A Change in My Practice Towards Future-oriented Learning and
Teaching.
What changed in my teaching
practice? When I started teaching, I had
already had an engineering career, a sales career –now a teaching career.
Teaching was an option that I
liked the look of. The more I look at it, the more I
see it is an ever-changing
profession that requires a lot
of work and time. Building positive relationship is the key; this is with
student, whanau and colleagues and having regular input from other liked mind
colleagues.
Theme 1: Personalising learning
Therefore, did I make a change – I don’t think my approach to students
and Whanau has changed but I’m always looking for ways to improve on creating a
positive atmosphere and friendly inviting classroom. I have found this way
parents and students feel welcomed and relaxed.
A philosophy of mine for personalising the learning is
happy student - happy learner. When the student is engaged and happy in what
they are achieving, they succeed. We meet the student where best they learning
with our limited resources.
To personalise the learning for students, they are planned
for and the learning activity and individualised to suit their needs and
learning requirement.
Have the resources and opportunity, to work with others in
the Mind Lab, has given me time to apply what I have learnt directly into the
classroom and use this information/ resources or new thinking to help the
students.
Theme 2: New views of equity, diversity and inclusivity.
As New Zealanders, we believe and promote, backing for the
underdog and as citizen this is where the Treaty of Waitangi comes into play.
We have the opportunity to stand up for; equity, diversity and inclusivity.
Theme 4: "Changing the
script": Rethinking learners' and teachers' roles – I like to start at the
front of the class in term 1 and slow work my way to the back of the class. I
reverse the rolls so that by the end of term 3 the student are learning groups,
making sensible decision, and self-guided learners. I help when they require
it. My goal is that by the end of the
year these children are solving problems and gathering information to help them
make the right choice or decision for their learning. It great to think the
Mind lab assist teaches to think like this.
Building a
culture of continuous learning for teachers and
school leaders – what opportunities to participate in and build professional
learning are afforded by technologies?
Bolstad,
R & Gilbert J, et al. (2012)
References
Ministry
of Education.(2012). Supporting
future-oriented learning and teaching: A New Zealand perspective. Retrieved
from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306
Gilbert,
J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New
Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Educationve. Retrieved
from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306
Well done Paul, you have raised some interesting points here. Like you I too have reflected on the fact that teaching is a constantly changing platform and we as teachers need to keep up with the changes and adapt accordingly. I also feel that now is very much a time of not throwing away all of your 'older' ideas, skills and strategies, because teaching is also very much as cyclic process and a lot of the new ideas of today are just modernized ideas from the past.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely that relationships are the key and shouldn't be skimmed on. If you want to use an analogy = relationships are the glue -its what holds everything together, and this is especially so in the wide range of Innovative Learning environments that have appeared, relationships is what stops the cracks forming.
Thank you for those words of encouragement and advice. It is true relationships are the glue that holds everything together.
DeleteYes it is time for positive change and we can make a difference in the future by what we do and build today with our eyes fixed on the future. Expectation and fulfillment are the result of sound pedagogies and sound teaching practice worked out through good relationships.
I’d agree Paul that before anything else developing positive relationships is imperative. I found this which has some tips for any relationship building and culture setting. I hope you find it useful to reflect upon.
ReplyDeleteAccept and celebrate differences. ...
Listen effectively. ...
Give people your time. ...
Develop your communication skills. ...
Manage mobile technology. ...
Learn to give and take feedback. ...
Learn to trust more. ...
Develop empathy.
I think I'm always working on that positive relationship attitude and approach to people - sometimes I get and sometimes I miss the mark. The part we all find easy is to get on with those people who think like us and have the same interests as us, you have to work really hard with people who have nothing in common with you at all. Thank you for those tips and I will start to work on three of those areas immediately.
ReplyDelete