Changes in Practice

Reflecting on my 32 week journey is exciting as I consider where I began and where I have got to, after undertaking the most intense professional development so far in my teaching career.  One of the most exciting things though is how it has pulled all of the other PD I have engaged in together.  It has definitely been challenging at times, managing assignment deadlines with my classroom teaching and other professional responsibilities, trying to give time to my collaborative teaching partner as well as my colleague doing Mindlab with me, as well as juggling my busy family life.  But it has been rewarding and I can now see how much I have developed my professional knowledge as I have engaged with new learning and become a better teacher.  

Osterman and Kottklamp (1993) discuss how learning is most effective when the learner is actively involved in the process, when it has a purposeful context and when the learning is of a collaborative nature rather than done alone.  It is more likely they say, that there will be increased engagement from the learner and therefore be more effective. 

This is definitely the case for me personally and links well with Criterion 1 from the Practising Teacher Criteria (PTC) and eLearning: "Fully certified teachers establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga". I completed my Mindlab journey with a teaching colleague from my school.  Had I not done this I know that I would have not found it as purposeful.  We were able to collaborate throughout the process, share our ideas, learn from each other and have rich professional conversations around the content of the course. We also had the benefit of being able to link it with the context of our school and our learners.  This had great spin offs for us both personally and professionally. Being able to collaborate with all the other Mindlabber's and connections made through my online social networks has also been invaluable and something I hope to be able to carry on beyond 'Week 32".  

Since I began I am also now working in a collaborative teaching space and has required a huge shift in my practice which I believe this course has prepared me well for.  AS PTC Criteria 6 requires "Fully certified teachers conceptualise, plan, and implement an appropriate learning programme."  I now do all my planning collaboratively and on google Docs, engage in daily professional discussions around best practice related to my research and the BIGGEST change would be that our Teacher as Inquiry has now become much more of a living document and we engage with it at a much deeper level.  

Leading from that, I have focused much more on the 'why' of what I do rather than the 'what'.  Criteria 8 states that "Fully certified teachers demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn". In my year 2/3 class I now run a much more inquiry based literacy programme with strong links to developing their technology skills.  The students have much more choice around what they are learning about, whether they work alone or collaboratively at different times and their 21st century skills are being developed daily, particularly collaboration, communication, creativity and problem solving.  It has been exciting growing their digital literacy skills and it has pushed me to keep trying new things to keep up with their enthusiasm.

One thing I know after completing this course is that we have to change.  If school was still like it was 10-15 years ago we would struggle to engage our students of today.  And why should they be taught in the same way?   The world is different, technology has made a huge impact and will continue to do so as the world they will work in will look completely different to today. So my dream is to integrate a more future focused curriculum with my knowledge about what best teacher practice looks like and to keep sharing, leading and learning with my colleagues as two heads are better than one. 

And as my blog suggests.... I'm not there 'yet' ... but isn't that what teaching and learning is all about!

REFERENCES

Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California:Cornwin Press, Inc. Retrieved on 7th May, 2015 from http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files.

Ministry of Education (nd). Practising teacher Criteria and e-learning . Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/