Looking to the future

As I finally start to close the door on 2017 and look to 2018, I am increasingly excited.

I have some amazing opportunities ahead of me. I am studying for my Masters (and will get paid my salary while I do this). I will be a part of a knowledge building research group, that will regularly review literature and produce resources together.

I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity. Watch this space as I share my learning journey with you.

Kāhore taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini

Shifts and jumps - culturally responsive teaching and developing community

(CC)

When I enrolled in the Mindlab I was pretty confident with digital practice, considered myself to be a connected teacher and felt that I was quite familiar with collaborative pedagogy having explored knowledge building with my online art history class the past 2 years.

 I thought that the Mindlab would be novel, thought-provoking, and a ‘string to my bow, but I didn’t realise what a journey it would be. I have made huge shifts in my thinking in two areas - culturally responsive teaching and what it means to collaborate as a community.

My ambition regarding my professional development will become a reality in 2018.  I have been lucky enough to receive a TeachNZ award. I will complete my Masters I propose to explore how a knowledge building community might enhance student engagement.

A shift in my practice was comprehending what it meant to be a culturally responsive. Though I have a long way to go on this journey I have made huge mental jumps over the year. To begin with, I knew that it was important to be culturally responsive but could not have articulated what this meant or what it might look like in the classroom. Reading about Bishop’s ‘whanau of interest’ model for research was a revelation to me (PTC 12). He emphasises a participatory approach guided by the interests and aspirations of whanau (Bishop, 1998) The implications for my classroom are a more collaborative learner centred program that is informed by my learners' interests and goals. (PTC 2, PTC 8, PTC 9, PTC 10)

Similarly, Milne’s ‘Colouring in the White Spaces’ (2013) opened my eyes to what mainstream education is like for māori learners. Her exploration of how spaces within a school could reflect and value Māori learners struck a particular chord. Milne’s thesis explores spaces reflect the values of the community, classrooms operated according to tikanga, and learning centred around that which was valuable and meaningful to the community. This got me thinking about my own art room and what is communicated through the said and the unsaid. We have a unique opportunity with my multi-level classes to work as a community and share ideas across levels and art fields (PTC 7). Furthermore, I have been reflecting on the rich opportunities and possibilities for more authentic learning experiences that my students will connect with. We are a small rural community with the ocean at our feet, rivers to either side and preceded over by the Southern Alps. Our students have a strong sense of belonging to their local community and the environment. Immersive place-based learning (Greenwood, 2010) could be a powerful way of leveraging engagement with our learners (PTC 2, 3, 8). Our point of difference and our taonga is our local community. This is so possible if we (as a teachers and as a school) are willing to run with it. Our community groups want to connect with our school (PTC 1). For example Hokitika Industrial Heritage Park’s ambition is to pass on their expertise to our young people. This really excites me and I hope that we rise to the challenge,

 Another challenge  in my practice this year was developing a knowledge building community culture within my art history class. Certain students in my class just struggled with the collaborative nature of the course and to even share their ideas with the class. For a variety of reasons (a later start to the school year, a small community with members often absent from the VC for events within their own school community, feeling pressed to cover content in a timely fashion ) we didn’t spend as much time on developing our connections as a community as we have previously. Students largely operated as individuals rather than a team and were very shy of sharing their work with others.I believe that this  lack of connection and trust between learners impacted  on our ability to function as a community of learners. Previously students have really valued the collaborative environment and the creative thinking KBC tends encourage. “My teacher is encouraging and inclusive of all ideas. … our ideas all bounce off each other and we're encouraged to think in more abstract ways, not just gathering 'the right knowledge' ... It's a more creative learning environment.” (art history student, 2016)  (PTC 2) Knowledge Building and community development were a more natural and organic process. I have been guided by my literature review and professional readings (PTC 4, PTC 12) in my reflection on what defines a high functioning knowledge building community and what the roadblocks were in 2017 . Lai (2014) states that a strong sense of trust can be pivotal to a students ability and inclination to build knowledge in the KB community and emphasises the value of developing a collaborative learning culture within a class. Laux, Luse, and Mennecke (2016) also state that for learners to attain success within a collaborative framework, there needs to be a willingness and an ability to do so. Trust and connections within the cohort are essential elements. In 2018 I plan to orientate my students around what is means to be a community and devote our first few weeks to simply building connections and getting to know each other as people.

