I have carefully considered the changes I am making, will make and how these will impact on my classroom culture, curriculum delivery and engagement of the learners. To write these down will take more than the 400-600 word blog permitted, however, I will try.
Research has informed my practice strongly in the areas of student voice and collaborative practice. I have found reading about, thinking about and discussing these two areas intriguing and interesting. Mainly due to the fact they have been around in education for so long and some of us today's classroom's are doing a great job while the rest of us, me included, don't think too much about these aspects. I feel my energy and momentum is in teaching core curriculum areas in a variety of ways with a mix of resources hopefully making connections for many learners. During the last 32 weeks it appears this really is only providing surface knowledge and being accountable to some higher entity that has a low trust and even lower level of understanding of research based practice. I have yet to figure out how I can be the teacher I want to be, teaching in a way I want to teach, making connections for learners on their journey while being held accountable to perform academic success above important 21st century and life skill attainment. My strong belief is effective learning happens and develops when the learner has the curiosity and the desire to learn something and therefore needs to learn the necessary skills experientially as part of the process. This has been the key for me and for many people like me. I had no buy in during my formal education, no desire to sponge knowledge from others therefore I was labelled lazy and not going to amount to anything, there was no reason to perform. Proof is in the knowledge I now have achieved academic success I would never have achieved had it not been about something I wanted to find out about.
How this impacts on me as an educator is I understand the need to be engaged, interested and motivated. I do understand about being in a classroom with a wide range of learning behaviours, learning experiences and levels of knowledge. Classroom environments can be inclusive, divisive, collaborative, singular or plain old school. Teaching is a small percentage about curriculum knowledge attainment, teaching is about showing learners there are many ways to build and seek knowledge. The teacher empowers learners to become confident seekers of knowledge with the necessary skills to access knowledge from a range of physical, emotional, academic and online sources.
We are currently being directed by the Ministry of Education to have Modern Learning Practices with the aim of being supplied with Modern Learning Environments or whatever the current 'in' term is. This has an ideology providing learners with what their future may look like i.e. the workplace. I'm not convinced this is an ideal situation for little learners to even consider let alone be a part of. I recently attended a professional development session with Nathan Mikaere Wallis. He spoke about the function of the brain in relation to learners and how relationships with a primary caregiver in the first 1000 days provides positive long-lasting successful outcomes for learners. Building safe connections and strong vocabulary with a primary parent, whanau, then a teacher in early years is crucial to the development of the frontal lobe of the brain. I also read a small amount about neuroplasticity and emotional connections with students. All of these small facets play a huge part in the daily life of a teacher. Building learners in my environment to have strong identities, strong voice and show curiosity and motivation is my next learning step. Ensuring they have access to a range of learning experiences, collaborative learning opportunities, digital tools and the necessary skills to critically think is the ultimate aim.
The next step in my professional journey is to seek a greater understanding in emotional intelligence in the classroom and incorporate this in my personal life too.
References:
Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California.Cornwin Press, Inc. Retrieved on 7th May, 2015 fromhttp://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/RefPract/Osterman_Kottkamp_extract.pdf
Ministry of Education (nd). Practising teacher Criteria and e-learning . Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/Registered-Teacher-Criteria-and-e-learning
Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California.Cornwin Press, Inc. Retrieved on 7th May, 2015 fromhttp://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/RefPract/Osterman_Kottkamp_extract.pdf
