"The future of the world is in my classroom today".

As a teacher I am a long long leaner and I am always researching new things to begin in my classroom. In my classroom our morning routine begins as per below:

1. Roll
2. Expectations.
3. Daily Quote.
4. Weekly Whakatauki
5. Weekly Value.
6. Weekly goal. 

Image credit: Marilyn Price-Mitchell, PhD

As I teach children that are considered middle school and majority of my class a year 4's who will next year be seniors I believe it is very very significant to reinforce values and virtues at this age level so that as they grow they will becomes great citizens on the future who will make a difference to their society and the world around them. 

While researching I came across this image: The compass advantage .  This really took my interest and I wanted to find out further what this entailed. So there are the findings. 

 Empathy is situated at "true north" on the compass because it is the driver of caring and compassionate actions in the world. By developing empathy in children, teachers help them feel valued and understood while impacting social change and innovation for decades to come. Empathy is systemically related to all of the abilities on the compass, particularly to self-awareness at "true south." Research suggests that the more children become aware of themselves, the better they become at understanding others. 

 

The article went onto explaining empathy-building habits of great teachers. For those that know me well, professionally and personally they know that I am a very empathetic person by nature and am always teaching my students the importance of empathy. But, again we teachers are life long learners and I know that I can build habits of empathy much deeper. Here are some ways that I am looking forward to implementing this in my classroom.

1. By creating a meaningful relationship with my students-This can be done by making sure that my students feel heard, being able to voice how they feel, feel seen and understood. "Teachers who know, appreciate, and respect students beyond academics help children feel cared for and increase their ability to care for others."
2. Nurture children;s self efficacy through mentoring- This can be done in my classroom by- Being supportive and encouraging, listening, setting high expectations, showing interest in students as individuals, fostering decision making skills and providing another prospective during problem, solving. 
3. Teaching values associated with good citizenship- This can be done in my class by- Implementing and teaching children values such as caring, cooperation, compassion, kindness. Also role modelling what this looks like. Getting children to do mini skits to show what this looks like and how they feel when someone shows these values to them. 

From elementary through high school, children should evolve through three developmental stages as they take on roles in society:

1. Being responsible citizens
2. Improving their communities
3. Contributing to solve societal problems

Inspire children to be their very best-This can be done in my classroom by being a great role model to the students in my classroom and modelling these values to them so that they are inspired to be their very best. Also, showing a passion and ability to inspire, clear and articulated set of values, commitment to community, selflessness, ability to overcome obstacles in life. 

Expose students to different opinions and world views: When teachers cultivate curiosity about how individuals and groups of people see the world differently, they expand children's intellectual, interpersonal, and emotional boundaries. They help students see and understand differing perspectives

The compass virtues

Curiosity:

Curiosity is the ability to seek and acquire new knowledge, skills, and ways of understanding the world. It is at the heart of what motivates kids to learn and what keeps them learning throughout their lives. Curiosity facilitates engagement, critical thinking, and reasoning.

Sociability:

Sociability is the joyful, cooperative ability to engage with others. It derives from a collection of social-emotional skills that help children understand and express feelings and behaviors in ways that facilitate positive relationships, including active listening, self-regulation, and effective communication.

Resilience:

Resilience is the ability to meet and overcome challenges in ways that maintain or promote well-being. It incorporates attributes like grit, persistence, initiative, and determination.

 Self-Awareness:

Self-awareness is the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us. It's developed through skills like self-reflection, meaning making, and honing core values and beliefs. It's situated at "true south" on the compass to symbolize that introspection is about looking into ourselves. Self-awareness impacts children's capacity to see themselves as uniquely different from other people.

Integrity:

Integrity is the ability to act consistently with the values, beliefs, and principles that we claim to hold. It's about courage, honesty, and respect in one’s daily interactions -- and doing the right thing even when no one is watching.Integrity is the ability to act consistently with the values, beliefs, and principles that we claim to hold. It's about courage, honesty, and respect in one’s daily interactions -- and doing the right thing even when no one is watching.

