Write about a classroom/teaching resource or online tool that your learners find really valuable. Explain how you use it, why you use it, and try to include some student voice (remember to think about privacy/anonymity).
This blog post should have been completed some time ago - before #CENZ15 ended. I figured I am now in a state of better late than never!
What I will share is a resource that we are all seriously lacking in throughout the teaching profession anywhere in the world - TIME. It does not quite meet the idea in the brief but I will argue it is important.
You need time to stop long enough and question your practice. What are the things you do repeatedly? Why do you do them? Where did they come from? I have had a principal in the past ask me how I managed to lift the Literacy levels, particularly Reading, in my students so much in the short space of time that is a school year. I had never stopped to consider the deliberate acts of teaching that led me there because I was too busy doing the job. I had to take time to unpack the things I did, the reasoning behind it, what told me things were working and why I had moved away from the practices that did not. Time - not easy to find that valuable resource.
You need to take the time to research current pedagogical theories. What is behind the Modern/Innovative Learning Environments? Where did these ideas come from? Is there research to say it works or is it a passing fad? Isn't it just like the open plan classrooms we used to be in and moved away from in the past? Time to locate the research, time to visit classrooms/schools using these practices and environments, time to trial some of the pedagogy even if you are still in a single cell classroom. Time.
You need time to play. New technologies, apps, extensions, add-ons and tools are coming at teachers faster than they can hope to keep up with it. In my experience it is best to start small and add to your toolkit as your confidence grows. Feeling the fear and doing it anyway does not happen without a chance to take the fear from the level where they are petrified of everything that could (and in their minds will) go wrong down to a mild anxiety. That only happens when you have played enough to know you have got this. Playing requires time.
You were initially encouraged and now told you need to make time to create a portfolio based on your teaching as inquiry. I was resistant to the need to do this at first - why spend time writing about what I was doing instead of just letting me reflect in my head and get on with the job? The reality is that the more I stop and write my reflections, the deeper the questions arising from these and the more I find it important to make time to undertake the things I have listed above.
Has that improved my practice? Yes. Is it worth finding and using the precious resource called time? Yes.
I would challenge those with the ability to create time to undertake the task of reflecting on practice in team meetings, CRT or other school based release times to make it happen. Teachers are too tired if they are expected to leave this until other administratively more essential tasks are completed and will often give the questioning of practice only cursory consideration. The PCTs would indicate that this is insufficient to meet the requirements to retain certification. Deeper knowledge of practice and the opportunity to explore changing it can only come about when teachers feel it is valued as a practice within itself. How do they know it is? They are given this wonderful resource called time.
Wednesday 9 December 2015
Sunday 18 October 2015
#EdBlogNZ - Inspiration during #CENZ15
Blog about your top three sources of inspiration during the three weeks of Connected Educators New Zealand.
The first of my three sources of inspiration during CENZ15 has to be Ulearn15. This amazing event allows us to connect face to face with many educators we often only see once a year but whom we encounter regularly in the Twittersphere, on Facebook, in the VLN or VPLD and any other number of online communities for educators. This year for me was no different in this respect.
It was the first time that six sevenths of our 'odd-fellows' group had been in the same place at the same time since Ulearn14. It was great to reconnect, catch up with all the changes we have been through personally and, for all of us there, professionally. We were able to connect with our facilitators and other efellows at the dinner on Tuesday night. Wednesday night was a chance for the team that I work in to meet together and share a meal - again we are spread far and wide across the lower North Island only coming face to face once a month. Thursday had me realising how many educators I knew at the gala dinner for a range of reasons. Daily I would be making my way around and come across people I either knew well or just in passing. What a great chance to be face to face and talking for real!
Always when I leave Ulearn I have a burst of 'Ulearn Resolutions' but, unlike the ones I make at New Year, these are usually followed up by actions. Already I find myself lurking in Twitter more regularly (I think I actually understand how it works better now), have been determined that my blogs will come alive and been inspired into new readings and reflections. My practice with regard to teaching has been reflected on and I find myself considering possibilities for the future I had not in prior to Ulearn.
