Ethics and the online world!

I've used Rolfe’s model to reflect on the situation raised in this short video, where a teacher shares photographs of her learners in a public blog, when parental consent has only been given to take photographs of the children for “learning purposes”.

I will unpack this ethical dilemma using Ehrich et al. (2011) framework. 

The framework begin by looking at the competing forces, each which impact on the decision making with their own bias. Firstly, from a legal perspective, there is no guarantee of confidentiality or security when posting photographs in a public space. To post a students photograph online, requires consent. The consent that was provided by the whanau only cover photographs being taken for learning purposes, therefore not giving permission to share photographs publicly online. Secondly, the institutional context of schooling is to best prepare students for the future. These photographs become an electronic footprint, that last forever. School need to consider the standard of the material that is published online, a funny photograph may look amusing now but may be embarrassing to the student in the future. 

It is obvious that the teacher is enthusiastic about sharing the learning that is taking pace in her classroom with her learners whanau. She believes that sharing these images in covered by the “learning purposes” consent that her parents have signed. Although she has not been transparent with her whanau about what “learning purposes” means to her, leaving them feeling surprised when they saw their children’s photographs on the school website. 

Formally, action needs to be taken to ensure that the organisation has clear policies around the use of photographs to protect the privacy of their students. The teacher needs to remove the photographs from the school website and make contact with the whanau requesting their consent to share photographs in this way. In the future, the school could share photographs and learning stories with parents using a digital tool, like Story Park, See Saw or Class Dojo. The school would need to gain consent before sharing photographs and provide whanau with unique codes to view their child’s photographs and learning stories.When sharing photographs in a public space, like a school website, a question that can be asked in the photographs served by student identification? Could the student’s faces be edited in such a way that will allow the activity to recorded in a digitally without identifying any of the students.

This decision is relevant to my practice as I think that as teachers it is our role to create a safe environment for our learners to grow to become their best selves. This safe space, extends to the way that we share our children’s learning online. 

This decision is relevant to the Code of Professional Responsibility writes that as teachers we are committed to upholding the reputation of the teaching profession and maintaining the trust and confidence of their families, whanau and the public. Specifically, as teachers we are committed to engaging our whanau in our students learning journeys while protecting them from the harm. I believe this makes the use of digital tools, such as Story Park, See Saw and Class Dojo ethical choices. 

This decision is relevant to the Standards for the Teaching Profession as this choice embodies the value of Manaakitanga, by creating a learning environment that treats everyone with respect and dignity.

Any thoughts on the best ways to use digital tools in an ethical way? 

Kia Kaha! 

The Mind Lab: Teacher Inquiry

After spending this term break writing a literature review and teacher inquiry plan, as a part of my studies at The Mind Lab, I thought I'd share the research that will be inspiring my teaching this term as I open a new year 1/2 classroom. 

I chose the Spiral of Inquiry for the structural framework for my teaching inquiry. The intent of the Spiral of Inquiry is to develop innovative teaching practice that results in positive student outcomes. The Spiral of Inquiry responds to the needs of the students, rather than the interests of the teacher. The Spiral of Inquiry focuses on creating a positive community of learning through trust, respect, collaboration and shared responsibility. This is in tune with our New Zealand context and the Kaupapa Maori philosophy of education. 

The following paragraph is the "new learning" stage of the spiral of inquiry directly from my teaching inquiry assignment: 

Children from low socioeconomic families, like the learners I teach, are exposed to prolonged stress. Thompson writes, “the biological effects of stress undermine the ability of children to focus on their own thinking” (p. 44). When they are faced with challenges in their learning, they become disengaged, as they are unable to identify the strategies needed to continue learning. This adaptive response serves them poorly in school, where they much concentrate and cooperate to do well. However, the plasticity of child’s developing brain is an opportunity for these ways of thinking to be buffered or reversed when intervention happens early in a child’s development. Therein lies the core belief of Carol Dweck’s growth mindset, that a person who holds a growth mindset sees intelligence as changeable, that through hard work, dedication and time, new talents can be learnt and intellect can be expanded. Seagal Education shares that through play children are better able to understand abstract concepts, like growth mindset. The teacher plays a vital role in facilitating play that instills a growth mindset. 

We'll be beginning our learning journey as a class by reading "My Fantastic Elastic Brain" by JoAnne Deak. This picture book teaches children that they have the ability to stretch and grow their own brains. 

I am looking from hands on activities or picture books that promote a shared language of learning.

Any ideas? 

Kia Kaha! 

The Mind Lab: Research #1

Taking a very brief break, from my holiday in the Coromandel, to share an insight into my literature review, a.k.a RESEARCH #1 that I have completed as part of my learning at The Mind Lab.

I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below on how I could turn this literature review topic into my teacher inquiry topic for RESEARCH #2

I framed my literature review around the question; 

What impact does a growth mindset have on learners from low socio economic families?

