Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strain) David Bowie

Wow! What a journey it's been, 32 weeks of personal and professional development.  The most invigorating, challenging, confronting yet rewarding experience I have had since first becoming a parent!

The timing of the Mind Lab post grad course could not have been better for me.  I had recently been given the role of "Director of Innovation" at our school.  A description that was equal parts exciting and overwhelming.  As I crashed around in the online environment trying to lead staff in first defining what innovation meant to us, and then coming up with ways we could all develop it further, I was desperate for some guidance.  The Mind Lab course provided me with this.  Within the first three sessions I felt a sense of grounding - this was exactly where I was supposed to be.

The Practicing Teacher Criteria 4: Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional personal practice, has been substantially demonstrated with my participation in this course.  The change in practice in my teaching and learning has been immense.  The grounded feeling I experienced was because I was being exposed to latest best practice which was based on sound educational research - not just things I had happened to come across online.  It hasn't been without it's dramas though.  I really question why I was teaching Accounting (especially after checking out Will a Robot take your Job).

The outcome has been that I have developed an absolute passion for developing a more integrated curriculum.  As Frances Valentine the founder of The Mind Lab and Tec Futures Lab explains, we need to “open their eyes wide” when referring to students.  The relevance and context of what we chose to do in class is everything.  She has challenged educators to “stop valuing only what we can measure” and celebrate divergent thinking.  The purpose is to produce students who are design thinkers, social crusaders, politically mobilized and educative disruptors.  These are exciting times and I am keen to "turn and face the strain." 

Osterman& Kottkamp (1993) define reflective practice as "neither a solitary or relaxed meditative process" - complete understatement there!  By using reflective practice to become more self aware of my teaching and learning has been an uncomfortable process.  The experience of becoming a student again delivered my first major change in practice.  More specifically, the experience of receiving a grade that was inversely related to the amount of time and effort put in (and my expectation).  I was surprised at the level of disappointment I displayed and the associated behaviours when I first saw my grade.  It took a good week and a half before I was even in the head space to be able to take in the feedback given (I did read it on the first day, but just scoffed at the comments and thought bad thoughts about the marker)!

Reflecting on this experience I have altered the way I give my students grades and feedback.  I no longer give out the grade first.  For internal assessments feedback is given first along with the criteria.  For practice examinations each paper is "marked" with codes, we go through the marking schedule as a class with the students checking their papers.  Once this is completed (with accompanying teachable moments) the students add up their codes to reveal their overall grade.  Previously when trying to go through the marking schedule to find those "teachable moments" a third of the class would be slumped on their desks, obviously disappointed with their grade, not hearing me over the negative self talk going on in their heads, while another third smugly thought they didn't need to listen to anything because they had already received an Excellence pass so obviously knew it all! This experience has certainly developed my understanding around the Practicing Teaching Criteria 8: Demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding o how akonga learn. 

So where to now? In conjunction with looking a ways to develop a more integrated curriculum at school I am also looking forward to the freedom of being able to blog on whatever area of interest I have and not be concerned if, a) I have met all of the criteria of an assessment rubric, or b) what I have to say might not be "worthy."  The fact that I now want to blog is a monumental mind shift for me.  The opening description to this blog states  Even though it goes against my natural inclination, I need to blog, so here goes ....

I now can appreciate the benefit of sharing my thoughts, not just for my own self awareness, but to contribute to a online social network - the strength in which is increased by connections and contributions.  At this point I have to give a shout out to my mate Wozza - it took a few years but I got there (even if I have stolen your idea of song quotes as a title)!

And as Mick Jagger said so well; "you can't always get what you want," but by crikey, I sure have got what I need!

Interdisciplinary connections: crossing boundaries and making connection

So here is a bubb.us map of my current interdisciplinary connections.  My future goal is to further develop the (magenta) connections of the HOD's of all of the learning areas at school to attempt to develop an "interdisciplinary way of thinking" along the lines of the Ross Spiral Curriculum from the video.

There is no denying the need for interdisciplinary and innovative teaching models to help our students develop the skills of critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and effective communication which we know they will need to be effective members of a more globally connected future workforce.  The challenge, of course, is to implement these authentic, real life, complex problem solving activities into the currently siloed curriculum and timetable structure of a high school.

