Week 31: Indigenous Knowledge And Cultural Responsivenes In My Practice.

This week I will consider and reflect on indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice. 

Step one (what)

Culturally responsive pedagogy is a student-centered approach to teaching in which the students’ unique cultural beliefs and strengths are identified and nurtured to promote a sense of self worth. While ensuring the learner identifies with their cultural 'place' in the world, this has a two fold effect by not only raising the child's 'mana' but also raising student achievement. I resonate with the research by  Gay (2001, p.106) who states that culturally responsive pedagogy is defined by  “using the cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives as conduits for effective teaching”.  When an educator is able to harness what the student relates to through their own cultural identity and connect it to what is being taught the learner feels valued and the learning is more meaningful to them. 

I believe quality teaching and learning for ALL hinges on relationships. Bishop (2009) discusses the importance of whakawhanaungatanga and whanaungatanga; that is, the process of establishing relationships and the quality of the relationships that are established. Hattie (2003) also concluded that it is not socio-economic differences that have the greatest impact on Maori students achievement. He suggests that "the evidence is pointing more to the relationships between teachers and Maori students as the major issue" (p.7) 

I will consider how my schools practice has been informed by indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy in two areas: Vision, mission and core values and School-wide Activities.

Step 2: (now what)

Our school's vision encapsulates a 'Know me before you teach me' philosophy and our core values reflect the commitment to ensure Maori students reach their full potential.  I fully believe that "the culture of the child can not enter the classroom until it enters the consciousness of the teacher".  Every learner regardless of ethnicity is taught to speak Te Reo from the day they start school.

Using Milne’s presentation (CORE Education, 2017) and action continuum as a reflective tool I would place our school between the purple and green stages by which “indigenous and culturally centred structures and practises are embedded but still colonial” and “where some language and cultural content and might consult with community groups, very few critical aspects” and where Maori achieving as Maori is becoming normalised. I believe our leadership, policy and pedagogy sits strongly embedded in the green stage but in reality several teachers are held back by their fluency of Te Reo and their understandings of Tikanga, where it is often easier to slip back into the “Pakeha comfort zone”.

Step 3 (What next)

We currently have a couple of people on staff who are committed to completing further study in Te Reo so this is a beginning to helping our staff to ensure Te Reo is normalised across the school. I would like to see more staff undertake further study in this area.

I do feel though that while focussing on our Maori students we may be doing other ethnicities a disservice, we still need to challenge our "white definitions and structures" in terms of how we teach and acknowledge other ethnicities   In past years we have had a 'cultural week' where we acknowledge Pacifica or our Chinese community but I feel this is tokenism, we need to ensure we cater for these students to the same level as our Pakeha and Maori students.  

References

Bishop, R., et al., Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Maori students in New Zealand, Teaching and Teacher Education (2009), doi:10.1016/j.tate.2009.01.009 

Hattie, J. (2003). New Zealand education snapshot. Paper presented at the Knowledge Wave 2003: The leadership forum, Auckland.

CORE Education.(2017, 17 October). Dr Ann Milne, Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cTvi5qxqp4&feature=em-subs_digest

Week 30. The broader professional context - contemporary trend in New Zealand or internationally.

This week I am going to reflect on a contemporary trend in both New Zealand and Internationally and use Rolfe’s (2001) model of reflection as a scaffold. 

Since 2010 I have followed CORE Education's research and innovation 'Ten Trends' 

"Each year, CORE Education’s experienced staff of researchers, educators, and digital technology experts pool their expertise and combine their understanding and evidence of the ways that digital technologies are influencing all aspects of education. The result is CORE’s list of the ten trends that are expected to make a growing impact upon education in New Zealand in the coming year."

I will use the 2018 Ten Trends model to direct and support my reflection.

Step 1 (What): Currently the trend 'STEM'  captivates my attention. There is currently rapid growing interest in programmes targeting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM), which focus on educators and others looking at preparing students for jobs in the future. I facilitate a dedicated Makerspace where STEM/STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics is at the core of student learning. The science purists tend to frown on the arts being embedded but I believe all of these disciplines draw on design as well as creative concepts and the arts should sit seamlessly with them. I also run our Makerspace differently as the challenges and passion projects are ignited by the use of a picture book, my initial research into the maker movement found significant negative critique relating to the growth of making and demise of reading and literacy skills so I found a way of fostering and nurturing both. 

