Activity Eight: Changes in my Practice

When I first started this journey I didn’t know quite what to expect.  I knew what I wanted to achieve from my Mindlab journey, but I underestimated the true difficult of study and a profession that is hugely demanding on time.  In saying that what I have got out of this journey has enabled me to think more outside the square and explore different methodologies in leadership, teaching and learning and expand my knowledge and use of digital platforms and 21st century skills.

I had always used group work in my classes and encouraged my faculty to the same.  It was through my Mindlab studies that I began just how uncollaborative my cooperative learning.  It allowed me to explore strategies to build and develop collaborative learning further.  With every new strategy  I had to find a way to actually teach students how to be collaborative. This of course started with teaching my staff how to be collaborative.  This is a challenge as it involved a change in mindset that some were reluctant to undertake.  

Through mindlab I have learnt more about the online professional development available not only subject specific but also pedagogical development, which I have been able to share with my staff to help develop strategies and learning programmes that will benefit our students.  

I have learnt to explore digital technologies and platforms and to not be scared of them but rather to embrace and challenge my learning fully to create a new opportunities with the concept of learning and teaching in English.

Activity Seven: My interdisciplinary connection map

I have always felt that as an English teacher, if one removed the pure literature nature of the subject the flexibility and connections that could be created across the curriculum were wide reaching and exciting. Since becoming the head of faculty I have sort ways in which bring the cross-curricular to life.  Many people when I would talk to them about this concept would argue that it could be done on a small scale but only at junior level.  It was here I want to explore the avenue of project based learning but limit it to just junior levels but we could utilise project based learning with NCEA standards interweaved to create learning that is individualised, meaningful and connects to the student.  

I first delved into this area with a student who was interested in dance and films.  She wanted to choreograph a dance that had a powerful message and wanted to come out of her English class to do this. By sitting with the student and discussing her plan, we looked at creating a project that enabled her to achieve at least 31 credits at level 3.  There was 12 credits from Dance, 10 credits from Media Studies and 9 credits from English.  This allowed this particular student the opportunity to reengage with her learning through a film which explored domestic violence which incorporated dance. Though this is not traditional grouping of subjects it allowed the student to follow her passions and be successful in her learning journey.  This was truly exciting and I was passionate about seeing where else we could create these opportunities.  For 2017, I have approached Drama, Music, Sociology, Health, Science to establish how we could create projects that would allow for students to truly engage in their learning.  It is an area truly excited about exploring further.

At a Junior level, despite other faculties saying in theory they would like to explore cross curricular, I have struggled to find people to jump on board. As a experiment I created a unit in which there was an element from every aspect of the curriculum and faculties at the school.  The unit title Matariki looked at astronomy, classics, measurement, inquiry, legends, te reo, constructing the solar system in model size, including stars.  This was not as successful as it was at senior level, as the students mindset was not prepared for the different subject focuses just within their English classroom.  That is not to say it failed completely rather just just that there are deliberate teachings that need to occur around cross curricular learnings, this would be made easier of course with full across faculty participation.  And area I wish to explore further during 2017.

Activity Six: Using online networks in teaching and professional development

The main way I use online networks is through GAFE tools, specifically, Google Drive and Google classroom. The GAFE network has helped build and develop both my teaching and professional networks.  We  have increased the use of these networks to become increasingly paper free within my faculty with the hope that we can utilise the digital technologies to make efficient and transparent systems.  I have utilised Google Classroom somewhat ineffectively but have been increasing the use and my confidence as using it as a strong platform both for the administration of my faculty and using as a teaching and learning tool.

Google Drive is one of the best central storage systems that has so many benefits for educationalists.  I use to be on a system, which required you to be connected (physically by data cable) at school.  This meant either spending late nights/weekends at school or saving items to the desktop or usb to continue on your current work.  You were limited in space and often I had found with our particular system was losing units of work that could not be retrieved.  Though some would argue that by moving to a system like google drive, which can be accessed from any location as long as you can access the internet, blurs the lines between work life balance.  However, in some ways it frees up more time as access is instant and easier making the job at hand quicker.  This has definitely has made my life easier as I spend less time at school after hours and more with family and friend because access to anything I need can be done either on my home computer or phone as long as I am connected to the internet.

Of increasing use is also social media.  At RGHS we use facebook pages and groups to disseminate information to students.  This is a great system as students get instant notifications and we find that the majority of students have facebook so it is a system that they are familiar with and use on a regular basis. This allowed for notices and urgent messages to be given to students but also allowed for parents to join so that they can be fully informed as well as communicate directly with staff.  Information and contact is more readily accessible.

