Key Change in Reflective Practice

Step 1 (What): Identify one key change in your professional practice

Over the time of participating in Mindlab, my job has changed and I moved from a classroom teacher to a Deputy Principal/SENCo.  This meant that I could not always have access to children to trial new things I had learned over the course.  However, I found the leadership portion of the course very helpful.  I have chosen the Standard Professional Learning as I have had to begin to see our learners from a different place, especially in my SENCo role in working with children and their families with challenging learning and behaviour needs.

Step 2 (Now what): Evaluate the identified change

It has been interesting to step back and see our learners as a whole, large group rather than just my class or my team - how they interact with different teachers, how their teachers work alongside them and their families to find best outcomes.  I have had to do a lot of reading and professional development on a number of topics related to my SENCo role - behaviour management, autism courses, readings on dyslexia, workshops on the role of the SENCo, etc.  

I have had to learn to not work alongside my team that I was part of last year, but also the other teams within the school and how they work with their children.  I work at a full primary so this has been children aged 5 to 13 years.  I have also had to learn to set up and put in place systems to work with the teachers and children so that I could help meet as many needs as possible.

To do this, I focussed my Literature Review and my follow up inquiry around my new role and have shared it with my appraisor - we are planning for it to be an ongoing part of my appraisal for this year.  It has helped to focus our talks and my job,

When I took over the SENCo role, there was no system for identifying children (for either behaviour or learning), no way of tracking them through their years at our school, little follow up with teachers and scant paperwork kept on what had been done for these children in the past. Children had fallen through gaps in the system and not received any support or very little, and teachers were feeling very unsupported and felt they couldn't get the help they needed - "we'll just monitor them".  It has been difficult to set this up while in the position, but this is where my inquiry has helped - as I based it around the key competencies and linked them to leadership, it meant I could manage myself (workload), build relationships with others (team leaders, MOE service contact, health nurse, SWIS, etc), understand new ways of doing things (the language of the many forms I now need to complete), and finally participating and contributing - running meetings, organising behaviour plans alongside families and teachers, and using PD and readings I had done to help inform teacher's practice.

At this stage, I have collated a list of all the children who are identified as having learning and behaviour needs, and have begun gathering data on these children - who has funding, what support they recieve or should recieve, working with teachers to create independent learning or behaviour plans.  My appraisor and I are now looking into a points system to allocate children onto a priority list as we have a roll of 660 and there are approximately 120 children on the SENCo register.  

I have discovered that every teacher believes their classroom is the most important and has the most needs, so we are also looking at talking to them about the role of the SENCo as they are unaware of this, and also going over the register with them - who is on it, how children end up on it etc.  At present they seem to expect just to mention a name and a magic button can be pushed to fix their problem.  

Step 3 (What next) Share your next plan regarding your future professional development or your future practice.

For the future, the principal and I have set some targets for the expectations of SENCo children and are working through these.  As it is a learning process, we are making changes and decisions as we go.  I have had some great feedback from teachers about the support they are getting which is great!

I am also very keen to build relationships with family and whanau which I believe is very important.  

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness in my Practice

Step 1 (What): What is your understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness and what are the two of the areas mentioned above that you want to focus on for discussion?

I really enjoyed the video by Russell Bishop as we had just been discussing cultural responsiveness and deficit theorising today when applying for Professional Development funding for our school maths programme.

I particularly liked his 6 traits
- caring for Maori as Maori
- caring for the performance of Maori and setting high expectations
- managing a class pedagogy that promotes interactions with Maori and provide academic feedback and feedforward
- using a range of strategies effectively
- using evidence of student performance where both the teacher and students are fully aware of what they can do and what their next steps will be.

We found, as we analysed last years maths data to help identify target children for 2018, that there was evidence of some Maori children being identifed as below or well below despite having the same or similar scores to Pakeha children.  We have also recently review the school wide literacy data and it was concerning that when teachers were asked to identify what could be done to support these children and to decide on some next steps, many of the teachers talked about the children's home life, lack of support from parents and needing to get whanau/family on board.  Some were not able to identify what they as teachers needed to do in the classroom.

I also like how this video made me reflect on how it linked to my previous blog post on contemporary trends in New Zealand where I discussed the introduction of innovative learning environments.  These are very much based around contextual learning and students being able to being their passions to the classroom as a basis for their learning.  As this is the concept in many ILE, does this mean Maori should thrive and who is collecting the data on this? 

Step 2 (So what): Evaluate your practice or your school practice in light of one of the following frameworks or use another one that you are familiar with.
I recently had the opportunity to talk to a Maori colleague and we discussed the concept of ILE and his concerns about Maori learning in this type of environment - it was interesting as he was impressed by the contextual learning he saw but was struggling as a teacher who has always had to teach using a traditional model.  I enjoyed taking part in the survey as it made me think about where I stood.

I also enjoyed reading about the Mauri Model and seeing how this linked my thoughts and feelings to the conversation I had with my colleague.  Mauri Moe has two levels: the first level is an inactive state which can be thought of as “being dead” and the second level is proactive potential which can be described as a “sleep” state.Mauri Oho is the state of being proactive, being awaken from the Mauri Moe.Mauri Ora is the state of being actively engaged.

I feel that I was in a bit of a sleep state.  As a teacher and now as a Deputy Principal/SENCo at a school with a high percentage of Maori students, I liked to think that I was responsive to Maori children in my class and who I worked with.  I was very aware of not making excuses by using deficit theories.  However I feel after the above discussion, I began to move into Mauri Oho - and started to see how I could be more proactive in my dealings with whanau and children.

Step 3 (What next) What might you or your school need to consider or take action on to move up to the next level of cultural responsiveness? What are the next steps?

Our school is currently in the process of applying for professional development in maths and one of the things we need to look at is cultural responsiveness.  I have already forwarded Russell's video talk to our principal as I thought it was really relevant, especially as we identified the deficit theorising going on with some of our teachers.  I think that as a school with a high percentage of Maori students, but also with a high percentage of staff from non-indigenous cultures, we need to be very aware of being more culturally responsive.

References

Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

Pohatu, T. W. (2011). Mauri - Rethinking human wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.review.mai.ac.nz/index.php/MR/article/v... 

Contemporary Trends in New Zealand or Internationally

Step 1 (What)
The Impact of the Emerging Trend of ILE on Current Traditional Practices
Our school is currently looking at improving ways that students learn.  We currently have 27 stand alone, traditional classrooms and there is no chance at the moment of having an innovative learning space built due to roll numbers (although these are increasing rapidly!)

We also wanted to stop the year 6 children leaving our full primary to attend the local intermediate school.  Many of these parents thought that by attending this intermediate, which has no zone, that their children would be guaranteed entry into the neighboring college, despite our school children being out of the college zone.  Some parents also felt that the Intermediate prepared their children better for secondary education.  A plan was put into place to create an Academy where the single cell classrooms would be used in a different way, incorporating some of the ideas of innovative learning spaces.  Daggett (2014) talks about this as traditional mass delivery versus application based learning.  

The Academy is going well, but it is a work in progress and I think the school needs to think about how this will inform teaching and learning in other year levels of the school.

Step 2 (So What)
How does this trend impact New Zealand education?
All new builds in New Zealand schools are new based on the concept of Innovative Learning Environments (previously known as Modern Learning Environments).  On a recent trip to Christchurch, I was able to visit a number of these new schools - all with different formats, layouts and approaches to teaching and learning.  All were trying to find their way in new approaches to teaching and learning.  Daggert (2014) refers to the resistance managing change can cause where deep seated traditions are challenged.  The question of why the Ministry of Education is building this way is interesting - did it really begin as a way to finance new building in a more economic way, or was it to truly enhance teaching and student learning?