“Instructor pronouncements in an online discussion are treated as correct and discussion ends” Meyer, K. A. (2014) Students will often happily reply to me, but are reticent about interacting with each other. Lai and Campbell’s case study (2017) also indicated that students needed the space the freedom to ask questions, for epistemic agency to develop. As a teacher I need to position myself as a facilitator rather than expert and final authority. This will involve learning design which creates the space for ‘digital take up time’. To foster a mindset shift from the teacher as expert to teacher as facilitator I need to demonstrate to my students that they are capable of building knowledge “It requires a belief that students can deliberately create knowledge that is useful to their community in further knowledge building ” (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006) (PTC 5, 7)

Students also need to see the value in working as a community and understand the guiding principles of KBC. “It seems that when students had a deeper understanding of the knowledge building principles, they became more willing to contribute and improve ideas.” (Lai, 2014). It will be worthwhile to spend time at  beginning of the year orientating students to what knowledge building looks like (PTC 8), what the big ideas are and how we might go about it. This could come in the form of KBC roadmap, impact stories from students about what knowledge building means to them and the difference it made to their learning, or a mixture of the two.

I look forward to developing a more collaborative community focused environment in my classroom (PTC 6, 7).

Naku te rourou nau te rourou ka ora ai te iwi

Bishop, R. (1998). Freeing ourselves from neo-colonial domination in research: A Māori approach to creating knowledge. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(2), 199–219.

Greenwood, D. A. (2011). Why Place Matters. In Handbook of research in the social foundations of education. New York: Routledge.

Education Council, New Zealand. (n.d.). Practicing teaching criteria and e-learning. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/Practising-Teacher-Criteria-and-e-learning

Lai, Kwok-Wing (2014). Designing knowledge building communities in secondary schools.

Laux, D., Luse, A., & Mennecke, B. (2016). Collaboration, connectedness, and community: An examination of the factors influencing student persistence in virtual communities. Computers in Human Behavior, 57, 452–464.

Meyer, K. A. (2014a). Learning theories and student engagement. In Student engagement online: what works and why (pp. 15–36). John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Milne, D. A. (2013). Colouring in the white spaces. University of Waikato.

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2006). Knowledge Building: Theory, Pedagogy, and Technology. In Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (pp. 97–118). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Facilitating Interdisciplinarity

My interdisciplinary map

Andrews (1990, as cited in Berg-Weger &. Schneider, 1998) defines interdisciplinary practice this way ”when different professionals, possessing unique knowledge, skills, organisational perspectives, and personal attributes, engage in coordinated problem solving for a common purpose”.  I would argue that I am a connected educator who collaborates often rather than truly being interdisciplinary.  

I do work with staff around our common purpose of teaching students, however, the interdisciplinary connection is after the fact.  A recent example of this was an English teacher showing off a student’s visual-verbal text. The student had made an animation, which was quite captivating. I then assessed it against a visual arts standard 2.5 (Produce a resolved work that demonstrates control of skills appropriate to cultural conventions) and was able to reward the student for their innovation and hard work. This was a one-off occurrence and was not a pervasive practice in our school.

There is the potential for interdisciplinary practice though. We meet in learning teams (small groups made up of staff members that represent a variety of departments) and do occasionally share our instances of our teaching with one another. However, the discussion is usually centred around general school business and professional readings. In terms of everyday classroom practice, we operate predominantly within a culture of individualism (Stoll, 1998) with small sprinklings of balkanism (Stoll, 1998). Our classrooms are our empires and we rarely look outwards, this not uncommon in the secondary sector though “ … in practice, with the existing model of tenure, faculty often concentrate on their own stream … ” (McDonagh and Thomas, 2011). This protectionist impulse, when framed around the survival of subjects, staffing and CAPNAs is understandable, however, I believe that it is a fraught position when we consider our common purpose which is our students. 

As stated in a previous blog post I passionately believe we need to shift the way that we do things in NZ education. Our curriculum talks about innovation and creativity and even knowledge creation; however, our teaching and assessment culture is in stark contrast to this. The way the curriculum is taught and structured is designed (in my opinion) around what suits subject and teachers rather than what the learner needs.  When we package the learning into discrete bodies of knowledge and expect students to work through such a volume (At times 20 -30 credits in a subject), this inevitably places enormous amounts of stress and pressure on students. It is no wonder that stress and anxiety are on the rise for secondary students (Radio NZ, 2015). Our students are not units on a production line and their achievements are not simply government-mandated targets to reach. We need to do less and do it better.

We need to look at the whole child in the Deweyian sense. What is it that excites and engages them? What is important in their world? How can we celebrate the learner.  “ … the value of school education is the extent in which it creates a desire for continuous growth and supplies means for making the desire effective” Dewey (1916). If we are simply interested in grades and accumulating assessments then we are badly missing the mark. Bolstad and Gilbert (2008) emphasise a connected, authentic curriculum in their report ‘Rethinking the New Zealand senior secondary curriculum for the future.’. We need to move beyond the industrial model of acquiring bits of information and look to how we can form connections between our subjects to enhance to the learning for our students and expand their empathic horizons (McDonagh and Thomas, 2011)

We are currently looking at how we can build interdisciplinary connections within learning areas at my school. We have been asked to think of one learning opportunity or unit where we could work across departments to enhance the learning for our students. For instance, in the arts, we are looking at how we can plan authentic learning experiences for our students between drama and visual art as we often have common students. We are looking at set design for the common thread as students are required to consider this as a part of senior drama, and visual arts often offers 1.5 and 2.5 which require students to make resolved work which use cultural conventions. Students would explore how their art functions at such a scale, test how it would work within a working set and consult with their stakeholders (drama class) to improve their design. There is also the potential to work with the technology department to provide an authentic context for their design and implement standards. This will require us to step outside of our silos. We will need plan together to create the time and space for this to occur. We will need to plan checkpoints with our classes to ensure that we are on track and regularly meet with each other to review the teaching and learning during the unit.

