Activity 2

Activity 2:  Metacognitive reflection on learning and practice

Postgraduate Certificate of Applied Practice (Digital and Collaborative Learning)

Two Key Competencies - Critical Discussion on...

• Thinking
• Managing Self

The development of my key competency of "Thinking"

The New Zealand Curriculum includes the following statements about thinking:  "Thinking is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas. These processes can be applied to purposes such as developing understanding, making decisions, shaping actions, or constructing knowledge. Intellectual curiosity is at the heart of this competency.

Students who are competent thinkers and problem-solvers actively seek, use, and create knowledge. They reflect on their own learning, draw on personal knowledge and intuitions, ask questions, and challenge the basis of assumptions and perceptions".

When the Mind Lab course began in July, did I know what I was getting myself into?  I had been to a GAFE conference in April the previous year, dabbled with chromebooks for the first half of 2015, my own children even attended a school with self-directed learning as part of it's special character; however prior to the Mind Lab course, deep thinking about what this all meant, where it was all coming from and where it was all going had simply passed me by.  
It is difficult to put thinking time aside when full-time work and family fill every waking hour.   Once committed to the weekly course at Mind Lab HQ in a downtown warehouse and then squirrelled away at home in my upstairs "loft", the opportunity to develop deeper understanding and construct knowledge snowballed.  Every week at Mind Lab was a chance to reflect on new information, apply this to my practise and challenge my own underlying beliefs about teaching practice.  Some weeks were crazy!  Gaming was an eye-opener!  Robotics took me back to motherhood moments with Lego and Duplo, which was awesome!
This whole learning process eventually revealed itself as the mechanism for unpacking my own teaching practice and "philosophy" and reattaching the elements of this to current research in 21st century learning. 
From robotics to growth mindset and leadership theories, the range and amount of educational research introduced and investigated was utterly thought provoking and brain bending.  It challenged and celebrated my own teaching and consistently confirmed the importance of pedagogy in the classroom.  My thinking about learning evolved and cemented itself throughout the ML course into the "anywhere, any time, any how" camp. The capacity for technology to expand the boundaries of learning seems unlimited.

The development of my key competency of "Managing self"

The New Zealand Curriculum includes the following statements about "Managing Self": "This competency is associated with self-motivation, a “can-do” attitude, and with students seeing themselves as capable learners. It is integral to self-assessment.

Students who manage themselves are enterprising, resourceful, reliable, and resilient. They establish personal goals, make plans, manage projects, and set high standards. They have strategies for meeting challenges. They know when to lead, when to follow, and when and how to act independently."

Could I do it?  Could I complete the course once started?  Given the special circumstances at Aranui High School and my own tenuous employment status, there seemed to be many reasons not to take on further study and even more not to complete the course.  Why would I?  Professionalism, inquisitiveness and pure love of teaching actually kicked in at this point, and the road to managing my time began.
Since the assessment goals for the course were set in concrete and came regularly throughout the duration of the course the only hurdle I had to overcome was "the cycle of procrastination" (Burka & Yuen, 2007, pg.23).  It is pure irony to me that I teach students to hand work in on time, yet getting projects completed for the Mindlab course has been a struggle.  There was a mismatch between looking forward to all the new ideas about technology we were exposed to each week in the MindLab and the relentless beat of the assessment "drum".  It was a reality check for me but a great way to walk in the shoes of my students!

Key changes in my own practise have been...

Thinking - Research. reasearch, research!  I see huge benefits to my teaching practice in keeping up with research.  The opportunity to gather together ideas which either conflict or compliment my practice (or is somewhere in between) has definitely had an impact on my beliefs and understanding about teaching.  So many experts, with so many awesome studies completed in so many locations around the world and with totally agreeable or understandable conclusions. Amazing!  I am now far more open to research than I ever was and far more likely investigate to find out what others have written or completed research on a specific topic.

Managing self - Yes, well, this is a work in progress.  As I write this I am three weeks over the original due date of APC1 and finally getting my head into a blog.  But actually really enjoying it.  Despite this latest glitch, I have decreased the level of procrastination in my life and I have learned from mistakes made.  I have made it to this point though, which has been great and being proud of these efforts makes me think I can take on even bigger projects in the future.

