Current issues in my professional context

Current issues in my professional context

Whakatauki:

He waka eke noa

A canoe which we are all in with no exception.

Socioeconomic status of my community

The school in which I primarily work has the Decile Rating 8.  In Aotearoa /New Zealand decile ratings are based on census data for households with school-aged children within each school’s catchment area. The information is formulated against income, occupations and education of parents, how many people per household and parents on an assisted income.

I am interested in the shift towards a risk index for funding rather than a decile rating as we currently rely on school organisations like the Parent Teacher Association (P.T.A.) to provide extra resourcing. The risk index currently being proposed by the government will provide for the student needs within the school. The decile rating is often not indicative of the real picture of needs within a school. It does not take into account families with ORS or high needs students, the level of household debt prevalent in many of our homes, or the shift in employment or income that can happen within the five year interval of a census.

School Community

Our school is under a Ministry imposed enrolment scheme. This means that when our roll reaches a particular number then only children who live within our school zone, or who have siblings currently enrolled at our school,  are permitted to enrol. This creates some difficult conversations at times as we are considered a desirable school to attend.

Our school community has a strong history of support for the school with a proactive P.T.A. and effective Board of Trustees. Parents readily involve themselves with extra curricular activities and class excursions. Every year we hold a Grandparents Day that is attended by extended whanau from beyond our immediate community. We hold a community hangi every second year that is attended by the majority of families and in the alternate year we have an evening picnic/ barbeque and games night. We want, and strive for, an engaged relationship with our community.

We have stable staffing and this provides a strength within the school. Our Principal is a proponent of lifelong learning and this applies to staff as well as to students.  An area in here that I think could be developed further is in encouraging and engaging our parents and whanau as lifelong learners.

Our student cohort is at the centre of everything we strive for. We believe that we are all in this together and that we are all striving for success. This is evident in the student voice collected throughout the year as part of our appraisal process. Students vocalise their learning goals, personal, cultural and academic. We also recognise that some of our students and their families have many material advantages that others do not. Part of our work is around building a sense of equity and a social conscience.

Organisational Culture

I believe that the norms described by Stoll (1998 ) are embedded within the culture of our school but we work constantly to maintain this. We hold high expectations of ourselves as teaching professionals and of our students. We seek to build relationships first and to educate the children in both academic areas and the key competencies. We have had two consecutive Education Review Office (E.R.O.) reports with a five year review cycle.

Each week we hold professional learning community meetings focussing on developing our understanding and application of curriculum, teaching as inquiry, and curriculum review. As a staff and school community we are always aiming for improvement. There is a consistent cycle of review in curriculum and of teaching and learning programmes.

We believe strongly in the biculturalism of Aotearoa/New Zealand and provide a range of opportunities for Māori students and all students to develop in te reo and tikanga Māori.  This includes all staff and students being expected to be able introduce themselves with their pepeha or mihimihi, language development classes (He Kakano) and kapa haka, the development of key units from a Māori perspective, and an expectation that students and staff will use and respond to basic classroom commands and greetings, and include basic te reo within their written work.

At no time do we ever feel that we have ‘arrived’. Every student brings with them an ever changing kaleidoscope of need, expectation, and next steps.

References:

School Deciles Sourced from http://www.education.govt.nz/school/running-a-school/resourcing/operational-funding/school-decile-ratings/

Stoll. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture

Digital Collaboration & Leadership - Session 3

Titiro whakamuri, kokiri whakamua
Look back and reflect so we can move forward.

Eric Martini is ahead of his time.  Five or six years ago Eric worked in my classroom to introduce the idea of augmented reality and the app he used was 'Aurasma'.  We used it with students so that they could create mathematical treasure hunts.  It was a really successful and engaging programme and then I never used it again and only a couple of students went on to select it for further work. Last night the possible uses for the app came flooding back and have left me thinking clearly about where augmented reality could be incorporated within teaching and learning next term. Which left me thinking again about Eric. who now runs 'Techspace' in Greymouth: a place where children of all ages can be introduced to computer coding, augmented and virtual reality experiences, 3-D printing, and the 'internet of things'. Why am I not utilising that resource too?

Thinking about the reading on "Conditions For Classroom Technology Innovation" I was struck by how familiar the process of implementation was even though the article was approximately fifteen years old. Which also reminded me of the 'personalities' talked about last week that seem to be ever present within organisations undergoing change and innovation. There is struggle within change, challenge within change, and a need for the critical thinkers and sceptics to be vocal so that change, if it is truly innovative and effective, can be held up to the light to show the watermark of quality and legitimacy. I would be more concerned by change that occurs in a culture of apathetic resignation; that passive reluctance could clear a path for a level of evolutionary change over which there is no control and within which we are subsumed.

Digital Collaboration and Leadership Session 2

Whakatauki:
Titiro whakamuri, kokiri whakamua
Look back and reflect so we can move forward.
It is true, this is a digital world and I teach and learn within that world. And yet all of the technological skills that I have gained have been developed alongside my students, often because of them and through them.

I guess that I can wear the hat of  'early adopter'. I always saw myself undertaking a new learning challenge from the perspective of someone who saw the idea and wanted to go from A through to Z without too much fretting on the remaining 24 points of contact. I just assumed that as I arrived at destination B or C or Q I would figure it out at the time. That attitude has been pivotal to stepping into the digital classroom I teach in. I have assimilated my love of people, learning, communicating and creating into the digital world in so many aspects of my life that now it would be difficult (but not impossible) to think of working in a classroom without technology and the tools that technology allows into the classroom to support teaching and learning.  And yet I know that I have only skimmed the surface at this point.

When I reflect on the area of my 21st Century skills I would like to focus on I think that it would be to develop greater levels of student agency. It is always a delight to watch students awaken, to see them recognise within themselves innate abilities and to see new skills build increased capability and confidence.

I think that my students would agree that this is a suitable challenge for me and for them, and they would think that they could take on that challenge. They are Year 7 & 8 students in a full primary and developing student agency and leadership within the peer group could enhance their sense of self as they transition through to secondary school.

Digital Collaboration and Leadership Session 1

Whakatauki:
Titiro whakamuri, kokiri whakamua
Look back and reflect so we can move forward.

Revelations occur in the oddest moments: on Wednesday 23rd March at approximately 4.45p.m. I recognised my inner geek had stretched and yawned and sat up straight.  Later that evening, at about 7.45p.m. I had to acknowledge that not only was the inner geek awake but it was driven by timeframes! My perception of myself as a spontaneous human being was being challenged.

I love words... lush, sentient, capricious language that conjures up images and understanding, and provokes emotion and collaboration. And on that night I was gifted three... epistemology, ontology, and axiology. Delicious.

Then a task; to collaboratively create a visual representation of our understanding of what knowledge is and what the purpose of education is. This was when I recognised that timeframes matter to me. Who knew! I had previously thought that I worked within that zone of positive stress and last minute attention to tasks. Strange how that approach can feel like a foray into asphyxiation when you are relying on the team to move in unison towards the zero minute on an automated count down clock.

With regard to meeting the time frame... we did not quite manage this. However kudos to Gina who took it upon herself to complete the task for the group later that evening. So this is Mindlab eh? Collaborative, creative, communicative, critical thinking... and clocks! Oivay!