Dr Deana McDonagh, Associate Professor from the University of Illinois explained simply that interdisciplinary studies "help students see the world more holistically rather than myopically."  This analogy resonates with me, I like the idea that each traditional subject area can be used as a lens through which students can view an aspect of an overarching theme, idea or complex problem.  I do think it can help students develop a greater global understanding or appreciation.  I see benefits for teachers as well - there is no better way to develop empathy and understanding of different subject area than looking at things from another teacher's point of view.  The idea of becoming "connected experts" rather than subject experts.

We are lucky at my current school to have been given a mandate to review the current curriculum and timetable structure.  The push has come from staff so we now have the opportunity to explore and research other options.  We have trialed aspects of the interdisciplinary model with our end of year, two week duration, "passion projects" and "big idea" groups.  The timetable is collapsed and the morning is devoted to students following an inquiry of their own choice, examples range from exploring 3D printing by constructing a printer; creating a travel website for teenagers, researching and building a bird feeder to encourage native birds into the school environment; right through to learning how to surf.  Individual staff mentor small groups of students with similar areas of interest.  The afternoon session is then a group project around a "big idea" an example of which have bee "How can we make a difference?"  The interdisciplinary opportunities in this model have been plenty, this challenge is now how can we move to a more in-depth approach which spans more than two weeks and involves senior students as well?

Mathison & Freeman (1997) identified interdisciplinary studies as a "stepping stone" towards Integrated (inquiry orientated, global issue driven) and then Iterative (theme driven but student and teachers partner in the curriculum design).  The reason it is considered a good place to start is that it "disturbs the current structure the least, so is more likely to be accepted."  So my goal is to work with the HOD's of all the curriculum areas to develop an integrated approach to the curriculum design specifically at the year 10 level.

Why year 10?  Two reasons, it is "pre" the senior school and from a current timetable point of view, all core subjects are blocked. 

Reasons we should be successful:

• Staff and students are familiar with thematic driven curriculum even though it has only been for 2 weeks periods.
• We currently have 8 out of a total of 28 staff who are completing the Mindlab PG course.
• There are less timetabling constraints because of the blocking of core "subjects."
• A culture of innovation is supported and being "future focused" for our students is one of 4 strategic priorities.

Potential problems:

• Although year 10 is "pre" the senior school we currently offer a lot of NCEA credits across a number of subject areas.
• Our school community have been very satisfied with the high rates of endorsement passes of our students so may be unwilling to welcome change.

So, is it worth the extra time, effort and no doubt, drama to pursue this plan?  Absolutely!  We owe it to our students to help develop the skills they are going to need rather than just provide the knowledge content of  each subject in isolation.  By teachers also having to experience it, students should be able to view the world through a variety of perspectives, as as Ian Dukes so succinctly put it:

Reference

Mathison,S.&Freeman, M. (1997). The logic of interdisciplinary studies.  Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1997.  Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/mathisonlogic12004.pdf:

Social Online Networks

So what social media do I use in my practice?  There are two main lens to look at this through: Professional Development; and Classroom use.
Let's take a look at the PD aspect first.  It is safe to say my social media use for PD has developed organically.  I first joined twitter while attending my first Ulearn conference in 2012.  I was completely overwhelmed at first.  I experienced FOMO in a big way, if I didn't constantly check twitter imagine what I was missing out on!  This early experience highlights one of the problems of social media use for PD identified by Karen Melhuish 2013 Masters Thesis: Online social networking and its impact on NZ educators' professional learning, which is information overload.  Other problems of lack of quality control and organisation also became apparent.  Yes I had to sift through posts and threads to find what I was after, then I discovered the power of the #tag and lists.  But really, the "luck of the draw" approach of gaining professional learning via twitter is similar to who you sit next to at a conference workshop or even which workshop you pick to attend.  There are some gems, but also a few duds.

What am I looking for in my professional learning from social online networks?  If I'm completely honest it is probably the affirmation of my practice - looking to see that what I am currently doing is in fact OK.  The danger in this is that I may then only be open to learning about and from people who hold a similar view to me.  What I hope actually happens is that if I see someone is doing something different or another way I am motivated to explore the potential benefits this approach may have for my students.  As the Innovative Pedagogy Report for the Open University observed one of the main drivers for teachers to explore online social networks is for new resources.  This is a enticing motivation to go searching.  One problem I have is that I tend to be a bit of a "lurker" when it comes to the online realm.  Although Karen Melhuish suggested that lurking did not mean non-learning, in the spirit of a community of practice it is not sustainable to only observe and 'take' resources, I should be contributing myself to add to the collection and dialogue, without which an online community might not survive.

