Activity 10 : Your Postgraduate Learning Journey and your plan for the future

My journey with the Mindlab is at an end with regards to this postgraduate programme, but my journey as a practicing teacher feels like it is just beginning as I continue to research, reflect and put into practice my learnings from this course.

The practising teacher criteria as set out by the Ministry of Education (nd.) states that there are 12 Practising Teacher Criteria and e-learning areas, which are listed below. For the purpose of this activity I have highlighted 3 of the criteria that I have met well , together with two of the criteria that I feel I need to plan for, to aid in my future development.

12 Practising Teacher Criteria and e-learning areas:

Professional relationships and professional values

• Criteria 1: Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all ākonga.
• Criteria 2: Demonstrate commitment to promoting the well-being of ākonga.
• Criteria 3: Demonstrate commitment to bicultural partnership in Aotearoa / New Zealand.
• Criteria 4: Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional personal practice.
• Criteria 5: Show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning.

Professional knowledge in practice

• Criteria 6: Conceptualise, plan, and implement an appropriate learning programme.
• Criteria 7: Promote a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment.
• Criteria 8: Demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn.
• Criteria 9: Respond effectively to the diverse and cultural experiences and the varied strengths, interests, and needs of individuals and groups of ākonga.
• Criteria 10: Work effectively within the bicultural context of Aotearoa NZ.
• Criteria 11: Analyse and appropriately use assessment and information, which has been gathered formally and informally.
• Criteria 12: Use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice.

The criteria that I have met well

Criteria 5

Fully registered teachers show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning.
Key indicators:

• Actively contribute to the professional learning community.
• Undertake areas of responsibility effectively.

I have always been the ICT leader within the school but it was not until I carried out the ‘Leadership in Digital & Collaborative Learning’ module that I really began to understand what it meant to lead, what model our school was based on and what a complex area this was to study and try to get right.

I have used my new found knowledge of the distributive and transformational models to help guide me in my role as ICT leader and feel that I am leading the school in a more positive way. I feel that I have the backing of the staff more than I ever did before, as I try to lead by example, motivate, inspire and distribute the decision making more fairly as well, all the while guiding.

I has also joined the virtual learning network, seek help and support from social media sites as well as interacting with others from my  professional connections as I try to steer our school on its e-learning journey.

Criteria 7 & 8
Criteria 7

Fully registered teachers promote a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment.
Key indicators:

• Demonstrate effective management of the learning setting which incorporates successful strategies to engage and motivate ākonga/learners.
• Foster trust, respect, and cooperation with and among ākonga/learners.

Criteria 8

Fully registered teachers demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn.
Key indicators:

• Enable ākonga/learners to make connections between their prior experiences and learning and their current learning activities.
• Provide opportunities and support for ākonga/learners to engage with, practise and apply new learning to different contexts.
• Encourage ākonga/learners to take responsibility for their own learning and behaviour.
• Assist ākonga/learners to think critically about information and ideas and to reflect on their learning.

Through my studies at the Mindlab and my subsequent readings I became very aware of just how important ‘student centred learning’ was seen to be. In all of the modules, student centred learning and student/teaching learning partnerships have been referenced by either the course notes, the lecturer, myself or the research. Although aware of these terms before the course ( I had been trying to incorporate ‘Locus of Control’ into the classroom), it was not until the Mindlab studies that I became more knowledgeable and aware of just how important these pedagogies or philosophies were, to replicate in a school environment.

I most certainly had not given the Key Competencies much recognition before this course either, and can only reflect back with incredulity as to the lack of importance that I gave to them.

Through the use of the above new found knowledge I have been able to set up collaborative learning environments through the use of Google Apps which I integrated throughout the school. I am now more readily able to tap into students interests using Google Forms to survey them and then set them work based on their interests. I am unafraid to learn alongside them and have learnt what vast knowledge and skills that they have.

