DeborahsLearningReflection

CROSSING BOUNDARIES AND CREATING CONNECTIONS..... Having to sit and reflect on how I would develop  my interdisciplinary connection map took much time to consider and design. As I used an Inquiry process to ponder the amazing people who have mentored, guided , supported and inspired me on the teaching journey, I have noticed how these personal/professional communities of practice that developed have then branched into many different forums of learning, exchanging ideas and knowledge with others pertaining to finding ways of supporting student learning outcomes. However it is not finite and they are still evolving. I believe from my reading and interpretation  of interdisciplinary practice that it is essentially the integration of ideas and principles from different disciplines, then synthesizing these together so that we create a more complete framework by which to practice by and hence  support student learning.  Inquiry learning appears to be indicative of...

Using Social Media in the Classroom and Professional Life. Week 30 Applied Practice in Context I remember with real clarity the excitement and awe, a PLD session being taught (on a large desktop computer) how to search on the www and to connect by email, the possibilities at that time amazing, I was hooked. 25 years or so later I still embrace the concepts and platforms, after all social media is, due to its asynchronous nature, a powerful tool useful for opening the door to a multitude of learning opportunities for teachers and students alike, not bound by time nor location. There are a myriad of social media platforms developed and redeveloped, that are able to help teachers provide learning that is needs based and flexible with both time and location. “Volcanics “, and VLN being key access tools I believe in, safe sites where students and staff alike can seek information, share ideas and contribute to further knowledge. However the potentiality of social media enli...

Legal and Ethical Considerations  According to the Code of Ethics for Certified Teachers, the professional interactions of teachers are  governed by four fundamental principles: ·          Autonomy  to treat people with rights that are to be honoured and defended ·          Justice  to share power and prevent the abuse of power ·          Responsible care   to do good and minimise harm to others ·          Truth  to be honest with others and self   When I read about the ethical problems considered by teachers today, and then also reflected on the huge paradigm shift we as teachers have been required to undertake as technology has been embraced in many fields in education, the technology field is to me the largest development to manage appropriately, however in whose eyes? Our st...

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness in my Practice I personally am in the advanced years of my teacher practice. I know as a new teacher exposed to cultures that I had little or no knowledge of, and a pedagogy of the time that did not define collaborative or cooperative teaching, I was part of the sense of “blame” that was generated around historical colonialism was a societal concept that had been around for thousands of years. However, there was transition happening, family moves saw me interacting in different communities to the background of my early years. A large extended family who embraced inter cultural marriages,but had a lack of knowledge of their backgrounds saw a search for links in the family tree, a journey offshore to trace my own cultural history and the impact individuals decisions had on that history. Going to places where I could sense an incredibly strong sense of belonging and understanding of self, opened my receptiveness to those ...

Contemporary Issues or Trends in NZ - Week 27 Modern Learning Environments The current  trend influencing and shaping Education both in New Zealand and globally is the building of, or re-purposing schools as Modern Learning Environments. Working in a new MLE (Modern Learning Environment) I see both the benefits and drawbacks, I still believe, as research shows, that the flexibility of the classroom, the collaborative learning that can, and generally does take place is we guide our students to being “21st century learners” who are, where possible,  digitally connected to a wider more global community has many benefits for most, however, evidence does state that, “academic research has traditionally struggled to isolate the impact of the space on learning.” The evidence, however, “does demonstrate the importance of a teaching and learning programme suited to the space. It suggests that the learning space must be explicitly considered as part of planning and deli...