The collaborative nature of being a "connected educator" is a real benefit of using online social networks for my PD.  The fact that the "experts" are the very participants in the network rather than a singular superior individual, can aid this collaboration.  The benefits of this collaborative approach have even been identified by NZQA who are now offering online "best practices" workshops for NCEA subject teachers to "engage in professional discussions with colleagues and the facilitator about interpreting the standard."

So if using social online networks is good enough for NZQA surely there is no excuse not to get involved.

"What ought I to do, all things considered?" (Allan Hall, 2001)

So the scenario has a teacher "loosing it" with a disruptive student in his class.  He is very frustrated with the boy and says a few things to him in the heat of the moment.  The student then reacts by swearing at the teacher and storming out of class.  The teacher files a report to the DP saying the student was disruptive, swore at him and left the class.  When the DP is in the process of investigating the incident the boy's parents ring to say that their son had his phone recording the incident (including the lead up from the teacher) and has played it for them.  The parents want the DP to hear the recording as "evidence"in their son's defense.

There is no denying that this situation raises some interesting ethical considerations.

Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educator: Facilitator’s Guide,poses the following considerations when working through ethical issues:

• “What possible issues/concerns might this scenario raise? 
• The teacher has not acknowledge his alleged contribution to the situation
• The recording was done covertly without the knowledge or consent of the teacher so can it be used as "evidence"?
• The behaviour of a student swearing at a teacher needs to be addressed
• How could this situation become a violation of the law, the “Code” or other school /district policies?
• Is the covert recording in breach of the Privacy Act 1993?
• What is the BOT privacy policy?
• Has the teaching code of ethics been breached in terms of the teacher's commitment to his learners?
• A school rule has been broken by the student by swearing and leaving class without permission.
• In this situation, what are some potential negative consequences for the teacher, for the students and the school community?
• If the recording is uploaded to social media there could be emotional harm on the teacher
• The potential publicity could reflect badly on the school and teaching community
• What responses/actions will result in a more positive outcome and/or what proactive measures might be considered?“ (p.7)

In answering this last consideration it is interesting to ponder one of Allan Hall's (2001) processes for exploring ethical problem solving:  Which stakeholders are given priority? Let's identify the main stakeholders in this situation, the boy, his parents, the teacher and the school.

I think the priority here is the teacher.  I do not think the DP can listen to the alleged recording as it is in breach of the teacher's privacy.  So what actions can be taken?

The DP can:

• explain to the parents why he cannot listen to the recording.
• Meet with the teacher to talk through the incident fully (and disclose that there is an alleged recording of it).  Help the teacher reflect on possible alternative management techniques for future situations and ascertain if further support or professional development is required.
• Meet with the student and parents to prepare them for a restorative practices meeting with the teacher
• Conduct a restorative practices meeting with the teacher, student and parents where the outcome is the repairing of the teacher and students relationship and an agreement the recording is deleted.

As a result of this situation the school involved has since updated their digital use and privacy polices. It does highlight to me the importance of preparing teachers for new ethical demands particularly with the increasing use of digital and online tools in the classroom.  Allan Halls reference to two important steps in helping teachers navigate this process really resonated with me.  He said we need to:

1. Raise teachers' ethical consciousness
2. Develop skills and strategies for exploring and solving ethical problems.

So, all things considered, what ought you do?

How culturally responsive is my practice?

Do I demonstrate a culturally responsive pedagogy?  Have to admit I wasn't completely sure what this truly meant.  After watching a Ed Talk on Cultural Responsive Pedagogy - Russell Bishop I believe it refers to having a "relationship centered education" focus where the relationship is based on both caring for the individual and caring that they are learning. I love the fact that it is all about relationships, it shows how true the quote below really is.

A common theme among the research around cultural responsive pedagogy by Gay (2002); Bucher (2008), Bishop, Berryman, Cavanagh & Teddy (2009) is that relationships are the key.  Teachers need to commit to knowing their students: "the teacher who acknowledges, respects and values students' identities and cultures is best prepared to build on these diverse perspectives" (TKI Senior Secondary).

Looking at the Six elements of Te Kotahitanga Effective Teacher Profile, I want to see how culturally responsive to Maori students my learning activities actually are:

1.       Manaakitanga – teachers care for their students as culturally located human beings above all else.

2.       Mana motuhake – teachers care for the performance of their students.

3.       Nga whakapiringatanga – teachers are able to create a secure, well-managed learning environment.

4.       Wananga – teachers are able to engage in effective teaching interactions with Māori students as Māori.

5.       Ako – teachers can use strategies that promote effective teaching interactions and relationships with their learners.