Resourcefulness:

Resourcefulness is the ability to find and use available resources to achieve goals, problem solve, and shape the future. It draws on skills like planning, goal setting, strategic thinking, and organizing.

Creativity: 

Creativity is the ability to generate and communicate original ideas and appreciate the nature of beauty. It fosters imagination, innovation, and a sense of aesthetics.

Empathy:

Empathy is the ability to recognize, feel, and respond to the needs and suffering of others. It facilitates the expression of caring, compassion, and kindness. It's situated at "true north" on the compass to symbolize the outward impact of educating young citizens committed to creating a just, sustainable world.

Reference:

PhD, M. (2015). 8 Pathways to Every Student's Success. Edutopia. Retrieved 16 April 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-pathways-every-students-success-marilyn-price-mitchell

"Today I close the door to the past. open the door to the future, take a deep breath, step on through and start a new chapter in my life"

 I farewell 2016 and say hello to 2017, a new teaching journey, a new beginning and great things to come. It was defiantly sad to farewell my teacher friends at my previous School that I taught at for the last 3 years, but most importantly it was very hard to say good bye to the tamariki (children) that I had taught. It was very emotional and very hard especially knowing that as a teacher I had touched their lives and they had touched my life in some way. I must say that I was also very excited about this new endevour that 2017 was going to bring.

Firstly, I had started my post graduate studies through the Mind lab where I had met a great bunch of teacher friends and I must say I am finding the course very exciting and secondly I had earned me a new full time teaching job teaching a year 3 and 4 class.

So here is my update.....

Welcome to my fantastic and awesome Room 16 Tamariki. What a great bunch of year 3 and 4 students. Majority of my class are from a Maori and Pasifika background. Below is a awesome picture of my class. 

I have really enjoyed working with this year group. At first, I honestly thought that it was going to be hard because for the past 3 years I had been teaching seniors, year 5-6's and it had been a while since I have taught this age group.  So, far this term has been a fantastic term and a very successful term. 

I have build great relationships with the staff at my School and they are like my second family. The staff at School are very welcoming and the School atmosphere is so welcoming. 

I have a build a great relationship with the students in my class where they are happy and feel safe in my classroom. My classroom is full of Aroha and it has been great to see that the Whakatauki's and values that are taught in my class are reflected in the children through their actions. The children in my class are the first to run and help someone that need help, or are feeling sad or down. I can see that they are developing into wonderful citizens. 

During this term I have also been promoted which is fantastic to being a permanent staff member, which is such as wonderful feeling as promotions like these don't come often so I am very blessed and thankful. I can see that the School has definitely seen something special in me which is a great feeling. 

I have also been given the opportunity to be a tutor teacher to a beginning teacher as well as been an associate teacher this term to a third year student teaching. What an opportunity to be able to share all the knowledge I have learnt over these years with these two teachers.  

I must say it has taken a lot of hard work to have got this far. I know wonder what does Term 2 have in store for me? I can't wait to see! 

"Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others" -John Maxwell.

Week 7: Mind lab post grad studies 

Ata Marie. This morning we kicked the lesson off by looking at this question. Is there such a thing as a digital tattoo? How does it affect students and teachers?
(Social Media)

We also looked at:
Is there a difference between digital citizenship and cyber safety?
Digital Citizenship: A digital citizen refers to a person utilizing information technology (IT) in order to engage in society, politics, and government participation

Cyber Safety: Cyber safety is the safe and responsible use of information and communication technology. It is about keeping information safe and secure, but also about being responsible with that information, being respectful of other people online, and using good 'netiquette' (internet etiquette).

We then went onto discussion about what tools we can use to facilitate online discussions. Here are some that we came up with in class as per below:

1. Second life
2. edmodom 
3. facebook, 
4. world warcraft in schools.
5.  G+
6. todaysmeet
7.  Blogger.
8. google docs,
9.  Disqus.

Some of these tools were new to me as I had not used them before, but am looking forward to trialing them out.

We then talked about Why would you want to lead an online discussion? Some of the ideas that came up in class regarding this topic were:

-Saves record of  your discussion.
-If you are not confident in speaking face to face then you are more comfortable in sharing your ideas and thoughts online.
-You get more hits about a topic online through people.

Some other information that I found regarding this topic while exploring and researching were:

1. Students are more likely to utilize critical thinking skills

Students to read other perspectives and carefully consider a response.

 • Online interaction allows for further discussion of a topic. It also provides students with “think time” to reflect on course material and post more thought-out comments to the discussion board.

 • Students and instructors often think of comments or questions after the lecture and can post them and discuss these inquiries online. •

 Students expand their personal knowledge-base through the back-and-forth engagement and interaction with other classmates sharing insights, perspectives, points-of-view, as well as their personally held information and knowledge. 

• Effective forum topics are open-ended and designed to encourage students to take a position on issues. To respond to a forum topic requires organized thought and synthesis of concepts introduced in class. If a student's views were challenged, he or she typically adds carefully considered reasons to back up previous comments. 

• Because the forum discussions occur completely online, students have the flexibility to add their input when they are prepared. Some choose to answer questions immediately, while others prefer to consider the responses of others first. Undergraduate students are often much more comfortable discussing topics online after reading the viewpoints of the more experienced students. Students are encouraged to revisit past topics during the course, as their opinions changed.

• Students participate more regularly and in a more thoughtful manner than they would normally do in a face to-face instructional setting, especially in large-enrollment classes.
• Students develop a stronger class community.
• Students are more likely to cite research and class readings
• Students achieve greater cognitive and exploratory learning.
• Students benefits from more individualized learning without instructors having to provide individualized instruction.
• Students have a greater sense of race and gender-based equality.

(from http://www.marquette.edu/ctl/_documents/Reasons-to-Use-Online-Discussions.pdf)

We then went onto leading online discussions. Here are some aspects that we came up with:

• Set guidelines
• Make connections
• Challenge students to think critically
• Encourage participation. 
• Praise discussion posts. 
• Guide conversations back to the question at hand. 
• Use real world experiences. 
• Hesitate before interjecting.

We then looked at what is a wicked problem?

A Wicked problem is a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve.

We then went onto a collaborative task that we did in groups. We looked at what is a wicked problem that we have encountered in our practice? We were then asked to create a mess map on a sheet of A4 paper regarding this topic.  Here is our groups messy map that we created together.
We had some fantastic and deep critical discussions regarding our wicked problem.  Our wicked problem was on Mobility (movement) in terms of target children's achievements in education.



We then looked at Distributed leadership-What are the key aspects of Distributed leadership. Below I have included a couple of images that represent what distributed leadership is.

My understanding of what distributed leadership is that Distributed leadership is primarily concerned with the practice of leadership rather than specific leadership roles or responsibilities. It equates with shared, collective and extended leadership practice that builds the capacity for change and improvement. The emphasis is upon interdependent interaction and practice rather than individual and independent actions associated with those with formal leadership roles or responsibilities. So in summary, it is about collaboration. It is where groups work together rather than having one central leader. 
Google work blog

We then went onto looking at Flipped classroom and what is involves. This was very interesting to myself as again this term was new to me so it was very interesting to find out what a flipped classroom is all about.  I have included a video below about what this involves.

Here is a blog on a flipped classroom.
blog on flipped classroom . In this blog it talks about WSQ tool. This means, Watch, Summarize and Question.  This tool helps teachers to;

1. Organize content and materials.
2. Hold students accountable for actually watching. 
3. Give structured processing time. 
4. Gather feedback from students. 
5. Prepare for and facilitate discussion among students during class time. 

It gives teaching and learning more meaning and also makes it more purposeful. As students are NOT just watching a video, they are critically thinking and deep learning is taking place. I cant wait to use this in my classroom. 

We then went onto the blended learning task. 

Blended Task 1 

1. In small groups, briefly explore the 4 rotation models
2. What are the relative benefits and constraints of each type of rotation?
3. Select one of the models to use next.
4. Before moving on, we will share our insights into our chosen models. 

Blended task #3

Create an amazing blended lesson using your digital lesson tool (blend space, TED-ED, EDpuzzle , or another similar tool) appropriate for your rotational model.

We looked at blended learning tools which were new to me and was very exciting to explore. I can really see the children in my class engaged in their learning using these tools.

I have included an example of a lesson on Empathy using EDPuzzle which was done with Jane, my colleague from Mind lab.
 Lesson on Empathy using EDpuzzle. -Click on the link to view the lesson.

I also went home that day and thought I would explore these blended learning tools more and so I designed a lesson plan using another tool called Tes teach on the water cycle. I honestly. had a lot of fun creating these lessons and I know my children would really enjoy working through them as they are meaningful, interactive and purposeful.

Here is the link to my water cycle lesson plan-Click on the link and view my lesson plan on the water cycle.

Overall, I found week 7 of the mind lab session very very useful and I felt that I have learnt a lot that I can take back to my classroom and implement in my classroom.

"If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you"

Today during our mind lab session during the first 15 minutes we  has to discuss with others in our class our reflective videos on "21st century skills".

We then went ontoan Ice breaker where firstly we had to get into two teams and organize ourselves into alphabetical order of our names without talking. This was very fun!

We then had to organize ourselves into a line from how far we have traveled to come to class today. 

I traveled the farthest. We were allowed to use out devices to share the distances of how far we travelled to get to class today.

Innovative classroom culture-Creating adaptive competences. 

We then went onto talking about SMAR. I have included a video of what this means below.  SMAR stands for: Substitution, Argumentation, Modification and Redefinition.
This model was created by Doctor Ruben Puentedura who believed that technology allows students to think differently, perform new tasks,

Below is another video that we looked at during class that showed us what the SMAR model is all about. This was new to me and I really found it very interesting. If I was looking at my practice, I would say that my teaching at the moment would be at the latter stage of this model-Substitution and Augmentation. I honestly feel like I could be doing more, which has made me very excited in trialing all that I have been learning during my mind lab classes in my own classroom practise. 

We then moved onto looking at what are the 21st Century Skills that every student needs in terms of their future and jobs. 

Links to reading

Some of the skills that came up that students will need to have in the workplace by 2020 were:

1. Cognitive flexibility. 
2. Negotiation.
3. Service orientation. 
4. Judgement and decision making.
5. Emotional Intelligence. 
6. Coordinating with others. 
7. People management. 
8. Creativity. 
9. Critical thinking. 
10. Complex problem solving.

Looking at this, makes me wonder and think about are we doing this as teachers in our classrooms? How are we preparing our students for these skills for when they are ready to move onto the work force. 

We then moved onto talking about TPACK. 

So, the question that comes to my mind is "What is the TPACK model?"

I have included the video that we watched in our session that went into explaining what this model is. 

TPACK Involves 3 Knowledge areas. These are;

1. Technological knowledge.
2. Content knowledge.
3. Pedagogical knowledge.

And looking at how they work together to increase student motivation and to make the content more accessible to the students. 

Content=The WHAT The object matter we are teaching. 

Pedagogical knowledge=The HOW. What teacher tools are we going to be using? Direct instruction, Inquiry, debate, Group discussions, Modelling, How are we going to make the content more accessible by the way we present it to our students. 

Technological Knowledge= Its the PARTNER. Selecting the appropriate technologies. What technology will we choose to use to make the content more accessible to the students while supporting the pedagogical strategies. Some technologies include: Laptop, projector, Smart board, Video, Camera, Google drive, movie etc. 

At the heart of TPACK is the students needs. 

 

We then moved onto looking at useful apps. Below are some new useful apps that was introduced to us during class. 

Useful apps 

Google Maps/Earth

Tools-Google maps

Google Earth.

Google Tour builder (BETA)

We used Tour builder app to create a personal recount example for an example lesson plan.
Here is my example.
This was a new app to myself and I was very excited about using this app and am very excited about using this next week in terms of student reflections for EOTC week.

We then watched a video on Technological disruption. Below I have included this video. In this video it shows how we used to be able to hire videos and DVDs at the store to have movie nights but how times have changed now where in today's world they now have netflixs where you can use multiple devices to watch movies.

Technology Disruption and mixed Reality. 
Disruption in Education
Disrupted Domains
Which sectors/industries have been disrupted recently?
-Air BnB (Accommodation providers owns no real estate)
-Skype (Phone companies owns no telecom infrastructure)
-Alibaba (Retailers)
-Netflix  (Movie houses owns no cinema's  or physical stores)
-Facebook(media companies)
Apple and google. (software vendors)
-Taxi companies owns no taxi's (Uber)

We also watched a TED talk on how they have designed cars where you don't have to physically drive them. WOW! This was def. amazing to watch.

Collaborative task:
Which career are a safe bet?
Jobs that will exist in 20 years time

1. Teachers-What would happen
2. Industries with social interaction: Beautician
3. Paramedics, Fire fighters.
4. Social Workers, councelors, psychologist.

Will a Robot take your job

885, 000 (46%) of NZ jobs are at risk of automation in the next two decades 

Mixed reality-Virtual reality. 

What (if any) value does this tool add?
Think about the first activity that you did with Google Tour Builder, as weak as SAMAR and TPACK

What are the potential used of VIRTUAL REALITY WORLD in Education?

ARGUMENTED REALTITY
(making something to life-trigged images)

Apps: 
Ingress-Pokemon GO
Universal Aurasma
Blippar
Quiver

"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. 

Pacifica Education Plan

DAY 2: UNIVERSITY WORKSHOP.

PASIFIKA EDUCATION PLAN-2013-2017

VISION:

Five out of five Pasikika learners participating, engaging and achieving in education, secure in their identities, languages and cultures and contributing fully to Aotearoa New Zealand's social, cultural and economic wellbeing.

What comes to mind when you read this statement?
We as a group talked about the vision statement and this is what came to our minds when we collaborated and peer shared out thoughts.

This means that: Students are secure in their languages-which means they know where they come from and know who they are: Embracing their mother tongues and their cultural heritage and identities. 

Having strong cultural contribution in own cultures as well as Aotearoa . 
Achievement (Social. cultural, economic)
Participation, contribution and engagement. 

We as teachers if we ensure that we embrace these in our classroom and learning programmes then surely our Pasifika children will  able to achieve great things in Education. 

PASIFIKA EDUCATION PLAN KEY IDEAS

KEY IDEAS:

• Accelerating student achievement
• increasing student presence, engagement and achievement
• Using culturally responsive practises. 
• increasing responsibility and accountability.
• using student identity/indentities language/s, culture/s, as levers to support achievement.
• using a connected approach: School, communities, external support.
• Empowering parents and communities to support their children's learning. 

EDUCATION COUNTS-for more information on pasifika learners and data. 

We watched a Video called : Different worlds different experiences. Here are some of a key findings from the video.

• Finding transitions difficult. 
• Demands of everyday life and school system: Setting realistic goals. 
• Transisitions from church, home and school. 
• Expected to do things at home as well as church as well as expectations at school. 
• Sometimes these worlds clash: They have different expectations. 
• Church plays a big role: tratsional practices, spirituality. Many pasifika children share this experience.
• World at home and at church is more demanding compared to other children. 
• Where the child comes from gives you an idea of where they come from. 
• Focus of ministry is for the people.