Experimenting Digitally

Over the past 32 weeks during my journey with MindLab I have made some discoveries in my teaching and in myself. I personally, have found the balance of study and teaching tricky to manage. Coming into this experience I was excited to continue with more study and open my horizons in relation to digital technologies. I saw this course as an opportunity to further more growth as a teacher, especially since digital technologies is a rare strength within my school. I wanted to grow on my strengths and help myself to understand it further as to how I might incorporate technology more into my teaching practice, classroom and the wider school/community. As a management unit holder expectations were put around me and with no one else willing to take the course, out of fear that it would be beyond them, I knew I had to learn more to be able to reassure these other teachers. As part of the Teaching Criteria, the fifth criteria is to show leadership that contributes to effective teaching an...

Initially, I had no understanding around this concept and needed to try and research what this all meant. The biggest contributor to educating me on the subject was actually the blogs from some of my MindLab peers, along with the support of relevant videos. Image retrieved from  https://talkinghumanities.blogs.sas.ac.uk/files/2015/05/Untitled-2.jpg Although it was a real struggle for me to identify an example of interdisciplinary in my own teaching practice. The best example I could formulate was that I work within a Syndicate team made up of myself and two other teachers. Across this team we plan together, especially around topic/inquiry learning and we look to divide our students based on interest, strengths, weaknesses and learning styles amongst the three of us over the afternoon periods several times a week. We each play a part in the planning. We collate activities, lessons and parts of unit plans to provide a starting point for our students. Each teacher is involve...

Ramstad (2017) emphasises that as technology continues to advance that education also must attempt to adapt. He also uncovered that a recent survey had identified that there were 4.8 billion people in the world that owned a mobile device, however, only 4.2 billion owned a toothbrush. This exemplified the need, popularity and value that is currently placed around social media in people's lives. As a teacher I have experimented and dabbled in various forms of social media, not always in my teaching, but usually as a tool to support my teaching. I use Facebook mainly for personal reasons but do tend to explore groups that relate to my teaching like NZ Primary Teachers. I understand the ongoing discussions that stress the growing list of negatives around the boundaries of using Facebook, especially when the home and school pathways cross over. Based on this specific argument I have chosen to utilise the use of the Salford School Facebook page. I am cautious and alert to parental frie...

As educators we seem to pride ourselves on the topic of ethics and are continually tip-toeing to avoid the possibility of overstepping into a situation we cannot come back from. The easiest mistake many people can make in the workforce, especially in teaching, revolves around the accessibility that is promoted through social media sites such as, Facebook. A harmless like of a post or a few photos tagged with your name and face seems like no big deal, just another part of collecting life experiences and communicating with friends. However, it takes just one mutual friend or a direct friend to be linked with the school and without the right safeguards in place harmless comments spiral into local gossip.  Although I have made my best efforts to manage my own Facebook page I unfortunately cannot control the actions of my friends. From the time in which I decided I was going to sign up to Facebook I knew that this was a portal that could be used for historical information in the...

Over the past year Salford has been restructuring their Charter and within it their has been a major focus placed around Māori achievement and the evidence of biculturalism within the school. The gap in achievement isn't so apparent across the school but when the numbers are divided into genders there is a larger number of Māori boys not achieving against the National Standards. I believe we are in the early stages of meeting our intended goals. At Salford we have the goals in place but now it is about creating these school-wide activities or initiatives that our Māori community have expressed to us via a hui. After the initial hui there was some obvious push backs by staff members who were reluctant to address the weaknesses of themselves or as the school as a whole. Many of these particular staff members were not ready and are still not ready to address the situation and allow the support to be put in place. It is now getting to the stage that changes are going to be made with ...

The Changing Nature of Power - who is really in control? What say do we have? This particular trend captivates my attention due to the relevance it plays in the wider world currently from a political stand point but also I can visualise how relevant this trend can be depicted in an educational setting. The US National Council (2017) summarised that a state or person who is deemed to be in control has the power to set agendas and summon cooperation from those that are inferior to their position. Frequently this could also be the case in schools, syndicates or even management teams. Too often at school you see people trying to manage power imbalances to minimise conflict and shape the environment in which they are in. OECD (2015)  shows that in the data the world percentage of autocracy has decreased and the numbers of democracy have increased over time until 2014. If we stem this from a school perspective then there can be two types of leadership - autocracy and democracy. An au...

In 2016, Salford School were appointed a permanent Principal after a series of Relief Principals that spanned over a few years. As a Year 0-6 primary school in a decile 8 socio-economic area Salford had become reliant on many out-of-zone enrolments due to historical events that had taken place prior to this time frame. This opportunity has allowed Salford to re-establish the values of the school and begin to rebrand itself as a contender for future students in a already very limited zone. With a new Principal comes new systems and structures that in the long run should help to establish better practices within the school allowing the staff to be committed to a unified focus/purpose. Louise Stoll (1998)  recognises the impact of changes and how they can influence a school's culture. Salford School was an example of how this could be a negative impact or a positive impact. The school experienced both the highs and lows of changes and the ripple effect it had on the community at t...

In an educational setting we expose ourselves to opportunities of reflection by critically addressing the where to next on numerous occasions daily.  But how do we define the pathways in which we seek to find the answers to our leading questions, next steps or even our failures? Relating to those in a similar position as a educator many confide in others via the assistance of social media. Are these virtual worlds connected to being a community of practice or just a group of similar people with similar interests and the resources to relate? Wenger (2000) states that communities of practice are developed through mutual commitment and active participation. However, the majority of these social media sites are conducted and contributed to by a rare few erratically with no established purpose or focus being fostered. The downfall for many social media sites such as, Facebook, are the limited links in which they have in connection to Wenger's theory around Communities of Practice. Man...