Activity 8 - Changes in my practice

The 32 week journey

The journey through the mindlab programme has certianly been an experience.  It has been both enlightening and at times frustrating but above all else it has moved me outside my comfort zone. This alone has caused me to think in different ways and apply this in the classroom and enhance my pedagogical techniques.  The course has definately met the registered teacher criteria 4 "Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional personal practice" but more importantly has lead to research based changes to my teaching.  It has given me both the confidence and skill to deliver an appropriate learning programme to my learners.

One of the interesting aspects of the course is how my reflective practice model has changed. Previously it was probably was more about reflection but it is now moved towards the reflective practice described by Ostermann (1993) as challenging, demanding and often trying process. It has also become more collaborative with fellow colleagues and involved many discussions. 

Changes in my Practice

The biggest change to my practice has been the incorporation of technology in the classroom.  Its not that I did not use it before but it is how I apply the technology and it certainly has become more a ubiquitous in the classroom.  Indeed one of my classes has become paperless, gone is the teacher standing at the front and the workbook exercises instead we use an approach that embraces an entirely digital format.

The advantages have been the students working at their own pace, 24/7 feedback model (students often seem to do work outside my waking hours!) and more student engagement. Two of the major disadvantages however is the technology issues as often I cannot solve these and also the major investment of time to plan and implement the material onto the various platforms.  This is a major drawback as I have five classes and only have time to ultimately do this with one class due to excessive administration and reporting required of teachers (that's for another blog). However with the collaboration of colleagues we hope to be able to conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme (as set out in registered teacher criteria 6).

Future Aspirations

To be honest I have more aspirations and plans than I could possible implement it is now just a matter of prioritising them in order of importance.  Currently the school is undergoing huge change and with the Innovative Learning environment due to open Term 2 of 2017, and hopefully ,as a result of this we can change how the school operates from the school heirarchy to the timetable (which is essentially the same as it was 100 years ago) to provide an environment and pedagogy that is suitable for 21st century learners.  I am definately looking forward to being a part of this.

Finally

I would particularly like to thank Marian, Janet and Gretchen for all the shared experiences and support over the past 32 weeks as I am not sure I could have done it without you.  Also I would like to thank all the fellow mindlabbers who have shared their thoughts and engaged with the collaborative tasks we have been involved in as you have made the journey both enjoyable and memorable.


References
Osterman, K. & Kottcamp, R. (1993). Reflective Practice for Educators. Californa:Cornwin Press.  Retrieved on 18th March, 2017 from http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files.

Ministry of Education(nd). Practicing teacher criteria and e-learning. Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/

Activity 7 - Crossing boundaries & Creating Connections

What is interdisciplinary Learning

This was defined by as "inquiries that draw on two or more disciplines which lead to an integration of disciplinary insights (Haynes 2002, p17).  Typically the students work in groups and observing various points of view with the aim of bringing them together for a common goal.  To my understanding a good example of this is how NASA and ESA work.  They have a goal to launch satellites or probes into space this requires an interdisciplinary approach from various area of Science and Engineering to bring their expertise and collaborate towards a common goal to achieve success. This approach would help the students make connections in their learning and not see them as isolated areas which do not intersect.  It would also give the students insight to different views and methods to problem solving as the old saying goes "there's is more than one way to skin a cat".

My Interdisciplinary Map

Barriers to the Interdisciplinary Learning

Rather than encourage an interdisciplinary approach current structures and hierarchies in secondary schools inhibit it.  Indeed we are arranged in traditional subject areas such as English, Science and Mathematics.  All the functions and reporting are based around this structure. Indeed many of the problems listed by Jones 2009 such as lack of time for collaboration, status conflicts and the faculty nature are prevalent in our school.  This is further inhibited in senior school with the NCEA standards which are very much subject orientated.