Though I utilise technology and digital platforms in my practice I can still further development and growth that can occur in these areas.  

Activity Five: Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

In this increasing world of digital technology and digital practice the minefield that is the ethical and legal contexts is ever increasing.  I see this as affecting my practice twofold, on one hand you have the increasing use of digital platforms being used as educational tools such as GAFE (Google Apps for Education), facebook, twitter, and instagram to name a few are being used as educational tools; and then on the other hand you have students using an accessing the internet which can lead to such issues as Plagiarism.

In relation to the tools used for educational purposes it is of growing concern for all teachers, an example of this is Facebook.  I have a private facebook page, and as such have often been in the awkward position of having students try to add me as their friend, or private message me.  This has been made an area of increasing difficulty at my school as we communicate via school facebook groups, which are created for subjects, sports, productions and cultural groups.  At the beginning of 2016 we had a visit from PPTA where we discussed professional responsibility and the unethical realm of Facebook and teachers needing to avoid and refuse friend requests from students as accepting these crosses over boundaries that border on inappropriate.  The question then becomes if you do not become friends with students but can still access their pages and can message them via messenger is it delving into a very grey area.  The blurring of privacy of both teacher and student is an uncomfortable area, which has seen many create one profile for private use and another for professional use, I suppose for many, we must use our professional judgment in what we message and post on these pages or messages if they are acceptable or unacceptable.  It is a area of increased blurriness.

The other area which is of an increasing problematic kind is that of Plagiarism.  With students increasingly using digital formats and have access to technology, students sharing and copying work from each other or off the internet has increased significantly.  But the detection of this has also been made easier because of internet checkers.  As this is an area of increasing concern we as educators need to exercise due diligence and actively educate against plagiarism.

Activity Four: Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

Even from my days of teacher training I have understood and envied the cultural links that are so rich within this country.  Knowing that it is so important to the success of students to valued and respected.  This is often I have found linked to one cultural identity.   I still remember getting into a heated disagreement with a lecturer who told me that programmes like Te Kotahitanga were vital to the success of Maori and I said why do we need programmes to teach us how to teach effectively, when that would naturally be the approach to teaching.  I did not think myself so naive until I started teaching a realised just how traditional and unresponsive some teachers in the profession were.  This one size fits all approach seemed to me such a disappointing aspect of the profession and I began to wonder why people were in the profession to start with if they were not about advocating for the best education for every individual student.

In the both the schools I have taught at their has been a high percentage of Maori students and maybe that is why I found it easier to teach in a way that would allow them to flourish and develop as learners.  The culturally responsive approach was were I felt comfortable and as I have climbed the ladder so to speak in relation to my career I have found it easier to implement this as my philosophy and culturally responsive link closely.  The implementation of ILP’s has meant that you need to look at each individual student and look at their interests, strengths and weakness and design a programme specifically for them.  To do this effectively you must have some indigenous knowledge, such as te reo Maori, local myths and legends, iwi and hapu information so that connections can be made.  To help myself in this I undertook two course through the Wananga, Te Ara Reo Maori and Mauri Ora which looked at tikanga and local and national differences.  These courses have enriched my teaching practice and guide how I operate as a leader, wanting to implement Culturally Responsive practices and programmes in my Faculty.

Activity Three: Contemporary issues in NZ

One of the major concerns I believe we have in education today is the discrepancy between Maori students’ achievement levels and that of other students.  Over the years programmes such Te Kotahitanga programme, derived by Mere Berryman and Russell Bishop, brought this variation to the forefront for many educationalists.  The Ministry of Education’s drive to “narrow the gap” between Maori and non Maori,  is specifically expressed in NEG 9 of the National Educational Guidelines (Ministry of Education, 2015) and NAG 2 of the National Administration Guidelines (Ministry of Education, 2015).  However, just because their are guidelines does not make the process of lessening the gap any easier, so when the Te Kotahitanga programme was adopted by many schools, it created a toolkit of strategies that would enable educators to address the learning needs and styles of Maori students and help with Maori achievement.  Since Te Kotahitanga there have many different initiatives that have been established to address Maori Achievement, the latest being Kia Eke Panuku.

The central concept for all of these programmes is RELATIONSHIPS, when students feel valued and respected they feel more comfortable with their learning environment and as a result connect more with the learning. To help foster that RGHS developed their own framework, a framework that interwove the charter, the concept of Mana Mokopuna (student at the heart), the PB4L values of TEAO, and Culturally Responsive and Relational Pedagogy.  It is through this that as a staff we follow a process to increase Maori student achievement, however, though the percentage of Maori Achieving is increasing the gap between non-Maori and Maori achievement is still apparent.  

