CISC 8100 APPLIED PRACTICE IN CONTEXT Week 1

Reflect on what you have done so far to take action

Step 2 of my inquiry states that I will "Conduct a learning conference with six ākonga.

Record the conference notes on Linc Ed and publish the post for whānau to view."

I have unexpectedly taken on a new role at my school for 2019. This has impacted on

the amount of time I spend with learners, and therefore on my ability to carry out my

research plan in the way I intended. However, advice from the Ministry of Education

reminds us that "...talking about taking action is not the same as taking action." (Ministry

of Education, 2019). So I have decided to carry on and make adaptations as I go;

depending on how my new workload affects my ability to follow the research plan.

In my original plan, the ākonga I would conference with three times during the course

of the research, were intended to be ākonga from my puna ako group. Interestingly,

I have managed to conduct brief conferences with more than six ākonga hapori wide.

However, they were not all students from my puna ako group as I originally intended.

I have met with some ākonga in a different capacity because of my new role.

I think this is ok for the purposes of the research because I am not intending to draw

any conclusions about how the age of the ākonga, or the reason for my interaction

with them; might affect the level of parent interaction with the LMS. However, the

whānau of ākonga outside my puna ako group might be surprised to hear from a

different kaiako than usual, so I will have to take time to explain the reason for my

call with them.

I have also come to realise that my original  time frames may not run to plan, or

possibly, that if I stick to the time frame for the research, I may not meet the

goal of conferencing with the required number of ākonga each week and overall.

The Ministry of Education (2019) suggests that leaders " Sustain momentum by

setting timeframes for action – two or four weeks – and reporting back on progress".

I feel that taking time to reflect on my progress so far has helped to improve my

motivation; and I am hopeful that I will be able to continue with my inquiry.

After reading the information on the Ministry of Education website, I have also begun

to wonder how I might be able to involve students in reflecting on the value of learning

conferences. The website states that it is desirable to be "Involving learners in

deciding whether the action taken is effective in helping them to learn." (Ministry of

Education, 2019).

It would be interesting to ask ākonga how much they value feedback from whānau.

Kaser and Halbert (2017) discuss the value of formative feedback for students. They

say that kaiako can use opportunities for formative feedback to "... to provide descriptive

coaching feedback and learner self-regulation." I see conferencing with ākonga as an

opportunity to offer descriptive feedback to our ākonga as a vital part of their learning in

a self-regulated learning environment.

Kaser, L. and J. Halbert.(2017). The Spiral Playbook: Leading with an inquiring

mindset

in school systems and schools. C21 Canada. Retrieved from:-

http://c21canada.org/wp-

content/uploads/2016/10/Spiral-Playbook.pdf

Ministry of Education, Educational Leaders 2019. Retrieved from:-

http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leading-learning/Spiral-of-inquiry-leaders

-leading-l

earning/Taking-action#eztoc660316_0_1

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Communication Literacy and Learning Through Play - a happy marriage

Two new beliefs:-

Retaining every child's self-belief as a learner is infinitely more important than teaching them to read at 5.  

A learning through play environment better prepares learners for their future in the 21st Century.

2019 was my first year of immersion in a learning through play environment. I have always used project based learning, experiential learning and language experience approaches with young children. I have always valued learning experiences outside the classroom over those within the four walls.

Working collaboratively with a team on creating a learning environment which can support all our different ākonga with all their different backgrounds, needs and interests has been an absolute pleasure for me. Never have I worked in a school which is so adaptive to individual and group needs. Our teachers take so much notice of what is happening for our students, and our approach to collaboration allows us to be really responsive and adaptable.

The way that schools are traditionally organised - where one teacher works most of the time in one place with the same group of students (a class) - is simply not able to match a collaborative team in it's ability to cater for more diversity, more skills and more interests. 

Again and again I return to the thought that handing over agency for learning to the student is the most powerful action we can take as teachers and leaders in schools. Let the children steer their own course. Accept them as they are, support them, help them to understand themselves, and to communicate with others. Believe in them and work hard to support them in their learning.

Which brings me to reading - the 'holy grail' of teaching (but not of learning). When we teach reading too early, we rob children of their agency and power. If they are good at reading, they come to depend on this method of gathering information, which in reality slows many learners down.

If the child does not enjoy, does not take to, does not 'get' reading straight away; well, there are murmurings. Children understand these murmurings. They are subtle messages telling them that they are not quite as clever as they thought they were, not quite as good at communicating. That they can't be that intelligent because they are not quick to decode text.

What a strange belief for a group of educators.

What I notice is that more and more, our children are gathering information from visual sources and auditory sources. Sources which deliver the information far faster than written text can be deciphered.

I can think of loads of examples of children for whom too much of a teacher led focus on reading and writing has been detrimental to their self-belief and enthusiasm for learning.

Last year I watched and waited for children to show an interest in written literacy. Some did and some didn't. I'm no longer worried about that.  I have no doubt that waiting is the right thing to do. It is obvious to me that children flourish when they are allowed to develop at their own pace in a supportive and creative learning environment.