Interdisciplinary pedagogy is not a new concept. As early as 1916, Dewey talked about education being a social process. The issue remains how to develop a connected and interdisciplinary practice within the classroom.

There are many benefits to interdisciplinary practice, such as an expanded empathic horizon. (Mc Donagh and Thomas, 2011) That is learners are able to see through others eyes and gain insights into how others think. Students are able to make perceptive connections between ideas and have a richer and more informed perspective as a result. This has parallels for me with knowledge building communities and the principle of ‘Diversity of Ideas’ (reference) a community is enriched by the diversity and varying expertise of its’ members. What’s more a tuakana teina framework can be fostered  “We stick together and work together” (Boyer and Bishop, 2004, p.6)

There are many challenges to implementing interdisciplinary practice. Shann (1977, as cited by Mathison and Freeman, 1997) identified a problem around teachers using integrated techniques rather than as a driving force in their programmes. Often when teachers are cynical about an initiative or don’t understand it they will revert to what they know and understand. Another challenge is what Jacobs (1989, as cited by Mathison and Freeman 1997) identify as the Pot-pouri problem, a sampling of learning areas without any particular learning direction. The learning focus should be meaningful and authentic, making “progress towards significant educational goals, not merely because it cuts across subject-matter lines" (Brophy & Alleman 1991) Interdisciplinartity with no purpose or direction does not add value to the learning experience.

Another challenge is resourcing. In the Ross Spiral curriculum (201) teachers learning is framed contextually, however teachers are thought of as learners and are incredibly well supported. The are given up 150 hours of professional development over the year. I can’t even comprehend this kind of support! If we want to develop and sustain interdisciplinary practice within our school we need to develop ‘workplace conditions’ that support collaboration. Our meeting structures need to move away from general school administration  in order to create the time and mental space to genuine collaboration and communication across subject disciplines. Mulligan and Kugan ’s (2015)  model for successful interdisciplinary collaboration emphasises the importance of common goals, conducive workplace conditions and the qualities/attiudes of team members. They assert that sustain collaboration with one of these factors missing, whilst possible, will be very difficult. 

(Mulligan & Kugan, 2015, Conceptual Model for Collaboration)

It is so important for schools to support their staff in this by prioritising collaboration in their structures and procedures. If we want to develop a culture of creativity, as defined by Sir Ken Robinson (2014) “The process of having original ideas that have value” there needs to be a pedagogical shift and ia prioritising of professional development to support teachers to make this shift. “if you want a culture of innovation, you have to give people the skills, the tools, the processes, to actually do what’s required of them” It won’t just happen. Interdisciplinary practice will require time, support and investment.

Berg-Weger, M., &. Schneider, F. D. (1998). Interdisciplinary collaboration in social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 34, 97-107.

Bolstad, R., & Gilbert, J. (2008). Disciplining and drafting, or 21st century learning? Rethinking the New Zealand senior secondary curriculum for the future. Retrieved from http://slideplayer.com/slide/6903335/

Boyer & Bishop, 2004. “Young Adolescent Voices: Students' Perceptions of Interdisciplinary Teaming,”RMLE, v.1. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/3e/a6/ef.pdf.

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg. p62

Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (1991). A caveat: Curriculum integration isn't always a good idea. Educational Leadership, 49(2), 66.

Mathison, S., & Freeman, M. (1997). THE LOGIC OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES. Chicago.

Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association

McDonagh and Thomas, 2011 https://youtu.be/kDdNzftkIpA)

Mulligan, L. M., & Kuban, A. J. . (2015). A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Retrieved from http://acrlog.org/2015/05/14/a-conceptual-model-for-interdisciplinary-collaboration

Robinson, K. , (2014, August 30). Can Creativity Be Taught?  Retrieved November 19, 2017, from https://youtu.be/vlBpDggX3iE

Is over-assessment to blame for rising anxiety and stress [Julia Davidson and Stephanie Greaney]. (2015, March 20). Retrieved November 9, 2017, from http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/20171708/is-over-asssessment-to-blame-for-rising-anxiety-and-stress

From Nine To Noon, 9:24 am on 20 March 2015

Stoll. (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

Social media - education as social

(CC -https://pixabay.com/p-1405601/?no_redirect)

Social media can be seen as contentious, however, if we’re coming at it from the angle  of should or shouldn’t we use this technology, we’re looking at the issue upside down.  Paper or screens, the question is always how should we teach and learn, not what should we learn with. Internationally the pedagogical focus is creative, innovative and resilient learners “‘creating learning environments that challenge students to become actively engaged, independent, lifelong learners inside and outside of formal learning spaces should be the critical aim of change in teaching strategies’.” (Salavuo, 2008) . In NZ we have ‘learning to learn’ and ‘life long learners’ (NZC, 2007, p8). 