The second source of inspiration was the webinar only a few days ago with Michael Fullan. It was the first time I had heard him speak in any form. I have read bits and pieces and heard plenty about his ideas but never actually listened to him. The enthusiasm with which he presents his ideas for the development of skills we talk about life long learners having being used to create deeper learning really struck a chord with me. The examples he shared, the fact it is successfully being trialled here in Christchurch and the wish to take it to other centres within NZ had me hooked. It is the kind of learning at the teacher level I would love to become part of or assist in facilitating. I was left wondering how to be part of it all and, again, inspired to watch his videos, explore the website further and read more widely - I have a book he has authored coming from Book Depository as a result of the webinar.
The third source of inspiration is right here. The blogs I have read as part of the challenge, some of which I commented on and others just lurked and read, have been nothing short of inspiring. Congratulations to those of you who have taken up the challenge and shared. Keep it up once these challenges are complete. Therein lies my next challenge!
I have struggled with the idea of blogging for some time now - the deepest rooted doubt being the wondering about what I have to share that others would wish to read. I am just like everyone else out there - trying to make sense of the innovations that are hitting education thick and fast, while I trial as many as I can manage and that feel right with mixed levels of success. Not doing anything special, just doing it. I wish to thank the magical Anne Kenneally who pointed out to me that I needed to think about who the blog was for. So excuse what still feels very much like self-indulgence but once these tasks for #EdBlogNZ are done you will find me reflecting on the professional development, readings and time spent in schools facilitating as this blog grows. It will include the failures and the successes as there will be things for me to learn from both. It will probably be the basis for the action research and inquiry I undertake from now on as well. Some of it may assist you if you choose to follow me, some of it may not. But it will assist who I finally understand is the audience - me! Anything over and above that with regard to audience is a bonus.
The first of my three sources of inspiration during CENZ15 has to be Ulearn15. This amazing event allows us to connect face to face with many educators we often only see once a year but whom we encounter regularly in the Twittersphere, on Facebook, in the VLN or VPLD and any other number of online communities for educators. This year for me was no different in this respect.
It was the first time that six sevenths of our 'odd-fellows' group had been in the same place at the same time since Ulearn14. It was great to reconnect, catch up with all the changes we have been through personally and, for all of us there, professionally. We were able to connect with our facilitators and other efellows at the dinner on Tuesday night. Wednesday night was a chance for the team that I work in to meet together and share a meal - again we are spread far and wide across the lower North Island only coming face to face once a month. Thursday had me realising how many educators I knew at the gala dinner for a range of reasons. Daily I would be making my way around and come across people I either knew well or just in passing. What a great chance to be face to face and talking for real!
Always when I leave Ulearn I have a burst of 'Ulearn Resolutions' but, unlike the ones I make at New Year, these are usually followed up by actions. Already I find myself lurking in Twitter more regularly (I think I actually understand how it works better now), have been determined that my blogs will come alive and been inspired into new readings and reflections. My practice with regard to teaching has been reflected on and I find myself considering possibilities for the future I had not in prior to Ulearn.
The second source of inspiration was the webinar only a few days ago with Michael Fullan. It was the first time I had heard him speak in any form. I have read bits and pieces and heard plenty about his ideas but never actually listened to him. The enthusiasm with which he presents his ideas for the development of skills we talk about life long learners having being used to create deeper learning really struck a chord with me. The examples he shared, the fact it is successfully being trialled here in Christchurch and the wish to take it to other centres within NZ had me hooked. It is the kind of learning at the teacher level I would love to become part of or assist in facilitating. I was left wondering how to be part of it all and, again, inspired to watch his videos, explore the website further and read more widely - I have a book he has authored coming from Book Depository as a result of the webinar.
The third source of inspiration is right here. The blogs I have read as part of the challenge, some of which I commented on and others just lurked and read, have been nothing short of inspiring. Congratulations to those of you who have taken up the challenge and shared. Keep it up once these challenges are complete. Therein lies my next challenge!