The Christchurch schools and similar schools in Auckland are having to re-look at instructional programmes to ensure students are given every opportunity to improve outcomes.  All the schools talked about the mindset of the teachers being a big part of the change.  Often the changes and innovations were happily taken on by the Early Adopters, but others were slower to change.  Some, like myself, grew up in the days of "open plan classrooms" and are wary of them being a passing fad.  Others are quite rightly concerned about how these spaces and way of learning will affect children with learning difficulties and special needs (academic, physical, emotional, etc).

Daggert (2014) shares the following diagram as a guide to school management in supporting change:

In short, instructional leaders need to provide tools, guidance, support and professional development to help teachers shift their instruction and expectations from Quadrant A to Quadrant D.

Step 3 (Now What)
Critique and evaluate practice in the context of different audiences
There needs to be a change in mindset amongst teachers about where we want innovative learning environments and the type of teaching that fits best in these to go.  Is it time to think not about ourselves and what we are used to, what is traditional, what we did when we were at school and to put our students at the forefront?

When in Christchurch and talking to the staff in the ILE, there seemed to be little data collected on how these were working, if they were indeed improving student outcomes long term, and if this type of more independent learning was effective for learners.  Daggert (2014) stresses the importance of data to monitor student growth and effectiveness of instructional practice and it is surprising that there is so little information on outcomes so far.  Is this because for the Ministry of Education, this is merely a cheap way to build?  Teachers have a lot on their plates - less trainees are enrolling into teacher training programmes, some areas are desperately short of teachers - do we really want a waffly innovation that no one knows why it was instigated or whether it is worthwhile?  I saw some amazing ideas in Christchurch and some innovative teachers who really wanted the best outcomes for their students.  Lets hope this will be the driver of innovative learning rather than the mighty dollar.


References
Daggett, B. (2014). Addressing Current and Future Challenges in Education. Retrieved from http://www.leadered.com/pdf/2014 MSC_AddressingCurrentandFutureChallenges.pdf

Using Social Online Networks in Teaching or Professional Development

The use of social media in education is becoming more prevalent.  It allows students to access useful information or resources, connect with learning groups, and gives them an opportunity to take part in a flipped classroom where they can benefit from online tutorials or workshops.

Descriptive: 
In my classroom last year, I used the social media platform of Twitter to engage my year 3/4 class in reading.  Each term a novel was allocated to be read to the class and each week activities were allocated to cover the chapters that were being read.  There was also the opportunity to create our own activities to show what learning the children gained from the text.

This was quite challenging at first.  Our school at that point did not allow children to skype and any social media was blocked.  This required getting permission to participate, letting the parents know what would be happening, and getting access to Twitter from school devices.  Another challenge was that the class of 24 children had access to six mini laptops and two classroom computers - collaborative learning would be required.  At this stage the school had wireless broadband running which could sometimes lag or not work so I was initially a little nervous.  The Twitter component happened each Friday between 10 and 11am and involved the children answering questions about the text and uploading activities they had completed.

A lot of skill teaching needed to take place before the first tweets went out and I admit I was very nervous as to what some may type!  We set up a system that all tweets needed to be approved by the teacher and this did work from week 1.

My main concern at the beginning of the experience was how this was going to fit around our traditional reading programme and how would it all be done in time for each Friday session!

Comparative

Before starting using Twitter and Chapter Chat, I researched exactly what was involved (device wise and input from children).  I followed some of the other classes and talked to some teachers who had been part of this social media learning in previous terms. 

The first two Chapter Chats were a steep learning curve - having 24 children tweeting simultaneously for an hour had me running off my feet - especially as each week at least one device would decide it didn't want to participate.  I was concerned that it would take over the learning of the normal reading programme as the activities for each week needed to be slotted into the timetable, as did the preparation for and participating in the weekly tweet sessions.