Step 2 (So What): As stated within the Ten Trends resource "The critical thing about STEM education is that it is intended to be an interdisciplinary curriculum. Rather than teach these four disciplines as separate and discrete subjects, STEM integrates into “interdependent” learning units based on real-world applications". In a Makerspace the lines often blur within a challenge station, for example I run 4 or 5 challenge stations in every session, where the students choose their station but rather than these just being standalone Science, Technology, Engineering, Art or Maths, they may in fact be a Science station with an Art infusion or an Engineering station where building and mathematics play an integral role.

This integration into 'interdependent' learning units changes the way that teachers have previously looked at the curriculum which was subjects in isolation, this will pose a challenge to many teachers. Those that grasped the previous trend of curriculum integration, as discussed by Fraser and Deane (2010), will be better equipped for this change.

Step 3 (Now What): Although the Maker movement and STEM and STEAM appear to be just taking hold in Aotearoa, when reviewing Dale Dougherty’s (widely considered the father of the maker movement) timeline it has clearly been established and embraced across the United States of America much earlier (see diagram below).

Roffey, Sverko and Therien (2016) on both their website and the accompanying guide go into depth with practical support and strategies for educators embarking on the journey of developing and implementing a Makerspace and the concepts of STEM and STEAM.

The newly introduced Digital Technologies Curriculum (2017) will go someway to addressing the infusion of technology into the classroom but I believe this still needs to be adapted to address this trend. It is important that educators in New Zealand working with and in environments fostering STEM and STEAM share their knowledge, experiences and resources to better equip our own teachers and as a result better prepare our students for their futures.

REFERENCES

Core Education. Ten Trends 2018. Retrieved 11 March, 2018. http://core-ed.org/research-and-innovation/ten-trends/2017/

Fraser, D., & Deane, P. (2010). Making a difference: Agents of change through curriculum integration. set: Research Information for Teachers, 3, 10–14.

Jamieson, P. (2017).  Whare Waihanga - Makerspace. Website http://www.takpmakerspace.co.nz/blog

Minstry of Education. (2017).  Digital Technologies. Retrieved 11 March, 2018. https://education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Ministry/consultations/DT-consultation/DTCP1701-Digital-Technologies-Hangarau-Matihiko-ENG.pdf

Roffey, Sverko and Therien (2016).  The Making of a Makerspace: Pedagogical and Physical Transformations of teaching and Learning. Retrieved, 4 February, 2018. http://www.makerspaceforeducation.com/uploads/4/1/6/4/41640463/makerspace_for_education_curriculum_guide.pdf

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001) Critical Reflection Model. Retrieved from: https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf

Week 29: Professional Online Networks

For the purpose of this reflection I will be using Gibbs' Reflective Model, as cited in Dye (2011, p. 230). This model has some similarities with the Teaching-as-Inquiry model from the Ministry of Education (2009).

DESCRIPTION

I have used social media tools extensively in my teaching practise and as a professional development tool, this includes a range of blogging platforms (Class Blogmeister, Blogger, Weebly, Seesaw and Wordpress) as well as Facebook and Twitter. Facebook has become my social media tool of choice for professional development.

FEELINGS

Over the years I have built up a meaningful collaborative network with ground breaking and innovative educators and I find that the power of hashtags throughout global conferences and events that many of these educators keynote at, enables me to 'attend' virtually and to have an insight into the content shared and this provides new learning opportunities for me. I feel connected and can comment and contribute even though I am remotely situated. This feature could benefit teaching and learning across Aotearoa as our geographical position is no longer a barrier to accessing high quality professional learning and rigorous critique and conversation. Twitter and Facebook also provides me with an insight into global trends and technological advances.

EVALUATION

In  the “Using Social Media in the Classroom” (2013) video, Kathy Cassidy shared how she uses social media in a classroom. I particularly related to her comments about Twitter and how this platform enabled her learners to consider what was the same and what was different about classrooms around the globe. I wonder how many teachers have considered using Social media as a way to teach empathy?  