I have struggled with the idea of blogging for some time now - the deepest rooted doubt being the wondering about what I have to share that others would wish to read. I am just like everyone else out there - trying to make sense of the innovations that are hitting education thick and fast, while I trial as many as I can manage and that feel right with mixed levels of success. Not doing anything special, just doing it. I wish to thank the magical Anne Kenneally who pointed out to me that I needed to think about who the blog was for. So excuse what still feels very much like self-indulgence but once these tasks for #EdBlogNZ are done you will find me reflecting on the professional development, readings and time spent in schools facilitating as this blog grows. It will include the failures and the successes as there will be things for me to learn from both. It will probably be the basis for the action research and inquiry I undertake from now on as well. Some of it may assist you if you choose to follow me, some of it may not. But it will assist who I finally understand is the audience - me! Anything over and above that with regard to audience is a bonus.
My Inspiration - #CENZ15 EdBlogNZ Challenge
#CENZ15 EdBlogNZ Challenge, Week 1, #2. Write about some legendary bloggers, educators, inspiring leaders that help you to dream bigger?
This one had me thinking for some time until I reflected on what I share with people about Ulearn10 and the practice changing influences I found there. Not to mention the legends that make up the amazing group I was privileged to be part of last year as a member of #efellows14.
Lee Watanabe Crockett has set up the Global Digital Citizenship Foundation which is a non-profit organisation with their mission statement reading that the Foundation "helps teachers instil values in their students that guide them towards a vision of creating a better world for themselves and for others.Compassionate, innovative, inspirational, and fun—that pretty much sums us up!".
There were things in Lee's keynote at Ulearn10 that resonated deeply with me after watching my own children who were in the tween/early teen phases of their lives and what I was seeing with my students. They were multi-tasking, scanned for information differently, socially connected online and working in a way I had never dreamed possible as a tween/teen.
At the time he presented the keynote Lee was encouraging us to become Committed Sardines. This meant we were sent a weekly overview of the Committed Sardine blog posts which continued to influence my thinking beyond Ulearn10. These blog overviews still arrive but not from Committed Sardine - now they come from Global Digital Citizen. They still challenge my thinking and practice. Lee has also authored and co-authored a range of books which have influenced my practice including 'Understanding the Digital Citizen'. Much of the content is still very relevant to currently labelled innovative practice.
Another keynote during Ulearn10 was Lane Clark. I had already completed the training for Infolink developed by Gwen Gawith and born from action research. The work I had completed with my students in this way had me sold on this concept already. Lane shared her system for encouraging this in classrooms. Again there was resonation as she spoke about just in time learning that was real and authentic for the learner, not because the curriculum or long term plan said so. Over the last few years I have purchased and read Lane's books then used ideas with students in a mash up of the two methods as my classes worked through their inquiries.
The final inspiration for change at Ulearn10 was saved until the final keynote. Stephen Heppell shared his experiences of designing new spaces for learning that suited the learner rather than an outdated, siloed curriculum delivery method. I had seen my own students wanting to work outside on the verandahs with the digital technology we had, sit on the floor in collaborative groups, and challenge each other's thinking with discussion. The spaces he was talking about were a perfect match to what the students I was teaching were in need of. He also spoke about the mobilisation of learning and the need to figuratively blow the walls off the classroom as widely as possible. I still follow Stephen and his ideas through his website. It has continued to prod my thinking, poke at my practice and provoke me into further change as time has passed.
I felt sorry for my poor principal when I returned from Ulearn10. I was coming at him with risky ideas that he in turn took a risk and chose to support. New innovative furniture in a single cell led to a change in teaching style and a letting go of control on my part. New ways of learning were trialled and my class were regularly off course from the long term plan that the rest of the cluster followed. Increased technology saw us arrive at a situation where we had 15 netbooks or laptops for a class of 32 students. I cannot thank him enough for supporting my practice changes and action research. Without the support I received then I would not be where I am now in a number of ways.
