were introduced to New Zealand schools in 2010 and since then, I feel that literacy and numeracy have been at the forefront of learning - leaving other curriculum areas to be squeezed in whenever time permitted.  Over the course of a week, there is time to include The Arts, Science, Technology and Social Sciences but I don't feel that these curriculum areas are valued as much as literacy and numeracy.  Take a look at the the reporting system to confirm this feeling.

Impact on my practice

Global changes will require future-focussed learning to include these less recognised curriculum areas and I find this, along with the inclusion of coding to be very exciting.  Science, technology and coding are areas in learning that often provide learning opportunities for hands-on exploration - along with collaboration, problem solving and creativity.   If STEM is to be valued in the learning environment, then I may need to flip my planning around to put the STEM subjects first; with literacy and numeracy woven through.

Play-based learning is encouraged in my current school and I am currently learning how to provide my Learners with 'play' opportunities to encourage social skills, exploration and creativity. 

How do I address this trend?

A typical day at my current school begins with a provocation and time to explore.  Here, my fellow Learning Coaches and I have an opportunity to introduce science, technology and engineering related ideas to initiate curiosity within the 6-7 year old Learners in our habitat.  I would like to find out more about the 'maths' part of STEM - as numeracy is 80% of our learning at the moment.  Does STEM desire this, or should it be more strand related and problem solving content?   

Coding has been something which I have 'dabbled' with in the past.  Reasons for not using it have been due to limited technology and my own knowledge.  Yet, when I have included it in our learning there has been much excitement and engagement from the Learners.  I'm sure that coding can be included across all curriculum areas.  I need to put some time aside to research online coding communities to find out what is currently been done in other learning environments, then consider how I can initiate coding.

Play-based learning is currently happening within my school - especially within the New Entrants habitat.  I am interested to find out how play-based learning with my 6-7 year olds can be integrated in our curriculum areas, without the Learners thinking of it as 'just' play.  There are several online communities can help to answer this question as well as provide me with examples and ideas.

Where to from here?

Preparing today's Learners for tomorrow's world - if I think too much about it, it can be quite daunting.  However, I can also feel excited by having the opportunity to be part of the change in our current education system.  

References

CORE Education's Ten Trends 2016 | CORE Education. (2016). Core-ed.org. Retrieved 22 February 2016, from http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends

Education & Skills Today, (2016). The trends shaping the future of education, 

Oecdeducationtoday.blogspot.co.nz. Retrieved 22 February 2016, from http://oecdeducationtoday.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/the-trends-shaping-future-of-education.html

Robinson, K. (2006).  Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?  Retrieved from

https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

Stephens, P. (2012). State versus citizen in tomorrow’s world - FT.com. (2016). Financial Times. Retrieved 26 February 2016, from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/75dfa02c-448d-11e2-932a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz42xx4cDGB

Applied Practice in Context - Activity 5

My Professional Community

Two professional connections from the above map that have impacted on my practice are Twitter and EduCamps.  

Twitter

I was introduced to Twitter prior to attending the uLearn conference in 2012 and received a further push by Anne Kenneally who was running one of the breakout sessions that I was attending.  Initially I was unsure why and what I needed Twitter for, then slowly the ball started to roll and as it gathered momentum, I realised the power of Twitter and wondered why it had taken me so long to get on board.

Twitter has enabled me to create and follow my own personalised learning journey - switching paths and exploring new territory when I felt the need to step outside my 'knowledge zone' - or as Wenger suggests, 'community of knowledge'.   Through Twitter, I have been able to ask for support and be part on online discussions which have been difficult when limited to 140 characters at a time!                                           Source

One of the added bonuses of Twitter is that it has gone beyond an online connection with a broad range of people involved in education in many different capacities.   Through Twitter, I have made some life long friends - some that I have met face-to-face and others that I'm sure that I will meet in the future.  These professional connections have now merged with my personal life - across disciplines.

