Week 29Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice.

NB: I would like to add the word potential to the above statement

Teachers as a collective force have an infinite wealth of knowledge, and social media is a very effective platform for teachers to tap into that knowledge. There are many social media places where teachers can join and share in a teaching community of practice.

There is a facebook page for New Zealand primary teachers that has a following of 26 929 members. This Facebook page is a closed group meaning you need to be accepted to join. It is a great place to get advice, inspiration and to share the learning that is taking place in our practices. However in such a setting there are opportunities for ethical lines to be crossed.

One possible example of an ethical dilemma that could arise in such a forum is the possibility of a teacher sharing questionable information about a student or a student’s parent. It could be that the teacher has a “vent” about a parents behaviour at their school. The teacher may feel “safe” to vent in a closed site amongst others in the same community of practice. However the feelings and opinions of the teacher can not be spoken about on social media as they may be if you were having a conversation to a colleague at school, face to face.

This sharing of questionable information or opinion is certainly not demonstrating a high standard of professional and personal behaviour. The New Zealand Teachers Council’s Code of Ethics for Registered Teachers, Ngā Tikanga Matatika mō Ngā Pouako Kua Rēhitatia applies to teachers all the time, including when using social media. The Code of Ethics says that teachers have commitments to: learners; parents/guardians and family/whānau; society; and the profession

The Code says we must …

DEMONSTRATE A HIGH STANDARD OF PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL BEHAVIOUR.

• communicating and using social media appropriately.

(Which means to share appropriate information on social media.)

The discussed ethical dilemma poses a questioning of the teachers professionalism.  It is not hard these days to search a person through other various social media sites such as personal facebook accounts, snapchat and twitter. A quick search could reveal a lot about the personal life of the particular teacher including which school they teach at.  Not only this but there are many other (26 929 and counting) members who know people and could make connections about who the teacher is and the child/parent they are discussing. We also need to remember once something is written in social media it is very hard if not impossible to remove.

I myself have done a quick facebook search for potential nannies, when I was looking for childcare for my children.  It surprised me how quickly I was put off employing someone by their posts on facebook. I wonder if either they didn’t realise it was so easy for someone to look at their profile, or do they not care because social media is such a common way to express ourselves? Perhaps they don’t think through the consequences of their actions.

The fact that teachers unavoidably act as moral educators themselves (Howe, 1986 as quoted by Hall (2001) They are constantly under scrutiny from the public sector. As a mother of two school age children I expect the utmost professional behaviour from their teachers.

I would hope that teacher training institutions make all training teachers fully aware of the code of ethics. The possibilities for ethical dilemmas is only going to increase as time continues and technology makes further advances.

Connecticut’s Teacher Education and Mentoring Program. (2012). Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educators: Facilitator’s Guide. Retrieved from http://www.ctteam.org/df/resources/Module5_Manual....

Education council of New Zealand.Guidelines on Ethical Use of Social Media Retrieved from http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/

Hall A What ought I to do, all things considered?  An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. School of Education The University of Waikato

Week 28

“We need to let go of who we are, we can’t teach who we are because that is not being culturally responsive”

(https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/topics/bes/developing-mathematical-inquiry/14-culturally-responsive-pedagogy)

Crowe et al (201, p. 2) gives us three essential ingredients for a culturally responsive classroom:

"Teachers build bridges and create opportunities to connect the classroom curriculum with children and communities’ lived experiences beyond school.

Teachers and students need to create an inclusive and respectful classroom culture that welcomes and responds to outside expertise.

Learning and assessment need to provide and privilege diverse ways for children to express, develop and gain feedback on their growing knowledge and expertise."

What does cultural responsiveness mean to me, and what does this look like in my teaching? Firstly it means getting to know all my students and their family as best I can. I must gain an understanding of their homelife, their culture and their religion. It means taking a genuine and active interest in learning from my students about their culture. It also means I need to adapt the teaching curriculum to meet the cultural needs of my students, and to be aware of the impact of the hidden curriculum (Hidden curriculum refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school)
http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum/

Welcome to my school…

As you walk into our school you could certainly say it is a melting pot of cultures and to say we embrace all cultures within our school is certainly true.

A recent ERO report (2016) stated...

(http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/linwood-avenue-school-23-08-2016/)

• “The school effectively responds to Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Leaders and teachers have very high expectations that Māori, and all children, will achieve. School data shows three quarters of those who were below the National Standards in mathematics and writing accelerated their progress during the first half of 2016.”

•  “Teachers value the language, culture and identity of Māori children. Teachers are actively building their own understanding of culturally responsive practices and providing increased opportunities for Māori children to participate in, and learn about their culture”

These statements and the continued improvement of our identified “at risk” students (ethnic) reflects how we do our upmost to cater for all cultures within our school.

Reflecting into how my practice has been informed by indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy has seen me focus on planning and assessment and learning activities.

I am a firm believer in a “no lid” approach to teaching, if a student isn’t learning I try to not think what is it about a child that means they can’t learn but instead to think what is it about my interactions with that child that is causing them to not learn from my teaching. My recent teaching inquiry that focused on two Fijian boys proved that getting to know students and taking an active interest (5 minute chats daily) lead to very positive results in their learning.

A search for what a culturally responsive lessons might look like lead me to the following visuals.

Visual 1	Visual 2

(https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/culturally-responsive-teaching-strategies/)

I was very happy to find that my planning and learning activities often include all the tips from visual 1.  This is done not necessarily to meet the cultural needs but to meet the needs of the 21st century learning (I had not made the connection before) another very interesting connection I made was how closely growth mindset especially in the teaching of mathematics meets a culturally responsive pedagogy. Visual 2 shows strengths within our classrooms as stated by ERO (2016)

One aspect I don't currently do, and need to address is fostering a positive interrelationship among the students' families and the wider community to draw on that wealth of cultural knowledge and resources.

My learnings from the mindlab have given me a fresh approach to my teaching. I feel it has allowed me to justify and practice teacher agency. The one frustrating aspect to teaching I cannot change is assessment of the core subjects.

The National Standards mean that we must “tick” the boxes and label children, this feels like the complete opposite to cultural responsive teaching.

Week 27

Trend influencing education in New Zealand or internationally

As educators we need to be constantly aware of trends that will influence how and what we teach our students.  The future is inherently unpredictable and examining trends informs us about what might happen in the future, whilst giving us an understanding of what is currently taking place in educations wider environment. (OECD 2016)

The increasingly concerning trend that has captured my attention is that of childhood obesity.  Trends have shown that the percentage of the population that is obese has increased in nearly all OECD countries. (OECD 2016)

Diabetes along with dementia are now the fastest growing causes of death across OECD countries.  The trend shows that as more overweight children become obese adults diabetes rates will continue to grow along with heart disease and certain cancers.

The graph below highlights the accelerated rate of the obesity epidemic, with all the countries showing a steady growth in obesity.

As the graph shows New Zealand is no exception to the rule.  In fact nearly a third of boys and girls in New Zealand are overweight or obese.

(  Otago report New Zealand  2014)

This concerning trend has my attention because the school in which I teach sits on the intersection on what is known as “obesity corner.” The reason for this nickname is we are surrounded by a KFC, McDonalds and Burger King. The smell from these places is often wofting around our school grounds and you will see the students with their noses in the air saying “mmmm yum”

Our former Principal Gerard Direen was very concerned and he has discussed the issues faced by our school being surrounded by so many fast food outlets in an article written by The Press, (2016)

The Annual Update of Key Results 2015/16: New Zealand Health Survey found that:

• one in nine children (aged 2–14 years) were obese (11%)
• a further 21% were children were overweight but not obese
• 15% of Māori children were obese
• 30% of Pacific children were obese
• children living in the most deprived areas were three times as likely to be obese as children living in the least deprived areas
• the child obesity rate increased from 8% in 2006/07 to 11% in 2014/15

These statistics are important to me because our school is a low decile school with a high Maori and Pacific island roll. I am teaching a group of children that, if trends continue are in a very high risk situation.

It is my role to teach my students about the effects of different types of food on our bodies, provide an exciting daily fitness plan and to role model a healthy lifestyle for these children. It is the responsibility of the school to provide information and guidelines to parents, as to what makes a healthy diet for children (many of our parents need this education too.)

The ministry of health who is taking notice of this obesity trend have launched a package  in October 2015, that has three focus areas made up of 22 initiatives, to help combat the growing trend of childhood obesity. A very useful pyramid of these initiatives can be found here. Whilst the ministry of health focus on regular health checks before aged 5 years. The support seems to stop there, when it needs to follow through schooling too.  

As schools become more focused on making academic targets there is a fear the importance of teaching health, fitness and well-being can take the back burner.

I definitely see a need for greater parent education and perhaps the schools need to fulfill these roles in order to protect our at risk students and put a stop to these frightening trends.  

New Zealand Health Survey (2015/16)http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/annual-update-key-results-2015-16-new-zealand-health-survey

OECD. (2016) Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/trends_edu-2016-en

Week 26 -

Current issues in my professional context -

Socioeconomic status is often measured as a combination of education, income and occupations of the people living within the concerned area (American Psychological Association)

To analyse the socioeconomic status (SES) of the community in which I teach my search for information led me to a paper called Community profile, Greater Linwood  (November 2014 Census)

From this paper I have summarized the following data.

34.4% of the residents within this community have no qualifications at all. The personal income of this community sees 84.5% earning in the bracket of $0 - $50,000 annually.

48.8% of this community are employed full time with 33.6% unemployed.

This information helps when looking at the characteristics of the community in which I teach.

The issues that come from the socio-economic status of children living in hardship are described as follows in this quote...

“When a child grows up in hardship they miss out on things most of us take for granted. They might be living in a cold, damp, over-crowded house, they may not have warm or rain-proof clothing, their shoes may be worn, and on many days they may go hungry or go without nutritious food.

