Reflection - elearning and the PTCs.
Meeting the PTCs well...
Criteria 1: Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all ākonga. Students in my Yr 9 classes last year were able to contribute to the decision-making around contexts we would study for our "Going Places" topic in Social Studies. For one Yr 9 class the students suggested ideas on a google form and after collating all the topics students again used a google form to vote on the outcome. Students felt like they had input into what was being learnt in class.
Students in my Yr 11 and Yr 13 classes have the ability to ask me to check their work during assessments. Using a combination of drive and email, students can submit drafts and ask for feedback at any point along the track. Rather than waiting for verbal feedback, requests can come it at any time and students often respond with a redraft even before the next lesson!
Criteria 5: Fully registered teachers show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning. Every Monday morning PD time brings the opportunity to introduce more e-learning strategies to staff. Hapara Workspace has been the topic this term and teachers will be presenting their "workspaces" to the whole staff at the end of this term. As the new Senior Manager in charge of PD at school I organised a LwDT (Learning With Digital Technologies) Facilitator to be in school to upskill teachers who missed or needed updating on the elearning training implemented in 2014. The skills taught at these google (GAFE) sessions are then discussed and supported further at a departmental level where teachers share their understandings and use of the strategies in the classroom. Favourite strategies for teacher discussion are forms, managing email and organizing drive documents.
Criteria 12: Fully registered teachers use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their practice. Last year my inquiry focus was parent contact and although this may not seem like elearning - how I contacted parents was! I reviewed the attendance data for my whanau class daily in KAMAR and every day I was at school I sent a text home through KAMAR to parents asking them to reply with an explanation for a child's absence. Often it was 40 - 60 texts per week and it was relentless. I never missed a day. Students initially were annoyed - "Miss, you'd better stop texting my Dad!" until finally after about two months students started bringing me notes to stop me texting. The relationship I had with parents for attendance was only by text but it generated a lot of discussion (some parents phoned me asking for techniques to help get their child to school) and finally it changed student behaviour, which was my goal for the inquiry.
Two main goals for my future development
1. Successfully transition our students to the new school with an elearning "toolbox". Students will be leaving us at the end of 2016. Aranui High School staff have little idea about specific expectations of students in 2017 however if we provide our current students with a variety of skills enabling resilience, flexibility and self-management, then we will have gone some way to ease the change from one school to another.
2. I would love to take my digital-learning journey further. I have appreciated the chance to study through Mind Lab and on completion of this course and closure of my school the goal is to take the Government's retraining option to do more research. What research specifically? Looking at the impact of Haeata's Innovative Learning Environment (ILE) on student achievement, school culture and engagement would be my first choice for research. During completion of the R&C assessments I was especially interested in the research that Cashmere High School Principal, Mark Wilson completed regarding ILEs. It was interesting how his research diverged from current Ministry thinking, yet as the decision he made for his school, it may well be the best outcome for CHS student achievement. How different the journey to an ILE has been for Aranui High School staff and students!
Research involving tracking ex-Aranui HS student well-being, engagement and achievement is to hopefully be my main goal for 2017.
Siobhan Murphy
March 2016
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