The Apple Dropped

Social Media use in Teaching and Professional Development In this post I will be using Jay and Johnson’s (2012) model to guide my discussion. Step 1: I have attempted many times to start up a class blog over the years but somehow I have not sustained it or even got it going. I ended up learning about blogging through my own portfolio against the former PTC’s. In the past year I started to use Seesaw. There was a sense of achievement in both the activity itself and the sharing of it. But there was not any constructive feedback nor were experts used. Considering other social media platforms went in the ‘too hard basket’.             During Professional Development (PD), formally as a school we started to use VLN’s but were not guided on how effective they could be. Generally our PD is arranged around locally sourcing someone or linking with other schools to co-host and facilitate. As we are rural, it ca...

Legal and ethic contexts in my digital practice I am structuring my discussion around Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper (2001) reflective model. Step 1: What? I have chosen to discuss something I had encountered from moving to a smaller town in my first few years of teaching from living in a large city. In the age of social media, where a huge majority of people access social media accounts daily in the developed world, it comes to no surprise that ethical dilemmas would occur.  Living in a small community usually means that you would know many families of the children you would end up teaching. They may even be a part of your whānau! The ethical dilemma that arises is maintaining the boundaries between personal and professional life. On social media do you accept and/or interact with the parents of your students, and some students themselves? This was one of the first grey areas I had come across. I know what I would do personally, maintain the distance but...

Contribution of Teacher Inquiry Topics to my Communities of Practice It is human nature to seek another for clarification or help but we may not seek out professional groups rather a trusted source. Wenger (2000) describes how a community of practice can be defined by three elements: joint enterprise, mutual engagement and shared repertoire. I probably use my spiritual community as a community of practice as it fulfils the three modes of belonging. I understand my own inhibitions of only being in my third year of teaching and still inexperienced, I tend to listen more than contribute as I value those who have had much more experience as well as only not being brought up in N.Z. Naturally I draw upon specific diverse groups of people for advice and ideas especially from those who have expertise in that area. For example, teaching related questions would always be directed to my colleagues at school, discussions for ideas for what has worked within classrooms are with my peers fr...

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 yo...