You're my favourite class, too

My final Mindlab challenge: condense 32 weeks of learning and reflections in under 600 words.  Have I reached my Mindlab goals? A key motivation for enrolling in the programme was to develop my skills in collaborative and digital teaching. I have certainly achieved this, becoming a more research-based teacher in the process. I have reflected on developing 21st-century skills in my learners, planned and implemented a video-making task, critically reflected on my leadership style and incorporated different leadership tactics in a plan for my depart . I have read and reflected on a range of academic articles for literature review, which was used to develop a TAI cycle. Perhaps most beneficially, I have reflected on my learning throughout the course, utilising this blog. These reflections cover most of the PTC, particularly PTC 1 (establishing and maintaining professional relationships)  through feedback and interactions with other Mindlab students. This has pushed me outsi...

A few weeks ago I discussed the curriculum innovations being implemented in Finland and their experiences with cross-curricular learning in the context of wider educational trends. It highlighted the importance of providing students opportunities to apply their learning to real-world contexts. This post develops that discussion by exploring how I can utilise my interdisciplinary connections in my classroom. I have many opportunities to form and develop interdisciplinary connections, illustrated in the mind map below: Interdisciplinary professional connections Interdisciplinary connections benefit me as a teacher. I am exposed to differing approaches to teaching and learning. Rather than hiding away with other English teachers, discussions with teachers across disciplines gives me opportunities to consider differing perspectives. Building these relationships establishes a stronger base from which to develop cross-curricular units of work and can address the perennial studen...

Having been critical of  teachers befriending students on Facebook , it might seem a little rich for me to now be espousing the values of social media as a tool. However, as a teacher connecting with other teachers, social media provides me with resources to develop my teaching practice. Although my use of Twitter is at best sporadic, when I do venture there I find a wealth of material for the areas I teach. I email these to myself and try to use them into my lessons where possible, making it a fairly productive use of social media. There are also opportunities to participate in Twitter discussions on areas of interest, such as edchatnz or engchatnz , and while I find these hard to follow (I probably need more practice) searching the hashtag is another way to get ideas. Pinterest's visual bulletin format provides snapshots into a range of different teaching resources, which I pin and frankly often forget ever seeing. Not nearly so useful... From a classroom perspective,...

In 2015, a New Zealand teacher was censured by the Teacher's Council for participating in a Facebook exchange with a 15-year student (Daly, 2015). Like many others, my school has a Facebook presence which is followed by current and former students, parents and the community, as well as teachers. Teachers have, at times, used Facebook groups to share curriculum content and messages. I think these are useful tools. However, we are also a small school in a rural area. Many teachers know students outside of school, as neighbours, friends' children or as friends of our own children. Occasionally a teacher will become Facebook friends with a student, usually for these reasons or in response to a request from an ex-student.  Should teachers become friends with students on social media, particularly Facebook?  In this context, social media is not about breaking down classroom walls, but is about personal relationships.  My school does not have any policies specifica...

A New Plymouth councillor has recently been widely criticised for his comments about Te Reo and questioning whether there is value in promoting it. This condemnation is not surprising. We expect the councillor, as someone in a public role, to have greater sensitivity and awareness of cultural matters and their importance to New Zealand. Within the classroom, teachers should show daily their understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness. There continues to be a disparity between Māori and non-Māori students. Savage et. al. (2011) attribute this to the domination of Pākehā culture and western practices in the education system. Culturally responsive pedagogy means contextualising learning to meet students' "cultural forms, behaviours and processes" (Savage, et.al., 2011, p. 2). Likewise, Bishop et. al. (2007) identify culturally responsive teachers as being those who "care for students as culturally located individuals" (p. 11). The adapted...

Teachers want students engaged in their learning and who apply that learning in a real-world context. Isn't that the point - being able to use what is learned in class? Too often, though, what is taught in our classrooms remains firmly within the domain of that subject area and students fail to understand how it applies to their worlds. Last year three departments in my secondary school endeavoured to create a cross-curricular unit for Year 9 classes. The theory was fantastic - we would teach different aspects of the topic and students would present us with an assessment which we would mark individually using our respective curriculum criteria. In practice, it was pretty much an example of what not to do in cross-curricular teaching. Our lessons were out of sync, some teachers didn't follow the scheme, and some didn't do any presentations.  However, the experience did show me how it could be done and I saw that there could be benefits to doing it. We need to show st...

My parents both worked two jobs to make ends meet and while I was aware of this struggle growing up, they made every effort not to let our financial status impact on my education. I can only imagine the late night budgeting and hair pulling my mother went through to make this happen for me and my brother. Although my parents sheltered me, I'm very aware that family income does come into play when we talk about student success and engagement, and that there are students in front of me every day whose family find school expenses difficult to meet or whose income affects their learning outcomes. Our school's culture is influenced by " its history, context and the people in it" (Stoll, 1998). I teach in a Decile 6 school. According to the Regional Economic Activity Report,  in 2015 the average household income was $81,867, which is $10,000 less than the average of all of New Zealand. The Environmental Health Indicators New Zealand  break this down further, and show t...

John Donne's famous line 'no man is an island' has become a bit of cliche but that is because it is also a universal truth. Likewise, no teacher can function in isolation; to pervert Donne's metaphor, we operate within an interconnected metropolis. One of the things which continually impresses me about teachers is how we work together to improve practice by sharing of resources, ideas and feedback. My teaching practice would not have evolved as it has without this ongoing support. Not only does this support occur within the physical confines of a school, but is often also online, through communities such as Mindlab or subject associations. Wenger-tayner define a community of practice as: " Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." Similarly Hoadley says a COP is"a community that shares practices", as well as "a process of k...