Changes in My Practice

Over the past 32 weeks I have been on a learning journey with Mindlab that has challenged me and inspired me to reflect on my own practice. It has made me even more conscious that it is not just our students who need to develop 21st-century skills, but also those of us in teaching and leadership positions within our schools. As Meyer (2016) states, “For leaders, thinking about the future is a moral imperative.”
As a member of the Senior Leadership Team at my kura, I have had to reflect on and critically examine my own leadership practice and my role as an e-leader, especially in the context of digital and collaborative learning.

One of two key changes that I have made is the shift to regularly engage with the online learning community via social media. I previously had a facebook, Google+ and a Twitter account which I never used, but now I frequently read, like and re-tweet posts on Twitter and regularly share my ideas and practice via my blog posts and the Google+ community. Through the medium of online networking and the use of social media, I have begun to share my own thoughts and ideas globally, rather than just with the kaiako in my own school. I have been challenged to research and explore ideas, trends, and issues in a deeper and more meaningful way, to be innovative and think critically about the way we do things at our school, and examine why we do them. It has been a big shift in my thinking, as I grew up in a culture where you kept your own opinions and ideas to yourself. I now feel empowered to verbalize and share my thoughts more openly, creating both opportunities and challenges, and ultimately it has allowed me to be part of a supportive culture of learning.

Another key change to my practice over the past eight months has been to look at ways I can encourage, support and challenge my colleagues to create more engaging learning experiences for students, and develop new philosophies and contexts for how teaching happens in our school.

In our ever-changing world it is necessary to constantly reflect on and adjust the way we do things. 

A crucial aspect of future-focused learning, as I see it, is to encourage our kaiako to make a shift from a knowledge, acquisition-based, passive model where the students are expected to fill their kete with knowledge in order to achieve the desired results for assessment purposes.  

A more collaborative model where students focus on the process of how they learn, creating engaging and authentic learning experiences for students, and encouraging our kaiako to view teaching through a different lens is now my priority.

My dream for the future is to continue on this journey of exponential learning and reflective practice, where I can make a difference for students and help to prepare them for their futures, and lead and inspire my colleagues to also better understand and evaluate their professional practice and enhance self-awareness, for as Carlgren, I., Handal, G. & Vaage, S. (Eds.). (1994) state, “The process of learning to teach continues throughout a teacher’s entire career … at best, we can only prepare teachers to begin teaching.” I want to help develop the culture of our school, where we all become researchers, continually engaging in a collaborative process of self-education, and self-reflection alongside our ākonga. My dream is to work together in new ways so that our students have agency over their own learning, taking a more active role in authentic contexts, developing the skills to determine their own pathways into the future.

References:
Carlgren, I., Handal, G. & Vaage, S. (Eds.). (1994). Teachers' Minds And Actions: Research On Teachers' Thinking And Practice. London, UK: The Falmer Press.
Meyer, M. (2016). Reflections on Nearly a Decade in the Education Sector. Retrieved on October 14, 2016 from http://knowledgeworks.org/worldoflearning/2016/10/career-education/
Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California.Cornwin Press, Inc. Retrieved on 7th May, 2015 from http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/RefPract/Osterman_Kottkamp_extract.pdf

A Global Trend - The Shift from Students as Consumers to Creators

Pearson. (2013, April 26). Global trends: The world is changing faster than at any time in human history.[video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZiTQy3g1g

A trend that is relevant to my practice, and which captivates my attention, is the shift from students as consumers, simply learning a prescribed knowledge set to prepare them for gaining qualifications to enter tertiary study or the traditional workforce, to being innovative creators who are encouraged to question and explore and collaborate with others. It is a trend that is infiltrating schooling systems across the globe, in both the primary and secondary context.1

This trend enables our students to be empowered as individuals, and with the shift to learning with digital technologies (LWDT) being introduced into many of our New Zealand schools, our students have the opportunities, and are in fact, encouraged, to explore, ask lots of questions, and think outside the square. In the school I teach in, our vision is "to empower our learners to prepare for positive futures through exploration, innovation and collaboration." Teachers across the globe are now encouraged to use digital tools that foster creativity and production skills. NMC Horizon Report (2015, P.14) 2

Traditional teaching methods (single cell classrooms, with one kaiako delivering a prescribed curriculum to a class of students, expecting them to sit attentively and listen to the delivery of set information so they can attempt to give the right answers) will no longer prepare today's students for their futures. Instead, we must change the way we teach and how we allow our students to learn. 

Learning with Digital Technology empowers our students to be globally connected to a wealth of information sources and allows them to pursue and explore the questions and issues that interest them and which they can relate to. Learning extends beyond the classroom walls and outside regular school hours on a daily basis. The digital technology, then also provides the opportunity for students to create, whether it be via blogs, video presentations, gaming or through one of the plethora of apps now available.

How can I, as a school leader, support, educate and empower the kaiako in our kura to make a shift in the way they deliver our school curriculum? In its 2012 report, ERO stated, "considerable work needs to happen before primary and secondary teachers and leaders understand the permissive nature and intent of The New Zealand Curriculum, and implement responsive curricula in their schools"3. 

