"Investigating in Education and providing 21st Century Skills for students and fundamental components to the Nations continued growth and prosperity"

Practicing Teachers Criteria 4, 8 

FOCUS FOR TODAY:
Digital 21st Century Skills
Leadership: Reflective practice and Key competencies in leadership.



"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it and stop there lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again and that is well but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore" -Mark Twain- (On reflective blogging)

The meaning behind this quote is that blog reflections are a part of our learning and reflection. When we make mistakes we reflect and learn and grow from them. We ask ourselves questions as to "Why did this happen, what can we do/change to make things better". We are life long learners. Self reflections are a part of everyday life.

21st Century Skills

We also talked about "What is 21st century Skills". Some of the points that came through discussion were:

• Collaboration- Where more than one person is able to collaborate using e.g: presentation, google doc etc. 
• Networking-With other Schools.
• Being a global citizen. 
• Use of up to date technologies. 

What do you think are the most important skills of the 21st century? 

These are the skills that ITL decided were the MOST important for 21st Century Skills. 

• Collaboration-Where more than one person can work together on a document or presentation.
• Problem solving. 
• Knowledge construction.
• Self regulation
• Real world problems/innovations. 
• ICT for learning 
• Skilled communication. 

We then were given a group challenge. This task has been noted below. 

Group Challenge

Goal: Revealing the power of a good 21st Century learning activity by making a short movie about it. 

ITL (innovative teaching and learning) introduction Video was used to introduce the collaborative task to the group to give us a background on what ITL was. 

These are some of the points that came up in this video which I thought was really good.

• Connection between innovative teaching and what it does for the students. 
• Collaboration with other children Globally. 
• Guiding education reform. 
• Engagement in 21st century skills.
• Building Problem solving skills for student. 
• Giving the teacher the tools they need to bring about Change in education for student's.
• Evidence based learning.

Below I have included a screenshot of the different aspects of the ITL Rubric. These are:

• Collaboration
• Knowledge Construction
• Self regulation.
• Real world problem solving. 
• Use of ICT for learning. 
• Skilled communication. 

(reference: http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/ITL_Research_-_Leap21C)

We were asked to get into groups and choose a reading in regards to 21st CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. Our team chose "Real-world problem solving and Innovation".
 As a group we first read the article and then we collaborated our thinking and ideas. We sat together and talked about what the article meant to us and we planned how we were going to show this in our movie. We then filmed and edited our movie on what "Real-world Problem solving and Innovation.

Here is our video on "Real-world Problem solving and Innovation".

I was very impressed with the collaboration and team work of our team. Well done team, big thumbs up to us all! Though it was challenging I must say because we had a certain amount of time to get the task completed in, it really gave me a better understanding of how this can lead to frustration, panic etc in terms of the students in my classroom. When they are given allocated tasks, with a time frame, this can lead to pressure and many other feelings. It can lead to confusion too. If the student for example does not understand the task, this can lead to not having the task completed or even started. Also, it is very important for each member participate and contribute equally and have their presence in the task. The task needed to be planned properly for it to be effective. So again, in terms of the classroom context, if the planning is not done well, then the outcome will also not be well.

Leadership

Firstly, we discussed in our group what "Key competencies" mean to us.
Some thoughts that came through were:

• Keys to life
• Preparing students for the future. 

Differences/Similarities

We looked at 21st Century skills and the Key competencies and how they are linked and what were the similarities  and differences.


How well do we model KC as leaders?
We had really good conversation and discussion amongst the group about this question. All of us came with different views of this in terms of our classroom context. In  reflection on my teaching and  and my classroom context and being a School that is part of the Manaiakalani cluster of school, the key competencies are embedded  in our whole philosophy of teaching and learning not only for the students but also us teachers.

We talked about Teacher leadership and how we should see teachers as leaders in a classroom context. "Teacher agency is central to School improvement" It is about shared discussion making, team work and community building.

Overall, I really found todays session very informative and I am looking forward to next Saturdays session on virtual Reality and am also very excited about our homework on making the Google cardboard. This is a picture of a Google cardboard if you do not know what this is.

"When the cook tastes the soup thats formative assessment, when the customer tastes the soup, that summative assessment."

During one of my University sessions we as a class talked and discussed different forms of assessments.  Firstly, we talked about formative assessment and formative practice. Below I have include the key points that have come up.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT/FORMATIVE PRACTICE.
What is formative assessment?
Here are some key aspects of formative assessment that I have come up with as per below:

• Helps with goal setting. 
• Low stake-Not as much pressure as summative. 
• Teacher instruction to improve student learning. 
• Forming next steps in learning. 
• Part of the learning process. 
• Observations. 
• Self assessment/peer assessment. 
• Questioning 
• Student record keeping. 
• Student voice 
• Helps with forming teaching strategies.
• Drivers licence.
• Helps with forming OTJ.
• Visible learning. 