EduCamps

In 2013, I read about an eduCamp that was planned for late February in Rotorua.   I was interested in attending this event however to get there, I did something that I would discourage my own children from ever doing.  At 6:30am on a Saturday morning, I found myself in the vehicle with people whom I had never met before - on my way to EduCamp Rotorua.  Well, I say never met, but that's a lie.  Although I had never met them face-to-face, I had known them for a few months via Twitter.  The conversation flow all the way down State Highway 1 and by the time we reached our destination, we agreed that the ideas shared on that two hour drive were up there with the best PD that we had every experienced.

EduCamp itself was mind blowing.   Other educators like myself, giving up their Saturday to share and learn from each other.   Each educator presented a two minute 'smackdown', then if the demand was sufficient, they would facilitate a workshop in the afternoon.  At that stage, I was interested in learning more about technology and how it can be used to support learners.   The discussions on that Saturday were predominantly technology-based, but there were also some 'smackdowns' on learning ideas for literacy and maths.

I have since attended three other EduCamps in Auckland, and will be returning to Rotorua next weekend for another.  It's not just the sharing of ideas, but also the discussions that evolve over the day.  These discussions have opened up new doors of interest for me that have provided a greater understanding of how I can support today's learners.   My professional learning network expands as a result of attending an EduCamp and we continue our conversations long after the event ends.

Applied Practice in Context - Activity 4

Communities

According to Wikipedia, 

A community is a social unit of any size that shares common values, or that is situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a village or town).  It is a group of people who are connected by durable relations that extend beyond immediate genealogical ties, and who mutually define that relationship as important to their social identity and practice.  Although communities are usually small, community may also refer to large groups such as national communities, international communities, and virtual communities.  

In my mind, community gives one a sense of belonging and helps to form our own identity of who we are and what we wish to be a part of.    We can move from one community to another and, in some instances, never return to a community - this can be of our own choice, or one that we have no control over.

Landscapes of 'Knowing"

Etienne Wenger talks about 'landscapes of knowing'.  After viewing his video , I began to wonder which landscape of 'knowing' I am currently walking through.  Over the course of my life I must have moved through hundreds, if not thousands of landscapes.  How much do my landscapes change when I step between communities, e.g. work, personal, education, virtual, travel?  Is it possible to be the same person in each, or do we change in someway to 'fit' within that landscape?

What is My Community of Professional Practice? 

My current community of professional practice is a new community for me as I have just joined the team of educators at Ormiston Primary School.   

Wenger defines a community of practices as 

a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

I applied for a position with this 'community' as I believe in their approach to learning and wished to be a part of a team that was still in the process of setting up systems and open to new ideas (their foundation year was 2015).   My role is that of a 'Learning Coach' in a Year 1 and 2 Learning Habitat (a flexible learning space).   I like the change in role name from 'Teacher' to 'Learning Coach' as it reflects a move away from what is perceived to be the role of 'teacher' which can unfortunately still have links to the industrial way of learning.

My community of professional practice can be broken down into the following groups:

• all the educators
• the Learning Coaches within my habitat
• the Learning Coaches and Learners within my habitat

As a new member of this community, I am going through the challenges that anyone passes through when entering a new community - getting to know members of the community, understanding the expectations and protocols of the community and enabling others to learn about me and who I am.   This takes time although these steps are made much easier when the community are open-minded, willing to share and accepting of differences.  The community of educators are able to share ideas and support each other through regular meetings where every voice is heard and all ideas are considered.  Every Learning Coach has a blog and site so we can share our reflections and ideas - learning from each other and posting comments to reaffirm or challenge.

I am still in the early stages of being a member of this community, but I am enjoying the collaborative community - both face-to-face and virtual.    The student community is multi-cultural which makes for an eclectic mix of identities, needs and abilities.  It is a vibrant and fast-growing community - a community that I am delighted to be a part of.