References:
Ministry of Education (n.d.) New Zealand Curriculum Online.  Retrieved from
     http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum
Burka, J. B., & Yuen, L.M. (2007). Procrastination:  How you do it. What to do about it            now.  Boston, U.S.A: Da Capro Press.

Activity 1

APC Assessment 1 Activity 1

My name is Siobhan Murphy and I teach Junior Social Studies (Yr9 & Yr 10) and Senior Geography classes (Yr 11 & Yr 13) as well as being the Head of the Social Sciences Department at Aranui High School in Christchurch, New Zealand.  At the end of this year our school is closing and will join "Haeata", the new Aranui Community Campus for Yr 1 -13 students.  For Aranui High School students, teachers and community this will literally be its final, "ultimate" year.  

My teaching style, I would say, is holistic, responsive and reflective including lots of practical activities, games and visual engagement. 

Holistic, because I am a true Social Scientist with one foot in the Sciences and the other foot in the Arts. Lessons, conversations and topics can veer in different directions due to anything from current events(the flag debate or the refugee crisis), fiction (Kaitangata Twitch) or non-fiction (Anne-Frank's Diary), Sciences (NASA) or Arts (Banksy!).  Since 2011 there has been a increase in student awareness of the world around them, closely related to the increase of computer and other IT use in my department and across the school.  Students are becoming more holistic as they fit the "bigger-picture" jigsaw pieces together.

Responsive; teaching has to be!  Am I right, educators?  Let's talk day of the week, time of the day, the hourly/daily temperature, impact of or incidents during the previous lesson, current calorie intake.  This simply means that I have a few key questions to check where students are at as they walk in the door, including... "How's the day going? Best part of the day so far? Worst part of the day so far?  Do you want an apple?" Answers to these questions give me useful reference points to begin each lesson.

Lunchtime concert 

Reflective ... I would say 4.30pm - 5.30pm is my best reflective time.  I think about the day, maybe debrief with other teachers about what happened, what needs to happen next and any changes I can make to improve outcomes e.g. "Well, that didn't work for Shaun, but when I read to him later in the lesson he engaged with the task much faster.  Maybe if I record the instructions for him and give him a link to that audio it might help tomorrow?"  "Have you done that before?  How did you do it?"

Student success is our school's "business".  Success, unfortunately, is often narrowed down to successful achievement in assessments!  My interest and focus is on the bigger picture of what "success" looks like.  

I admire the vision of the NZ Curriculum (Ministry of Education: 2007) for successful students to be "life-ling learners, connected, confident and being actively involved".  I aspire to creating a community where students have ample opportunity to practice and "master" these skills.

Practical.  Hands on?  Kinaesthetic? Cutting and pasting?  Rolling out the playdough or mini-whiteboards?  Chalk?  Music?
All of the above for junior and senior students.  Creating things to demonstrate knowledge is not only fun but it gives students a non-threatening way to discuss and reflect on their learning and months later, the activity WILL be referenced by students.  

 I like incorporating new ideas (currently the focus is on MLP) into my teaching and a lot of what works in my classroom is Best Practice from research (BES Education Counts: 2009),  teacher experience/colleagial observations combined with practice introduced from PD or 'worked' suggestions from teachers in my subject areas. It's like making a batch of biscuits with  new flavours; keeping the basic recipe and adding different spices or essences to meet the needs of the different tastes of all the biscuit eaters out there.  

Every day brings something different to the table.  Most students appreciate an empathetic and humourous approach to teaching, so there is lots of laughter and a lot of caring. Frustratingly, the timetable exposes me to a different group of students every 60 minute "period" four times a week, which means teachers become cunning to create further connections with students.  Opening my classroom door at interval and lunchtime, taking chess club or a student for 1 to 1 mentoring are some of the ways I build relationships and trust with students. I am inspired by the resilience of students who continue to make it to school each day despite their own relationship, transport, breakfast, laundry and stationery issues.  Their ability to overcome these hurdles makes my job both humbling and urgent.  I am in the teaching profession to provide opportunities for "success", and at the same time, guide these students to take their place as citizens in a challenging world.

Aranui High School's Ultimate Year

I am priviledged to be part of Aranui High School's "Ultimate Year" as I believe it will be exciting, intense, filled with aroha, challenges, opportunities and lessons for every member of our school community.  It will be a great ride and you are welcome to join me for the journey!

Siobhan Murphy.