We use Class Dojo, the key competencies and newly formulated literacy and maths progressions to track our behaviour and learning goals. Through the Applied Practice in Context unit I have read and learnt about reflection and have been working with the children on how to better reflect on their learning. The learning partnerships have fostered trust between the students and myself. The children have a much greater level of input into what they want to/need to learn, which enables them to feel motivated and engaged more than they ever were before.

This sounds like an idyllic classroom with a perfect teacher. It is not. However, I now have more tools and knowledge to integrate into my classroom, and more skills to transfer this knowledge into new learning areas. I am able to reflect with more depth and meaning and feel that I have used both digital and traditional methods and skills to meet the points highlighted within each of the criteria above, with at least a small measure of success.

Future Goals

Criteria 1

Fully registered teachers establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all ākonga. (Ākonga is inclusive of all learners in the full range of settings.)
Key indicators:

• Engage in ethical, respectful, positive, and collaborative professional relationships with:
  • ākonga/learners
  • teaching colleagues, support staff, and other professionals
  • whānau and other carers of ākonga/learners
  • agencies, groups, and individuals in the community.

‘Developing relationships with parents/whānau and the wider community’ is the area of importance that I wish to concentrate on when looking at one of my future focussed goals as I already feel that I am on track in the area of ‘developing relationships with my students’ using e-learning tools’, that this criteria also mentions.

Establishing on-going relationships and interaction between home and school is a vital component in a child’s learning. In the past I have relied on telephone calls and parents evenings/meetings to discuss a child’s progress but there are so many tools now available to meet this need and I am only just start to utilise these.

I am currently developing a class website which I intend to be used by both students to support their learning and by parents to understand how best to support their child’s learning at home. It is in development. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have also started using Class Dojo as a way of keeping my parents abreast of the learning and contacting them all in group emails when I have to reach all of them at once.

However, this is the tip of the iceberg. I need to research into how to use blogs, wikis and other forms of social media effectively to reach all parents more effectively. I then need to transfer this new knowledge to other teachers and areas of the school so that we have a consistent way of communicating with our extended community rather only having maybe one or two classrooms working in this ‘e-learning’ way.

E-Portfolios are also high on my agenda to integrate into the school environment. My vision is to have all of the students evidence of meeting the standards available in digital format, to which all teachers (and parents) can access, as they move up through the years. Currently this is largely paper-based and is not conducive to keeping parents in the loop and teachers appraised of the academic history and evidence of work, as students move up into new classes year on year.

Criteria 10

Fully registered teachers work effectively within the bicultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Key indicators:

• Practise and develop the relevant use of te reo Māori me ngā tikanga-a-iwi in context.
• Specifically and effectively address the educational aspirations of ākonga Māori, displaying high expectations for their learning.

How can I better meet the needs of my Maori and Pasifika students through the use of ICT and e-learning? This is probably my weakest area as a teacher and the most important challenge that I need to meet as I move forward with my teaching career.

This criteria looks to have several important resources that I wish to plunder in my goal of better understanding how the indigenous students in my class learn and how best I can communicate effectively with my indigenous parents and draw them into their child’s learning effectively.

I need to understand how the New Zealand education system performs for my indigenous students, what motivates and inspires them, how they learn best and how e-learning solutions could facilitate their learning.
This criteria references how the use of creating ibooks and how blended learning can be used for these students. It also seems to provide a wealth of resources online and suggests how the Virtual Learning Network (VLN) can be used to help support my journey in catering for these students and their whanau.

Conclusion
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I hope this final blog post has demonstrated to some degree the new found knowledge I have gathered while studying this course and am utilising in the classroom to help support my children as 21st century learners. I also hope that I have made clear the two areas that I feel the most important to focus on when referencing the ‘Practising Teacher Criteria and e-learning’ guidelines’, as I take the next step in my teaching career. It is an exciting journey and one that I relish as I continue along this path with both my students and extended community.

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