6.       Kotahitanga – teachers promote, monitor and reflect on outcomes that in turn lead to improvements in educational achievement for Māori students

Reflecting on these questions and the fact that I have a total of 5 Maori students across all year levels in my department, it becomes apparent that asking yourself these questions in terms of all learners will be beneficial to their learning. "Meeting the needs of individual students, regardless of whether they happen to belong to a particular ethnic or cultural group is the cornerstone of current thinking in education" (ERO: Priority learners in NZ schools)

I believe I strongly demonstrate aspects 2 through 6 of the Effective Teacher profile.  Where I need development is on the first point.  Yes I care for my students, I am deeply committed to their well being and academic performance in my classroom or homeroom.  But do I really see them in their cultural context?  Looking at the questions posed by  Te Toi Tupu's resource, "Pasifika: Participation Engagement, Achievement tool,"  am I using meaningful instructions that link to the students' prior experiences and backgrounds.  Unfortunately the answers are, not really.

So what can I do about this?  We have a growing number of international students coming to our school.  I need to invest time into getting to know all my students cultural backgrounds.  This knowledge will then need to be integrated into my teaching material.  Yes it will take time, but if I do truly care about each student it is an investment worth making.

If relationships are the key in the classroom, what about the school organisation as a whole? Do our vision, mission and core values reflect this?  Taking a look at our guiding principles from the strategic plan it would seem so:

Global connectedness, inclusive and collaborative community, and recognise the value of the Treaty of Waitangi are all mentioned.  Does this mean we are a culturally responsive school?  I believe in terms of the Mauiri Mode of self evaluation  we are Te Taunga o te Mauri Moe - State of Being of Mauri Oho.  We are being proactive: we have begun to participate, engage and interact; but we have some way to becoming E kokiri ana, where cultural responsiveness is at the forefront of all that we do as a school.  

We have a dedicated Director of International students; a dean of international students; a community prefect whose focus is on celebrating and showcasing the variety of cultures of our students; we start the school year with a Powhiri and a Hui for Maori families; have a dedicated Kapa Haka group - but Te Reo is only taught in years 7 and 8.

As a school we need to ensure that all our students "buy into the school" as well as the teacher.

The Impact of New Technologies on Education

Why should I care when I am teaching my class tucked away in sunny Hawke's Bay in little old New Zealand that  a report by the US national Intelligence Council on Global trends in 2012 state that Information Technology is entering the big data era?

Big data refers to the vast amount of information generated and collected by society with advancements with information technology.  A great clip by KPMG identifying the Future State 2030 Global Megatrends points out that 90% of the digital data available today was only created in the last 2 years.

In terms of Education, there is no argument that we can generate and have access to vast amounts of information on our learners.  With the predicted continual development of information technologies and in particular data solutions, it is important to ask whether education is keeping pace and making best use of these resources for our learners?

Using assessment information to know about, and plan for student learning has been identified as one of three key issues facing NZ learners by ERO. The report pinpoints that schools need to develop their capacity to utilise achievement data for monitoring students' achievement and for school self reviews. "If we want to make a difference to priority learners we need to engage in a more fine-grained analysis of what is happening for individual learners" (ERO 2012, pg 18).

So what sort of data do we have on our students? Let's take a look at an individual student here at school.  From the student management system Kamar I have access to: 

• Common assessment task results (PAT etc)
• NCEA performance
• Results for all school assessments
• Pathways (vocational) information
• Groups (co-curricular involvement)
• Awards gained
• Attendance statistics
• Pastoral records
• Medical notes
• Interviews around course selections
• Learning support programme if on Diverse needs register
• Special assessment conditions
• Principal's interview notes

From our online learning community Schoology I can also gather information around:

• When her assessments are due in all her courses
• How involved she has been in online class discussions
• What co-curricular activities she is interested in
• How long she has been logged into a course page and what were the main areas of interest for her
• When she last logged in

What a vast amount of information!  Do I use it all? Not always.  Does every staff member know how to access all the data? I don't think so. It is vitally important that we provide training and support to all our staff around how to access, and most importantly, how to use this data for the benefit of all students.  (You may have noted I used the term "staff member" as opposed to "teacher", this is because we have a number of non-teaching staff as homeroom mentors to our students).

So the amount of data is predicted to get even bigger.  Just having access to the information will not be enough - we need to develop systems to help educators make best use of the data to support our learners.  As the ERO report states: (focusing on data) "is an absolute necessity for  knowing about learners as individuals who possess interests, strengths and capabilities"  (ERO 2012, p.20).

