Personal Learning Journey

The library environment deals with “ the individual learner, the role of technology, and the contemporary world, linked together through concepts of equality and collaboration”  It also  needs to be part of a learning-focused culture - focused on learning, and characterised by respect, inclusion, empathy, collaboration and safety. (Our code, our standards) This is where I want to position our school library.  Until students and teachers see the library/information centre as relevant it will not be used to its full potential.

For the beginning of the year  the library was primarily being used as a corridor and a socialising space for the students, with one end being a classroom space.  There was no quiet area to read or study or play board games,.It was no longer a safe place.The first strategies I used were ones I had used to develop a library culture in the previous ‘stand-alone building.  This resulted in conflict  A change of strategies which included and met the students’ needs has resulted in an environment which can be learning focused.

This was the biggest change in my practice this year.  The next phase of the change is to develop the role of technology in the library. I have begun working with students on blogging.  Another teacher has asked me to work with some students from her maths class next term. I have found some students who know a bit about coding, and will work with them to develop this area of digital literacy.  I am also exploring ways to make the library website more interactive, possibly by using some gamification elements

My professional development for the year is planned to support me with my ideas for the library and to consolidate the learning I have done with Mindlab  I will be learning about the new digital technologies in the curriculum, and working out how our library collections, programmes and services can contribute to digital literacy (MOE, National Library) I will be discovering more about makerspaces, (OEDb), robotics, and coding to see how I can develop these ideas in the library.  I will be experimenting with programmes and apps to make our digital library space more interactive. (Woolf Fisher 2017)

I also plan to continue reflective practise and publishing to my blog.  I am still trying different models to see which ones I wish to use in different situations (Finlay).  I have found it helpful to include research at a specific stage in reflection leading to action.I will continue to blog my reflections, and at some stage will work towards including this platform more in my personal networks.  Similarly I will work towards being more active on Twitter, though I doubt whether I will ever get to follow fifty  others.


References

Finlay L (2008)Reflecting on reflective practice  https://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf


Hack Education https://hackeducation.co.nz/

Ministry of Education http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Curriculum-areas/Digital-Technologies-in-the-curriculum

National Library (2018) https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/professional-learning/courses/823

Our Code, our standards https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

 A Librarians guide to makerspaces: 16 Resources https://oedb.org/ilibrarian/a-librarians-guide-to-makerspaces/


Woolf  fFisher research https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tT7g3-hibg0CwrpPAD71auZOiUJbwKABIuJ8ovOE8FQ/edit#slide=id.p

My  understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness and discussion on communication and special activities.

“Indigenous knowledge refers to the understandings, skills and philosophies developed by societies with long histories of interaction with their natural surroundings…. This knowledge is integral to a cultural complex that also encompasses language, systems of classification, resource use practices, social interactions, ritual and spirituality.”(Unesco)

I like this definition of indigenous knowledge as it is so simple and so inclusive. It provides me with a frame of reference to decide if something may be based on indigenous knowledge, or possibly have been impacted by colonial ideas,  It helps me to use different cultural lenses.

I am a Pakeha New Zealander, and was brought up in in a rural. predominantly Maori area, where the school and marae were the focal point of the community.  My mother’s family was German, my father’s English.  My husband immigrated to New Zealand from Holland as a child. I tatai to Te Aupouri, Ngati Kahu, Te Atiawa; and  Ngati Whatua, and work in the Ngapuhi rohe.

Our school is is some ways almost monocultural, having a 90% Maori roll.  Many of the teachers are fluent Te Reo speakers, and the rest of us hear it regularly  My school fits somewhere on the green/ red pillars of Ann Milne’s action continuum.  In some ways we match more the Whare tapawha idea with the fifth dimension of whenua added.  (See Heaton, 2015)  We are Te Pu o te Wheke, we are inside Te Whare Tapu o Ngapuhi., and this establishes  and grounds us.  Our core values - Whanaungatanga, Aroha, Kawenga ako and Mana tangata ensure we care for the wairua, tinana, hinengaro and whanau of our students.  We begin each day with a karakia, some classes finish the day with a karakia mutunga.  Mihi whakatau and powhiri are the usual way to greet visitors.   Tikanga and kawa are explained where necessary, and to some extent embedded in our policies and systems. 

The school has been involved with Te Kotahitanga for many years now, and many teachers practise elements of the effective teacher profile (ETP., Bishop)  The teachers all show authentic caring for the students as Maori;and have high expectations of their students’ learning.  They give feed back and feed forward; and use contexts where the students are able to apply their own knowledge.  A range of teaching strategies are used; and teaching and learning strategies are evidence based.    Most can manage their classrooms effectively. All of this gives students’ hinengaro a strong basis We have a kaumatua at school, and staff members with standing in the Mormon and Ratana churches, so along with our counsellors have the basics to care for students’ wairua. Food and sport activities are provided to care for tinana.  Whanau are welcomed and respected.

Our communications  and our special celebrations ensure our whanau are informed and welcomed into school.  Our komiti Maori includes parents and whanau, kuia and kaumatua and gives them a place to korero,  to share their opinions and discuss and make plans with staff.  Staff are welcome to attend takiwa meetings, so the involvement is reciprocal.  All of this helps strengthen our students’ cultural identity.

Now what?

As a school our next step is to consolidate the progress we have made.  Not all staff are comfortable with karakia mutunga in their classrooms, or with attending hui at a marae. Our students have made racist comments about other students, and staff from different ethnic backgrounds, so we have work to do there.  And finally, we need to move towards challenging colonialism in teaching programmes..


 15 Culturally-Responsive Teaching Strategies and Examples + Downloadable List
https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Culturally-Responsive-Teaching-Strategies-and-Examples.pdf

Education for Māori: Relationships between schools and whānau  https://www.oag.govt.nz/2015/education-for-maori/docs/education-for-maori.pdf

Heaton,S (2015) Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Mai Journal 4 (2)
http://www.journal.mai.ac.nz/sites/default/files/MAIJrnl_2015_V4_iss2_Heaton.pdf

Savage,C, Hindle, R., Meyer,L., Hyndsa,A., Penetito, W. & Sleeter, C.(2011) Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum .Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 39(3), 183–198 https://culturally-responsive-pedagogies-in-the-classroom-indigenous-student-experiences-across-the-curriculum%20(1).pdf

Unesco http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/priority-areas/links/related-information/what-is-local-and-indigenous-knowledge/

Trends Blog Activity

The trend that interests me is the impact of digital learning, because this extends into every facet of our lives.

Social media outlets available now provide a context for people to connect, to collaborate on initiatives and to create new content.  People can create and communicate information relating to commerce, religion, political ideas, cultural identity, geographical events, climate, conflict and many other topics.  Online users can access information easily about all of these things almost as soon as they are published.

The problem with this is that disinformation and fake news can be created, published, read and believed just as easily.  As the world becomes more closely connected, the number of groups seeking to establish and reinforce their identity  also increases as people seek to ensure some stability in their lives in the face of rapid change.  Leaders in these groups will become more influential, and belief in what they state becomes more accepted as truth.  Those with a stronger intensity of faith or belief will be less likely to change or challenge views.  As a result, social media platforms are an emerging tool for creating divisiveness, and spreading disinformation and increasing conflict- in fact, they have huge potential for propaganda.

There is a belief that as people become connected through digital means, they will be able to access the information they need, at the time they need it, so librarians in particular are seen as unnecessary.  Their role, when described as as gatekeepers of knowledge, is viewed as limiting and anachronistic. A true gatekeeper knows which gate to open to help information seekers - As Neil Gaiman remarked,” Google can bring you 100,000 answers to a question, but a librarian can give you the right one.”