We also found that in the first week, the children found it difficult and time consuming to wait for the questions to come up on the twitter feed, to discuss the question, frame and answer and then type their tweet (reply).  There was also a lot of time spent practising typing skills and checking for grammatical errors.

Critical Reflection

After initially deciding to trial Chapter Chat for one term, our class become regulars - taking part for over 18 months and reading a lot of books together.  After my initial reservations, using this form of social media in my classroom provided only benefits for the children.  

• They became better typists
• They were more critical and caring of their published work
• Their reading comprehension improved - learning to read a question on a text, discuss possible answers and then formulate an answer they all agreed with as a full sentence
• Their enjoyment in reading grew - they loved to re-read the chapter chat text independently and there was always a queue to borrow it
• Reading a range of different authors opened their minds to these authors and they would source books by the same authors to read themselves - some sequels to the original texts and some stand alone texts.

I would certainly participate in this sort of learning again and would highly recommend any teacher taking part in Chapter Chat.

Influence of Law and Ethics in Practice

Erich, et al (2011) propose a process which helps stakeholders to work through an ethical dilemma.  This includes 

1. Identifying the critical incident, the trigger;
2. The forces which impact on decision-making;
3. The values, beliefs, and ethical orientations of each individual involved;
4. A choice (this could involve action or not)
5. The implications for the individual, organisation and the community created by the action or non-action

Erich et al, 2011

It is interesting that, after going though this process, the implications could be that another ethical dilemma could arise.  This indicates that ethical dilemma are ongoing and can trigger other dilemmas, perhaps with different individuals or other parts of the community.

Example from own practice

The Dilemma/Trigger:

Two girls in the school (one year 8, one year 5) had been on and off friends for some time.  There had been incidences of bullying at school and online.  Recently, the girls relationship soured again and they had to be restrained from fighting in the playground.  As a consequence, the girl's parents had to be contacted - it was at this point that the mother of the younger girl mentioned she had been contacted by the older girl in what she believed was an inappropriate way.  We also discovered that the older girl's aunt had verbally abused the younger girl after school the day before.  

The Forces which Impact on Decision Making:

The stakeholders in this dilemma were (a) the girls, (b) their respective parents, (c) the classroom teachers of the girls, (d) the management of the school.

The school needed to take care that they dealt with all parties in a fair and equitable manner, listening to the concerns of all parties.  We also had to take into account the ongoing school relationship of the girls and how their day to day interactions going forward could be managed.

The mother who had received the messages from the older girl was happy to share these with the school, and did admit that if she had not replied to the messages, then perhaps things might not have escalated further.

The Values, Beliefs and Ethical Consideration of all Parties:

Each parent believed that their child was in the right.  As stated earlier, there had been previous interactions between the girls but unfortunately their stories did not match up.  Both sets of parents were very vocal about their opinions of the other girl.  The school had to take care to ensure both parties stories were heard and valued, while trying to get to the bottom of the issues.  At this point both mothers were happy to keep in contact with the school.

The Choice

The school kept both parties informed of what was happening and had been discussed and disclosed, this included the messages from the older girl to the younger girl's mother.  A plan was discussed with the younger girl and her mother to build friendships with other children her age, so that she had other children to play with, and also how to handle situations that occurred with the older girl if things soured again in the playground.  The school also advised the older girl's mother that a family member had verbally abused the younger girl in the school playground.  

Implications for Individuals, the School and the Community

After the mother of the older girl was informed of the messages sent to the other mother, and also of a family member being verbally abusive on school grounds, she declined to discuss the matter further.  This makes it difficult for the school in (a) solving the problem to everyone's satisfaction and (b) keeping a good relationship with families in our community.

In future, perhaps it would be better to get all parties into the school to discuss a situation like this together, rather than relying on telephone conversations or an opportunity to only meet with one of the parties involved.

Ehrich, L. C. , Kimber M., Millwater, J. & Cranston, N. (2011). Ethical dilemmas: a model to understand teacher practice, Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 17:2, 173-185, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2011.539794