My question is how can social media enhance things for my learners and how can the *community* aspects of learning be enhanced. 

I teach art history online. Challenges include : limited time with the class, and student inexperience with online learning. For my online class, social media is transformational. We use Google+ and Knowledge Forum to connected as a community. These platforms take us beyond an individual linear process. My students are able to stay connected as a class, ask questions, share content and connect with other learners. A challenge that we face is students acting as agents of their own learning. While some are quick to share ‘what do you think about xxx’,  many are still shy of sharing  in this way. They don’t see themselves as the expert or that they have the authority to do this. Clearly there is work for me to do in orientating students towards knowledge creation.

Previously students have celebrated it as making the biggest difference in their learning. A highlight in 2015 was excellence students freely building onto each others study notes, sharing insights with each other. This year we just haven’t reached the same depth. Students have been reluctant to share with each other in class and certainly haven’t been a organic community sharing. I’ve been reflecting on how to foster a knowledge building culture a and a sense of community within a class as I strongly believe in the educational value of collaboration. “although students may be reluctant to take part in group activities, they can benefit from the experience of  pooling  knowledge  and  sharing  diverse  views.” (Sharples, et al. 2016) I have discovered this year, that it is essential for learning design to centre around developing connections. If connections are weak and trust is low it is difficult to generate meaningful group communication. Further to the wicked problem (Rittel and Webber, 1973) of engagement, is the reframing of how learners view the act of learning. The community needs to become familiar with the principles of knowledge building in order to implicitly understand learning as a dynamic entity and knowledge as continually improvable. (Lai, 2015)

While students have had instances of sharing and advancing knowledge (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2003) together in my class, I would love to enhance their epistemic agency and metacognition through the use of a reflective journal such as a student blog. This has the potential to be incredibly profound as students revisit and build open their learning. “visualizing community knowledge advances … may well lead to more effective assessment as well as more powerful supports for knowledge creation.” (Hong and Scardamalia, 2014, p. 287). 

The most powerful impact thus far though has been blogging. I began blogging with a sense of professional responsibility, to model ’learn, create, share’ as the lead teacher in my school for Toki Pounamu, this has become transformational. Blogging connected me with educators I would not have otherwise crossed paths with, the common factor simply being passionate about pedagogy. “The digital age we live in has made it so much easier to share with our colleagues as we enjoy the same affordances our children experience - anywhere, anytime, any pace and with/from anyone.” (Burt, 2015)  It is so easy to pour all of our energy into our classroom empires and forget about the broader learning community, or even our own learning as teachers. It can be challenging to share professional learning, yes there are barriers (standing out, fearing that we don’t have the expertise, being eloquent enough), however I feel now that I have a professional responsibility to share my learning. We expect our students to take risks, create and share, but how much of this do we model in our practice?  “Seek and respond to feedback from learners, colleagues and other education professionals, and engage in collaborative problem solving and learning focused collegial discussions” (Education Council ,2017) 

Burt, D. (2015, February 07). It Starts with US: LCS Pedagogy [Web blog post]. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from http://manaiakalani.blogspot.co.nz/2015/02/it-starts-with-us-lcs-pedagogy.html

Lai, Kwok-Wing. (2015, November). What is knowledge building? Presented at the NetNZ workshop 2015, Christchurch.

Hong, H.-Y., & Scardamalia, M. (2014). Community knowledge assessment in a knowledge building environment. Computers & Education, 7, 279–288.

New Zealand, Education Council. (2017, June). Our Code, our standards. Retrieved November 15, 2017, from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

New Zealand, Ministry of Education. (2007). New Zealand Curriculum (p. 8). Wellington: Learning Media Limited.

Rittel, Horst, and Melvin Webber; "Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning,”, pp. 155–169, Policy Sciences, Vol. 4, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Inc., Amsterdam, 1973. [Reprinted in N. Cross (ed.), Developments in Design Methodology, J. Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 1984, pp. 135–144.]

Salavuo, M. (2008). Social media as an opportunity for pedagogical change in music education. Journal of Music, Technology and Education, 1(2 and 3), 121–136. 