Critical Analysis

I will respond to three questions in relation to my community of practice within my school.  The first being:

What is the purpose and function of my practice?

In what ways do I cater for the community of my practice?

As mentioned above, my purposes within this community is to support the Year 1 and 2 learners in my habitat, and other Learners school-wide through clubs, playground duties, sports groups.  What I do and why I do it is directed by our school vision:

Guarantee every learner engages in innovative, personalised world class learning

This has a major influence on the purpose and function of my practice.   It is a vision that I consider when I plan for the learning with my Learners.   It is also a vision that I consider when I embark on my personal learning journey.  I feel that this vision applies to not only my student learning community, but also to the educator learning community because if we are engaging in innovative, personalised world class learning, then it will have a flow-on effect to our student community.  Within the Learning Habitat, myself and the other three Learning Coaches plan together, discuss our community of Learners and look for ways to provide the optimum learning opportunities.


The second question is:

What are the challenges that I face in my practice?

How would I or my community of practice address them?

My school is in an area of exponential housing growth that is predominantly occupied by immigrants where the child is first generation New Zealander.   The home language is usually not english and this does create a challenge when communicating as well as building a learning environment that transfers seamlessly between home and school.   I am working with 5-7 year old children who require support with literacy development yet it is difficult to have this provided at home when the parents and/or grandparents (which are often the caregivers) do not speak english.  

I am currently exploring ways to utilise technology for reading support within the home.   There are are a range of literacy websites and apps to view and trial with the Learners and we will encourage the use of them for home learning, once they have proved to be successful in meeting the needs of the Learners at school.

The final question is:

What are the core values that underpin my profession?
Evaluate my practise with regard to these values.

The above mentioned vision statement, our school's '4 C' values (capable, curiosity, collaborate and connected) along with the Code of Ethics and Practicing Teacher Criteria are the core values that underpin my profession.  They provide guidance for not only how I engage with learning, but also how I act within not only this community, but other communities as well.  Examples of these other communities are my online presence with my personal learning network and also the community within which I reside.   

I guess this last statement takes me back to Wenger's theory about 'Landscapes of Knowing'.   Even as I transfer between one landscape to another, I take some of the knowledge (of who I am) with me. So even if the landscape is different, remnants of our identity come with us.   

Applied Practice in Context - Activity 3

My Response to Finlay's (2008) Article

Some questions that I had before I read Finlay's (2008) paper were:

• Are our own reflections limited by what we know and understand?   
• Are our reflections limited by culture, religion and age?  
• Are there different types of reflection?

Source

As Finlay (2008) suggests in her introductory paragraph, reflection can sometimes be used to 'rationalise practice' and 'to mull them over', then analyse our practice critically to look for any loophole and make necessary changes to our practice.   This is how I have thought of reflection.  Now, having read all the article - and reflected on it, I am coming to an understanding that there is more to reflection than meets the eye.

Reflection - Critical Reflection - Reflexivity

Finlay and Gough (2003), mention that these three can be placed on a continuum.  Their belief is that a basic reflection with no critiquing is at the beginning of the continuum, followed by critical reflection (my stance on this is outlined below).   I was interested to read about 'reflexivity' -  personal reflection and social critique.   This is a style of reflection that I will try to employ in future as I believe that any reflection on my practice should include some form of self-awareness of how my own background, beliefs and feelings have impacted on my practice - and have these had a positive impact on the outcomes of the learning taking place?

Reflect or Reflect Critically

I am puzzled by Reynolds' (1998) suggestion that one can just 'reflect' or 'reflect critically'.  How can one reflect (think about an event) without being critical - even just a little?   Even while reflecting on a day-to-day activity such as the drive home from work, there would be some critique, e.g. how I could have avoided driving my car on the uneven surface through the road works, thus avoiding any possible damage to the suspension on my car.

To be involved in critical reflection doesn't mean that one has to think negatively, or pull apart an idea and pick at it.  On the contrary, after a meal at a restaurant I might reflect on how well the meal was cooked, what flavours I tasted and what aromas I smelt.  These, although critical, could still sum up a positive experience.