We also looked at  self assessment and peer assessment. Here is a quote that I really liked which took my fancy: 

Black and William (2000)

"Pupils can only access themselves when they are a sufficently clear picture of the targets that their learning is meant to attain. Surprisingly and sadly, many pupils do not have such a picture and appear to have become accustumed to recieving classroom teaching as an arbitrary sequence"

We together as group looked at an article called "In the drivers seat" in groups of 4-5. We then had a follow up task where we had to underline or highlight a section that we really agree or disagree with.

We worked and collaborated our ideas together.
Below I have included a definition of what Self assessment is. 

SELF ASSESSMENT (Definition)

Students are able to reflect on what they have learned and judge their learning against a set criteria.

WALT: To understand what self assessment what self assessment is and how we can implement it in the classroom. 

SUCCESS CRITERIA:

I can:

• Name some motivating factors for learning for myself. 
• Implement some self assessment strategies in a classroom context.
• Assess sites for self assessment. 

Self regulated learning is a pivot upon which student achievement turns (Butler and Winne-1999).

In regards to my classroom and assessment I have used a range of assessment. Since my classroom is fully digital the students in my class work together and give each other feedback and feedforward in terms of their learning. This is done on google where they can leave comments on the side of a friends presentations. Here are some of the reasons peer feedback is important and why students do it.   As we are also a blogging School children leave blog comments not only on our school blogs but also on the cluster school blogs.

• To help students learn more about writing for different purposes and audiences.

• To help students connect and communicate positively with others.

• To develop a positive digital footprint

This is what the students need to keep in mind when they are leaving comments on their fiends work as well as cluster school blogs. This is used as a criteria for them-they go back and refer back to it making sure that they have met these.

I believe self reflections and feedback are very important in terms of learning. We can not only learn from each other but also when we self reflect on a daily basis we knew which areas we need to work on , which areas we need help on etc. I make sure that I encourage this in my classroom.

Feedback is also given in terms of group conferences with the teacher in groups. Where students reflect on set goals for themselves. 

[The] results reveal reflection to be a powerful mechanism behind learning, confirming the words of American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey: “We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience.” … In fact, these beneficial effects seem to be lasting.

…

Why do reflection efforts generate an improvement in problem-solving capacity? We propose that the link between learning-by-thinking and greater performance is explained by self-efficacy, or a personal evaluation of one’s capabilities to organize and execute courses of action to attain designated goals…

"If a child can not learn the way we teach, then maybe we should teach the way that they learn"

Day 4: INCLUSIVE EDUCATION:

Today we had a presentation by Doctor Joanne Walker on the topic  Inclusive Education.

She talked about learner differences and learner needs these are as per below:

NEW ZEALAND SCENE:

1. Background
2. Changes in Special Education policy.

EDUCARTIONAL/EGOLOGICAL APPROCACH TO CATERING FOR LEARNER NEEDS WITHIN INCLUSIVE SETTINGS.

1. Interrelationships between contexts, behaviour and learning. 

She talked about Inclusion and what it looks like. Inclusion is looking at the whole philosophy of the school, that everyone belongs in your school community or class.  Inclusion includes ethnicity and gender not just disability.  It means looking at special needs as well as Priority learners, those that are underachieving in their learning at School.

We looked at a Video called  The journey to excellence:Martain rouse .
Below I have included some of the points that I came across in this Video. 

Inclusion:

• process in which children encourages to participate in meaningful way
• values regonised, rewards.
• at risk and margnalised. 
• children who live in poverty, refugees, migrants
• across 4 diff levels frameword
• 1: access/particopation
• 2:particpation/belonging-accepted within school
• 3:particpation/collaboration. 
• participating and achievement  

We also looked at the video called How teachers can help me learn video . Some of the key points that came out in the video were:

• Breaking steps down for a better understanding for the students. 
• Key points being used. 
• Having patience as the teacher and  giving the students enough think time. 
• Having visuals and diagrams to help with learning and understanding-making connections with learning in terms of realistic contexts. 

Here are the other videos we looked at during this session which I thought was really good. 

Ko Wai Au? Who am I? See my voice? Video 

Universal Design for learning video 

We looked at the contextual factors which affect student teaching and learning in the classroom. These are listed as per below.  

