Reflection

Rolfe’s Reflective Model

Step 1 (What): Describe something that is significant and has happened during your Inquiry so far.

Our inquiry question was: 

How can we best use digital tools to engage boys in authentic writing? 

The most significant thing that has happened so far has been the engagement that I have seen with these children and not just the boys that I have been focusing on. Walsh (2010), says that there is a trend that children are moving away from engaging with print but at home would use their leisure time to engage with digital technologies. This is something that I truly saw happen during this inquiry. I have seen boys go from writing nothing on a regular basis to share with their peers something that they were proud of. We are a PBL (Project Based Learning) school. This gives the children many opportunities to share their learning with other teachers, peers and family/whanau. This engagement happened in the taking action phase of the inquiry cycle and I was really surprised how quickly the children got on board. 

Step 2 (So What): Evaluate the most interesting/important/useful aspects of this event.

I think that the most important aspects of this event were the full support that we had from our colleagues, The Senior Leadership Team, and the parents and whanau of these children.  I think that this can be explained through all the interviews that we had with many of the Year 4 boys and the information and research that we presented to the audience that was going to be part of this. It was really important to have evidence and research that suggested this was going to be successful. Many of these children's parents were not fully supportive of their children using digital tools so early on in their schooling and not using a pen and paper to write. This is when my partner and I needed to inform and educate these parents about 21 Century Learning in a positive way.

Step 3 (Now What): Analyse the implications from this event to the rest of your Inquiry.

I feel like so far our action plan has been working well for the children. I would like to try and get all children in the year level I work in involved in this inquiry as I feel it would benefit so many of them. Next time I would make sure that I had more time to show the children all the different digital programmes and apps that they could use. I feel like that was slightly rushed and they didn't get all the benefits of many of the digital tools that were offered to them. I learnt that you need to fail to succeed but as long as you get up again and keep trying it will all work out for you. All of the digital tools that I offered the children were the ones that allowed them to share with an authentic audience and having an audience gives their writing a purpose. This was my main goal in this inquiry.

References:

Otago Polytechnic. (n.d.). Reflective Writing. Retrieved from: https://www.op.ac.nz/assets/LearningAdvice/Reflective-writing.pdf

Walsh, M. (2010). Multimodal literacy: What does it mean for classroom practice? Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 33(3), 211–239.

MindLab Journey

Reflect on how you have changed your practice during your Postgraduate DCL journey.

My goals for the mindlab course in week 1 were to be able to effectively use digital technology in the classroom, gain confidence and deepen my understanding of 21st Century Learning. Over the past 32 weeks, I have definitely achieved these goals and feel proud of what I have achieved.

Stage 1: Problem identification.

What drives you to make the change? (What is the problem that arises in practice?)

The problem that we could see was that our Year 4 boys were getting left behind and their engagement levels were low as writing had no authentic purpose for them.

Why is it important to implement the change?

We wanted these boys to achieve like their female counterparts and not be left behind. We knew that we needed to do something to help so that we can get them back on board.

Stage 2: Observation and analysis.

What kind of data have you gathered? What insights have you gained about the problem that drives the change?

The data that we gathered was interviews with the children as well as classroom observations. These interviews gave us many of the boys true thoughts and feelings about writing which in turn then provided us with motivation to make a positive change. 

Stage 3: Abstract reconceptualisation.

What new learning theories or research provide useful background to implement change?

The children that we are teaching have been born into the digital world and this is what they know so well. Carroll (2013) talks about the types of learning that boys positively respond to. She suggests that boys are more interested in learning in purposeful ways, having autonomy over their learning and positive collaborative experiences. For these to be successful, technology is a tool that we can harness and make engagement in writing possible. Brosseuk (2014) findings add to this idea that,

“Mobile Technology devices suited boys preferred patterns of learning. Mind-mapping apps, such as Total Recall and Think Tree created to boys’ preference for the visual mode of organising their ideas and thoughts.” 

What other perspectives are relevant to consider?

One key change to my professional practice was the professional learning standard. This standard has been well covered and I feel that I have improved in my professional capability and it has had a big impact on my learners.

Stage 4: Active experimentation.

What new strategies or ideas you have tried to implement in your practice?

The new strategies that we tried to implement were writing on Chromebooks without using their writing book. Not having to plan in their book, having an authentic audience for their writing. The authentic purpose was a major part of this writing inquiry being successful. When they knew that they had an audience they had a bigger responsibility to complete their work to a higher standard. 

What you have learnt from the change/ experience?

I have learnt that with support from my colleagues and team members anything is possible. I find being reflective hard, but I know that it is an important skill for educators and learners. I have enjoyed being challenged and tested during this 32-week course and I will be a better teacher for it. 

References: 

Brosseuk, D. (2014). A New Direction: Using Mobile Technology Devices to Motivate and Engage Boys in Literacy Learning. Practically Primary, 19(1), 17–21. 

 Carroll, J. (2013). Engaging and Authentic Technology Use for Literacy Learning in the Middle Years. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 21(2), 7–17.

Ministry of Education (2017). Our code, our standards. Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards.

Osterman, K. F., & Kottkamp, R. B. (2015). Reflective practice for educators : professional development to improve student learning.(2nd ed.) New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

Mind Lab Week 2

Week 2 Mindlab

So I was feeling quite overwhelmed about Mindlab and all that is involved but have overcome that and I am really enjoying what it has to offer me for my professional development.

The new skills that I have learnt in the last 2 weeks are overwhelming as we start to prepare to have our first assignment completed before school finishes.

Last week we made a video about one of the 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. We choose collaboration. It was great working with Rebecca and Angela who I don't usually work with. 