Mutual Collaboration

This variant of reflection is one that I can accede with.   When working with a team, collaboration in planning follows discussion and reflection on current practice - What went well?  What didn't go well?  Why didn't it go well?  What changes need to be made?   This variant of reflection is also evident within a teacher-student partnership while conferencing and discussing a piece of work, during formative and summative assessment.   

This year I will be mentoring a PRT within my team.   I envisage multiple opportunities to collaborate, discuss and share our practice in order to reflect, critique and develop new ideas to support the learners in our habitat.   As a result of reading Finlay's paper, I also realise that my PRT, due to limited time in the education sector, may not be able to critically reflect to the same extent that I or another educator may be able to.    It will be important that I support my PRT to 'see differently through practical and practice experiences' (Loughran, 2000).

My Reflective Practice

At times, the process of reflection has been just that - a process.   While it has been good to be given a set time to reflect, it has not always been the appropriate time, e.g. little data had been gathered, an observation had to be rescheduled or I had not been given enough time to 'chew' over the lesson in order to reflect deeply.  Sometimes the reflection was on a part of my practice that would not be repeated.  Therefore, the reflection outcome was not useful as I was not able to make any changes and improve my practice.  Therefore, the reflection was not thought of as worthwhile as I knew that I had no opportunity to apply my reflection feedback to a future area of learning.

Source

Rolfe's (2001) model of reflection is one that was widely used by both teachers and students in a school that I was recently working in.   Although this is a simple model to use and follow through the processes of reflection, I feel that another model would be more suitable to bring about a more critical reflection when conducting an inquiry.  For this reason, I will use the 'Sprial of Inquiry' (Timperley, H., Kaser, L., & Halbert, J., 2014), to support the reflection process of a more in-depth inquiry.

Source

I remember when I first started teaching, the thought of regularly reflecting on my practice to identify what went wrong made me feel that I would always be looking for flaws.  I asked myself, "Would I ever get it right?"  I wish I had been reassured by Quinn (1988/2000, as cited by Finlay) in those early days that 'critical' does not have to mean 'negative', but instead a means of helping to gain some form of understanding about what has happened and how to move forward.

References: 

Finlay, L., (2008).  Reflection on 'reflective practice'.  PBPL paper 52.  Retrieved from, 

www.open.ac.uk.pbpl

Finlay, L. and Gough, B. (2003) Reflexivity: a practical guide for researchers in health and social sciences. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Loughran, J.J. (2000) Effective Reflective practice, A paper presented at Making a difference through Reflective practices: values and Actions conference. University College of Worcester, July 2000.

Quinn, F.M. (1988/2000) Reflection and reflective practice. In C.Davies, L.Finlay and A. Bullman (eds.) Changing practice in health and social care. London: Sage. (Original work published in 1988 and reproduced in 2000).

Rolfe, G., (2001).  Retrieved from,
http://www.cumbria.ac.uk/Public/LISS/Documents/skillsatcumbria/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf

Timperley, H., Kaser, L., & Halbert, J., (2014).  Retrieved from,
http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Pedagogy-and-assessment/Evidence-based-leadership/Data-gathering-and-analysis/The-spiral-of-inquiry

Applied Practice in Context - Activity 2

Metacognitive Reflection on Learning and Practice

The past 24 weeks of study has been a personal journey that has impacted on my own practice and personal growth.  My previous understandings and beliefs have been both confirmed and challenged. It has also given me an opportunity to put myself in the shoes of my learners and that has enabled me to be more aware of the needs and support that they may require.

Key Competencies

Source: http://www.thinkgames.co.nz/webpages/competencies-of-mind/

In week 3, I reflected on the above key competencies to identify which ones were my personal strengths and which ones would I like to develop further.   Below was my response to this reflection:

Which of the following KCs are your personal strengths?