Future Focus for interdisciplinary connections

The idea of the Ross Spiral Curriculum (3) is in its essence a great idea and I would relish the chance to work in such away.  Indeed prior to training to be a teacher my projects in industry always required a interdisciplinary approach where each area of the company was represented typically this was sales, marketing, production and logistics.  Often this lead to the phrase “oh, I had not thought of that!” as different view points where express.  I would love to seen this approach adopted in schools as it would definitely increase the students empathic horizon (4).

As a Science teacher I see some huge possibilities to develop interdisciplinary approaches. Exploration of the history of science or the geopolitical landscape and the space race.  More modern issues could be explored such a climate change, a truely interdisciplinary issue, the economics of plastics and pollution or the meeting the needs of increasing energy demands of 21st century.  However my future focus would be on connecting science and history as this would probably fit into to the current NCEA structure more readily in the short term.

Haynes, Carolyn, 2002. Innovations in Interdisciplinary Teaching, West port, CT, American Council on Education ORYX Press.

Jones, C.(2009). Interdisciplinary approach - Advantages, disadvantages, and the future benefits of interdisciplinary studies. ESSAI7 (26), 76-81. Retrieved from http://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=essai

Ross Institute. (2015, July 5). Ross Spiral Curriculum: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Science. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHZhkB0FJik

ThomasMcDonaghGroup. ( 2011, May 13). Interdisciplinarity and Innovation Education.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDdNzftkIpA

Using social online networks in teaching and professional development

Using social online networks in teaching and professional development 

Current Use of Social Media

I first started to use the internet in the early nineties during my PhD studies it was early days and coloured photographs were rare and webpages were mostly text. It was the heady days of word 3.1 and windows 95 was still yet to make its mark.  However it was useful to contact other experts to discuss results and possible next steps.  Move on 20 years and we now have plethora of social media platforms with a multitude of companies vying for their share of the market.

I have always used the internet, school capabilities allowing, in my classroom and have adopted digital technologies where appropriate to enhance the students learning.  Over term 4 last year I became paperless, using teacher dashboard,with one of my classes which proved both a learning experience for both me and the students.  I have continued this exercise with one of my NCEA classes this year, it will interesting to see the results of this come November and the external assessments.

Personally I use social media such as Pininterest, great for ideas and I have evened pinned the odd thing.  I have used You tube as both as consumer and creator in and out of the classroom. This is great for showing video of experiments we are not not longer able to do in the laboratory due to health and safety regulations.  Also the students have uploaded video of their explanations and enactments of various scientific principles.   Although I have both a facebook and twitter account I have not tried to use it in classroom or educational setting.  As mentioned in the establishing safeguards video (1) I have yet to find a purpose or a learning outcome that would enhance the students experience that would be worth the effort and time to establish a class facebook page or twitter account.

The Paradox of Choice

In past decade there has been an explosion of products and platforms available for us as educators to use.  For classroom management of information in our school we have moodle, google classroom and teacher dashboard.  In creating work should I use windows or google products and which of the almost endless apps we have for andriod and ios should I use or encourage the student to use. The amount of choice for digital and social media we have access creates a large amount of stress. Which is best? Have I made the right choice?  Indeed this was summed up in the book "The paradox of choice" (2) where the idea is that "we have too many choices, too many decisions, too little time to do what is really important". I highly recommend reading this book although its about consumerism there are many parallels that could be applied to current teaching methods. 

Where am I at?

With the fast paced changes that our happening in education and in our school I seem to have to run faster to stand still like I am at the gym and each year the speed of the treadmill is increasing eventually I'll fall a get shot off the back. However despite that I endeavour to add more technology into my teaching and I certainly find my interaction with the students is not longerconfined to school hours.  Feedback often happens outside school hours via collaborative software and the internet. Indeed I'll continue to strive and adapt my pedagogy to motivate and inspire the students attitude towards science.  Vitual reality explosions anybody?

(1) Education council. (2012). Establishing safeguards. (2) Paradox of Choice, Harper Perennial 2004 (ISBN 0060005688)