Positively changing my practice
A change in my practice towards future-orientated learning and teaching
There are 8 different options that I could address regarding my change of practice. They consist of the following:
1. Personalised learning
2. New views of equity, diversity and inclusivity
3. A new curriculum that uses knowledge to develop learning capacity
4. "Changing the Script" - Rethinking learners' and teachers' roles
5. A culture of continuous learning for teachers and educational leaders
6. New kinds of partnerships and relationships. Schools no longer siloed from the community
Subtheme 1. The role of current and emerging technologies
Subtheme 2. Role of collaborative practices
Although I feel like I could reflect on more than one area, I decided to go with one that turned my thinking around 180 degrees... Number 4.
Positively changing my practice from rethinking learners’ and teachers’ roles
A traditional upbringing usually sticks with you unless you
are exposed to another way of thinking. Initially I found the change hard as I
would stick to what I knew best, the teacher being the mantle of knowledge and
giver of knowledge. I noticed a colleague who would readily admit her mistakes,
and many spelling errors later would still achieve high results and big improvements
in her class. This perplexed me as I had the understanding that teachers needed
to be perfect and excel in everything to be qualified to teach children, who
were vessels waiting to be filled. I soon learnt the errors of my thinking. I
didn’t know it at the time, but she was someone who embodied many principles of
a teacher who would’ve attended Mindlab – but she didn’t, those qualities came naturally
to her.
A key idea was sharing the learning, that both students and
teachers are all learners. This helped created notions of equity within the
classroom. There is no room for an authoritarian approach, rather a
collaborative space where student’s learning is at the forefront. Learning
comes from relevant activities that are meaningful and that understanding will
develop and change over time instead of exhibiting fixed mindsets that cannot
adapt.
The leadership styles which can be adopted whilst changing
my practice and rethinking roles of both the teacher and the learner, would be transformative
and servant leadership style. The servant leadership style is humbling and
would eradicate any traces of authoritarian approaches within the classroom,
its primary focus is to serve followers to enable them to complete their tasks.
Transformative leadership is to journey with your followers with the outcome of
being transformed by the end of the learning journey. Ideally we would
transform into citizens who are impacted by their learning (without delay or for
the future excuse). Within both of these leaderships styles, power sharing is
critical for success.
The Ministry of Education (2012) document suggests how
simply getting student voice is not sufficient as student contribution isn’t
applied across the school rather in a limited way. If power sharing is true,
student voice would be a powerful concept that would actually inform future
schooling decisions. By successfully integrating student voice into decisions,
schools would be empowering learners from diverse backgrounds and cultures to
be active members in their learning communities, one they have ownership of
alongside their whanaus.
Overall, I believe if the focus is on learning from a
knowledgeable source, wherever that maybe, students will experience
multi-directional learning. This is something that I endeavour to achieve by
using strategies that involve students learning from each other as well as
other sources (i.e. self-directed learning with technology). I have found this
to be particularly powerful for students to learn from their peers and giving
them leadership like responsibilities within group settings. After assessing
student voice, I was informed that students enjoyed learning from each other
and using their peers as a resource for their learning. Thus the teacher is
facilitating and eliciting responses from students, whilst students are the
driving force for their learning. This is how I have changed my practice
positively from participating in Mindlab.
Reference:
I liked reading your blog and agree with you on the point that the students are the driving force and that there needs to be co-learning and shared responsibility between the students and the teacher at schools.
ReplyDeleteYes you have made a very relevant point where we are all learning together and that we as teachers do not need to have all the answers but instead to be there to facilitate and guide our students. We too have seen the benefits of having students learning from each other and this has been a particularly value tool that I have used with senior students who have struggled with maths and they have then been responsible for tutoring some juniors in a maths strategy. They have increased in confidence and had an improved attitude towards maths. They have taught me a lot as I have worked with them over a very challenging but rewarding year. Thanks for sharing your thoughtful blog.
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