Scardamalia, M. (2003). Knowledge building environments: Extending the limits of the possible in education and knowledge work. In A. DiStefano,   K. E. Rudestam, & R. Silverman (Eds.), Encyclopedia of distributed learning (pp. 269- 272). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Sharples, M., de Roock , R., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., Herodotou, C., Koh, E., Kukulska-Hulme, A., Looi,C-K, McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., Wong, L. H. (2016). Innovating Pedagogy 2016: Open University Innovation Report 5. Milton Keynes: The Open University. Retrieved from http://proxima.iet.open.ac.uk/public/innovating_pedagogy_2016.pdf

Professional context - Our Place

Westland High School is coeducational and caters for years 7 to 13. It has a decile rating of 6 and a roll of 373. We are a small rural school on the West Coast.

Our learners are 20% Māori, 1% Asian, 1% Pacific, 4% Other, with the remaining students identifying as Pākehā. Our contributing schools range geographically from 'just up the road' to 26 kilometres away. We are geographically isolated, however, this has its own unique advantages. Students are connected to the environment with many rich geological features readily accessible.

We are a 'broad church' and arguably have a wider range of community concerns to attend to than a more homogenous urban school.

Our students are connected to the region and the community. Our school site acts as a hub for many community events (community sport, community ACE classes etc). Our Māori students feel a strong sense of identity and are confident with learning  within Te Ao Māori

There is a disconnect between aspirational rhetoric and practice. Westland High School states that it prioritises the success of Maori students, however, a recent ERO report identified significant issues. "This intention is not supported with action planning by leaders and teachers to cohesively support Māori learners to achieve success. ... Trustees and leaders need to work collaboratively with Māori learners, whānau, the Māori community and school staff "

Sadly this contrasts starkly with Māori achievement only a few years ago where Māori learners were achieving at the highest levels within our classes and bucking the national trend for our decile rating and felt happy and confident in their learning at Westland High School. We seem to be in a state of mauri moe (Pohatu, 2011) (withdrawn, disengaged, lacking energy) currently. I have been agonising over this, as I don't think we're doing our maori learners justice.We need to connect with and value our learners and for this to be evident in the classrooms, in the playground, in the way that we do things. We need to communicate through the said and unsaid that we value maori culture and maori learners.

Much like our learners, there is a sense of disconnection amongst staff. We talk about a future focused school, however collaboration is at a low ebb. “Major decisions affecting teaching and learning have been made with little consultation. This has led to a lack of collaboration and low morale amongst staff.” (ERO, 2017) This sense of disconnection and frustration of not being heard and not being communicated to has led teachers to operate within a culture of individualism (Stoll, 1998). Teachers operate autonomously within classroom siloes. There are elements of Balkanism (Stoll, 1998) with small instances of spontaneous collegial support and collaboration amongst staff.

We seem to lack a school wide culture that connects us as a group. Schein (as cited by Stoll, 1998) defines organisational culture as the deeper ingrained ideas and values shared by the group. That is the things that define us, that we just know ‘that’s how we do things’. We lack a central culture as a school. We are currently fragmented and paralyzed as a school and need to regain a sense of common culture and what drives us. This will involve a realignment “a mutual process of coordinating perspectives, interpretations, and actions so they realize higher goals”(Wenger, 2000). While we need clear and inspiring leadership to guide us, we all have a part to play in supporting organisational change.

I am optimistic that if we as a school (in the broadest sense) place the learner at the centre of what we’re doing, we will find the strength to dust ourselves off and connect to our common purpose.

"Hutia te rito o te harakeke, Kei whea te komako e ko? Ki mai ki ahau; He aha te mea nui o te Ao? Maku e ki atu, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata"

Reference list:

ERO. (2017, June 29). Westland High School - 29/06/2017. Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/westland-high-school-29-06-2017/ 

Stoll. (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

Potahu, T. W. (2011). Mauri - Rethinking Human Wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1-12.

Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.

Trends in education - Students as creators

A trend that has really captivated my attention is that of students as creators.

As an Art Teacher and a teacher with a strong practical interest in developing a knowledge building community within the classroom I have to ask what are we talking about when we say 'students as creators'? Are we talking about nurturing creative thinking? Or are we talking about students genuinely innovating and advancing ideas? What's more in a rapidly developing world where innovation is highly valued, what role might the arts play in this?

The Ministry of Education's aspirations for 2025 highly prize innovation "Learning to learn’ is a key component of the New Zealand Curriculum With complex problem solving, communication, team skills, creativity and innovation recognised as necessary skills for success" (Ministry of Education, 2015)

Gilbert (2006) describes a knowledge society. It is a reframing of the 20th century 'industrial' education model. It is no longer fit for purpose for all to recieve a 'one size fits all education' , in fact we need to change the way that we think about teaching and learning. Gilbert identifies the dominant form of production is that of ideas rather than things. Education in this framework is no longer about remembering a body of ideas, rather creating to solve authentic problems. In order to help our learners to navigate the knowledge ecosystem (Poe and Molloy, 2000), we need to shift the pedagogical framework and reimagine the roles of teachers and learners as knowledge creators.

This trend is identified at an international level  as cited in  The NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2016 K-12 Edition (2016). There is a shift from consumption of content to creating to explore subjects. This has the potential to transformational for education - in the right environment. It was found in a recent study in 43 schools in Turkey that when teachers were empowered to make autonomous decisions and experiment in the classroom, this provided fertile ground for students to take risks, innovate and take ownership of their own learning. 

We have to look at our own context though. I believe that there is a disconnect between aspiration and practice in New Zealand classrooms and that this is a systemic issue.

We aspire towards innovation but we don't make room for it in education. In the age of national standards and the constant measuring of whether a child meets the standard there is no room for risk taking and failure. Roger Moltzen (Professor of Human Development, Waikato University) identified this as a concern in 2011 (as cited by Andrea Vance on Stuff.co.nz) when national standards were in their infancy "An emphasis on compliance in the classroom is 'counter to creativity' ... I think that one of the things that concerns me about education is there seems to have been a devaluing of the creative aspects in education."

The siloing of subject knowledge at secondary level is also counter-intuitive if we are aspiring towards nurturing creative minds. We overload our students in the pursuit of NCEA credits. It is insanity that students are entered into to 130+ credits when the requirement is 80. Students anxiously prioritise fulfilling the requirements of the standard. This feels a like a production line. Too often I hear "but is it worth credits" or "what do I need to do to get the credits". Yes, clarity in the classroom is important and can be empowering for student learning, but I feel that we are approaching learning from the wrong end with the hyper focus on assessment and accumulation.

We need to shift the focus from assessment to inquiry. Ultimately achievement should be a byproduct of engagement. "Research shows that students engage when they act as their own learning agents working to achieve goals important to them. They must believe they can learn and know how to deal with failures and learn from those experiences." (T Stephens, 2015). If teachers were to shift from credit farming with their students, to offering a smaller range of achievement standards but  designing meaningful learning experiences, we find that there is room to 'fail', learn and innovate. 

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." (Beckett, 1983)

Reference List:

Beckett, S. (1983). Worstward ho. New York: Grove Pr.

Gilbert, J. (2006, August). Catching the knowledge wave? Presented at the Curriculum corporartion 13th National confernce.

Ministry of Education. (2015). NEW ZEALAND EDUCATION IN 2025: LIFELONG LEARNERS IN A CONNECTED WORLD. Retrieved from https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Ministry/Initiatives/Lifelonglearners.pdf

NMC, & CoSN. (2016). Horizon Report: 2016 K-12 Edition. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-cosn-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf

Vance, A. (2011, September 15). National education standards `devalues creativity'. Waikato TImes.

Poe, G., & Molloy, J. (2000). NURTURING SYSTEMIC WISDOM THROUGH KNOWLEDGE ECOLOGY. The Systems Thinker, 11(8), 1–5.

Stephens, T. (2015, August 21). Encouraging Positive Student Engagement and Motivation: Tips for Teachers | Pearson Blog. Retrieved from https://www.pearsoned.com/education-blog/encouraging-positive-student-engagement-and-motivation-tips-for-teachers/

Ethical dilema - Idea sharing and authorative sources

Understanding constructive use of authoritative sources.

I teach Art History online with a wide range of learners, through NetNZ. My learners are diverse. They come from a range of schools (special character, area school, urban, rural etc), deciles (there is a wide range), locations and are guided by a range of different values. With such diversity, there is a huge range of learning and life experiences.

What we do in our class is framed around community and knowledge building (2017). We are guided by knowledge building principles such as idea diversity, community construction of knowledge, community ownership of ideas, and constructive use of authoritative sources. This is a mindset shift for students whose experience of learning has been individual and internal. 

The concept of communal knowledge can be confusing for students and needs to handled very carefully. The idea is that once an idea has been shared with the community, it can be developed and improved by the entire community. The skill is developing a mindset of asking explanation driven questions and critical thinking. A Knowledge Building Community should enhance depth, originality and idea advancement (Lai and Pullar, 2014) when it is functioning really well.

However not all students understand academic etiquette, therefore we need to directly address the constructive use of authoritative sources, intellectual property and general good academic practice. 

An ethical dilemma I have previously encountered was a student who didn't have a good handle on this and had plagiarised a section of a text word for word in a part of their assignment, without acknowledgement that they had done so. This presented a problem. How to best support the student, whilst maintaining professional integrity.  Hall's ethical problem solving mode (2001) offers guidance for navigating ethical problems. He asks teachers to consider what their professional obligations (above personal values) are and to consider what we owe students and the wider community when weighing up contentious issues. So what would be lost if plagiarism and theft of intellectual property were not addressed and what are the possible impacts for students when addressing plagiarism.