Students know how to access information - just ask Google.  What students do not do intuitively is look past the first five results out of three million possibilities.  They may not recognise that the suffixes on the urls will provide some information about the provenance, bias and accuracy of the information provided.  Students may not realise or acknowledge that Google has chosen which items of information to show first - based on metadata, previous searches and so on.

A strong culture of literacy needs to be developed in schools - data literacy, digital literacy, information seeking and evaluating literacy for starters.  Librarians and teachers have the responsibility of developing this culture, and of providing resources to develop and strengthen such cultures

Access to digital technology is another variable that may be affected by population trends.  One trend is that more people will live in cities, but there is no indication of what form these cities may take.  If they continue to spread, will there be less rural land available?  If they are concentrated in smaller areas, how will these be imagined and constructed?  Access to digital technologies is already less in poorer areas, and rural areas regularly have less access to the services that run these technologies.  Power supply, or telephone access may continue to be less available in rural areas,   If dependence on access becomes prevalent, there will develop a strong need to find smaller, less centralised and cable-dependent points of access.  The printed word may become as important as digital material.  Librarians and libraries will become important in providing access to both delivery forms as well as audio and video.  Teachers will need to ensure that they somehow walk the tightrope and keep a balance between digital tools and the real world problems of lack of access.


National Intelligence Council. (2017). Global trends: The Paradox of Progress. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from https://www.dni.gov/files/images/globalTrends/documents/GT-Main-Report.pdf
Neil Gaiman quoted in The Guardian 27.6.2018 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/17/the-guardian-view-on-books-for-all-libraries-give-us-power
Trends shaping Education 2016 OECD https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/trends-shaping-education-2016_trends_edu-2016-en#page1

Social Media in my Professional Development

I use social media in my professional development as a librarian.  As librarian I follow two national on-line communities– Slanza and National Library.  These both offer discussion and professional development courses, web sites with masses of information, and helpline connections.
Our school is part of a Manaiakalani outreach cluster, which offers professional development face-to-face as well as through a Google+ community. The community of learning also has a Google+ community.
Intra-school communication is primarily through email, and teachers are expected to follow up links sent to them.  School wide professional development is usually based on a meeting, with any follow up work available through blogs, google communities and the like. This means that professional development is available to staff as it is needed, and can be accessed from different places at times that suit individuals.
Comparative
All teachers at our school are expected to have a class site, and to move towards developing a learn–create-share pedagogy.  This has been more difficult for some than for others, and as teachers come and go there is a need for continuous development of skills by staff. While there is an opportunity each week for teachers to get one-to-one help, there is not enough time for everyone to have this help.  Therefore, teachers who choose to be proactive learn and develop their skills more quickly than others. Some faculty leaders have released teachers  from their classes so they can have this learning opportunities.
Whanau have access to their child’s learning through the classroom web sites, and whanau hui show they are keen to learn how to do this, and also how they can contribute. The school Facebook page keeps whanau informed of upcoming events as well as student successes.  Magette (2014) discusses the need for managing risks with social media use.  One of the school’s responsibilities is to teach safety while using social media, and education is given to students and whanau on this topic. This is usually limited to one or two whanau sessions for new students, and is not followed up very well. As yet, there is no policy or set of procedures for staff to follow.
Reflection
Whitaker (2015) suggests that teachers can overcome their feelings of isolation and lack of support by nurturing their own community through social media.  His suggestions for becoming a connected teacher demand a concentrated effort on the part of the individual, but will pay dividends in the form of sharing ideas, resources and support.  I tend not to use twitter, and think I would find it overwhelming to research and follow fifty educators on top of the personal and professional connections I already have.  However I find his suggestion of making four different responses each day ( a question, sharing a resource, responding to a comment and sharing my own thinking) is something I could do to move my involvement to a higher level than what it is now.

References
Magette, K. (2014). Embracing social media : a practical guide to manage risk and leverage opportunity. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.(Available in Unitec library).
Whitaker, T., Zoul, J., & Casas, J. (2015). What connected educators do differently. New York, NY: Routledge.

Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

I am reflecting on two very similar incidents that occured in my school, involving digital access.  Both involved cellphones and their use; one also involved facebook.

The first incident started for me when a student in a workshop being led by outside providers in the library suddenly leapt out of her seat, screamed and ran out of the room.  Within minutes others were checking their phones and leaving the room in various states of distress.  One of their classmates/whanau had just died.

The second incident was a little more subdued at first, but again involved a student getting a cellphone message and showing distress.  This student huddled with some friends before they all left the room in tears.  The whole school was soon outside - one of their classmates, whanau to many of them, had just committed suicide. This was recorded on facebook, and many of the students saw it before it was removed.

In both situations the school management team soon stepped in, and called a whole school assembly - te hohou rongo , ki te whakipiki ora, whakapiki wairua - to inform, settle and help students to move on. 

Where I have trouble with this ethically is not the management of either crisis, but in the use of the cell-phones.  The students are not supposed to use cellphones in class unless asked to by a teacher.  We actually have about the same chance of achieving this as King Canute did in stopping the tide.  In both cases the message originated from outside the school, but were received in class time.

We have also had students’ organising,  filming and publishing fights between students - off school property..

We can argue that out of school is not our responsibility  However the code of professional responsibility states teachers “will work in the best interest of learners by...protecting them from harm”  and will “engage in reciprocal, collaborative learning focused relationships with learners, family and whanau”  Students will also be encouraged to be actively involved in “issues important to the wellbeing of society” (Our Code, our standards

We regularly remind our students that cyber-bullying is unacceptable - what it is, what to do about it, who to report it to,where they can go for help.  What we don’t do is talk about responsible and considerate use of cellphones.  We haven’t discussed how appropriate it may or may not be to pass on information about a birth or death or some other event - when we do not have the permission of the people closely involved.  Some teachers may discuss plagiarism in relation to writing, or copyright in relation to using images from the web, but the next step to talking about publishing what we have the right to publish doesn’t happen.

 We also don’t discuss the accuracy of what is being passed along - fake news and misunderstandings, or misrepresentation can be dangerous personally as well as globally.We don’t discuss how the person receiving the news may be affected - if they have or will need a support system.

We can suggest to whanau that they contact tamariki during break times - but can’t enforce this.  We can remind students and whanau about the age limit for facebook accounts - but can’t ensure these are followed.

Ethically I think it is the responsibility of the school and staff to have discussions with students around these issues.

References
Our code, Our Standards https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

Thoughts after CoL workshop

Reflecting on CoL workshop.- notes for myself

 

Even after trying several different ways to reflect, I still fall back on my default position – record the good things first! 

The workshop session I took with the CoL teachers went well.  None of the points that I thought could be a disaster were; I showed participants new software to work with; or new ways to use software; the thinking skills from the alphabet keys worked well with the programmes.

Now I can reflect on the lessons I learned.  Next time, remember to have a whiteboard marker ( don’t lend it to someone else just before my session!) write down the daily password so I have it to give to latecomers. 

Using a blended approach worked well; having too much material was fine – I could just skip through bits and leave them for others to work on at their own pace later.

 

To improve for next time:  find a better way to have extra notes available for participants in case I do have to skip over things

 

Remember that just because I have done things several different ways, and they have been around for some time, there will usually be someone who has not seen my way of doing things.  Slow down.  Give a better handout at the end.

 

And the great thing about this session -  I learned from those who came to learn from me.  From the feedback, t seems as though they learned as well.

 

Week 21 Research

I'm having trouble doing this on my laptop, so this is a trial to see if the desktop is working!

A week of my new TELA laptop refusing to cooperate has shown me just how important the hardware and systems behind digital devices is.

I've been reworking these questions for the last week and I think this is close to my final version.

Mt research question

How do teachers use Communities of Practice to support students' learning of 21st century skills?


My inquiry question

How can I use the library to help students develop curiosity and resilience?

I'm keen on getting some feedback about my questions.