Week 26 - APC - Professional Context

The challenges:

We are a Technology Centre within a primary school. We are 'two cultures' (Stoll, 1998) within the school, as we operate with different contexts and timetables.  The timetables are not aligned due to the contributing school slots and we operate session by session, as we only see our students one session per week. 

We operate under our own budget and becoming more independent from our school with our own support staff and equipment. We tend to not share our equipment due to the specialist nature and health and safety issues, which are becoming more accountable.

These structures and constraints restrict collaboration with the greater school staff and is generally limited to the weekly staff meetings. Where possible involve ourselves in our school community to develop these relationships by attending 'picnic' days. We offer our expertise to support the school for school wide projects. 

The eight contributing schools are another part of our community of practice that is vital to develop relationships with these schools. Recently we have  encouraged  teachers and staff to attend sessions and this has reduced challenges by allowing 'collegiality' (Stoll, 1998) to support students for success (TedED, 2012). Teachers are able to experience our 'culture' but at the same time share their school's culture providing 'mutual respect' and 'openness' (Stoll, 1998). 

The changes:

Huakina Mai was introduced to our school beginning of last year. Huakina Mai is about 'getting it right for Maori' especially for learners who are having behavourial challenges at school (Savage, Macfarlane, Macfarlane & Hēmi, 2012). It involves a partnership with the community whᾱnau, students and teachers, developing an awareness of the culture and Te Reo, mana inhancing interactions with students, and ways of behaviour is 'normalised' through dominant discourse. 

We have noticed improvements in student relationships with implementation of using Te reo and developing cultural awareness and implementing culturally appropriate protocols in classroom practices. 

However, further development and  strategies are necessary to underpin the main focus of Huakina Mai - developing partnerships with whᾱnau. This connects to above challenges for us: a Technology Centre with the many schools and students by finding the opportunities for this to happen. Mind Lab has given some insights into this and simply a 'blog' or digital newsletter reaching out to our greater whᾱnau could be options. We offer open days for whᾱnau to join with students and share their learning experiences. 

References

Savage, C., Macfarlane, A., Macfarlane, S., Fickel, L., Hēmi, T. H. (2012). Huakina Mai. A whole school strength based behavioural intervention for Mᾱori, University of Canterbury.

Stoll (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved fromhttp://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture

TEdEd(2013, Jun 21). Building a culture of success- Mark Wilson. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_8Bjz-OCD8

Quantitative or Qualitative?

Which is better to use qualitative or quantitative data?
Reflecting on my practice I use both. The purpose of collecting data to improve practice, raise achievement levels and student success. It is important to have a clear understanding of what you want to find out and to refer back to your research questions (Easton, 2012).

Qualitative:  I ask students for feedback in the form of mini interviews.  I want to try and get as much information as possible and work hard to ask open ended questions (Barker, Pistrang & Elliott, 2016) and if a student is reluctant to offer their opinions in front of others I will ask them individually. Qualitative provides detail about why something is happening with 'why' questions, but does not provide a greater evidence over numbers because usually conducted over smaller groups.

Quantitative:  I use google slides for surveys on iPads that are quick and provide me with a 'big picture' of what students think. Google slides provide great visuals with pie charts and graphs to easily view the break down of the results. The results provide evidence of 'what' and 'how many' but not the greater detail of why something is happening (Easton, 2012). I often select some groups to participate in the surveys, but not always all due to time restraints. I may select groups depending on their cultural, ability, or engagement for specific findings.

http://www.mymarketresearchmethods.com/quantitative-vs-qualitative-research-whats-the-difference/

Both have advantages and disadvantages, so I will continue to use both. To further develop my practice I need to try different types rather than doing the same.

References

Barker, L., Pistrang, N., & Elliott, R. (2016). Research Methods in Clinical Psychology An Introduction for Students and Practitioners. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons.

Easton, C. (2012) Data for Self Evaluation. Retrieved from http://www.nfer.ac.uk/schools/data-for-self-evaluation-seced.pdf

Week 25 - APC - Reflective Practice

Introduction:

I am a technology teacher at Kaiapoi Borough School. I teach Creative Textiles 4 days a week and 1 day a week in Robotics.