The question then becomes that do these programmes change the pedagogy of educationalist enough to mark a markable change in closing the gap between Maori and non-Maori.  These programmes do enable staff to identify where they may need to grow in their own professional development in relation to changing pedagogy to raise Maori achievement. However, what do we need to establish in relation to professional development that will help close this gap.  There needs to be something more than professional reflections.  We need active programmes that initiate a change in education for the betterment of all students, but with deliberate strategies that can help educators make a true difference to the teaching and learning for all student but in particularly Maori.

Activity Two: Issues in my professional context.

I work at Rotorua Girls’ High School and have done so since 2009.  We currently have approximately 530 students’ with 75% Maori students.  The majority of these students come from low income households with many social issues, which has a huge impact on the educational journeys of the students at school.  Since the start of my teaching journey at the school I have watched the steady decline in the student roll with the percentage of Maori increasing.  This has meant that the communities perception of the school has changed with many thinking that we are a Maori high school and that we have a rough reputation.  Since the appointment of the new principal three years ago, we see an increasing roll and a strong sense of identity for both staff and students.  

I have, since starting at the school, belonged to many of the schools committees, such as enrolment; Ka eke panuku; e-learning; and PB4L to name a few.  It is through involvement in initiatives like these that can see the growth and development of the school community.  The school has been developing and promoting the school wide academic tracking and whanau/student goal setting that allows for driving the importance of relationships.   Since the new principal started in 2014, there has been a deliberate drive to bettering the educational experience of the students.  The staff and wider communities involvement in developing the School Charter, which underpins the culture created at RGHS.  This is vital so that it focuses and drives all teaching and learning.  This has enabled me as a HOF to develop and implement the individual learning programmes that allowed for student centred learning, which integral to bring the Culturally Responsive and Relational Pedagogy, which is an important aspect of RGHS learning.   

With these changes in pedagogy and approaches, we have seen at RGHS further developments with the implementation of a future focused learning class, which can be seen as a pilot scheme that we would hope to implement school wide.  This is a process that needs to be stepped out so that the parties involved have buy in and are driven to get on the waka.  This has been influenced heavily by Nga Pumanawa e waru  and their future focused learning framework (NPeW, 2016), which fosters particular competencies and capabilities which are vital for a 21st century learner. These include creative lifelong learners, problem solving mentality, being adaptive so can learning in a range of contexts, and developing entrepreneurial thinking and innovation.  All of these enable us to move forward and progress and develop the learning for students.

Future Focused Learning. Nga Pumanawa e Waru. (2016).

Activity One: My Community of Practice

I will be looking at my journey, in these blogs, as the Head of Faculty.  I was appointed to the role four years ago but had little to no guidance it what the role actually required and have spent the last fours developing my sense of the role, refining the purpose and direction of my leadership through the mindlab course.  Having a better understanding of myself as a leader enabled me to better understand the influences and consequences of my decisions for others.

Wegner’s Community of practices and Social Learning Systems (Wegner, 2000) has enabled me to have a clearer understanding of the process that my Faculty has undergone and in some cases is still undergoing.  The reading has allowed me to explore how I convey information and initiatives to my faculty, so that they develop a sense of ownership and joint understanding of faculty decisions and direction.  As a leader of a Faculty, there are certain school wide initiative that we are required to implement.  By providing opportunities for the faculty to be involved in the decision making process and discussions, it allows for the community of practice i.e. Faculty, to feel ownership and value in their work and want to participate in the continuation and new initiatives.

Communities of practice are defined as being where people share a common passion or drive around a topic (Wegner, 2000).  As a head of faculty I belong to many different types of communities, Faculty, HOFs, School, all driving towards a common goal and set of values, which sees the students at the centre of everything that is undertaken.  In my role I witness the ups and downs that many educators go through.  Many of the struggles and obstacles to their sense of belonging can come from a lack of understanding of purpose and drive for the many things they are asked to undertake.  As a faculty head it falls on us to create a clear sense of direction and to allow for growth pathways and learning development for staff.  It is often through these conversations that I can reflect of initiatives and ensure that I can develop strategies that can help aid staff and myself in further learnings.  One area which my involvement in the Mindlab course has allowed me to grow and develop not only myself but the members of my faculty is that of technology.  Becoming predominantly an online teaching faculty utilising GAFE and ILPs has allowed for student development and achievement, however, this has been a steep learning curve.

By utilising my learnings around leadership and technology I believe that my community of practice will grow and develop effectively as we all display and grow a combined sense of belonging and value.

Wenger, E.(2000).Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization, 7(2), 225-246.