Week 26- Professional Context

Week 26- Professional Context

Starting by reading through the class notes for this week, the first sentence under "School Context" really made me think and reflect on my school (see I'm reflecting!!! Week 25 boom!)- 

"Stoll (1998) defines school culture as three dimensions, the relationship among its members; the organisational structure including the physical environment and management system; and the learning nature" (course notes, 2016). 

Relationship- The relationships among our staff at our school are great. Everybody works well together, they support one another when time get tough (usually around report writing, testing etc). We also have the culture where we cans hare our thoughts and opinions and are listened to and we can have robust discussions to come up with the best solutions- we are ALWAYS encouraged to take risks.

Organisational Structure (physical/management)- Currently our physical environment is a bit of a shambles with buildings being moved and new classrooms being built. However this has been managed in a way to have the least amount of impact on our students and staff by changing systems and restructuring activities to make this work as best it can. We have also got a new (into our second year) management set up (discussed in LDC1) where we have our principal, 2x deputy principals, then AKO leaders (curriculum focused) and Whanau leaders (key competency focused). This new organisation has allowed for leaders to focus on their set area as well as giving more people opportunities to lead. 

Learning Nature- From the new organisational set up, our learning nature has changed and developed. We have become much more collaborative, year 7 and year 8 students working closer with one another, creating a tuakana taina feeling about our school. The teachers and other staff are having more opportunities to work with more of our colleagues which we are loving.

Activity 2: 

What is the organisational culture (collective values/principles) that underpins your practice? How would you contribute to fostering a positive professional environment in your community of practice?

According to Hongboontri and Keawkhong (2014), "school cultures are unique and distinctive. They are created and re-created by people considered members of a context; i.e., teachers, students, parents, and communities, among many others." Within our school context, we have a large immediate community of practice. 730 students, students whanau, 32 classroom teachers, 25 support staff, 3 leaders and our Board of Trustees. We then must include our contributing schools as part of our community of practice, the Ministry of Education, and our local iwi. All of these groups of people have their own priorities and opinions on what our school should look like and how it should run. 

The organisational culture within our school is one of a trust model. We are trusted to be professionals and do our jobs to the best of our abilities. This allows freedom and creativity, to feel that it is safe to take risks and to constantly be reflecting on the successes and failures we experience. This is evident in the numerous leadership roles within our school, (see above), as we are accountable to each other rather than upper management. Upper management rely on their choice of leaders to be doing their job successfully and to bring forward issues as they arise. 

What changes are occurring in the context of your profession? How would your community of practices address them?

As a classroom teacher, the biggest change that is occurring is technology and the use of this within the classroom. In the 4 years previous to this year, I have taught in an e-learning/BYOC classroom, where students had 1-1 devices. This year however, I have a mainstream class that has a total of 1 chromebooks that the students share, one between two students. When I started teaching 4 years ago, only the e-learning classes had computers, the rest had to book time in the ICT suit. This use of digital devices is fast growing and very soon there will be no such thing as "e-learning", it will simple be learning! This is exciting, however our community of practice needs to get on board and go with these changes. There are still teachers that are not willing to use these devices to their full potential, and parents who cannot see past the way they were taught when they were at school. Therefore, our battle is to educate the adults within our community of practice to ensure they are supportive and have the knowledge and understanding to support of students. The students are digital natives, they know how to use these devices, they just simply need our assistance to use them to grow their knowledge and understanding in a positive and safe way.

References:

• Hongboontri, C., & Keawkhong, N. (2014). School Culture: Teachers' Beliefs,      Behaviors, and Instructional Practices. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(5), 66-88. Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2332&context=ajte
• Stoll (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture

Week 25- Defining My Practice

Week 25

Reflecting on Practice

Reading through the first paragraph of this week’s class notes, I instantly knew that this would be pertinent for my practice. The idea of reflection is an ongoing focus of mine and one that I struggle with. The quote from Finlay (2008) where is mentions “bland, mechanical, unthinking ways” is me more than I would like to admit. Don't get me wrong, I am constantly reflecting and changing my teaching to suit my students and the successes and failures that happen. However, this thinking I do is not documented anywhere as evidence of this reflection. Why? I think mainly because I don't set aside time for this in my weekly teacher schedule that we all know is ridiculously busy!

I like Gibbs' (1988) six reflections stages because they are simple, clear and can be related to any change or alteration that I am reflecting on.

"(1) Description (2) Feelings (3) Evaluation (4) Analysis (5) Conclusions (6) Action Plan" (Gibbs, 1988). I think step 2 in Gibbs' process is one of the most effective as it is a chance for me to think about not only my feelings but the feeling of the students and the atmosphere within the class.

In terms of s reflective journal, I have really enjoyed and seen the benefit of having a weekly blog for this course as it allowed me to share my thinking around course content as well as discuss how ideas and concepts could work for me and within my teaching practice. However, I am still in two minds about having a reflective journal that others may have access to. I like the idea of getting feedback and tips from professional peers, but sometimes I think reflections are about thinking, "wow that was a complete failure! I know I will do x, y, z next time because. . . " and in this case don't need or perhaps even want the opinion of others.

Activity 1: My Community of Practice

My community of practice is the “groups of people who share a concern or a passion or about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interaction on an ongoing basis” (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002, p.4).