What do you think of these rubrics? They are so easy to use.

Faith In Action

The course about Social Justice that we took this year was a great way to show the See, Judge and Act process in our hub with our science unit last term.

See

We saw that there was a need for this issue to be made aware of in our school. We were seeing destruction and lack of respect for our common home. There was always rubbish in the playground, in the gardens and in the children’s lunchboxes. In light of us coming to know more about Catholic Social Teachings and Social Justice, we knew that now was the time. We all know that the environment is God's gift to us and we needed to show the children that if we didn't do our part now it may look dim for their future. The children knew that they needed to make some changes and were on board to help. They knew some good starting points that they could change to help look after our common home and the first initiative my group took was to have rubbish free lunch boxes.

Judge

This situation exists for many different reasons but the main ones that I will briefly talk about are, apathy on behalf of society around care for our common home, children not knowing, ill-informed parents and the convenience. So, we know that society has a lack of interest in the situations around us and we also know that they are not doing much to help them.

This is when we can use our children to give them the knowledge that they need to pass on to society, parents, whanau and caregivers. These members of society are the future and the changes they make now will be positive for the common home.

Act

Here we can show the ways that we actioned our unit of work with the children. We had a commitment to the Religious Education programme and how we used these curriculum objectives to show our commitment.

God is present everywhere in the world through creation. (AA6. Yr3, AO1)

Show love and respect for God’s gift of creation, accept responsibility for the environment and recognise the tapu sacredness of whenua land. (AA6. Yr4, AO2).

We also used the science curriculum and looked at Planet Earth and ways that the sustainable solutions we taught the children had a positive impact on our society. We were able to use the teachings from Laudato Si and incorporate this into our unit. We looked at pollution, green infrastructure, waterways and renewable energy. Using Science we taught these four topics with reference to Laudato Si throughout. We informed our parents about Catholic Social Teaching in particular Stewardship which was our focus. We also put information on our blog. We had a lot of parent interaction in our hub with this topic. The children were engaged and taking what they had learnt home, and putting it into practice. Each home base made an action plan and we made these real and achievable for the children, who were all engaged. At the end of the term, all the children wrote letters to Pope Francis about what they had been learning and putting into practice. Next term the green infrastructure team will be planting a vegetable garden for the community to use. The whole hub has made so many changes and we will continue these for the remainder of the year showing our commitment to our common home.

Term 2 was a great way to incorporate Laudato Si into our programme. The children were engaged and the goals were achievable for all. We are continuing to action the plan that we put in place and it's real and meaningful to the children.

Technology and Coding

Wow, what a great way to be ready for term 2.

The Energise conference was great PD for me. It made me very aware that I have a need to be more knowledgeable about coding and technology. The speakers were really inspirational and definitely made me rethink how I can incorporate these ideas into my hub.

One change that I have made this term is that I have been coding with the juniors and although this is just a start its a way forward and a way to get exposure for me. The juniors are amazing at trying new things and they know its ok to make mistakes and try things that they are unsure about.

Coding is the way forward and has many areas that students will gain skills in especially systematic reasoning, problem-solving and communication skills. These are all skills that they need to be 21-century learners.

My goal for this term is to be coding and be able to help and assist others with coding. I know that this is something that will be ongoing PD for me but I know that its something I need to start and get a good grasp on it now, to make me more knowledgeable for the future.

How are your coding skills? what advice do you have for me to be successful?

Inquiry - Mixed Ability Groupings UPDATE

I am in my third week of doing the mixed ability groups with my students. The first week was really interesting. I grouped them boys with boys and girls with girls. This pairing worked ok but I felt like it was not the best for the students. They did work well together and knew what was expected of them but were not as engaged as I expected them to be. They began using the card that was given to them with questions and prompts that they could ask their buddy. They knew that they had to share back the following day. It was not about getting it right but talking with their buddy and working out how they could find an answer together.

The following day we went and shared back with some of the senior students. They modelled what was expected and used maths language with them. The senior students were great role models and showed them the process of sharing back and being accountable.

The next day as a class we shared back. The students used this card to help clarify any thinking of their peers as they were sharing back.

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After week 3, the students told me that they have really been enjoying maths problem solving and want to keep doing it. They are talking together, being cooperative and supporting each other.

The next part that I want to introduce is more maths talk and questioning.

If you have any suggestions on how I can get them to do this, I would appreciate you sharing.

Inquiry - Mixed Ability Maths Grouping

I have been thinking for a while how I was going to implement my Inquiry into my maths programme that we have in our hub. So after talking to my team leader and my tutor teacher I have decided to start problem-solving maths with mixed ability groupings.

I was lucky enough that I experienced how this works last year when I taught Year 7/8, so I am feeling confident about introducing it to the children. I did a pre-test with the children on Friday and have told them what will be happening on Monday.

I have ten problems for them to work through with their buddy. I will need to launch these to them well and explain clearly what they need to do with their buddy. I will be setting them up in an area of the hub where they will be able to have access to me. They will also have a card that they can use when talking with their buddy to clarify anything they are unsure of.

Before this session has finished I will bring them back and get feedback about how they felt it went. What did they enjoy? or not enjoy? Why?

 I will then explain that the next day they will be sharing back their answers and their maths thinking with the class. We are going to go to the Year 7/8 hub to watch them sharing back so they can model what is involved. They will have some practice sharing back to the Year 7/8 children.

After the sharing back has happened I will then decide what areas need to be covered so that they can successfully answer all of the problems.

I am really looking forward to introducing this into the Year 3/4 hub and I am looking forward to seeing how the children adapt to a new way of learning maths.