Last year I was privileged to find myself part of an amazing team of people as one of the #efellows14. From the first face to face we had together we clicked as a group and shared a lot of laughter, angst, worry, ideas, wondering, and work throughout the year. This also includes our wonderful and extremely supportive facilitators, Dr John Fenaughty and Dr Louise Taylor. These guys poked and prodded at our thinking and views about education to expand them, encouraging us to step outside our comfort zones and take risks as we looked into what part of our research was going to be transformative. We were also fortunate to visit some stunning schools and be stretched still further by the talent that is housed within CORE Education. Each of us had to find a coping mechanism for the brain bursts that would happen in the night - either not letting us sleep when we went to bed or waking us in the early hours. It was professional development on steroids. Collaboration led to ideas we would never have thought possible at the beginning of the year. And such an awesome year it was!
I treasure any time I get with these #efellows14 legends who continue to challenge me to expand the edges of my practice and step outside the box with my thinking. I know that our 'oddfellows' year, the teams of past efellows, along with the newer models from 2015, 2016 and on into the future will continue to provoke reflection and change in my practice for years to come. Bring it on!
Friday 16 October 2015
Change of Heart?
#CENZ15 - Week 2 #Edublog Challenge - 2. Find a blog post you have written in the past. Consider whether your thinking on the topic is the same or different and blog about why your thinking has changed or expand on your original ideas.
I have been back through any blog posts I have written both here and in my eLearning Best Practice Discoveries Blog to find that each post was moving my thinking forward or reflecting on experiences I had which shaped my ideas about pedagogy. My thinking is certainly not different but has expanded.
I had thought that last year with the mind explosion that came with being a CORE e-fellow - we were renowned for prowling around our rooms at ridiculous hours of darkness with our brains in overload during our face to face time - I would slow down the rate of learning growth. How wrong I was!
Joining CORE Education as a facilitator has been hard work but almost like having a year on sabbatical when I consider the learning growth I have had. Going back has a whole new meaning for me now. There are things within my practice even last year that I could not go back to - and that had changed markedly from the practice I had used without technology in the past.
"Going back" into a classroom when it happens for me, and it will, has to involve the students being the driving force in their learning, assisted by devices connected to a cloud platform of some description, with a divorce from traditional, highly timetabled curriculum. I love the flexibility for my students that an innovative learning environment can bring - even in a single cell, knowledge building communities to allow them to feel like explorers going to places no student has gone before, maker space opportunities to build and create like I remember doing with sewing, cooking, woodwork and my first trials of programming way back in the day of Commodore 64 and Apple 2 machines. Another key component has to be collaboration well outside the four walls of the classroom for both the students and myself, the opportunity to trial, fail or succeed, reflect and re-trial ideas for learning that now make up the core values I hold as a lead learner myself. I need to have the opportunity to complete action research and inquiry, incorporate the future focussed themes, UDL and mindfulness I have been exploring, and ensure I find time for the cheerleaders who have suffered in the past - my whānau. It feels great to have that series of thoughts in print so to speak as it is something I have been dwelling on for some time, and will expand on through this blog over time.
I currently spend my work time encouraging an amazing group of schools to step outside their comfort zones and consider new possibilities. I am asked on a regular basis by my teaching friends whether I will go back to schools at which I have taught in the past. My answer has become that I may return to the school but there is no 'going back' for me now.
I have been back through any blog posts I have written both here and in my eLearning Best Practice Discoveries Blog to find that each post was moving my thinking forward or reflecting on experiences I had which shaped my ideas about pedagogy. My thinking is certainly not different but has expanded.
I had thought that last year with the mind explosion that came with being a CORE e-fellow - we were renowned for prowling around our rooms at ridiculous hours of darkness with our brains in overload during our face to face time - I would slow down the rate of learning growth. How wrong I was!
Joining CORE Education as a facilitator has been hard work but almost like having a year on sabbatical when I consider the learning growth I have had. Going back has a whole new meaning for me now. There are things within my practice even last year that I could not go back to - and that had changed markedly from the practice I had used without technology in the past.
