First Year Madness

Encouraging students to see the world holistically, through different perspectives beyond their own, is a key aspect of using an interdisciplinary approach to teaching. At school we try to do this through our inquiry units that require students to draw on different areas of expertise in order to broaden their understanding. By teaching students in this the way it is argued that we can increase their empathic horizon (sense of understanding) and develop a system to interact with others. For an understanding of the world we need to stretch our empathic horizon beyond ourselves, and around others (Thomas McDonagh Group, 2011). This brings up the importance of teaching students a shared language to communicate and work with those who have an understanding and knowledge base different to our own.  As teachers to support students to carry out interdisciplinary work we need to explore the concept ourselves. At school we explore this by drawing on different team members' expertise in or

As someone who is fairly comfortable with social media in my personal life it has been interesting to see how in teaching I tend to avoid anything to do with social media. Experiencing pile-ons and other not so positive side effects of this 21st Century aspect of life has made me cautious within the classroom as to how social media is used. The students in our MLE class are 1:1 with devices, however social media is not something we use within the class apart from them being able to respond to one another on Google Classroom. There are the obvious benefits of this online interaction in terms of students being able to interact with one another, and collaborate in an easy way however I have also been concerned about the potential issues in terms of students wasting time, and potentially interacting with others in a disrespectful way (as adults often do on social media). This concern was also shared by participants who were surveyed by Seaman and Tinti-Kane (2013) and who were critical

As teachers the code of ethics we are bound by can seem over the top by others, and yet in our role we hold so much power and responsibility that it is key we consider the ethics of situations we are faced with. One scenario that I have been faced with recently is that of students being able to email me directly outside of school hours. Generally this is fine with emails relating to confirming information for the next day, or asking for feedback on a piece of writing however I am very aware that this form of communication can easily progress to something that might be more of an ethical dilemma (e.g. students contacting me about personal issues). I will look at this using Hall’s (2001) questions that he has proposed to help guide the ethical decision making process. Which stakeholders should be given priority? Why? I think a key aspect of being a teacher is creating relationships with students where they feel safe and comfortable. Email contact can be a great way for students

My 2 half brothers and half sister were born in the same hospital as me, Palmerston North, and aside for a few years where we were living in different countries, we grew up together. However their cultural identity was strongly linked to their Fijian father. The schools we went to were very Eurocentric, and our experiences at school in terms of achievement and relationships with teachers were polar opposites. Where I found myself at home in the learning environment, loving the academic focus and the grading system that made me feel like I could prove myself, for them they didn’t feel a sense of belonging at all. They were alienated by others who didn’t want to try and understand what made them different. Assumptions were made throughout the years about their level of ability or skills. They had a negative attitude towards school by the time we were in intermediate, and so it carried on to the point where both of my brothers were expelled from various high schools. This whole experi

Did you know that 90% of the world's data was created in the last 2 years ? Neither did I until last night. But apparently the world is moving quite quickly, and technology advancements are a key driver in this rapid river of change and discovery (mixing metaphors here but I think the idea is clear enough)! Me trying to figure out how to get the technology to work with 52 kids waiting... This week we are considering a broader, international context with regards to not just the world around us but how it affects education on a global, national and local context. The trends on a global scale are both fascinating and terrifying, with a future that feels completely inevitable but also incredibly unclear. Coming from an ILE ( innovative learning environment ) where my students are 1:1 with devices, and the teachers are learning about how to best teach our students to be 21st Century learners I wanted to focus on the trend of technology and its rate of accelerated progress. This tr

"Te kaha me te wairua". Energy flows where attention goes. Before I get into the meaty part of discussing my professional context, I spent a while pondering this. For me it really meant focusing my energies on the things that matter, because those are what will end up getting done! In the days of never ending to-do lists, I have had to consider choosing 2-3 things to really focus on getting done each day because without this focus my attention was all over the place, and therefore my energy was too. Anyway - on to the topic at hand! Professional context refers to the various factors that impact on my practice. It includes not only those communities of practice as discussed earlier, but also the socioeconomic status of my community, the professional environment on a global, national and school wide level, and the culture of the school I belong to.  We are a decile 2 school and so this is reflected in the community which is often struggling with a variety of issues. Befo