CONTEXTUAL FACTORS THAT ACFFECT TEACHING AND LEARNING:

Systems and process impact learning/teaching

socio-econonical 

Diverse cultures. 

Community. 

Physical space of the classroom.-learning environment.

Here is an assignment that I did on Diverse learners and how we can cater for them in our classroom and the supporting documents that are provided in helping us meet these needs.

Diversity assignment (copyright Kaveeta)

The conceptualization of Diversity embraces the significance of acceptance and respect. It means comprehending that each individual is unique, special and different. These can be in the range of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs or other principals. New Zealand is made up of a very multicultural society and bilingualism, hence the diverse learners that enter our classrooms. As a teacher I believe that is important for us to recognise this diversity in our classrooms and embrace and celebrate these. Embracing diversity in a classroom context also means being able to understand the diverse ways a student learns and understanding these and implementing these different strategies for their to be success.

“In an inclusive classroom teachers acknowledge the myriad ways in which students differ from one another, value this diversity and design and implement productive, sensitive responses.” (Sapon-Shevin, M ,2008: Learning in an Inclusive Community).

"Never stop learning because life never stops teaching"

MINDLAB: SESSION 1:

Today I had the great opportunity to meet  a range of teachers from a range of teaching backgrounds at my very first mind lab session. To begin with we started with writing down 3 main reasons of why we were here on different post-it notes and stick them on the back wall.

We looked at the future of teaching/learning and where it would take us in the future in terms of what types of occupations there would be.

We also did a collaborative Icebreaker at beginning of our session where we were given a post-it note where we had to write something about ourselves that no-one else knew and then we had to walk around and find our match and share something about ourselves with our match. We then we had to introduce our partner to the class and tell the class something that we learnt about our partner. This was a really good ice breaker and I can really see using this in my classroom. This was a fun way of engaging with each other and finding something we didn't know about another person in the class.

We then went onto looking at the 4 platforms we would be using during our postgrad journey.
These are as per below:

4 main platforms of learning:

• Portal
• Google+ community
• United Library
• Your reflective blog.

Discussion:

What is knowledge?

Is to google to know?

What is the purpose of Education?
I really liked this quote about the purpose of Education which really caught my attention:

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION:

As s group we were to work together collaboratively to create a presentation on what knowledge means as well as the purpose of education. Here is what we came up with as a group. Great work team! Great collaboration and team work! Ka Pai!

Some of the key words that we came across which is new learning for me are as per below:

Ontology, epistemology, axiology, purpose of Education. 

I am really looking forward to further learning in this postgrad what these words mean and how I can apply these terms into my teaching and learning. 

We looked at what is Epistemology. Here is a video that we looked at that defines this theory. 

(Gert Biesta's Domains)

PURPOSE OF EDUCATION

We also watched this video on Gert Biesta's "Purpose of Education" Here are some points that I got from his video: 

• Questioning what is means to be in the world.
• The need to understand the need of Education.
• Infertile desire-Education about human being who are interacting.
• "Focus on the child" education being personalised and tailoring learning to meet the child's needs"
• Education should help children to exist in the world in a grown up way.
• Fuel the desire to want to exist in the world in a grown up way. 
• Identity, finding your identity. Where we live with other human beings in the planet and how we interact and engage with them. 

We also looked at leadership. We watched this video and below I have included some points about leadership. 

• Engagement and close attention: Working alongside and in partnership  (insync)-more expression.
• Misconceptions/ being passive. 
• Showing off follower: more about them then then working in partnership and working together.
• Approach on the follower can affect the leader. 

In regards to to the purpose of Education on my classroom and weather it is visible in my classroom, I would say, yes it is.  Education in my classroom is meaningful-meaningful to the leaners. Learning and teaching activities that are done in my classroom are ones that children can make connections with where they are using the knowledge that they already had as well as adding to that knowledge like a evert growing tree.  It not only is it a digital classroom but children are able to be creative in the classroom and they are able to use the  "Learn, create, share" theory as a form of sharing their thinking, knowledge and understanding.  In terms of my classroom, we are still working and developing on children becoming more independent and self managed learners.  I have a range of different learning abilities in my class, and to be honest at times it can be hard and I try my best to be able to cater for those needs in an engaging and interactive way. I believe this course will help me in terms of giving me more guidance as well as ideas in terms of how I could best cater for these children so that they are able to collaborate more with each other and set them up for success in the future.


Today was the beginning of a new journey and I am looking forward to the rest of this journey and engaging in the learning as well as interacting and forming new relationships with teachers from different walks of life.