There is clear and supportive guidance to navigate this issue. At a national level the Education Council Code of Practice is underpinned by the value of Pono. "showing integrity by acting in ways that are fair, honest, ethical and just."  Further to this intellectual dishonesty is in disharmony with the principles of knowledge building (Scardamalia, 2002), which ask for "respect and understanding of authoritative sources, combined with a critical stance toward them. " To respect the knowledge building process, students need to acknowledge sources and develop a critical position. To wholesale present a sources' ideas as ones own is profoundly lacking in respect. 

It was not an option to ignore the intellectual dishonesty. This would have lacked integrity and a disservice to my students and to the art history community.

The ethical and just action was to address the plagiarism. The dilemma then became how to address it. As I saw it there were a range of options. Option a would be to inform the student and their eDean that I was failing them outright for plagiarism with no reassessment opportunities. Option b would be to inform the student that they did not achieve due to plagiarism and that they would need to address and rewrite the  plagiarised section of their assignment before it could be resubmitted. Option c would be to do as I would in option b, but to also examine as a class how constructive and respectful use of sources can enhance our critical understanding of an idea. I was guided here by institutional policy. NetNZ requires that we assess work according to NZQA requirements and that receiver (home) schools assist with ensuring authenticity of work "this may include helping investigate any situation where authenticity of student work is brought into question" (NetNZ ,2017).This led me to examine NZQA's conditions of assessment for level 3 art history. "Authenticity of student evidence needs to be assured regardless of the method of collecting evidence ... Any texts used must be acknowledged or referenced ...Where manageable, one further assessment opportunity may be made available for all students " (NZQA, conditions of assessement, n.d.)

This provided clarity for the situation. I absolutely needed to highlight to the student and the receiving school that plagiarism had occurred. I was not obligated to offer a reassessment opportunity. However failing the student with no further assessment opportunities was an avenue that I was reluctant to pursue as an eTeacher as I only saw my students once a week (and even then online). If I were to deny them an opportunity to rectify the situation there would be a high risk of the student disengaging entirely from the course. The course of action I took was option b, to offer the student a chance to resubmit work that was their own and to remark the work. If I were to be in this situation again I would proceed with option c to address gaps in understanding how to critically engage with authoritative sources. This situation was a learning experience for me. It became really apparent that knowledge building principles need to be embedded and well understood within our classroom practice. This wasn't just going to 'happen'. "If a KBC is to be effectively set up in a class then a good understanding of the knowledge building principles is essential." (Lai, 2014) Orientating students towards Knowledge Building principles and academic best practice has become a part of our course.

Reference List:
Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers

Knowledge Building Gallery. (n.d.). Introduction. Retrieved from http://thelearningexchange.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/KB-Gallery-0-Introduction-Accessible.pdf

Lai, Kwok-Wing, & Pullar, Ken. (2014). Designing knowledge building communities in secondary schools.

NetNZ. (2017). NetNZ Memorandum of Understanding. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://docs.google.com/document/d/16TJsi60eavaipoJ-dB_FD2hKbxlbjQaKTehuZdeZ0MY/edit

NZQA. (2016). NCEA level 3 art history, Conditions of assessment. Retrieved from NZQA website: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=ncea.tki.org.nz/content/download/3380/10837/file/arthist_CoA_L3_jan16.doc

Scardamalia, M. (2002). Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. In Liberal education in a knowledge society (pp. 67–98). Chicago: Open Court.

Culturally responsive classroom - being at home at school

After reading about culturally responsive teaching, the idea that stuck with me was power-sharing (Cowie et al, 2011, p. 3, tuākana teina in action). Within ako, and the concept of tuākana-teina there is a valuing of cultural knowledge and the expertise that rangatahi bring to  the classroom. This is a massive mindset shift for some teachers, yet is completely in line with 21st century pedagogies such as knowledge construction within Knowledge Building Communities. (Student centred learning, authentic contexts, diversity of ideas, valuing of student knowledge and expertise) Another concept that resonated was valuing and drawing upon community knowledge. "The teachers used an ensemble of strategies to welcome and highlight the value of community and student funds of knowledge" (Cowie et al, 2011, p. 3, para 4) . Akonga are more likely to engage with learning that reflects them and values them.

Milne (2013) critiques mainstream education in NZ,  'Colouring in the White Spaces' referring to the pervasive hegemony of Pakeha culture in education. Her case studies all designed learning environments that reflected their community and their values. This ranged from the physical design to values. Students felt valued, felt empowered and felt at home at school. Milne's recent blog post ('Why not whiteboy's writing, October 15 2017) powerfully critiqued the pervasive deficit thinking in our schools around Māori achievement. If we believe that our learners are able and we actually work at engaging with te ao māori and connecting with learners, connecting learning to their worlds, then maybe we'll see a shift. " the knowledge we value—and measure—is also White and it, therefore, benefits the children whose values match, and whose values are embedded in and reproduced by our schools ... We need to learn to read the world of our Māori children and craft our pedagogy around that world." (Milne, 15 Oct 2017) As teachers, we need to look at where our locus of control is and that starts with us and our pedagogy.