	Communication	Relate and Respond	Goals and Aims
Students in my class	I am constantly discussing our program with the students in my class, getting them to complete reflections on what we have been learning about and how we have been learning.	Using their honest reflections, because let’s face it they are ALWAYS very honest, I am able to see what they have enjoyed and what they haven’t.	My aim is for my students to enjoy learning, to be engaged and enthusiastic about what they are doing, therefore getting their input is vital.
Te Roro o te Rangi Whanau Team (RIS- I am team leader)	Meetings weekly to discuss upcoming events, units, share ideas and plan together. Share concerns for students and together come up with strategies to help support each other will difficult behaviours.	Weekly minutes where everybody posts reflections form the previous week as well as sharing anything on top which is then time for me, team leader, to show guidance and support.	At the end of the day it is about making sure that the opportunities for our kids are maximised and therefore through this communication, our goals are met and developed constantly.
Staff at RIS (school)	Constant discussions and reflections about practice within my class and that of others. Lead PD around areas of success so that others can see examples to try. This communication is happening daily with a wide range of my peers in and outside of my immediate team.	Gain new ideas and understanding about how to better meet the needs of my students. Share ideas for lessons and units as well as expertise in digital learning.	Take what is relevant and put it into practice in my own class.
NZ Teachers Facebook Page	My communication on this page is minimal; I do however use it daily by reading ideas and inquiries from my peers around the country and gain ideas for lessons and activities to use in my class as well as new teaching strategies. I have on occasion posted a question or concern onto this page to gain opinions and support from other professionals.	For me this resource is not about responding but certainly about relating to others. Others teachers across age levels share their difficulties, success and ideas in a way that is open to other professionals to use as they please.	I take what I see is going to make a positive impact on the students in my class and what is relevant to the teaching and learning that is happening at any one time.
Twitter	Again my communication on this is limited, however I used it regularly to see what reputable educators and originations are discussing and what is on top for education at any one time. I have used it in the past during PD sessions where others in attendance are also on Twitter. This allows for great networking to occur.	Same as about- For me this resource is not about responding but certainly about relating to others. Others teachers across age levels share their difficulties, success and ideas in a way that is open to other professionals to use as they please.	Same as above- I take what I see is going to make a positive impact on the students in my class and what is relevant to the teaching and learning that is happening at any one time.
Mindlab	Meeting up once a week for the first 16 weeks allowed me to connect with a range of teachers in Rotorua ad share what we are doing within our schools. We often don’t get opportunities to get into other schools, therefore networking and building these relationships is fantastic.	Taking the time to relate to other teachers, particularly in other age sectors, has enabled me to see different views of contexts as well as given me new ideas to put into practice. I have been able to respond and celebrate what I am doing in my school with my students also.	Students’ progress and engagement is my goal and through areas of this course, I have been able to see how I could increase these areas to meet my goals. Through applying new resources to lessons, or having a new perspective on an idea.
Academy of Collaborative Futures- Vikram Murthy	Attending these 6 leadership sessions was great. The discussions I was able to have with like-minded, and occasionally NOT like minded peers was invaluable. Hearing what is happening in other schools across primary, intermediate and secondary is helpful in the way that it shows the issues and success of transitioning and opens opportunities for these to be improved on through collaboration across schools. It also allowed me to grow as a leader, pushing me to reflect on my role and the effect I have on others.	I was able to relate and respond to the opinions and experiences of others and share how I have dealt with situations and the outcomes of these situations.	In terms of meeting goals, sharing and responding to others allows me to see a different perspective that often when in the situation is very hard to do. This way, other people can shed light on other ways of dealing with problems and creating new solutions.

Activity 1:
Reflective Questions:

Q1: What is the purpose and function of my practice? In what ways do I contribute to the community of my practice?

I am a teacher, and therefore, at its core, my purpose is to teach our future. We as teachers have the responsibility to ensure that the students within our classrooms and schools are developing the necessary skills that will allow them to be successful members of society. From the core curriculum areas through to key competencies, we must ensure that what we teach our students is relevant to the world in which they are a part of and for the changing world in which will be waiting for them when they leave school as adults. I think the most important purpose we have as educators is to get to know the students as people and not simply a number of our roll. Each are different, each have their own strengths and weaknesses, each with different experiences of success and failure and each with a varied willingness to learn and trust us. Therefore adapting our teaching to suit these students is vital, connecting back to the importance of being reflective professionals. Like Food and Askeland say, it is about “connecting individual identity and social context” (Fook & Askeland, cited in Finlay, 2008).

The way in which I contribute to my community of practice is through sharing my success and failures, the great things that are happening in my class and the things that could be improved upon. It is also about offing support and guidance to those new teachers coming through, reassuring them that the profession they have chosen is a great one and that their role within this profession is vital. These new teachers come in with fabulous new ideas which I also borrow, (and steal) to try in my own class. At the end of the day it is about sharing ideas!

Q3: What is your specialist area of practice? How does your specialist area of practice relate to the broader professional context?

My specialist area of practice is e-learning. I have 4 years of e-learning/BYOC teaching experience where I was able to trial new and exciting resources and programs as well as the structure of inquiry and the way in which I plan. This has allowed to be grow my bank of effective resources for students to hook them into subjects that otherwise they may struggle with. I have had a number of opportunities to share this expertise with my peers at Rotorua Intermediate, holding several PD sessions around what I have picked up along the way. Part of becoming a specialist in e- learning and BYOC has been giving kids the opportunity to trial and reflect on resources as well as to teach me what they have discovered.

Now that I am teaching in a mainstream class, I don't have quite the same access to digital devices as I have previously, however the knowledge I have gained previously has allowed me to shed light on how many programs and resources, planning styles and inquiry process can be altered and developed to work in a mainstream class, making the opportunities more available which, at the end of the day, is our goal as educators.

References:

• Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf
• Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit.
• Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.