To block or not ...

A practice I have witnessed in our kura is the practice of removing either accessibility to devices or accessibility to sites that are seen as a potential distraction from learning.

This in my opinion is a practice not founded on the value of nurturing the capacities of all learners to think and act with developing independence. Here’s why...

Digital technology (DT) in a relatively short period of time has deeply embedded itself into daily life for most of society. Society has crossed a threshold in relation to DT and once crossed there is no turning back as such. What this means is that modern day life and society is now highly digitalised and its dependence on DT will continue to grow. The digital world is quickly becoming as relevant to lives as the physical world historically has been. For our learners to gain valued skills they must learn to manage tasks within this digital environment.

The New Zealand curriculum key competencies are an identified set of skills and capabilities that promote the development of individuals that are confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners.  

Clearly these potential distractions will continue within our digitalised future society. The practice of blocking these distractions is not going to best support our learners to become self-managing, confident citizens. We are effectively undermining valuable learning opportunities for our learners by creating disconnected learning environments for the sake of student efficiency.

Secondly removing accessibility to digital devices as a punitive (band aid) approach that isn’t addressing the cause of the problem. Questions need to be asked of all members of the learning community.

·      Why is this a distraction to their learning?

·      How can we tap into this already established engagement tpo benefit their learning?

Removing accessibility to devices or sites without consideration of these questions effectively undermines the importance relevance, connectivity and shared information is for learning in 21st century. It is comparative to removing the learner from a stimulating classroom because they aren’t paying a full attention to the teacher.

How do we address the issues? Promote improved time management skills through a series of closely monitored goal setting and reflective practices. Teaching must include not just subject oriented content but a mix of explicit teaching and modelling of key competencies  that promote self management, relating to others and thinking.

At TKAS our team has constructed a poutama for leadership that includes how our Ss manage their time and devices. This poutama emphasises how our learners all demonstrate the attributes we value at times however the consistency of these values being demonstrated is the difference between the status of Guided learner and Self directed Leader.

Our Ss are placed into the levels according to conferences we have which include student self evaluation and teacher discussions. These status are updated every few weeks and students are moved along the poutama based on the criteria being met. Therefore learners are encouraged to actively manage their learning and as a result gain a status of leadership that is recognised as valued by our learning community and whanau.

This is an often messy process and needs to be monitored effectively for its relevance towards learning to be maintained but after a few terms in use it appears to be making a positive difference towards the development of Ss that are confident, connected, actively involves lifelong learners.

Note:

The primary professional obligation of registered teachers is to those they teach. Teachers nurture the capacities of all learners to think and act with developing independence, and strive to encourage an informed appreciation of the fundamental values of a democratic society. Code of ethics for registered teachers.

Social Media in teaching and professional development

The use ofd social media has been an uplifting and supportive network for me professionally for over a year. I have experienced a range of discussions through this forum that always leaves me energised and inspired to challenge my own practices and thinking. Based on these experiences, social media has become embedded into my practices as a key tool for my ongoing professional development. My intention for this blog is to elaborate on how social helps me to become the best teacher I can be. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), teachers are required to practice and evidence a set of teaching criteria over a set period of time. These criteria are called practicing teacher criteria or PTC’s.

In my opinion social media supports teachers in meeting our PTC’s through many varying ways. For the sake of brevity I will only focus on two.

The attributes I see as being linked to social media are Connectivity and Collaboration. I have used a Facebook page for sharing professional readings between TKAS staff over the last year. The purpose of this page was for staff to have a forum for reading, sharing and storing researched articles relating to education, to connect with each other online in a professional capacity and to generate a pool of resources that could be used for learning in our MYSY community. The most rewarding moments occurred while team teaching when we were able to refer back to these readings and potential applications within our day to day practices. What I have learnt is that through sharing our professional readings we as a team keep focused on a shared vision.

• PTC# 1. Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga 
•  PTC#4. Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice 

 Over the last 12 months Twitter has become a key tool for my own professional development. What I have experienced through Twitter (#edchatnz in particular,) is continued exposure to a wide range of current practices and professional opinions. These aspects have helped me to keep track of relevant discussions regarding current practices and professional readings. The discussions that occurred here were less directly related towards specific day to day practices (which facebook was helping with,) but instead more towards modern pedagogical concepts and general applications. In a way I feel that Twitter is providing me with a sounding board for my own growth that I would otherwise not have. 

• PTC# 1. Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga 
•  PTC# 5. show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning 
• PTC#12. use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice 

What has become apparent is while I’ve have used both these forms of social media in similar ways there are some key differences in the audience. Through Twitter I was able to connect with colleagues that were from a wider audience. While on Facebook the connection was mainly focused on staff/colleagues. In both instances I feel that critical thinking of my own practices and researched informed practices have increased because of the connections and collaboration achieved through social media.

Raising Teacher Collaboration both within and beyond our school walls.

Along with its well researched benefits for students collaboration is promoted as a key tool for effective Professional Development in NZ education. There are increasingly new ways to develop effective professional collaboration. Two methods that have grown in popularity over the last 24 months are in my opinion are #edchatnz and Educamps. Firstly for over a year I have been participating in professional discussions through #edchatnz on twitter. My perspective on this is that professional teams need at least one person to be connecting with professional forums from beyond their own learning community to keep updating and refining their practices and ideas. What I have experienced through #edchatnz is precisely that, continued exposure to a wide range of current practices and opinions. These aspects have helped me to keep track of relevant discussions regarding current practices and professional readings. Secondly I’ve attended 2 educamps. My first was #educampalmy in which i attended in person and the second #educampwelly, I watched through streaming. In both instances I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I experienced in #educampalmy was passionate discussions about modern practices, connections made through social media being re-inforced through kanohi kei te kanohi, sharing of ideas and co-constructions of new strategies. Educamp Welly was a more limited version yet still worth the time joining in through stream. While streaming is not really comparable to being at an educamp in person, streaming allowed me to contimue connecting with like minded teachers and leaders in real time from a distance. Upon reflection I feel these methods for promoting collaboration have been remarkably effective in developing a sense of professional camardery and ongoing inspiration. However I see this practice as potentially resulting in a satisfying sense of collaboration with colleagues from afar, which has clear benefits, but this distance can limit the opportunities for growth that can be gained through collaboration. What can I do better to raise the effectiveness of the collaboration currently used within our immediate learning community? What I would like to do is focus upon one teacher in our learning community and encourage them to join me on any of the social media based forums I plan on using this year. Recently I read a blog by Rose Maceachern about critical friendships (this blog was recommended to me by an #edchatnz tweeter). I see this professional practice as a real opportunity to develop in a more personal and professional way. Developing a partnership based on common goals and values is exciting and scary. As stated in the blog, the ultimate aim is to develop these critical friendships both within and beyond the school we are working in. I see this as a relevant goal for our own learning community. Promoting practices that are based on mutual respect,trust, critical thinking and partnership is a powerful and growth enhancing practice that will ensure that we develop effective collaboration both within and beyond our learning community.