Week 6 - MindLab

Tonight we discussed what makes a good leader? It is important to remember that leadership has a moral element.  You could be an effective leader but not necessarily a good leader.

Watched clip - "Ten Leadership Theories "- the more styles you know and apply into your own practice, the more rounded you are and the better you lead.

Theory is an analytical tool - you need to use more than one tool, applying aspects of many theories in your leadership style are more effective.  This generates your own unique style - the way in which you interpret theory in your own practice.

We completed an in class task on pedagogical leadership theory. https://docs.google.com/a/linwoodcollege.school.nz/document/d/1bIxEwKhDc4-0zNS5jWWdy8oWvTqg1-IK005iC6RRsq0/edit?usp=sharing Brian Hutching, Kerrie Stedman, Val Edwards and Jo Harris #MindLabCHCH

We looked at the links between theory, teaching style and attributes. They really are all intrinsically linked and we need aspects of all of them in our own teaching practice.

I enjoyed the discussion around Emotional Intelligence

Management - maintaining the status quo - focus on maintenance

Leadership- moving people from one place to another -focus on innovation and change

Looked at difference of ...

Sympathy - can be done without emotion, you feel sorry for them,

Empathy- ability to stand in someone else’s shoes, feeling with them, feels connection, perspective taking, it’s a vulnerable choice

Compassion - has an action component. Rarely can a response make something better - connection is what makes a difference/makes it better.

Our next in class task was to use PicLab to create three images that portray these emotional intelligences ... always a bit of a laugh doing these tasks.

This led me to think about children in my class who really lack these skills and how this affects there ability to learn effectively.

I find that increasingly children present at school with a lack of empathy for others. How do we develop these skills in our students? A challenge many of us face and definitely something we need to discuss further.

Provocation - what is connected learning?

creating connections between students, student agency, connections to culture/communities.  It works a many levels.  Technology connects you to other sources of learning information/sources.  

Why Connected Learning?

Connecting learning to real world engagement.  Making learning accessible. There is a widening gap between the haves and have nots.  This is how kids are getting ahead outside of the school community with the advantage of technology in their home lives.  Technology allows for wider access to personal learning.  But sometimes young people don’t have social or emotional skills to access them.

In our groups, we discussed "How could the learning of our students be more social, participatory, interest-driven and relevant to the opportunities of our time?"

This linked in really well with our recent Digital Assignment.

We created this infographic to depict what we thought. We felt that relationships, engagement and challenge were important.

Connectivism

We watched George Siemens video about value of blogging.  

We connect knowledge and knowledge resides in networks.  We connect socially in a networked world and knowledge is then a network product. Networks function at many levels. Learning is not static - it is adaptive.

We had to reflect on our own personal learning environment and create a visual representation of it and our learning network.

My learning comes from a huge range of networks. I feel that at this moment in my life I am learning more than ever, about myself and my practice. That's a good thing. I feel too, that I am becoming a more reflective practitioner.

The power of collaboration is having a big impact on me, particularly in my classroom - now working in a collaborative teaching space. I am enjoying this journey.