"Going back" into a classroom when it happens for me, and it will, has to involve the students being the driving force in their learning, assisted by devices connected to a cloud platform of some description, with a divorce from traditional, highly timetabled curriculum. I love the flexibility for my students that an innovative learning environment can bring - even in a single cell, knowledge building communities to allow them to feel like explorers going to places no student has gone before, maker space opportunities to build and create like I remember doing with sewing, cooking, woodwork and my first trials of programming way back in the day of Commodore 64 and Apple 2 machines. Another key component has to be collaboration well outside the four walls of the classroom for both the students and myself, the opportunity to trial, fail or succeed, reflect and re-trial ideas for learning that now make up the core values I hold as a lead learner myself. I need to have the opportunity to complete action research and inquiry, incorporate the future focussed themes, UDL and mindfulness I have been exploring, and ensure I find time for the cheerleaders who have suffered in the past - my whānau. It feels great to have that series of thoughts in print so to speak as it is something I have been dwelling on for some time, and will expand on through this blog over time.
I currently spend my work time encouraging an amazing group of schools to step outside their comfort zones and consider new possibilities. I am asked on a regular basis by my teaching friends whether I will go back to schools at which I have taught in the past. My answer has become that I may return to the school but there is no 'going back' for me now.
Saturday 10 October 2015
#EdBlogNZ #CENZ15 - Week 2 - My Wondering
Write a blog post about an education question/ challenge/wondering that you have or are facing. You don’t need to have the answer/solution.
This blog post has taken a little while to brew and think on. Today I was privileged to have Lynne Silcock facilitate a joint staff hui here in Whanganui for my schools with Universal Design for Learning as its focus. It sparked my thinking - or rather lit the flame for this blog post.
Eventually I know I am going to be drawn back into the classroom from this dream world of facilitation. After today I am wondering how others teach from the edges. How will I manage to teach from the edges? By this I mean how do I change the way I work so those on the edges - the students who are outside of 'average' in whatever form that takes (special needs, gifted, etc) - are my first consideration as I plan? I need to be thinking about the the representation of the work to be completed, how I am going to ensure everyone is engaged and that the ways the students can demonstrate their learning are varied and student chosen.
No, I do not have the answer for this one - and I do not expect others to be able to answer this in it's entirety. I would be interested in hearing what you have implemented in your steps toward a UDL approach, particularly with intermediate students.
Encourage a Friend or Colleague to Blog....
#CENZ15 #EdBlogNZ Challenge 3 - Encourage a colleague/friend to begin blogging and help them to set up their own blog.
I am going to paint this one as done somewhat. In spite of not keeping my own blogs up-to-date I have been encouraging the teachers (some of whom are ex-colleagues and friends) in the schools I work with that are keen to do this. From this encouragement has sprung a wee raft of professional and class blogs.
I did find that it helps to share the netiquette used by bloggers (edtech2 , kidblog) and to sit beside them as they go through the process of setting things up initially. As most are GAFE schools their blog option of choice is Blogger, although a few had a close look at Kidblog as well for their classes.
The range of settings in the back end of blogger are not always obvious to the newly initiated either - something these lovely people were grateful to discover with having a 1-1 tutorial. Some are in boots and all, others taking more tentative baby steps into the blogosphere.
I am looking forward to seeing their confidence grow as time progresses. It also keps me in check to blog more regularly as well. Now to just make the time....
I am going to paint this one as done somewhat. In spite of not keeping my own blogs up-to-date I have been encouraging the teachers (some of whom are ex-colleagues and friends) in the schools I work with that are keen to do this. From this encouragement has sprung a wee raft of professional and class blogs.
I did find that it helps to share the netiquette used by bloggers (edtech2 , kidblog) and to sit beside them as they go through the process of setting things up initially. As most are GAFE schools their blog option of choice is Blogger, although a few had a close look at Kidblog as well for their classes.
The range of settings in the back end of blogger are not always obvious to the newly initiated either - something these lovely people were grateful to discover with having a 1-1 tutorial. Some are in boots and all, others taking more tentative baby steps into the blogosphere.