And this is before we actual sit down and talk with our students ....

Current Professional Environment - school culture

The organisational culture is an invisible powerful force that influences the members’ behaviour.



When questioned about is it easier to be teaching in a "school like yours" I often to say it has different pressures to what I have experience in state schools of various deciles. Although there is a vast reduction in classroom management issues compared to some schools, the weight of expectation can be a large pressure. After reading Stoll's (1998) article on School Culture, I know understand that this is a manifestation of the schools' socioeconomic status.


Being a decile 9 state intergrated boarding school for girls aged year 7 to 13 the accompanying price level of the school fees can mean that the school community has a larger proportion of families from a relatively higher socioeconomc level than some schools. So are the parents expecting a certain culture? Absolutely. The marketing collateral (prospectus, website, student handbooks, facebook page etc) all refer to a student centered, caring school with traditional values but with a focus on the future. So is this stated culture reflected in the everyday goings on inside the school?


I do believe it is. Our professional environment is interesting to look at in terms of Stoll and Fink (cited in Stoll, 1998) influencing cultural norms with school improvement below:

I have heard, read or experienced most of these norms in my time here. Our current strategic plan focuses strongly on 1 through 8. I do think that we have room to develop 3 - collegiality and 9 - openness. We do operate with contrived collegiality where our collaborative working relationships are compulsory and imposed via set weekly meeting times. At a recent full staff brainstorming session prior to school starting, several references were made to wanting to develop and look after staff well-being, reintroducing a more social aspect and bring people together. Points were also raised about a desire to review the current timetable structure to allow for collaborative teaching and learning projects to occur. All great stuff to hear - and not just from the 'loudest voices'.


It will be interesting to see how we are able as a staff to reflect on these issue and come up with possible initiatives and solutions. The ability for this to happen will be a good test to see if our school culture is as embedded as we like to think it is.


Having said that I do believe there has been cultural change in the school in the six years I have been here. The 'invisible force' that influences the 'way we do things around here' (often referenced as "The Woodford Way") seems to be a less restrictive force than I first experienced (or have I become more conditioned)?! I do not think we would have 9 out of 28 teaching staff participating in the Mindlab course in it's first two intakes if our school culture was not committed to being truly student centred and future focused.


Is there room for improvement? Always. Why does culture exert such a powerful influence on a schools effectiveness? Because the culture tells people in school what is truly important and how they are to act. (Stolp & Smith, 1995). So we need to be sure that we know what is really important.

My Community of Practice

I like the definition of a community of practice explained as occurring in a  social context where things evolve around common goals and where newcomers can enter and attempt to learn the 'ways' of best practice within the group.

So what is my community of practice? Of the top 3 that come to mind: Mindlab Hawke's Bay, Facebook Group; Accounting Teachers' Google Group and Schoology Educators a common denominator is that they are all closed groups.  For the purposes of this blog I will be focusing of the Schoology educators CoP.  Wenger (2000) 3 key elements are are satisfied by:

• Joint enterprise: The shared domain of the schoology educators group is demonstrate by the members having a commitment to and a shared competency about schoology; which is an online social networking based learning management system (LMS). 
• Mutual engagement: the community is identified by joint discussions, sharing of resources, professional connects made and general help is given.  Because the members of this CoP come from all around the world, activities are happening frequently throughout the week.  An example is that someone can post a question to which others answer:

Or create a new separate group page for interested people to follow:

• Shared repertoire: a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in short a shared practice. The schoology educators group has been created as: "This is a place for our community of educators to come together to discuss the successes and challenges of teaching both inside and outside of the modern classroom". There are a treasure trove of useful hints, resources and best practice ideas within the group to assist new and existing user of the LMS.
• But it is a closed group so does it satisfy the true intent of a CoP?  If we look back to the definition opening this blog "newcomers can enter and attempt to learn the ways" I believe the Schoology Educators group is a CoP as the only reason it might be "closed" is that you have to sign up to schoology to have access.  

I do have a strong sense of connectedness with this group as I receive (and read) updates by others on a daily basis.  That said, I am somewhat of a observer.  I only contribute infrequently.  I am far more comfortable contributing to best practices with Schoology within my school in person, rather than on the international stage.

This is definitely my 'work on' area.  My reluctance to blog is based on a similar fear of "what do I know, why would anyone value what I have to say, what if I get it wrong?"