Defining my ‘Community of Practice’

This is hard to define because of the context I teach and the eight contributing schools, the many students, colleagues and support staff. They all form part of the COP as we ‘engage’ with them all to create the best learning outcomes for students and the sense of ‘joint enterprise’ (Wenger, 2000). Students are at the forefront of our COP from the feedback we receive from them and the fact we actually ‘learn’ from the students! They provide valuable information that helps shape the learning programmes and to provide a more purposeful learning experience.  The contributing schools’ practices provide us with insights how we can improve and differentiate our programmes to best suit the needs of their students. Our home school provides opportunities for flexibility and professional development in other curriculum areas.  As a Technology team we are very strong on collaboration and share our ideas that we receive from students, peers and schools.

Contributions to my community of practice

I am constantly reflecting on my practice, which has its ups and downs. However, both are shared with my team to provide a new perspective. Often the positive experiences are taken up and used by another team member – it may be just another way of teaching a concept or a simple ‘circle time’ topic. The not so positive experiences actually end up being a positive because the team learns from these too. If I have had a session that has not gone to plan with a particular group some strategies may be suggested and these may be adopted by another team member when they have a similar experience. 

I share my planning and programme to my team which allows feedback to improve on the development of this and also as a team we borrow each other’s ideas.

One of the most important contributions to my community of practice is the students. I give the students the opportunity to give me feedback at the end of the session: “How did I do?” “What do I need to change?” The students are very forthcoming and provide honest feedback, and sometimes it hurts. Alternatively, I might ask: “How was the session today?” and do a PMI  (positive, minus and interesting). The feedback sometimes surprises me and is vital in how I can forward plan (Findlay, 2008) and teach the next sessions. The students appreciate the fact that I ask them for feedback and value their ideas.

Core values and principles that underpin my profession
The Teaching standards:
 https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/gts-poster.pdf in particular standard 3: understanding contextual factors; students cultural needs and the influences. 

The 'values'  that are developed by each school that have connections to the NZC by embedding these during technology sessions. Students understand their school's values and relationships with students are developed by using their own values.

The principles from the curriculum document (MOE, 2007) – they are all important I have just highlighted these:

Coherence- we gather as much information about students to provide a ‘big picture’ to support their individual learning needs. Sessions are differentiated to provide extra supports or independent learning depending on the students learning needs. Individual learning plans are also developed to provide student success and information is provided to the contributing schools, so they can have an input. The student learning information is passed between the technology teachers to ensure that students are provided with easy transition between the technology areas and to also encourage progression.

Inclusiveness – Each of our students’ groups is a ‘team’. Every team member has the right to be respected and have opportunities to learn. We have ‘circle time’ at the start of the session to encourage this and at the end as a reflection. Students are encouraged to support each other (tuakana/teina). We collaborate as a team using a ‘rights and responsibility’ agreement at the start of the term to build positive relationships and for the students to understand their responsibilities.

Learning to learn – I encourage students to be independent and think for themselves. The key is for them to problem solve and discover solutions by trial and collaboration with peers. The learning experience is much more valuable and they feel proud of their achievements. It is awkward as a teacher to step back sometimes and allow for this to happen, it is so easy to ‘fix’ the problem. They often explain that they actually enjoyed the experience and learnt more. It is essential for students in their journey of ‘lifelong learning’ (Findlay, 2008).

High expectations – I have high expectations of students and sometimes this is challenging. Some students are often nervous and anxious when they initially use the equipment. I know that they can overcome their feelings, but this does take some encouragement. It is often knowing when to let go of the training wheels and walk away, so they can go solo and feel that they are in control and gain the confidence they need. Some students need extra scaffolding to complete learning outcomes, but the expectation is that they will need to ‘give it a go’. Students that can achieve greater levels are encouraged to self-assess their learning and asked: What could they do differently?

References

Finlay, L. (2009) Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved fromhttp://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf

Ministry of Education (2009) Principles. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Principles

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press

Teaching as Inquiry- reflective practice

This is a great link for a video by Dr Graeme Aitken on the Elements of teaching effectiveness and explanation of the parts of teaching as inquiry and how it all connects together. Dr Aitken discusses the importance of critiquing our practice and searching for ways of changing our practice to suit the context and students. We should consider new ways of teaching rather than what we feel 'comfortable' with.