ANALYSIS

I have used blogging platforms for sharing students work and progress and as a platform to share my professional practice but have only used Twitter and Facebook as a professional sharing and development tool, never with students. I hold my global relationships formed through Twitter and Facebook in such high regard and see them as essential for me to keep at the forefront of education and when considering this and the impact this tool has had on students in classes such as Kathy's I would like to introduce this to our staff as a way to broaden our students perspectives, to build relationships and to encourage global connections. 

CONCLUSION

When embedding new tools and moving through an ever evolving digital landscape I realise that I have become proficient at using the tools myself and in many cases take them for granted but as my role in our  school has changed and I have moved into a management role I have missed the step of sharing and transferring these powerful tools onto our tamariki. I now have the ability to build teacher capacity and to empower our teachers to take on this challenge. 

ACTION PLAN

I am aware very few of our staff use Twitter and Facebook for their own professional practice. Also knowing our staff I would introduce a video such as Kathy's as this shows how social media can have a direct impact on student outcomes and with our every increasing workloads and demands on our time I can see many of our teachers using Twitter in class to improve student outcomes rather than in their own time to improve their own, which is somewhat of a contradiction.

REFERENCES

Dye, V. (2011) ‘Reflection, Reflection, Reflection. I’m thinking all the time, why do I need a theory or model of reflection?’, in McGregor, D. and Cartwright, L. (ed.) Developing Reflective Practice: A guide for beginning teachers. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education (pp. 217-234). 

Ministry of Education.(2009). Teaching as Inquiry. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Case-studies/Teachers-as-learners-Inquiry/Teaching-as-inquiry

Tvoparents. (2013, May 21). Using Social Media in the Classroom.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno

Week 28 - Influence Of Law And Order In Practice.

Week 28.

Critique and address issues of ethics, law, regulations and policy in practice using a reflective model. (activity 4)

This week I am going to analyse an ethical dilemma in my practice using Rolfe’s (2001) model of reflection and Erlich et al. (2011) ethical decision making model.

Step 1: (What) - I have two social media persona’s - both professional and personal. Many of my friends are in education and there are blurred lines between the two. I have noticed that parents of our children are trying to connect with my personal Facebook page and some of the parents wanting to connect are parents of my own children’s friends at school but I have wonderings around how this sits ethically.

Ehrich et al. (2011) presents an ethical decision-making model (Figure 1) that helps to explain decision-making processes when teaching professionals encounter ethical dilemmas. 

Figure 1. A model of ethical decision-making

Step 2: (So What): When critically evaluating this dilemma using Ehrich’s (2011) model, I was able to analyse this incident through more than one lens. I needed to consider Professional Ethics - Education Council (2017). What does the teacher’s code of practice state? I also looked at it through the lens of Public Interest. What would the other parents and whanau think? I needed to consider the Institutional Context eg. what would others do so after having conversations with colleagues I was directed to the Education Council’s (2018) guide for Teachers and Social media. I then questioned whether having a professional ‘friendship’ on Social Media was an acceptable platform.

Step 3: (Now What): To support the Education Council’s (2018) guide for Teachers and Social Media there is also a website available at: https://teachersandsocailmedia.co.nz/ which has a series of thought provoking videos with scenarios and question prompts, these would be very useful in our staff meetings especially with growing numbers of millennial who see social media as an integral part of their being. I particularly related to this quote which I felt would make online interactions more transparent. “Engaging in ongoing discussions with colleagues can help when you are unsure whether you should share, reuse or respond to content. Talking to colleagues about your activity on social media platforms means you aren’t acting in isolation and exposing yourself to a potential ethical dilemma.”

I plan to use my own ethical dilemma as an ignitor for conversation around this topic and to bring the resources discussed to our teachers attention. I could also host a parent/whanau hui to set clear guidelines for our community as to how we intend to use social media.

References:

Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards. Retrieved 10 March, 2018 from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

Education Council (2017) Retrieved 11 March, 2018. https://teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/guidelines/commitment-profession 

Education Council (2018). Guide to Teachers and Social media. Retrieved 11 March, 2018 from: https://www.educationcouncil.org.nz/content/teachers-and-social-media 

Ehrich, L.C., Kimber M., Millwater, J. & Cranston, N. (2011). Ethical dilemmas: a model to understand teacher practice, Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 17:2, 173-185, DO1: 10.1080/13540602.2011.539794 

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001) Critical Reflection Model. Retrieved from: https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf