Week 29 - Legal and Ethical Contexts in my Digital Contexts

Week 29 - Legal and Ethical Contexts in my Digital Contexts

The potential and possibilities that the digital technologies, the internet and social media provide us with are phenomenal.  However, with every student at Whakawātea utilising digital technologies on a 1:1 level this caused some of our parents to be extremely concerned about cyber safety and other online dangers.  As a school we have taken a number of steps as in some cases the fears of parents could be realised.  According to (McGonigal, J.  2010) social media & making connections was the ‘buzz’ thing last decade, this decade, gaming & influencing behaviour is the ‘buzz’ so potentially this particular concern may be somewhat reduced.  There is no denying however that regardless we have never been as connected as we are today and not just with those we know but globally with people we have never ever met.  

Cell phones are now far much more than they ever were before and are often used more like mini computer.  They are Google ready therefore able to access Google apps, receive and send emails, texts, messages and much more.  This has meant that 24/7 access and use has now become the norm.  Regardless of this  “Social media was not designed for classroom use to support curriculum and assessment, the content of most social networking sites was not designed to be used in the classroom. This does not preclude their use in classroom contexts, as demonstrated by the growing number of studies.” (Snyder, Henderson, & Beale, 2012; Wong & Hew, 2010).  Being a primary school principal fortunately, Facebook and Twitter is not accessible legally until children are 13 years old therefore these types of social media can be safe guarded against currently.  This does not detract from the fact that schools, as well as ours have both Facebook and Twitter accounts.  The uptake of Twitter in New Zealand ,7.41% which is relatively low especially within our primary school age demographic.  Our Facebook account is used for communicating with parents and we also utilise this with urgent notifications or making closed groups for sports teams or school events and whilst this is quite useful it still raises an ethical debate about their use in school.  The Education Council of New Zealand have a Code of Ethics which states "I will work in the best interests of learners by promoting the wellbeing of learners and protecting them from harm", the use of social media has the potential to undermine this (Education Council, 2017).  

Whakawātea has committed to reducing the risk of Cyber incidents by implicitly teaching Digital Citizenship as the foundation of learning about digital technologies and using extensive monitoring systems to ensure the risks are mitigated or at least halted expeditiously.  To this end we have the following basic rules that are bot taught, reinforced and embodied physically throughout the school:

Ngā Ture o Te Ao Matihiko - Online Rules

Kore kore rawa e whākī atu
NEVER EVER DIVULGE OWN KUPU HUNA
Kia kaua e whakamahi i ngā parongo ao matihiko o tētahi atu
NEVER EVER USE ANYONE ELSE’S INFORMATION
Kia kaua rawa e raweke i ngā ao matihiko o tētahi atu
NEVER EVER ACCESS ANYONE ELSE’S AO MATIHIKO
 Kia kaua rawa e whakaweti ki tētahi atu i te ao matihiko ahakoa ki whea
NEVER EVER WRITE INAPPROPRIATE COMMENTS TO OTHERS OR SWEAR

We have discovered that these measures have allowed us to expose inappropriate cyber behavior quicker than bullying in the playground as we are able to both witness almost immediately what is being done and who is doing it. 

References

McGonigal, J. (2010).  Gaming can make a better world. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.

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

Ipukarea Kāinga o Whakawātea (2016).  Student Website Templates.

Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/a/whakawatea.school.nz/template-ikopaki/

Week 28 - Cultural Responsiveness

Week 28 - Cultural Responsiveness

Cultural awareness as coined by Gay (2002), states, "Culturally responsive teaching is defined as using the cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively” (Pg. 109).   This is achieved by building meaningful and purposeful relationships with students.  It is underpinned with a deeper understanding and knowledge of the student and the skills, experiences, and cultural strengths they bring to their learning.  This is my understanding as it requires me to 'know' my students from every aspect of who they are including the cultural community and heritage that they affiliate with.

Indigenous awareness is about having respect for the fact that all people come from a culture that they practice and believe in with customs and language that usually mean a great deal to them.  As an individual I need to show an understanding and awareness of this that allows them to adhere to their cultural beliefs and practices.  Their beliefs, their values, and their history.  It is stated by UNESCO (2017) that... “Indigenous knowledge is local knowledge which is unique to a culture or society”.pg. 1). 

At Whakawātea Māori culture is exhalted and practiced as the norm.  Our entire way of being sees us formally practicing Māori protocols in our daily routines.  We hold fast to our cultural practices and language.  We place significant value on Māori history, values, beliefs and culture in general.

We use Tū Rangatira to guide leadership and staff performance in an effort to support staff to lead their own learning and further enhance their leadership capabilities.  I fully aspire to the Ka Hikatia strategy and empower Māori students achieve educational success as Māori.  Tātaiako is another useful document which empowers teachers and schools to review and improve their cultural competencies.  Then Mātaiako has been published to assist teachers, families and Board of Trustees understand the academic achievement of their children and gain an understanding of the students next learning steps.

References 

Gay,G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2),106-116.

UNESCO, (2017). Indigenous knowledge and sustainability. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod11.html

Week 27 - Contemporary Trend in New Zealand

Week 27 - Contemporary Trend in New Zealand

In 2013 I completed a Master of Māori Education and during that learning I identified many needs facing the education system and how it would need to innovate, adapt and change to meet the needs of students in our schools in this 21st century.  Even in 2013 things digital were still being accepted and adopted in a reasonably ineffective manner and in te reo Māori was even more dire.  Thankfully since then the uptake of digital technologies in particular have increased and improved dramatically in education in NZ and definitely at Whakawātea.  

Even though I was critically aware of the need for the implementation and use of digital technologies, initially I doubted my own ability to lead this.  This was a huge challenge but one I am so glad I found the courage to grab and run with no matter what!  I seriously had to 'grab' and 'run' and bring staff with me where some were even more less able than I was.  Thankfully again the Ministry of Education supported schools nationwide with the SNUP (Schools Network Upgrade Programme) programme to ensure that all schools had the necessary infrastructure of cabling, fast fibre connections, wireless capability and N4L (Network for Learning) to cope with the uptake of digital devices.

The renowned and well known education professional development company, Core Education identified Ten Trends (2017) where technology is the central trend.  "In every part of our lives, technology is reshaping expectations and enabling new possibilities.  The emerging technologies are very different to what we have experienced in the past, requiring us to find new ways to adapt to digital change in a more sustainable ways".  Teachers need to find ways to empower students to learn utilising the medium of digital technologies whether they can or can't use these themselves.  If we rely on teachers to know everything we could impoverish learning as our students are leaping ahead of them this is an area where facilitation may be far more appropriate.  The OECD (2016) inquires about whether education should keep pace with the rate of growth of technology.  In order to prepare students for the future, it is imperative that we must.  

Digital technologies and technology itself demands schools and teachers to change their pedagogy in order to prepare students for the future.  ITL Research 2013 states that, “we live in a connected world with unprecedented access to a vast array of digital information and experiences. The use of technology continues to transform how we live and work. On-going adoption of new advances in ICT has become more essential to both life-long learning and life-long earning” (ITL Research, 2013. p23) and substantiates these claims with a series of 21^st Century Learning Design Rubrics.

References

CORE Education. (2017). Core-ed.org. Retrieved 29 October 2017, from http://www.core-ed.org/research-and-innovation/ten-trends/

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

International Telecommunication Union (2003). “Internet indicators: Hosts, users and
number of PCs”, [4 September 2003].  Retrieved from - http://m.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/information_technology_and_communications/digital-divide/introduction.aspx

Week 26 - Current Issues In My Professional Context

Week 26 - Current Issues in my Professional Context

I am the founding principal of Whakawātea which is a total immersion te reo Māori full primary school that started life as a private composite school in 1994 with 12 students.  In 1997 we gained government status as a full primary school of special character.  Currently we now have a roll of 139 students, with most of the students being of Māori descent other than 3 American and 1 Tongan.  We are located in suburban Hamilton, close to Waikato Hospital with most students living within the city, however some travel from as far as Raglan and Te Kauwhata.  Whakawātea has a very good reputation academically, behaviorally and from an innovation perspective within the wider and educational communities.

From the outset Whakawātea has been dedicated to it's vision statement, "Ko te tamaiti te pūtake o ngā mea katoa - the child is at the heart of everything."  We can evidence that we as a learning community live and breathe this vision.  In basic terms it personifies that the needs of the student shall be the first and major consideration and we have found that documents such as Tū Rangatira, Ka Hikitia, Tātaiako and Mātaiako support our aspirations somehwat.

Whakawātea is made up of 8 classrooms and English is taught as a subject to the 3 most senior classrooms once per week.  Their are 9 teachers inclusive of the myself, the principal who is responsible for teaching English.  7 of our teaching staff have full registration with 1 having provisional registration.  There is 1 teacher aide who assists in the junior classrooms and we see the school as having two main sections with the 4 junior classes and the 4 senior classes who also meet weekly as syndicates.  Our school has joined a geographical learning community (Kahui Ako) with 5 other primary schools, 1 Intermediate and 1 Secondary school.

Stoll declared, "a school’s culture is shaped by its history, context and the people in it."  (1998, pg. 9).  This has certainly been the case for Whakawātea who have many people still involved and where the vision is a strong as ever.  An enhancement though has been the implementation of a PB4L framework to support this even more and assists those new to Whakawātea to grasp and support our vision.  This has been in the form of our Ngā Manu Amorangi (5 Birds) that we have been embodied in our physical environment, are known to all including our newest 5 year olds and symbolises everything wonderful in the potential of being wonderful humans and wonderful Māori.

The 5 birds represent aspirations of human greatness;  the Kōtuku personifies emotional intelligence and doing whats right; the Kiwi represents servant leadership and when you do good, good comes back; the Ruru personifies a person who loves learning and learning for life; the Kea is curious and chatty so represents the sciences and language whilst the Pīpīwharauroa personifies enterprising attributes and risk taking.  As a community of practice we constantly reference these birds and their traits and implicitly teach their overarching attributes and use them as a way of promoting and celebrating behaviors such as these in our students with community exhaltation of these weekly and each term.

This in turn personifies how Stoll describes culture in that it is "how things are and acts as a screen or lens through which the World is viewed.  In essence, it defines reality for those within a social organisation, gives them support and identity and creates a framework for occupational learning." (1998, pg. 9).  

  

References

Stoll. L. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, 

University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture

Week 25 - Community of Practice

Week 25 - Community of Practice - Mindlab

"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." (Wegner-Trayner, 2015)

I am personally involved in several communities of practice from within my own school, there are the staff, the leadership team, the students, the parents and agencies that interact with our school and school community.  I also participate in a geographical community of learning with the schools in my area and with the school and church associated with the my grandchildren and their secondary school.

3 elements outlined by Wegner-Trayner (2015), results in my community of practice being as such below:

Domain - My main community of practice are the teaching staff  at our school  We have a teaching team of 9 inclusive of myself who teaches formal English to 54 of our senior students, 9 years and over.  Our staff make a real effort to work together collaboratively which has been quite a challenge for some but what unites us most substantially is our overarching school vision "Ko te tamaiti te pūtake o ngā mea katoa - the child is at the heart of everything".  This in itself results in genuine and intrinsic relational trust and effective teacher student relationships that enhance student engagement and student achievement.

Community - Our community of teaching staff meet each morning at 8am and every Monday at 3pm to deal with everyday matters and wider strategic desires whilst addressing the needs of each of our participants to ensure this aspect of our community is strong, supported and vibrant. 

Practice - Our practice relies on us to all take responsibility of our own practice within the the shared context by ensuring none of us are left behind and for leading our own learning.  Our collective repertoire of knowledge and skills are generously shared.    

I have an innate sense of connectedness and belonging in my community of practice as a result of believing in and consistently aspiring to the shared vision.  This in itself provides for a sense of genuine respect amongst our community of practice.  We consistently review collaborative practice and work implicitly on attending to our relational trust via encouragement and support of one another.  I do feel valued and appreciated by my team which is evidenced by the way in which we interact, and give one another feedback.

As the principal of our school my role is that of leadership which I view as fundamental to growing more leadership capacity from within our team.  This requires me to inspire, delegate, share, model, facilitate and support.  Although being the acknowledged I see myself as an equal and active member of our team.  I believe all of our team members have areas of talent, expertise and interests that can benefit each of us and tapping into these can grow our capacity as a community of learning and practice.

I contribute extensively to my school community of practice as a visionary and an equal and active member.  Our community of practice strategise, collaborate, share and design learning as a team.  Some of this requires sharing, researching, brainstorming and sharing our practice to discover options to engage learning learning to find solutions or to generate new initiatives or ease the burden of mundane administrative requirements as a team.

References

Wenger-Trayner E. and B. (2015). Introduction to communities of practice. Retrieved from

     http://www.tuitive.org/tuitive-blog/mindlab-community-of-practice 

11 Oct - Frida Skolan x 2 Gothenburg

10 Oct we traveled to Gothenburg, Sweden.

We visited 2 Frida Schools and it was refreshing to be with their confident, respectful students and experience the effect their education has on them.

Wow - Frida Schools, Gothenburg, Swedish Fika - cinnamon bun & coffee / 3 kids were our teachers at Orsa school / 600 kids from 1 - 16 / games / confident kids / approx 15 yr olds / pedagogs or teach aides for after school care and during class / Fridaskolan - Frida School / no cost to attend / 4 - 5k per child / 3m / 700k for Whakawatea / teacher salaries come from this amount / 5 Frida schools - Grundskola Göteborg / opened in 2014 - 420 staff in total - 4K students over the 5 schools / we educate tågluffare! - back packing / a feeling of warmth & welcome and everyone must say hello & climate of support and care for one another / uppfattar problem - calibrate or act or react, triple loop, fire go out - react / student lateness - triple loop / make the vision across the community, their, my, our vision / if staff don't hook up with the vision then this is not the place for them / Simon sysnak and the golden circle - why how what / the power of the good story - IKEA, Apple / educate each other so we are all experts amongst our staff / system theory - fox / take one away and it can collapse but don't just focus on the fox / Wayne Gretsky - or any world player, set goals, I always go where the puk isn't 'yet' implemented system theory / mind the gap - ET / TIU - what's my gap when I'm up in my balloon / the doing thinking gap book / OTL / the Fine Fish / be positive, sea world - given a fish when they perform - PB4L / fish are our manu / #6 beautiful ending USA president - gets interrupted by an excited person later remember rule #6 / what? Don't take yourself too seriously & it doesn't have to be strictly to the rules or done so quickly - did anyone die ? Adam sanders Philadelphia - this is my fast note taking and some spelling and names need to be checked but I don't want to loose my thoughts.

Our first Frida School was spent with grade 9 students who seemed to be about 15yrs old which was set in a huge old office building that once housed SAAB.  The students were fantastic.  These kids taught us about Swedish Fika...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRIeytEXGhQ - 

Swedish Fika - Go Royal

Swedish Fika

Swedish Fika - Go Royal

Now on Spotify and Itunes! Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE and LIKE us on Facebook! https://m.facebook.com/goroyalproductions/ Music & Lyrics: Oskar Kongshöj & Gus...