I believe the school I work in, does endeavour to implement a responsive curriculum, however, I see the need to further develop a growth mindset of inquiry in both our students and our staff. It is not easy for kaiako to let go of the teaching methods they were trained to use and have successfully developed over their years as experienced teachers.

Through support, PLD and school policy, we need to help our staff to understand that we are increasingly connected across a variety of platforms, especially digital, and in a variety of settings that extend beyond the boundaries of our school. We need to support both teachers and students, all learners, to engage in the interconnected digital learning platform. As 21st-century learners our staff and our students need to actively seek knowledge and respond to the changes and opportunities that new technology provides. By encouraging this growth mindset, we are helping to create a framework for preparing our students for their futures. The impact of technologies is what will make the biggest impact on solving future problems, especially those caused by the world's expanding population, rapid urbanization, and climate change.4 

In order for our students to have a chance to be part of the trend towards being creators, rather than consumers, and to be future problem-solvers, I believe we have a responsibility to change our paradigm of how we teach and allow our learners to learn. Despite there being a number of challenges, such as the cost of the digital technology and our student's ability to access the technology outside the school environment; the need to upskill staff in both pedagogy and IT skills, I believe, is achievable in the school I work in and other New Zealand Schools. It is a journey we need to be prepared to take if we are to equip our learners with the 21st-century skills they need for the future.

References:

1. Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., and Freeman, A. (2015) NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf

2. New Media Consortium. (2015). NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf 

3. Education Review Office. (2012). Retrieved 5 May 2015, from http://www.ero.govt.nz/About-Us/News-Media-Releases2/The-three-most-pressing-issues-for-N

4. US National Intelligence Council’s (2012) “Global trends: Alternative Worlds”

KPMG Australia. (2014, May 22). Future State 2030 - Global Megatrends.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im5SwtapHl8

Reflective Practice

How well do we reflect on our own practice? What do we understand by reflective practice and how does it inform our future practice?
There has been some consensus about how reflective practice can be defined. "In general, reflective practice is understood as the process of learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and/or practice" (Boud et al 1985; Boyd and Fales, 1983; Mezirow, 1981, Jarvis, 1992).
Our response to our own reflective practice should surely show our awareness of new understandings and how we will use those reflections to improve our future practice.

My personal learning journey involves a number of Communities of Practice (CoP), defined by Wenger, McDermott & Snyder (2002) as "groups of people who share a concern or passion ... whom deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interaction on an ongoing basis" (p.4). Wenger professes that participation in these communities is essential to learning; so essential to my personal learning journey is my primary CoP, our Senior Leadership Team.

Working collaboratively in a shared office space enables me to have professional learning conversations on a daily basis with my Senior Leadership Team (SLT) colleagues - discussing, theorising, debating, considering, exploring, reflecting, reviewing and analysing the learning and teaching taking place in our school, and in other learning institutions around the globe.

Sometimes the issues are very specific to our kura (school), and at other times our conversations revolve around learning and teaching on a more global perspective, e.g. learning systems in Finland, High Tech High in the United States, or the Manaiakalani cluster of schools in South Auckland and how we can relate that to our own practice. Our daily interactions are focused on how well we are doing things and can we do it better; how does what we are doing compare with other schools doing well, and most importantly, are we doing what will benefit our students most?

In order for these conversations and reflections to have purpose, we need to share our thoughts, ideas and findings with other Communities of Practice within our kura. We have five learning teams, each being a CoP focusing on their own unique group of students. Four of the teams are English medium divided into Year level focus groups - Year 1 & 2, Year 3 & 4, Year 5 & 6 and Year 7 & 8. The fifth team is Māori medium, Year 1 - 8.  Integrated within each of the five teams is a strong Sāmoan representation and a Sāmoan Enrichment.

My role in the Senior Leadership Team allows me to be involved in all these teams and to be a part of this network of learning communities and their CoP. Not only am I able to contribute ideas and reflections to these other Communities of Practice, I am further enlightened and exposed to ideas from the participants in these groups, often through their involvement in CoP outside our own school, e.g. our Principal regularly attends workshops for our local CoL (Community of Learning) being established with a group of local schools; other colleagues are engaging in Professional Learning outside our kura and regularly participate in other learning organisations, such as the Canterbury Literacy Association, or the Canterbury Primary Mathematics Symposium. This year, through our participation in the Mindlab Postgrad studies, a group of us from across different teams in the kura, have formed our own CoP and regularly have conversations reflecting on our day to day practice in relation to the content of this paper. We have helped and supported each other to try new things, reflect on our successes and mistakes and identify issues we need to investigate further.

Being an active member of these Communities of Practice helps to ensure that we embody the vision of our school - 'Empowering our students to prepare for positive futures through exploration, collaboration, and innovation'.

References:
Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on reflective practice. The Open University. Retrieved fromhttp://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf
Wenger,E. (2000). Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems. Organization, 7(2), 225-246.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.