The most interesting pieces of research that I discovered was a study by Claro, Dweck, and Paunesku (2016) that attributed holding a growth mindset to accelerated learning for low socio economic learners. An entire year level of Chilean public schools answered mindset questions as a part of their standardised national testing regime. The outcomes of this research showed that the lowest income students were twice as likely to hold a fixed mindset and that is fixed mindset is a strong predictor to success (in school) for low socio economic learners. The research does not suggest that structural factors like income inequality and disparities in school quality were less important than the psychological factor of a learners mindset. This piece of research showed what I had believed to be truth, that learners from low socioeconomic families are less likely to hold a growth mindset about their learning than learners from wealthier families. The results of the study suggested that a growth mindset can overcome economic disadvantage.

So what did I discover? 

The conclusion that I came of from my research were that, low socioeconomic status leaves a mark on the biological and neurological foundations of a person. But the window of a brains plasticity, or change is wide. A growth mindset intervention has the potential to complement other education or social initiatives. A growth mindset intervention alone will not change the educational outcomes of learners from low socioeconomic when. But a growth mindset intervention has the potential to work alongside other educational and social initiatives. 

I am wary that a growth mindset intervention is about fixing the child, and not the system. I am yet to discover how growth mindset thinking aligns with the Kapapa Maori principle of ‘taonga tuku iho’, that sees Maori achieving in school and in life, as Maori. 

On the other hand, growth mindset initiatives are an innovative way to add value and make a positive difference for our learners, without reinventing the the education system or our schools, which takes time and huge financial resources. A growth mindset intervention is possible within decile one schools, as it can be implemented with modest resources. 

I am pondering how this link between growth mindset and achievement could be explore further with my year 1/2 decile one learners… 

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Kia Kaha!! 

Claro, S. , Paunesku, D. , & Dweck, C. (2016). Growth Mindset temper the effects of poverty on academic achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113 (31), 8664 - 8668

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!

Reflecting on Reflecting!

Kia Ora,

Here we are, week seventeen, or week one of online study!

This weeks challenge, to reflect of our reflective practice.

I have chosen to use Jay and Johnsons (2002) reflective model to reflect on my reflective practice, by describing, comparing and critically reflecting.

This quote from Finlay (2009) rings true for my reflective practice, that for “busy professionals short on time reflective practice is to easily applied in a bland, mechanical and unthinking way”. I’ve been teaching for 5 years now, and my written reflections have always been few are far between, and not very meaty! At the moment, my reflective practice takes place subconsciously throughout teaching and learning. Its automatic. What went well, what didn’t and what would I do differently next time. I tend to focus on the failures rather than the wins.

As a part of this Mind Lab journey, I discovered blogging as a way to begin sharing my teaching practice but I am yet to use it as a place of critical reflection. I felt (and still feel) uncomfortable sharing online the scary, unknown moments in my teaching practice, and in has felt safer to fight these battles alone (or with a few trusted colleagues). I’ve learnt that reflective practice stems from this uncomfortable place, and that instinctive ningle that something could be done better.

Better together.

Looking into the future, I’d like my reflective practice to be a shared, collaborative process.  I’ve learnt through the conversations I’ve had on this at The Mind Lab (online and offline) that the knowledge and perspectives of others can shed new light on my teaching practice, in ways I’d never achieve alone. Yang (2009) shares that a blog can be a place of honesty, a place to voice doubts, discomforts, the raw moments and the successes with others who have shared in other similar scenarios. I’m beginning to experience, the wealth of knowledge, that Twitter (@becca_kirby_nz) is able to harness, with a few hashtags and a short sharp tweet! I can now see the value in bringing down the walls of my teaching practice, being transparent, online and offline, casting my net wide, leaving myself open to the opportunity of much greater learning and connections with others.

A step beyond blogging, a step only taken by the brave, is to video lessons to use as a self-reflective tool, and to share online with a wider audience.

Check out Manaiakalani Google Class on Air!

Would you be brave enough to video yourself teaching?

Am I brave enough?

It was my mantra when beginning this Mind Lab journey, to practise what I preach, to be show my kids than I am a learner, just like them, taking risks and letting my curiosity run wild. And that is how I intend to keep marching on into this second half my Mind Lab journey!

Kia Kaha!

Here we are, halfway through The Mind Lab!

16 weeks of face to face, done. 

16 weeks of online learning to go.

No more coffee, griffins biscuits and the company of my fellow Mind Lab folk on a Wednesday night. 

I've throughly enjoyed the chat, let's carry it on! I'll start the conversation by sharing a little about me, for those in who I haven't had the joy of connecting with yet. 

I'm 26, a kiwi kid at heart. 

I am a primary school teacher, working part-time at Glen Innes School.

I run, for the joy of it! Up steep hills, in the mud and rain, and occasionally through a river. 

I'm currently helping set-up a community garden, even though the only thing I've grown before was "a strawberry" (and it was on the plant when I brought it from the garden store). 

I have a rainbow gumboot wearing two year old, who can't help but jump in every muddy puddle that she sees!

I help with a playgroup one day a week, with babies to 4 year olds. An age group, that used to scare me, but I have now fallen for. 

Keen to hear your stories, as you adventure into the next 16 weeks of online learning...

Let's do this!!!