Which of the following KCs would you like to develop further during the next 32 weeks?

How does your own KCs have an impact on your leadership?

How does your own KCs help you to create an environment and activities that foster your students' KCs?

Using language, symbols, and texts Relating to others

Thinking Managing self

My own KCs impact on my leadership through the way that I am seen and heard by - both students and colleagues. In a collaborative environment (which has developed very quickly over the past two years), there has been a greater need to reflect on the impact that I make. The feedback through voice and action help to direct which skills I need to work on.

I try to create a learning environment that makes each student feel comfortable and welcomed. To me, it's important to know my students - both personal and learning needs. In more recent times, I feel that I am able to provide greater support to my students through my ever-increasing awareness of the range of digital technologies that are available for the diverse needs of my students.

Development of Key Competencies

Do I feel the same five months later and which two key competencies do I feel I have developed the most over the past 24 weeks?

In week 3, I had included 'Managing Self' and 'Thinking' as the two key competencies that I felt needed further development.   As an oversight, I omitted to include 'Participating and Contributing' in this reflection. I feel that this key competency would have been in column two - requiring further development.    So which of these three key competencies have been developed the most? 

Firstly, I would say that thinking and the way I think has changed over the past 24 weeks.   In the first 16 weeks my weekly visits to Mindlab introduced me to new ideas and theories to explore and critique.  Each night I would drive the 50 minute trip home and ponder over what had been discussed during the session.  Questions developed around my current thinking, e.g. How do I lead?  What ways do I use technology to support learning?  Where could Monkey Jam support learning?  Is my planning agile?  How can I use gaming in education?   

The second key competency that I feel has developed over the past 24 weeks is 'participating and contributing'.  My involvement in learning communities such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+ has increased - both with posting and commenting.   I was previously involved in these communities, but more as an observer, rather than a participator.   Through these communities, I have been able to source answers to my questions (provoked by my thinking), provide feedback and generate new wonderings.  

In addition to online communities, I feel that there has been development in the way that I participate and contribute in team meetings, interact with colleagues and undertake professional development.  Learning and understanding generated by Mind Lab's postgraduate programme has played an important role in this development.   It has required that I question research and theories; not take information at face value, but ask how it will support and have a positive effect on the learning environment.   

Key Changes

I have identified two key changes in my practice that have taken place since July 2015:

1. Providing alternative ways to assess learning and understanding
2. Leading in alternative ways

In the first 16 weeks of the Mind Lab's postgraduate programme, I began to realise how it's important to 'do' the learning, discussion, collaboration and then prove understanding by putting this learning into practise.  This 'proving' didn't need to be in written form or yet again, another powerpoint. Instead, this 'proving' could be demonstrated with digital technology, e.g. movie, stop/go, claymation, creating a model etc. I have since made an effort to provide a learning environment where the learner can preview learning material and have an opportunity to be involved in discussions and/or work collaboratively to increase a sense of involvement and understanding in his/her learning.   The learner is then encouraged to 'prove' their understanding by applying this newly learned knowledge in some way, e.g. digital or traditional format.

Another key change was to look at the various ways that I can lead others.  I not fully aware of how different leadership traits (Charry, 2012) can impact on the desired outcomes.   Throughout 2014-2015, I was involved in some major changes within the learning environment with regards to technology platforms and BYOD.   After learning about the various leadership styles, I was able to reflect on how I had lead the change and gained a better understanding of how my actions played a role in the outcomes.   Since learning about leadership styles, I now consider each set of stakeholders and/or the community to identify which style of leadership would be best to support and lead a process of change.

References:

Cherry, K. & Cherry, K. (2016).  Do Great Leaders Share Certain Traits? About.com Health. Retrieved 15 February from,
http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/fl/What-Is-the-Trait-Theory-of-Leadership.htm

Metacognitive image: sourced from
https://execusensoryandneuropedagogy.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/metacognition1.jpg