Lifelong Learning

I am using Rolfe’s model of reflection to discuss Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness   What? So what is cultural responsiveness?   To answer this question it was helpful to me to revisit what culture is.  In the video “ Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy” culture is defined as the filters we apply as human beings to make sense out of the most ordinary things.  The video outlines the two different types of culture, namely, tangible and intangible.   Tangible is about crafts, music, technology and intangible is about   values, beliefs, feelings, opinions, perspectives and assumptions.  So being culturally responsive as a teacher is when we take students everyday lived cultural experiences and make the appropriate linkages between what they know and do and understand, and come up with examples, comparisons and contrasts.  As with good teaching practise it is about   understanding, caring, using stud...

“What’s certain is that the world is changing faster than at any time in human history”   Philip Stephens, FT, December 2012 I will be using Rolfe’s (2001) model of reflection to address the impact of trends influencing education in New Zealand. What? Digital learning is well recognised as a global trend. Hardly any country can be immune from the impact of digital ubiquity (KPMG International 2014). CORE Education NZ states “Digital technologies impact almost every aspect of our lives and are vitally important to our wellbeing, growth, present, and future. It also states that learners need opportunities to develop technical and social skills which allow them to be digitally successful and safe, in whatever contexts they choose for themselves, and that teachers and learners often develop digital fluency together.” Hence I have chosen Digital learning as my trend to discuss. I know there is the potential for some significant gains for myself a...

I am using Jay and Johnson's Reflective Model (2002) to consider my use of social online networks in teaching. Descriptive So how is social media being used in my teaching? Currently I am using three main types of social media; social curation with the use of pinterest, video through the use of youtube, and content / document by using slides and google drive. However I now intend to explore other types of social online networks I have become aware of through my Mindlab study. Comparative The Mindlab survey we completed on the use of social online networks, revealed that I was similar to the rest of group for two of the top four responses, namely videos and content/ document. The other top two responses from our group were social networks (facebook, google +) and blogs, neither of which I am currently using. This doesn't surprise me as blogging is an area that I am still to embrace, driven by my lack of knowledge, confidence and time to partic...

This week's readings on the influence of Law and Ethics in practice got me thinking about the sorts of ethical issues that may arise within my classroom as we move forward in the digital technology world.  As Ehrich et al.'s (2011) states the field of ethics has been the focus of increasing attention in teaching, and that this is not surprising given that teaching is a moral activity that is heavily values-laden.   I think there are a couple of reflective models that I will most likely refer to when faced with issues of ethics, law, regulations, and policy in practice.  One is Rolfe et al.’s   (2001) reflective model where three simple questions, “what”, “so what” and “now what”is applied.   The other is Ehrich’s model of ethical decision-making.  I like this as it has useful prompts to ensure you think about all the relevant issue of law, regulations, and policy, it guides your decision-making process and it also prompts you to consider the ...

This weeks blog I am critically reflecting on how two potential and inspiring digital and/or collaborative learning related teacher inquiry topics would contribute to my Communities of Practice. Topics that I would really like to investigate further are 21st Century skills in particular ICT and Student Inquiry learning. I also wonder how a growth mindset can be incorporated. I am often hearing comments “I don’t know what to do, I can’t do it”, along with students not trying, or giving up to name a few. As Dweck (2006) says people with a growth mindset believe they develop and grow their abilities and intelligence. A growth mindset encourages learning. “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.”—Etienne Wenger A Community of Practice (CoP) has three distinct elements. 1.Community (mutual engagement). My senior syn...

Week 18: Reflecting on changes in my future oriented teaching practice. The purpose of this week’s blog is to critically reflect on how I have positively changed my practice during the postgraduate journey. I will be using the Gibbs’ Reflective cycle when undertaking this reflection. I want to share with you the changes that have been made in the two classes I am in weekly, namely using Chrome books in varied ways and student-led learning. With both of these changes there has been a shift in the teacher/student roles. Coggle, which is a mind mapping tool, has recently been introduced. The goal for students is to mind-map collaboratively using different devices. Now I don’t have a depth of computing experience, so I was both excited and apprehensive when introducing my students to Coggle. It was new to me and I hadn’t had the time to explore it thoroughly myself. However, I jumped in and found sharing the learning proce...