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Changes in my Practice - Week 32

Changes in my practice - reflecting on my personal journey Throughout my Mindlab journey I have faced many challenges.  I have at times found it extremely difficult to manage as it has been a very long time since I have undertaken any form of study and I often doubted my abilities as a learner.  As I have moved through my journey I have realised that I am a continual learner and this has been particularly true over the last 3 years as I have entered into the e-learning journey and become a successful teacher in a 1:1 digital classroom.   Osterman and Kottkamp (1993) has contrasted the traditional approach of professional development by outside experts delivering workshops for schools versus reflective practice model. They suggest that traditional approach results in knowledge acquisition while reflective practice can lead to change in behaviours via self-awareness. PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES: Practicing Teacher Criterion 4 states  as teachers we must &q
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Interdisciplinary Connection - Week 31

My interdisciplinary connection map Andrews (1990) defines interdisciplinary collaboration as occurring "when different professionals, possessing unique knowledge, skills, organizational perspectives, and personal attributes, engage in coordinated problem solving for a common purpose" (cited in Berg-Weger &. Schneider, 1998).  This sums up solely the interdisciplinary goal I have identified.    We are all engaging on a co-ordinated approach for a common purpose.   Below is my professional Connections map. I have included people whose paths I cross regularly as well as those I only cross with intermittently.  I have identified two in red that I would consider being potential connections in my current classroom situation.  I am sure that this diagram could end up very complex being in a small community where we interact on a regular basis.  "When working in an interdisciplinary manner we can draw on multiple perspectives, practices, epistemologies and metho
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Social Media in Professional Development - Week 30

Using social online networks in teaching or professional development Social media in teaching Within my class we use a variety  of different social media platforms on a regular basis.  All students have their own personal blogs where they share their learning and they use their blogs to network with other students through out New Zealand and the world.  As a class we also have a class blog we we share our collaborative activities and celebrate our successes.  Each week we participate in the Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu programme where involved students are encouraged to comment on each others blogs in a positive, thoughtful and helpful way.  This is a nationwide initiative set up through the Manakalani Outreach project. This has been instrumental for a lot of my reluctant learners as they love to get feedback from their peers and these comments often spark online discussions around each others learning.  Extremely powerful collaboration. We are currently - and have been for the past 18 mont
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Influence of Laws Reflective Post - Week 29

Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice A Moral and ethical dilemma As a teaching professional I strongly believe that I try to have a strong, but realistic moral line between my professional and personal life.  Living away from my the majority of my family in a smaller town I enjoy having access to tools such as Facebook and Instagram. The ability for me to share with my friends and family what my family and I have been up to and also having access to family and friends all around the globe is my main purpose of use.  My family can’t be at things like school assemblies, weekly sports events, prize givings, birthdays etc so I am able to keep them up to date and make them feel included. I do however find this hard in such platforms where parents and our school community are very active.  Also where school Whanau are also friends or parents of my own children I have to ensure all my privacy settings are tight. This at times has proven a challenge when friend reque
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Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness - Reflection Week 28

 Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice My Understanding of Indigenous Knowledge & Cultural Responsiveness Reflecting on my understanding of culture awareness, knowledge and responsiveness I am able to reflect on the fact that I may be seen to be in the privileged group. Being a white, middle class woman in my early 40's who was raised with my two working parents alongside my younger sister, in a modest home where my parents offered me every opportunity that was available.  In the small semi-rural community that I grew up in this was also seen to be the 'norm'. Cultural diversity was all but non-existent and single parent families were also extremely rare. Moving away from home, into a large city to train in education was where I first became much more aware that my personal situation was not the 'norm' and my culture awareness and responsiveness was not where it should have been. In fact it would be fair to say I was extreme
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The Broader Professional Context - Reflective Post Week 27

Contemporary trend in New Zealand or internationally Reflecting on the current trends occurring at the present one that it highlighted for me as being the most relevant to my current practice is the development of the digital platform in classrooms.  This has been a major introduction for our school in the last 3 years and the pace in which this has happened is phenomenal. As the leader of the hub which has been seen as being the leaders in this initiative there has been a great deal of outside pressure. I have taken over the leadership role this year from the teacher who was instrumental in facilitating the introduction of 1:1 devices and I feel it is my responsibility to ensure that all her hard work is not going to be for nothing. Our schools expectation is that all students will be on 1:1 devices within the next 3 years, whether it be on chrome books (which are currently 1:1 for all students Year 5-8) or ipads for our juniors. Are we as a school ready for it? Teachin
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Your Professional Context - Reflective Post Week 26

Current issues in my professional context At Grey Main School we have a very contrasting socio-economic environment.  We are a Decile 5 school that is surrounded by State owned housing on one side, privately owned homes on the other and the local High School is 200m down the road.  We have students who range from wondering where their next meal is coming from to students who have regular oversees holidays with their families.   The dynamics of our school has changed markedly over recent years but more so over the past 2 or 3.  We have a large amount of families who have moved here with Government assistance as living in cities was no longer affordable, on the other hand we have families who own and operate large community businesses and smaller community centred businesses that are vital to the progressive economic growth of our town. Last NZ  census results show:  For people aged 15 years and over, the median income (half earn more, and half earn less, than this amount), i
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