I am looking forward to seeing their confidence grow as time progresses. It also keps me in check to blog more regularly as well. Now to just make the time....
Friday 9 October 2015
#EdBlogNZ Challenges for #CENZ15
Challenge #1 - Think about your teaching practice. How has it evolved over time? What are you currently working on developing in your practice? What tools have you used during this inquiry time? Blog about it!
The upkeep of my blogs has been on my radar for a few weeks now. When your work involves developing teacher capacity for this kind of thing it looks pretty terrible if you are not walking the talk! So when Connected Teacher provided me with motivation to get going again it seemed like the chalk was lining up on the easel.
Where do I even begin on the first task? My practice before stepping out of the classroom and into facilitation for CORE Education and Te Toi Tupu had gone through a major transformation. I have moved from the traditional sage on the stage model to a teacher-learner - someone who is as much a learner as those I teach. The spaces have changed - though I have not been lucky enough to facilitate learning in a flexible learning space yet. I have completed papers and other research about models of inquiry for myself and my students.
Current development within my practice has seen me move roles and develop as a facilitator of androgogy. Alongside this change I am also working on ensuring my practice is culturally responsive through self reflection and development against a Māori Achieving Success As Māori framework. Undertaking the CORE Education EMPOWER course 'Te Reo Puāwai Māori' has encouraged me to consciously begin using more reo within my day to day written and oral language. I am also hugely grateful for the patience of the Māori Medium team members who make up a huge proportion of the team I work in - I seek their knowledge on a regular basis. To add to this I am fortunate to have the equally amazing Pasifika team, including a memeber attached to our own team, to learn from as we undertake our work. This will be my next focus as an adventure in learning - one step at a time. I guess you could say the greatest tool I have at my disposal for this inquiry is 'he tangata, he tangata, he tangata' - It is the people. It is the people. It is the people.
Facilitation as Inquiry is part of our brief as was Teaching as Inquiry when I was in the classroom. The work related to cultural responsiveness is one part of my inquiry into my practice this year, with the other focus being on keeping a close watch on new ways of working, new tools and any other new developments in eLearning. It is great to feel like I am on constant professional development this year with access to people I have held in high esteem and learned an awful lot from now amongst my colleagues.
The upkeep of my blogs has been on my radar for a few weeks now. When your work involves developing teacher capacity for this kind of thing it looks pretty terrible if you are not walking the talk! So when Connected Teacher provided me with motivation to get going again it seemed like the chalk was lining up on the easel.
Where do I even begin on the first task? My practice before stepping out of the classroom and into facilitation for CORE Education and Te Toi Tupu had gone through a major transformation. I have moved from the traditional sage on the stage model to a teacher-learner - someone who is as much a learner as those I teach. The spaces have changed - though I have not been lucky enough to facilitate learning in a flexible learning space yet. I have completed papers and other research about models of inquiry for myself and my students.
Current development within my practice has seen me move roles and develop as a facilitator of androgogy. Alongside this change I am also working on ensuring my practice is culturally responsive through self reflection and development against a Māori Achieving Success As Māori framework. Undertaking the CORE Education EMPOWER course 'Te Reo Puāwai Māori' has encouraged me to consciously begin using more reo within my day to day written and oral language. I am also hugely grateful for the patience of the Māori Medium team members who make up a huge proportion of the team I work in - I seek their knowledge on a regular basis. To add to this I am fortunate to have the equally amazing Pasifika team, including a memeber attached to our own team, to learn from as we undertake our work. This will be my next focus as an adventure in learning - one step at a time. I guess you could say the greatest tool I have at my disposal for this inquiry is 'he tangata, he tangata, he tangata' - It is the people. It is the people. It is the people.
Facilitation as Inquiry is part of our brief as was Teaching as Inquiry when I was in the classroom. The work related to cultural responsiveness is one part of my inquiry into my practice this year, with the other focus being on keeping a close watch on new ways of working, new tools and any other new developments in eLearning. It is great to feel like I am on constant professional development this year with access to people I have held in high esteem and learned an awful lot from now amongst my colleagues.
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