I will critique communication methods and learning activities within my school, against the Mauri model (Potahu, 2011). Communication is how a school connects with akonga and the broader community, through the said and the unsaid.  Learning design inevitably has values behind it.  As a school we have some work to do around these areas. A recent ERO report identified that Māori students felt confident in their learning within te reo and kapahaka, however, this is not translating to the broader school. This suggests that our learners are in a state of mauri moe (withdrawn). As a school, we need to look at our practices and ask 'why'. To move into Mauri Oho (proactive), we need to recenter our learning design to enhance Mahana (warmth) and relationships in learning. This involves taking time to connect with our learners and to really be present, connecting with their values and more than that, designing an environment where student values inform their learning.  

So, as a digital immersion school  with 1/3 Māori learners how do we design a space (physical and virtual) that is authentically Māori, and affirms Māori learners?  The symbolic levels of communication (what is valued, what is celebrated, the kind of language we use to describe ourselves in a public space) speak volumes to our Māori community.

Bishop's An indigenous approach to creating knowledge (1998) is useful here. He refers to a 'whanau of interest', describing the metaphorical whanau as a place for constructing shared meanings guided by mutually understood protocols.  "it is the concerns, interests and preferences of the whanau that guide and drive the research processes". There is much to be learnt from Bishop. How powerful would it be if teachers were to define their classes as 'whanau of interest' and value the ideas and ambitions of their learners?   

Reference list:

Bishop, R. (1998). Freeing ourselves from neo-colonial domination in research: A Maori approach to creating knowledge. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(2), 199–219.

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., with Anderson, M., Doyle, J., Parkinson, A., & Te Kiri, C. (2011). Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki. Summary Report Wellington: Teaching Learning Research Initiative. (PDF - 76.84 KB)

Knowledge Building Gallery. (n.d.). Introduction. Retrieved from http://thelearningexchange.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/KB-Gallery-0-Introduction-Accessible.pdf

Milne, A. (2013). Colouring in the white spaces : reclaiming cultural Identity in whitestream Schools (Doctoral dissertation, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10289/7868

Milne, A. (2017, October 14). Why not White Boys' Writing? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.annmilne.co.nz/my-blog/2017/10/14/why-not-white-boys-writing-1

Potahu, T. W. (2011). Mauri - Rethinking Human Wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1-12.

'A tribe learning to survive'

"Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression" (Wenger-Trayner 2015) This really resonated with me as I was processing what defined a community of practice. Who is my tribe and what is the 'problem' we are solving in our world?

As teachers, we have many communities of practice. I know that my communities of practice are a broad network. 

(CC https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5117/7001475448_69bbdb8503_b.jpg)

Wenger (2000) defines the three modes of belonging in a community of practice as engagement, imagination and belonging. That is, what we do together, how we orientate ourselves toward an identity, and how we mutually align ourselves together to work towards a common goal.

The visual art teaching community exemplifies this beautifully for me. From my first moments as a beginning teacher the art teaching community has been a generous broad and accepting 'church', united in achieving the best outcomes for learners. I really value the flexible and organic nature of the Visual Arts community. As a sole charge art teacher, I actively engage with the community as much as possible. The VisArtsNet email forum has enabled me to be a learner and an expert. It challenges me to look at best practice and reflect on my practice.

Reflecting on a very recent week of PD with a community of art teachers, this is just as true today. The whole community's expertise was valued and as a community of educators, we were stronger for it. Though we were a diverse bunch who came from far and wide, we were united in working together to support the best outcomes for students.

I saw many parallels with the principles of Knowledge Building Communities (democratising of knowledge, idea diversity, collective responsibility). 

https://vimeo.com/16930878

There was a  culture of 'progressive problem solving' (Lai, n.d.). Conversation in our breakroom at the PD centred around sharing innovative practice and solving authentic problems that the group really cared about. (Lai, 2014)

It was invaluable to have the time and space to have such focused conversations and to be able to connect 'kanohi ki te kanohi'. This leaves me thinking how can we connect more as a community. Yes, VisArtsNet is a valuable tool, but the email format often facilitates one-way traffic and it is far too easy to simply lurk as a bystander. As a teacher working in my silo of a department in my silo of a school, I wonder how we can facilitate more connection, shared practice and collaboration? What say you, teachers? Are there any creative solutions out there?

Reference list:

Lai,K.(n.d.).Building.knowledge..Retrieved.from http://www.otago.ac.nz/sciences/study/postgraduate/profiles/otago065938.html

Otago UniversityLai, Kwok-Wing, & Pullar, Ken. (2014). Designing knowledge building communities in secondary schools.

Knowledge Building Gallery. (n.d.). Introduction. Retrieved from http://thelearningexchange.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/KB-Gallery-0-Introduction-Accessible.pdf

Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.

Wenger-Trayner, E., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015). Introduction to communities of practice | Wenger-Trayner. Retrieved from http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/