YOUTUBE.COM

LikeShow more reactions

The 2nd one a brand new purpose built and beautiful school, with more stunning students.  https://www.fridaskolan.se/vara-skolor/goteborg/

9 Oct - Bea Beste - Education Entrepreneur

7 Oct - Travel day from Barcelona to Berlin

8 Oct - Free day in Berlin

9 Oct - New School - a school that isn't like a school, 19 students & only mentors, no teachers. 2018 moving into a building where there are start up companies space. They must make their own decisions, 12 - 16 yr olds with 4 or 5 students per mentor. Hoping that uni will accept project based learning in the future with a portfolio of learning & evidence. Mentors also provide projects to cover some curriculum areas like the basics of literacy & numeracy & life skills - very, very cool on the surface:  https://www.newschool.de/

After this we went to #2 School - 11yrs ago with 16 kids-Evangelische Schule Berlin Zentrum. For people who didn't want a traditional school and this was an old East school. School vision dictates journey - inclusive, justice & peaceful. Named because their Christian ethos & funding and is however non-denominational. In Germany to gain funding they must align to religion or government to attract funding. For all and anyone - no discrimination against anyone. Project based again, child's hospice, refugee, teacher assistants, 2 hours out of school time for learning each week with a contract includes - 3 week time frames, do they learn about the risks involved? 1:1 conference 2x month - challenge projects - where are students sleeping??? 1 adult with them & an over 18 yr old and must stay together. They can't plan 4-8 in a group, as it is created as it progresses - friendly people help them which they didn't expect - builds self confidence, $5e per day but can take some food at the beginning, they can take only what they can carry - sleep churches, sleep in gardens - if they run short of money then they have to find work. A group on an island & a girl broke her shoe. Do challenge at beginning of their learning year, then celebrate their challenge then work back to school curriculum in a different way - called learning offers. 1 project week mid school, upper school 6 project weeks, subject rooms like Steve Jobs school model in Amsterdam - 80% coaching & 20% - across all of secondary school and all kids can be learning different things in maths in the same room and at their pace, the student self manages through the required topics per subject. 10 x 45mins per week on these then, project days, challenge, project mentoring. Project learning is the main focus at this school - http://www.changemakerschools.org/profiles/2016/1/28/evangelische-schule-berlin-zentrum-1

6 Oct - Collegi Monserrat, Barcelona

5 Oct was a Travel Day from Doncaster to Manchester Airport and onto Barcelona, Spain.

6 Oct - Collegi Monserrat, Barcelona.  I witnessed a love, passion and beauty in education from ECE through to secondary students delivered by the order of the congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth and the Nuns for over 90 years.  Whilst most was 21st century and extraordinary - ECE was a tad alarming.  But nevertheless elements of true beauty - http://www.cmontserrat.org/en/montserrat-school/

Wednesday 4 Oct - Hartsholme Academy, Lincoln

Hartsholme Academy, Lincoln - one of my favorites, unbelievably child focused, warm, beautiful, inspirational and beyond appropriate adjectives - http://www.hartsholmeacademy.com/

Tuesday 3 Oct - Sheffield

Today we went to a school that sees seniors publishing in medical research journals and finding mistakes in Nasa data - Tapton School in Sheffield and Professor Becky Park and her team from the Institute of Research in Schools / IRIS - Unbelievable!!!!  http://www.taptonschool.co.uk/

Moss Piglets

Next we had the benefit of visiting XP School, quite alternative in a very modern building in a commercial area - interesting, http://www.xpschool.org/

Tākū Haerenga - SCIL School Vision Tour 2017

https://kaitataki1414.blogspot.com

I currently have the benefit of participating in the School Vision Tour 2017 with The Sydney Centre of Innovation and Learning.

We met in London and our first school visit was to West Thornton Primary Academy - what a beautiful school, not in looks even though that was beautiful as well but in heart and the way it treated and respected their students.  Just exquisite - http://thesynaptictrust.org/our-schools/west-thornton-primary-academy, check it out.

Then we went to Stanley Park School, another interesting school with a heart and soul that was remarkable for a secondary school.  Amazing - http://www.stanleyparkhigh.org.uk/