My first challenge

I teach at a school in South Auckland, with 52 students in year 5 and 6, and 2 other teachers who support and challenge me (often at the same time).

Here will be a record of my development this year, both within the classroom as well as at the MindLab course run by Unitec (and also at home where I spend hours trying to plan and yet still end up feeling like I'm on the back foot in the classroom). It will also be a place for some reflecting, pondering, brain storming and general learning.

So far, I have survived 8 whole weeks of teaching (a fact that doesn't seem real even as I tell myself it), and I have hope that I can make it through many more! Hopefully this blog will give me a way to explore my pedagogical beliefs and practices further, and figure out who I want to be as a teacher and how I can grow in the right direction.

One of my favourite quotes about education comes from Malcolm X: "Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today." Tomorrow also belongs to those who do their planning today (not moments before the learners are ready and waiting for a challenge!).

The sun setting as I left my beautiful school the other day (my goal is to never be at school after dark - so far, so good)

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The Technological Revolution and my classroom

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...

Our first piece of art

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Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness

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...

First Year Madness

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