How can I contribute to my community of learning through my teaching inquiry?

Kia Ora, 

I have used Jay and Johnson’s Model of reflective practice to structure this reflection (of describe, compare and critically reflect).

Wegner (2000) shares that a Community of Learning is defined by three elements: joint enterprise, mutual engagement and a share repertoire. My Community of Learning, Manaiakalani, demonstrates these attributes. 

As a community of learning we have identified the deficit in oral language of our learners. Closer to home, within Glen Innes School, we have have focused on our junior school and creating a culture of language in abundance. In term 2 of this year, we tested for the first time our learners oral and vocabulary language in years 0-4 (follow this link to see our findings). We discovered that the 

“Average” oral language chronological age is 5 years. 

“Average” deficit of -1 years and 5 months. 

I will be using my teacher inquiry, as an opportunity to explore how the tools I have picked up along this “digital and collaborative” Mind Lab journey can be used to support the oral language and vocabulary learning. 

I will centre my teacher inquiry around our Community of Learning achievement challenge #3: To lift the achievement in Reading for all students, with a particular focus on boys and Maori students (both genders) in years 1-13. 

I will be using the Manaiakalani Community of Learning, Teaching as Inquiry model, 

Fitting under this umbrella of oral language and vocabulary, are the topics that I have explored in the first half of the Mind Lab. 

After scanning through all the topics, the two potential topics that  caught my interest were   disruptive technologies, and gamification (games and education). In my teaching inquiry I will explore these topics through the lens of accelerating the oral language and vocabulary learning.
Follow the links to see my blog posts about these topics, written during the first half of The Mind Lab. 

The teachers within the Manaiakalani, Community of Learning, and within my school we have all been exploring ways to grow the oral language and vocabulary of our learners. A blog by Core Ed, highlights the importance of the collaborative nature of teaching as inquiry, as it creates a collective responsibility for our learners. 

As my wider community of learning is Manaiakalani, taking the approach of Core Ed, my teaching as inquiry team would be the teachers I work alongside at Glen Innes School. Other members of my community of learning  have looked at growing our learners oral language and vocabulary in different ways, as they have different knowledge that they bring to the table, like TESOL studies, reading recovery training, and expertise in the area of literacy. I think I contribute a new flavour to this ongoing inquiry, by looking at it through the lens of what I have learnt at The Mind Lab. 

Manaiakalani is a community of learning, that is enthusiastic about the idea of innovation and accelerating learning using digital technologies. Although, I think, my school team is new to the idea of working collaboratively rather that just “cooperating”. I have used the Microsoft Learning Rubric by ITL for collaboration to see what genuine collaboration look like, and I think, as teachers we …”work on teams with others to accomplish tasks that are too complex for individuals to do on their own”. I think, that yes, inquiries we work on are too complex for us to face on our own, but we often do. 

Kia kaha!

Reflecting on changes in my future oriented teaching practice!

Kia ora,

This week I have reflected on the changes I am making towards becoming a future oriented teacher.

I have used Gibb’s reflective cycle to structure this reflection.

After reading the ‘Supporting future oriented learning and teaching: A New Zealand Perspective’, I have chosen to focus this reflection on ‘Theme 5: A culture of continuous learning for teachers and education leaders’. This theme, shares that as  teachers there are certain attributes and capabilities we need to work towards to become 21st century teachers, or arguably facilitators of learning.

I began this Mind Lab journey, with the mantra, practising what I preach, to show my kids that I am a learner, just like them, taking risks and letting my curiosity run wild. An example of how I have taken risks, is after reflecting on my reflective practice only last week I realised that filming by self teaching could be a step towards being self-reflective and make space for collaborative reflection. Using a film to observe myself teaching, is a way of rethinking the way appraisal process, and possibly creates space for more critical reflection leading to better teaching and learning for my learners.

Filming myself teaching was uncomfortable for myself and my learners. But growth stems from this place of discomfort right? After I’d given it a go and worked up the courage to watch it back, and reflect on the teaching and learning that took place. I felt encouraged to try it again, and I think my learners would begin to feel more at home with it as well, as it slowly becomes a part of everyday classroom life.

Keeping the filming simple (an iPad balanced on the top of my whiteboard), made filming my practice something I could repeat again and again with no preparation or effort. I’m all about working smarter, not harder!

I was transparent with my learners by sharing with them why I was filming our lesson. I intentionally used the same language I would when talking to them about their learning journeys.

This way of re-thinking reflective practice stems from my learning at The Mind Lab about lean education and disruptive technologies (follow the links to view my blogs about these topics). As is shared by  Gada, K. (2014), disruptive technologies constantly underperform against existing technology BUT are adopted by fringe customers who value different things. A film of my teaching practice is never going to be the same as actually being in my classroom, observing and taking part in the learning experience.  But, I think, filming our teaching has the potential to disrupt reflective practice. As it makes for greater critical self-reflection and collaborative reflection. The opportunities of both of these are greatly reduced through physical classroom observations.  Peha, S. (2011), shares the idea that “Meaningful learning” is more important  the “Measurement of learning”, and I think this same sentiment can be held for teacher reflections. Although, the quality of the observation may be less, the professional learning that stems from it is more meaningful.

Something I could try in the future, as was suggested in the comments on my blog post last week, the use of a swivel camera could enhance films of my teaching practice.

For now, I’m working on becoming more comfortable with having the iPad recording, and watching it all back and critically reflecting to add value to the learning in my classroom. Making a habit of filming some of my teaching, and following it up with critical reflection and in the future collaborative reflections. Collaboratively reflecting will cast my net wide, opening up my teaching practice to feedback from a wider audience. Something that takes some courage and a respect for my learners, as it is not just my teaching, but their learning that is caught on camera.

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui!