Activity 7

Andrews (1990) defines interdisciplinary collaboration as occurring "when different professionals, possessing unique knowledge, skills, organizational perspectives, and personal attributes, engage in coordinated problem solving for a common purpose" (cited in Berg-Weger &. Schneider, 1998).

When I completed my interdisciplinary connection map I see we actually have a large group to pull from:

This coggle diagram shows both the external and internal connections I feel that I have within my current role. In terms of the external connections,  I work with a few outside agencies mainly for the purpose of one student I have in my class high on the Autisim spectrum, but other than that my connections with outside agencies is scarce.


As the Literacy leader in my school I label myself as being somewhat expert when it comes to Literacy. Listening to the ThomasMcDonaghGroup. ( 2011) I understand that not being experts in all these fields is an advantage. We need to work with others to inform our practice. I would like to build  pathways toward interdisciplinary practice, pathways that lead me toward future focused principals such as the ones outlined by The New Zealand Curriculum . Treaty of Waitangi, inclusion, diversity, community engagement  (Ministry of Education, 2007) will give my students a holistic approach toward learning.  I believe I should expand the interdisciplinary connection with Tikanga Reo.

Currently, my school has one teacher who is of  Maori background. In our junior team, as default she plans most of our Te Reo sessions, planned a trip to the marare and facilitated Maori language week.  I would like to connect with this particular colleague and other great resources around my community in regards to bringing tikanga reo into my school and integrating it into every part of our programme. Finding people and getting them to come in and share their knowledge or expert skills. For instance I would love to have a practising and performing Kapa Haka group at the school. I am sure there are connections I could seek out to support me in starting this, with experts around protocals, waiata, history  etc. Alongside this it would be great to have a concrete and real connection to a working Marae. Our trip last year to a Marae was a non working marae but one that is used just for school trips and groups. Connection with all the resources, knowledge and mana in a working whanau/Marae would be such a great connection to have. 

I am in agreement with the clear conceptual model for effective collaboration that could apply to any interdisciplinary partnership outlined by Mulligan and Kuban (2015). They discuss the three elements that come together to make such a partnership successful. They state that workplace conditions are the hardest variable to control and is partly due to the deep set schemas of the adults who work within it.


A big barrier to reaching such integration is time. I feel in my own school, clear communication could be our downfall. We try our best but when time is of the essence we revert to long thread emails and multiple google docs instead of regular face to face communication or meetings. Mulligan and Kuban (2015) indicate that regular meetings and communication need to take place to enable a project to work or change to happen. Time is valuable and hard to come by source at the moment as term 4 holds Production as well as normal end of year madness, new students and end of year pressure form National Standards.  If a connection with a local marae was to be facilitated we would need to be stronger in this area to ensure success. I will need to make sure there is plenty of available time to meet, plan, communicate, and also reflect, in order to establish strong tikanga reo connections. 




REFERENCES:

Berg-Weger, M., &. Schneider, F. D. (1998). Interdisciplinary collaboration in social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 34, 97-107.

Mulligan, L. M., & Kuban, A. J. . (2015). A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Retrieved from http://acrlog.org/2015/05/14/a-conceptual-model-for-interdisciplinary-collaboration

ThomasMcDonaghGroup. ( 2011, May 13). Interdisciplinarity and Innovation Education.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDdNzftkIpA 

Activity 6: Using social online networks in teaching or professional development

Social media in teaching

People have always been looking for ways to connect and network with each other. And, in this age of digitisation, people have found ways to be socially active on the internet, which is possible with the advent of the numerous social networking platforms and apps.

Social online networks have also grown in numbers by leaps and bounds. As per the statistics revealed on Statista, approximately 2 billion users used social networking sites and apps in 2015. 

In my teaching profession the main social online platform I have used is Blogging and Twitter  to connect and collaborate with students around New Zealand. At my previous school in Cambridge my Year 2 class and our Year 8 buddy class worked collaboratively every Thursday afternoon to respond and connect with others through Kidsedchatnz. We would review the blog questions over the week then on a Thursday the older students would support the younger students to share these answers and comment on answers of others on Twitter.

I agree with Sharples et al (2016) that social networking can support "creativity, collaboration, communication and sharing of resources." In my experience through KidschatNZ I have seen multiple benefits in the use of social media in the classroom. Kidschatnz gave my class practical hands on activities to do in the class each week. As we participated in these activities my students made their own connections, knowledge and experiences. They became the experts. When they then shared these through Twitter they began to share this expertise, connecting with other students who had done the same activity, conversing about triumphs and challenges, experiences and thoughts. The excitement of seeing the comments of others was one such tool that I found powerful. The way I set up the room meant the students could see the live comments on the screen as they popped up. This was also powerful as it was an instant documentation of the responses from not just our school but across the country. On such example of all of this was a Kidschat blog prompt which asked my students to  build a tower out of only newspaper, cellotape, 10 sticks and 2 plates. We were learning about team work and working together. After this shared experience we met up with our buddy class (a tuakana teina relationship) and tweeted with schools around the country, adding photos of our towers, commenting about what we found hard and techniques we found beneficial. This was exactly what Sharples et al (2016) was talking about when he said that Social networking makes it possible to involve and draw on the experiences of others. 

Teaching younger students has always meant that simply using the technology to connect to social netwroking can prove challenging. The typing, access, safety, and understanding around the platform of Twitter for example takes strategic teaching of explicit skills. Having a tuakana teina relationship with older students who have these skills meant my younger students could access the social media easier.

One such 'bump' in my road of using social media in my classroom this year is I have moved schools. My new school network blocks all forms of social media that I see beneficial to connecting with others; most importantlyTwitter. For this technical reason I have stopped participating with my class in such Kidschats. This blog post subject has reminded me of all the benefits my students are missing out on because of the limited access. Maybe if I show my Principal and ICT leader some of the captured learning from previous years I could unlock Twitter and also unlock a way to connect my students to others around New Zealand. 

Social media in professional development

Other than Kidschat, which is structures and rather controlled)I am still a bit cautious around social media. Maybe this is why I have not pushed it in my new school since arriving. Sometimes, during off site professional development, I feel that the use of Twitter is pushed onto me by others. I feel pressured to add, follow, re tweet, tweet to be connected or access and resources or I will miss out. I feel like it is hard to keep on top of all of this. Is it a fad? I can’t help but cringe hearing or reading Donald Trump's tweets. Does this impact others views on twitter? I wonder sometimes, How honest are people really? When you post or tweet or comment you tone it down, keep it professional. I question, would you have as much spark or tone and understanding of time through these platforms. Fluidity of conversations must run better in person. As a fairly reserved person I feel confidence comes to play a huge part in ones participation in social media. You have to have a level of confidence that what you are wanting to say is worth saying and people want to hear it. I don't feel I have the confidence to project my thoughts in such a public forum. Sure they might be my peers but you leave yourself open to the unknown. Where does that comment go? What comments follow on from it?

I do however want to over some these challenges (mainly in my thinking) and harness the potential benefits of social media.

Building a trusting community within the school to use a platform such as a blog (amongst the staff) could be a way to conduct reflections that all staff get to see and can add into.

• We could start professional conversations via the principal prior to a staff meeting about an important area of new thinking. This could be held on a blogger platform. e.g. hataitaischoolreflection.blogspot.co.nz .
• Our Code, Our Standards could be linked as ‘tags’ or ‘labels’.
• Teachers would participate in a professional conversation by then adding their comments, thoughts, understandings.
• This would be private to the staff (not public to the community)
• This would be great to document professional conversations for appraisals.

It would be great to also use blogger for a PRT to keep a running log of ongoing reflections, examples from their class,

REFERENCES:

The part (p.12-14) of this Innovative Pedagogy report from Open University explains how social media can be used effectively to enhance the learning.

Source: Sharples, M., de Roock , R., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., Herodotou, C., Koh, E., Kukulska-Hulme, A., Looi,C-K, McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., Wong, L. H. (2016). Innovating Pedagogy 2016: Open University Innovation Report 5. Milton Keynes: The Open University. Retrieved from http://proxima.iet.open.ac.uk/public/innovating_pedagogy_2016.pdf

 (2017). Number of social media users worldwide 2010-2021 | Statista. Statista. Retrieved 23 October 2017, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/ 

Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

This post could not have come at a more relevant time as just before we went on holiday there was an ethical dilemma in a colleagues class that effected my digital practise as well.

It is a school rule that devices (iPads or Desktops) can only be used when a teacher is present. This not only protects the students but also the safety of the software. Devices are shared around different classes so students alway uses a different device. Each class has 6 desktops, this also means different desktops are used daily by any one student.  Duty teachers are present during break times to monitor the use (or not using) of computers. During class time, teachers rely on the maturity and respect from the students. Teaching younger students this can sometimes be hard. Often iPads are seen as a toy, a reward. At school we used them daily for recording success, scanning QR codes, collaborating and putting into practice new skills. Sometimes students are immature, or take using the iPads for granted. 

It was to our surprise when a year 2 student informed his parents that he was allowed to watched Deadpool, a R18movie, on one of our desktops during class time. Straight away alert bells went off. How could we prove this is made up? What safety do we have for the students? What safety do we have in place for the teachers. What changes need to be made so we are protected against such stories? As the story evolved, so did the possible implication for the ethics relating to using ICT in the classroom. Days later the story had changed to; he had used a scanning app (enigma) to scan a listening post story and then scrolled on the side bar on You Tube to watch said R18 movie. This highlighted the ethical dilemma we are faced with junior students when using digital technologies in our classrooms. 


Using the guiding questions from Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educator: Facilitator’s Guide (p.7) our Junior learning team worked through what we will do to support both our parents and learners in this situation and any similar ones in the future.

• What possible issues/concerns might this scenario raise?

Our concern is that students are often left unsupervised when using technology in the classroom. With the young age of the students in our team we have developed independence but have we developed trust and respect of the rules around using technology. This means sites or apps can be accessed that are not appropriate for them. 

• How could this situation become a violation of the law, the “Code” or other school /district policies?

As stated in school cybersaftey agreement signed at the start of each year, as well as our  Our Registered Teacher Standards, teachers need to build trust with families and whānau as they trust us to guide their children and keep them safe. Building strong relationships is key to not only have the support from parents but also student buy in.  As professionals it is our responsibility to be in regular contact with parents regarding any concerns we may have over students access to and use of the internet.  For us this means we need to teach students how to manage themselves when using the computer to make good choices. Working together with students and their families and whānau by having open conversations about how to  keep our students cyber safe at school and at home.

• In this situation, what are some potential negative consequences for the teacher, for the students and the school community?

It was made aware that teachers, while they are teaching and monitoring the rest of the class might not always be monitoring the technology in the class. Parents might see this as poor management and therefore putting students at risk. The apps that we use, for instance QR code scanner takes children away from the app into unmonitored sites. Clicking on adds also moves children away the safety of an app. This in partnership with younger students curiosity and innocence can be a potential consequence for students as it limit the apps they can use safely. 

• What responses/actions will result in a more positive outcome and/or what proactive measures might be considered?“ 

This term as part of our Te Wa Takaro health unit we will incorporate not only how we can keep our bodies safe but how we can keep our selves safe when using technology. Making children aware of what buttons or clicks can do and what to do if it happens to them. 

It has also been discussed that our Cybersafety from is often sign quickly during enrolment. By making a termly reconnection with these agreements children will be more aware of the choices they are making and possibly more respectful of the technology they are using during school time. 

REFERENCES: 

Education Council. (n.d). The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-et...

Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers

Activity 4 : Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

Before reading material on this topic I would have said a culturally responsive teacher is one that creates a learning environment for all students, recognising and reflecting on their history, cultures, and worldviews and seeing this in the classroom curriculum. (Ministry of Education, 2007)

Professor Russell Bishop mentioned, during his Edtalk, about culturally responsive pedagogy (Edtalks, 2012) that culturally responsive teachers are key to making the difference for Maori learners.  A key word he mentioned throughout this talk was ‘relationships’. Culturally responsive teachers are key to making the difference for Maori learners  because they engage maori students through their relationship.  Building a practise that is relationship centred is paramount to education. He referred to this as not just holding hands and singing but caring.  Caring for Maori students as Maori, caring about their performance, having high expectations, creating a learning where students can draw own funds of knowledge. This level of care shows that teachers are upholding the Treaty of Waitangi, as article 3 states; they have a right to be citizens of the new society, a society that strives for success.

I agree with Bowie et al (2011) when they talk about the need for teachers to build bridges. These bridges between Maori learners and the curriculum are a catalyst for change. They create opportunities to connect the classroom curriculum with children’s  knowledge or experiences. It brings their communities’ of  lived experiences from beyond school and gives it value and president in the classroom.

When reflecting on the cultural responsive pedagogy used to inform planning and decision making within my school’s context, I choose to use the Poutama model because I liked the use of the woven tukutuku panels acting as a metaphor for the scaffolding of knowledge.

‘How do you plan activities and lessons to support diverse cultural backgrounds and languages?’

I feel my school is beginning to do this well. Last year our school was invited to visit the Wainuiomata Marae. To support the diverse culure and languages used on a Marae we decided to plan and share knowledge around protocols and practices on the Marae leading up to the visit. Experts from our community and students who had prior knowledge or experience came and shared their knowledge.  Prior to visiting the marae each child, even down to the year one classes, learnt and practiced a Mihi to share and made tikis to wear. Stories around what a marae is and what it is similar to in other cultures was discussed. Students made their way onto the Marae not in classes but in House groups, creating a sense of whanau and a Tuakana teina relationship. Upon seeing the excitement in the children who visited and the authentic learning that occurred throughout made me realise that we need to celebrate diversity and culture and expose our students to it.

An area where we could improve is ‘how does our school involve parents, families and communities in supporting their students’ and the school’s activities?’

As you would read in a previous blog post, the socio economic status of most of the parents of students at my school are working professionals. Because of this the families and communities are often quite hard to engage with. This year I have tried to extend the tools I use to communicate with parents. We have been using blogs, regular email and alongside newsletters, message boards, text messages and phone calls to engage parents. I have focused on making my students active in their learning encouraging them to be the ones that engage their parents too.

This year the main tool I have been using is blogs, a huge effort for myself, uploading messages, events, notices and commenting on students success  and engagement up to 3 time a day. I thought parents would be right on board with this - a window into their child’s school life - but alas, the stats show limited views and reflect limited comments.

This year we have held a few fundraiser and information evenings. Using the same modes on communication we have informed parents. When I arrive to show my support and be available to the parents for questions i have noticed it is the same 2 parents that attend, the rest remaining absent. Changes in times have mentioned as some parents find it hard to make it back from work in time but it stands to show that there must be a more effective way to involve parents, families and communities in supporting their students’ and the school’s activities. Perhaps webinars? perhaps weekend sessions? or before school? All these questions point to now looking at how we develop strong partnerships with all members of our community. Consultation with parents, giving them voice and agency could help support this.

I would love to have insight from others as to how they are bridging this communication gap. If old ways aren't working (paper and newsletters) and new age ways aren't working (blogs, social media) where can we go next?

References

Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009).Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5),734–742.

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al.(2011).Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki.

Ministry of Education, 2007 The New Zealand Curriculum

Wellington: Teaching Learning Research Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/9268_cowie-summaryreport.pdf