The Fast and The Curious

Early 2018, an innovative teacher, leading a PD session at my school, signed all our staff up to complete The Mind Lab Digital Passport. As I was fundamental to leading the digital changes within our school, this was the first digital PD (that I had not sourced) that generated new learning for me.  I was hooked. This, of course, led to the completion of the DCL where I have been challenged, forced to think, and have grown in new ways.  This has created immediate and sustained changes in my pedagogy and teaching practice, some of which, I will discuss in this reflective blog, supported by The Cycle of Experiential Learning from Osterman and Kottkamp (2015). When identifying the problem; finding what drives me to change my practice, I admit that I had become stagnant.  I was tired and just wanted to be 'fed' new ideas through my school's professional development program. In 2018 I saw a thought-provoking documentary, 'Most Likely To Succeed'.  It discussed the g...

I have used Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper's (2001)  simple, effective model of reflection to evaluate my inquiry.  The anticipated impact of this inquiry was that the use of Trello would improve the overall rate of completed submissions for a target group of 13 Māori and Pasifika students. Evidence showed that there was an improvement in the number of completed submissions for the target group. There was also  higher achievement level seen by students in the target group. However, it is unclear, from the evidence, if this is directly related to the use of Trello. There is a need to further investigate, through individual student interviews, the things that assisted in this higher achievement and how this relates to the use of Trello.  The improvement in student achievement was an anticipated impact of this inquiry.  I also expected to see improved whānau investment in the learning journey.  Evidence of this too was seen in the turn-out of whānau at...

The Ministry of Education says that well-planned data gathering can reveal new patterns of insight, and justify change. ( MoE, n.d) . Ultimately the goal of inquiry is to create change.  The data gathered so far has mainly been quantitative.  Specifics around gender, ethnicities that students identify with, homework and organisational patterns and tools used. There were very low survey response rates from parents; 4 out of 12 respondents.  Parents who did respond already had well-established relationships with me.  I think not having a relationship with all parents was a significant barrier to them participating. There were 9 student survey responses out of 12. Of the three students that did not respond, one had just arrived in NZ and spoke no English, and the other two were absent for most of the term. One student was suspended during the inquiry. One student attended school for 5 days of the 6-week inquiry duration. I completed 2 observation charts during class...

As people, we are shaped by learned behaviours and societal influences.  These become our ethics.  The core of our decision making and standards. Teachers in NZ are bound by the Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards; Our Code, Our Standards.  Principles, standards and legal obligations that guide our behaviour as teaching professionals.   My current teacher inquiry is to use Trello to improve work completion with Pasifika and Māori students.  One ethical issue highlighted through this inquiry was equal access to technology. Students at my school are expected to provide their own digital device.  Students from low-income families, who are not able to, are usually loaned one from school.  This was the case for 5 of the 12 students in my Māori-Pasifika focus group.  Significant damage to devices during previous terms meant one student was unable to get a school device, another two missed out as there were no more to loan.  ...