Encouraging true student agency is a guaranteed path to real engagement with learning - the kind of engagement with learning that will mean that our children maintain their self-belief; keep their enthusiasm for learning as well as their interest in their own self-improvement. The kind of engagement with learning that will sustain learners over time as they grow to be the fulfilled 'life long learners' that we are aiming to grow.

Modern Learners - Assessment

Friday August 17

Spent the day participating in a workshop run by Will Richardson and Bruce Dixon from Modern Learners. This was very exciting for me because I have followed these guys for a couple of years now.

The day focussed on aligning our assessment practices with our beliefs about learning. We began by unpacking our beliefs about learning. Then we listed our current assessment practices and discussed how well they did/didn't fit with our beliefs. It turns out that most school assessment practices are linked to the need to collect data for school reporting purposes.

Thankfully, we don't spend a lot of time on standardised assessment practices at Haeata. I question the value of those that we do use and am thinking now that we might need to move completely to using teacher observations and OTJs which are based on ākonga self-assessment, rubrics and work samples. Even using a small part of the Junior Assessment of Maths (JAM) seems a bit pointless to me now. 

I really like our focus on individual conferences as a means of collecting information from ākonga about their learning. How empowering is it for ākonga to be listened to, believed and supported to make their next steps?

I like what Pasi Sahlberg has to say about data collection:-

Learning analytics, algorithms and big data are knocking on the doors of
many schools promising fast improvements and new solutions to wicked
problems facing schools today. In the midst of datafication educators need
to remember the power of small data: tiny clues through personal
observations, collective human judgment, and raw instinct that can lead to
big change in schools. Leading with small data requires collaboration,
trust and professionalism as key features of educational change.

If the decisions we make about program delivery are based on what the ākonga themselves share with us, we will be headed in the right direction for sure. 

The last part of our day was spent unpacking what kind of ākonga, kaiako and whanau we need who will implement and support useful assessment practices. It would be interesting to discuss what kind of leadership, BOT and MoE we need in order to change some of the commonly held beliefs about assessment in NZ schools.  

Mindset Quote

"Our results show that the academic benefits of these interventions have been largely overstated." (Michigan State University, 2018)

Michigan State University. (2018, May 22). Study finds popular 'growth mindset' educational interventions aren't very effective. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 21, 2018 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180522114523.htm

The Poetry of Programming

The Poetry of Programming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jRREn6ifEQ 

Should we/could we ‘teach kids to code’? Why or why not? What is the relationship between Computational Thinking and coding? What is the role of storytelling in teaching coding?

Lots of food for thought for me here. Firstly, Liukas makes the point that it is the parents who are scared of technology. Children are curious about technology and expect to be successful with it. I feel like I'm getting on now, and while I have an interest in how technology can enhance learning, I don't know if I have the confidence to use it well - one of the reasons for my attendance at this Mindlab course.

New learning for me was the realisation of how closely connected patterning and code are. This gives me lots of ideas for encouraging ākonga to develop patterning skills. I think we should offer ākonga the opportunity to learn to code because it will probably be quite easy for many, and could lead to them being able to use technology creatively.

Other new learning was around the idea that we can use technology to realise dreams. I really liked Liukas' example of the bike lamp being turned into a movie projector. This caught my imagination and made me start thinking about possibilities for ICT use in our hapori. 

Telling stories sequentially is another skill we can use to develop coding skills. This links strongly to my interest in visual language. It might be an activity I could develop with ākonga. 

Constructionism and Constructivism

   https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IJTVi4j9TPzSIzHCnQoKjQ2gMrqDIOOQIOTOodsQrZ0/edit#slide=id.p

Link to slide.

"Top Ten Learning Theories for Digital and Collaborative Learning

It reminded me what I support Learning through Play and made me wonder which theories apply to us. Both Constructivism and Constructionism certainly. So does the Community of Learning theory.

This would be a great slide show to share with our kaiako.

I'm not clear on the difference between constructivism and constructionism.

Learning-focused culture
Develop learning-focused relationships with learners, enabling them to be active participants in the process of learning, sharing ownership and responsibility for learning.

Research Informed Teaching of Adults

Research Informed Teaching of Adults: A worthy alternative to old habits and hearsay? John Benseman

Teachers teach the way they were taught. "If it worked for me it must be ok."

Argues the case for research informed teaching.

"Research informed teaching is based on teachers' systematic use of the inquiry cycle to improve their teaching".

The article discusses how teachers who follow an inquiry cycle can 'shape and reshape' their teaching.

I think this is a process which many teachers follow naturally. Most teachers I know are reflective in their practice and then try new strategies based on their reflections. I think it might be more effective to sometimes follow a formal documented process.

Studies have found that there is often a difference between the pedagogy that a teacher supports, and there actual practice. Typically, teachers themselves succeeded as students in teacher dominated learning environments, and these tend to be the environments that they emulate.

There are many generic teaching practices which are common to most settings, regardless of the subject matter.

The article wonders how to collect information about effective teachers. One strategy is to observe teachers, but this poses problems about success criteria. Another strategy is to use 'learner driven' studies where students offer feedback about teachers. Learner driven studies show us what students value about teachers.