There are different views of teaching: the style, outcome and inquiry views. The style view based on how the teacher teaches, the outcome view on the students' results and the inquiry view combining both the style and outcome views, which is the preferred option. This is a perspective that I had not considered before.  Dr Aitken critiques these views there are many flaws in the 'style view such as the teachers' approach and teaching style. Also there are flaws in the 'outcome view' as consideration needs to be taken into account of prior knowledge of students - students may already know knowledge and therefore learning may have not taken place.  The inquiry framework - 'inquiry view' uses information to improve  practice from evidence and research knowledge. An inquiry approach reviewing teaching practices is essential for effective teaching practice to ensure students are gaining the best opportunities for their learning.


http://connect.vln.school.nz/ftpmodule2/

Session 14 Futurists and learning spaces

Frances Valintine, Chair and Founder of  Mind Lab http://themindlab.com/ inspired us all with her presentation around her research and futurist ideas.  She discussed what we will need for  future skills and how technology will impact on the type of jobs for the future.  Frances presented some very interesting data for future skills from:

http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-10-skills-you-need-to-thrive-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution

Frances also discussed the history of 3D printing and how fast technology is changing...with many types of materials and structures being printed at speed. 

http://www.engineering.com/3DPrinting/3DPrintingArticles/ArticleID/6262/Infographic-The-History-of-3D-Printing.aspx

*This was just a 'taste' of a very fascinating and informative experience from Frances presentation. 

Learning Spaces - understanding what learning spaces area? Do they have to be a building? Why do we associate these with a building? When a space is designed within a constraints of a building it however lends itself to a particular leadership style of learning?

Open plan classes in 1970 and got rid of them? How do learning environments cater for all students needs?

The structure peripheral things that can be adaptable and we need to find out what our learning should look like before we look at our spaces. When the building is built it imposes a particular learning theory. It also influences your thought patterns and the way you think.

Flexible spaces that can be large or smaller for different activities.

Virtual and outside environments also to be included.

Our ideas for an outdoor learning space relating to a technology context:

·         Outside kitchen pizza ovens

·         Herb garden/fruit trees

·         Hard materials

·         Seating/picnic tables – time out area/ outdoor learning spaces

·         Wet area for dying

·         Wood stumps for in a circle for ‘circle time’

·         Shade sail

Our collaborative  meme around learning spaces:  

"Learning spaces have to be flexible, movable, collaborative

and give choices to grow innovative adventures. "

Session 13 Robots and Inquiry

Had fun programming robot so that it completed a pre-determined pathway. It was a very collaborative, problem solving and rich thinking learning experience!!

The Rise of Robots –what will the extend of technology will impact on jobs?

Low skilled jobs threatened.

Robots and manufacturing – software escalation is having an impact on jobs. It is having a broad impact on jobs not just manufacturing. The kinds of robots in manufacturing  are industrial, powerful machines and have precision. They also need to have safety cages around them to protect humans. 

Technology is changing and robots are becoming reliable and safe, so humans can work alongside them.

 Inquiry  -Teaching as inquiry- co-constructing knowledge

                  Teachers inquire into their practice.

Inquiry designed by Anne, Sue & Fiona -Mind Lab 2016

Questions need to be:

Open

Undermining – makes the learner question their basic assumptions

Rich

Connected

Charged-ethical

Practical resources

Session 11 Agile versus Waterfall?

Which process do we use in our schools?

Possible ideas...

Kanban in the classroom  

an example of website: Kanban
http://leankit.com/learn/kanban/online-kanban-board/

Visualise the workflow in three columns on the board:

Things to be learned / Things we are learning/ Things we have learned

Another edition to the idea: story cards -  what the user wants and why? The story card is just enough to identify the requirement (Agile academy). Identify as many stakeholders as possible and get their ‘stories’. This means you get a much better design. There would need to be conversations between all these stakeholders to gain a better picture of what they require for the final design.

Practice at writing a story card: As a …….. I want to……. So that I can ………

We used trello.com to experience another type of story card/board.
Useful site: Trello board:  https://trello.com/

The agile team: plan, do, check, act.  (KATA) Consistent and continuous improvement.

Adapting and changing depending on the context.

Agile Leadership Style: facilitate, remove obstacles, encourage reflection, be a servant leader (provides support), create a safe environment, allow team to self-organise. An agile leader aim is to improve development over time.



http://www.integral.co.nz/about-us/agile-methodology/

The servant as a leader – developing people and works well when you are working well with self-organising teams. It works well when there are team members have different sets of skills that they can bring to the team.  Readings:  Robert Greenleaf – The servant as a leader (1970) 

We reviewed our earlier exercise at looking at how we plan in our school/team and reviewed in under the agile process. How could this be done better?