Week 32 - Reflect on your Learning Journey


Activity 8: Reflect on how you have changed your practice during your Postgraduate DCL journey

Stage 1: Problem identification

The nature of the problem came about as I shifted my thinking to a more digital world. I thought that if parents knew more about the Digital Technologies Curriculum, students could do and learn more at home. It was important for me to implement this change and gain parent engagement as this was an issue as the same parents were attending school events, parent interviews, home-school partnerships and the students of these parents were achieving at a satisfactory or accelerated level and I had little to no issues in regards to behaviour, work ethic and homework.

Stage 2: Observation and analysis

The data that was gathered that helped to support the identified problem was through parent and student interviews, parent engagement surveys and through discussions with colleagues and Senior Management Leaders. The insights that I have gained about the problem that drives the change is that time plays a huge factor in what engagement levels the parents in my community can commit too. Yes, it would be beneficial for parents to play a crucial role with the implementation of knowledge and learning gained to ensure the bridge between home and school is concrete and that what is learnt at school is practised at home.

Stage 3: Abstract reconceptualization

According to the Ministry of Education (2017) establishing relationships with whanau will enhance the wellbeing of the learner. I can not change how busy parents are during and after school hours so that is why I had to use the online platform of the school website, Seesaw and Class Facebook pages to gain this engagement.

Osterman and Kottkamp (2015) express the importance of personal reflection something that I have done throughout this whole inquiry process. From this process I have been able to identify issues from a broader vision, ensuring that parents are not to blame and as a school we need to take ownership for what parent engagement looks like and what we have deemed as acceptable.

Stage 4: Active experimentation

Bolstad, Gilbert, McDowall, Bull, Boyd, & Hipkins (2012) state “a particular idea had resonated with them so strongly that it has opened up a whole different way of thinking about their practice” (pg. 19). This is very evident in my findings and inquiry process as it has changed my thinking and outlook of the issue.

Siemens’ (2004) principles of ‘Connectivism’ portrays my process and the new strategies and ideas that I have trialled in order to gain parent engagement. He suggests that learning theories were limiting, and suggested that a new theory was needed.  I believe I have used the following principles of connectivism to help guide my leadership practice; learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions, nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning and applying accurate and up-to-date knowledge. These key aspects play an important role in determining the effective path we take as leaders.

I have learnt from the change and experiences that there is not one size that fits all, I can not assume the reason for an issue only falls on one party. I need to have an open-mind and view problems with the idea of considering why it is the way it is and challenging that status quo.

References;

Bolstad, R. & MacDonald,J. (2016). An analysis of participant blogs supplemented by teacher interviews. Wellington:New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Ministry of Education (2017). Our code, our standards. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards

Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective practice for educators.California:Corwin Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/RefPract/Osterman_Kottkamp_extract.pdf

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. eLearnSpace. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm



Word Count- 540

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 30 - Reflect on your Evidence

Image
Activity 6: Describe the data you have collected so far and how you are analyzing it. Step 1: Describe the data you have collected The data that I collected throughout my inquiry were surveys (quantitative) and interviews of students and parents (qualitative). I thought it was best to send home surveys to eldest and only students as I was unsure whether all parents would have access to the internet if I was to use a programme such as Surveymonkey. The main issues that arose from parents through the surveys and interviews was that parents did want to be involved but did not have time and they wanted to help their child succeed but didn’t know what they could do to help. Step 2: Explain how you are analysing your data Gray (2012) expresses that data can be very powerful, if used in the right way. The data collection occurred during the learn phase (weeks 20-24). There were 108 surveys that were returned out of 385 that were issued to eldest and only stud...
Read more

Week 29- Consider Your Audiences

Activity 5: Discuss how you addressing the context of different audiences (local, national and/or international) and their perspectives while you were taking action. Step 1: Defining my Audience The audience that I am addressing are the students and their whanau, with consideration towards fellow colleagues, Senior Management and the Board of Trustees. My primary focus for my inquiry is enhancing parent engagement in order to improve student learning. When I first started my inquiry I had the idea of improving student achievement through the use of the new Digital Technologies Curriculum. I wondered whether parents learning about the curriculum and activities they could do at home, would have an impact on student success in this area as it would be a collaborative learning experience for both parent/s and student. Along the way my inquiry and my thinking changed to ‘how could I use digital technology to enhance parent engagement’ as this was truly evident ...
Read more

Activity 4- Discuss how issues of ethics, society, culture and professional environments (including law, regulations and policy) are being addressed while you are taking action

Image
Activity 4- Discuss how issues of ethics, society, culture and professional environments (including law, regulations and policy) are being addressed while you are taking action Word Count- 530 What are the facts? What do you feel about them? When we received the parent engagement surveys back there were some parents that mentioned negative comments about their child’s teacher, clearly identifying who they were in the survey and something they did not like about them. We did not expect this to happen and it forced us to think critically about what we needed to do. Why did it happen this way? How does this relate to your past experiences? We used the Ehrich et al. (2011) model as shown below. We needed to maintain professional ethics so the teachers who were mentioned in the parent engagement surveys were not identified, this was to ensure their mana and wairua stayed intact and that they did not feel targeted. There needed to be a decision about wh...
Read more