Many more don’t get to go to the doctor when they are sick because they can’t afford the costs of the appointment and the medicine. Others stay home from school because they don’t have all the uniform or lunch to take. Living in hardship can also cause lasting damage. It can mean doing badly at school, not getting a good job and having poor health.” (http://www.childpoverty.co.nz/)

Our school community faces many of these issues. Our school recognises the impact living in this particular (SES) and has many programmes and strategies in place.

These strategies range from health nurses who treat children for head lice, social workers, breakfast in schools, lunches in schools, kidscan shoes and rain jackets and help from the salvation army with food and clothing etc.

So how does our school's culture help our children?

A school’s culture is its values, traditions and how things are done. Our school has a widely respected culture and many visitors (parents, visiting professionals and outside agencies) comment on how welcoming our school is, they talk about a good “vibe” (our school climate)

I believe this is because our school culture includes such values and beliefs as

• setting high standards and expectations for our students.
• We don’t regard poverty as a disability that will hold them back in life.  
• We encourage our students to aim high.
• We provide a rich learning environment and programme that caters well for their needs.

I believe this positive “vibe” is manifested in our staff by the high expectations we have to provide the very best for our students regardless of the SES.

This is evident throughout the school in many ways which include the positive language we use to our students, encouraging and empowering them to achieve their best. We celebrate often as a school in our assemblies, where the achievements and successes of our children are recognised.

Running throughout our school is a feeling of support and encouragement to all staff (professional environment) It is said that a positive professional environment within a school has direct correlation to students performance.

(Matthew A. Kraft* John P. Papay)

When discussing a school’s professional environment we can look at the following aspects.

• order and discipline
• peer collaboration
• principal leadership
• professional development
• school culture
• teacher evaluation.

(Matthew A. Kraft* John P. Papay Brown University)

A recent change in Principal at our school has had a direct impact on the school’s professional environment. A change in leadership means new  influences and beliefs are brought into the school culture.  These new ideas have given us the opportunity to examine and to reflect upon our understandings, beliefs and goals for our school culture.

With a new principal comes changes and these changes can be challenging for some staff, I think this is because school culture is so well grounded within a school and often has much history.

As in any school the teachers are all at different stages of their teaching career, from beginning teachers to teachers that have been in the profession for many many years. Their placement along this continuum influences their want for change and their degree of willingness to “risk take,” which could possibly be a little fearful and uncomfortable for some.

A appointment of a new principal has brought about discussion which has addressed our school culture and the professional environment within. This has enforced the fact that we need to constantly analyse the school culture that we portray, and to reflect on our practices as a school.

Reflective Blog Applied Practice in context: Week 25 Activity 1 My community of practice.

Reflective Blog

Applied Practice in context: Week 25 Activity 1

My community of practice.

Communities of practice can be defined as a “group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” (Wenger)

In order for a community to be a community of practice there are three characteristics that need to be in place.

The domain: It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. As part of the community of practice there is a commitment to the domain and  a shared competence that distinguishes its members.

The community: In the common interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. The building of relationships enable them to learn from each other.

The practice: Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They have a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems.

(Wenger)

With this knowledge in mind I reflect upon the communities of practice I belong to.  

The first community of practice I identify myself to be part of is a small community of two! My teaching colleague (Jane Thomson) whom I share a M.L.E (modern learning environment) with and myself.  I would say this is the community of practice in which I am most involved and most active. Together our teaching is driven by our common goal to meet the social and academic needs for the 63 students in our class. Included within my role in this community of practice is honouring the professional commitments eg planning, assessing and other school requirements. It is very important that I have a voice and take an equal ownership within this community of practice.

The next community of practice that I belong to is that of the senior teaching team.  This community has very similiar threads as the community of Jane and myself, but has more of a focus of meeting school wide professional commitments. My role within this community is to be an active, supporting, accountable member and to benefit from the skills and knowledge of my colleagues.

The next community I identify with is our school wide staff.  This community whilst bigger than the previous two has the same domain of interest. As a member it is my responsibility (as in the previous communities) to fulfill my professional commitments and requirements and to be held accountable for my practices. This community sees my role differ  as I take more of a “back seat” position the reason being that I am not a main decision maker and the requirements are set for me, these restrictions come from the constraints placed upon schools and education as a whole. Because of this I feel my role in this community is that of a follower rather than a decision maker.

The most recent community of practice in which I am a member is the community of professionals taking part in the MindLab qualifications. This is a community in which I can take full advantage of the wealth of experience and knowledge within its members. It is important to reciprocate and share my knowledge and experiences.  Whilst  I am not held accountable to this community in regards to professional commitments. I do feel obliged to share and participate within the professional discussions.

The casual colleague chats around the water cooler (or coffee pot in my case) gives the idiom "water-cooler talk" a new definition and in my situation when analysed it is actually a community of practice

References:

Etienne Wenger. Excerpted with permission from Wenger, E. (n.d.). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. http://www.ewenger.com/theory/communities_of_practice_intro.htm

Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization, 7(2), 225-246