Week 31 - Interdisciplinary Connection Map

Activity 7: My interdisciplinary connection map

Once I got started on my interdisciplinary connection map I felt like I could have kept adding more and more things!  There are so many things that have an impact (or could potentially have more of an impact) on my teaching practice.

Creating this connection map did make me realise how I draw on so much of this when I'm in the classroom - for example, when it comes to relationship building with students I draw very much on my experiences teaching skiing and teaching English as a foreign language as in both situations I found that I needed to gain the trust of students (often in a very short period of time) in order to make them feel comfortable and to help them get the most from the learning experience.

One thing I noticed from my map is that there are connections that currently aren't being made which could help improve my practice.  The first of these is that I have been completing the Mind Lab course at the same time as working on a graduate certificate in primary maths teaching. Both courses share similar ideas about getting students to work collaboratively, getting them to take ownership of their learning and engaging students by making learning relevant and accessible, however, I've been viewing them as very much separate.  I've been completing Mind Lab tasks one day and then working on assignments for the graduate certificate the next without really spending much time reflecting on how they fit together.  This is something I think would certainly help my practice and enable me to help find ways to help meet our school goal of raising achievement in mathematics.  The challenge with this is finding the time (with all the study and working) to do this effectively! Also convincing the senior management team and head of maths to allow me to radically change the way I am teaching maths when this is an area we are focusing on as a school.  I would need to be able to show that what I was doing would benefit the students and help raise achievement.

I think I could also make much more use of professional connections. There are so many different ways in which I am in touch with different teachers both locally, nationally and internationally but I know I don't make the most of their collective knowledge and experience, nor do I share enough of what I'm doing with others so they can learn from my experiences.  The benefits of doing this are that I could learn from what others are doing and get different ideas for things to try in my own school as well as share my practice so others can learn from me.  The challenges are that while I often have good intentions to do this, I am so busy with other things that it gets pushed to the side.  It is also sometimes scary to put yourself out there and share what you are doing (both the successes and the failures) so that is a barrier I'd have to get over personally (and I imagine others too).

I have long been a fan of an interdisciplinary approach as you rarely approach things from a single lens, you always use everything you know when trying to understand something new or come up with a different idea.  When I was studying history and politics at university for my bachelors degree we often used literature of the time to study periods in history or to get a different viewpoint on political events.  I found it was not only far more interesting than reading a textbook but also gave a human viewpoint to the events that we were studying.  I also feel that in the workplace, you often draw on knowledge and skills gained from all different areas.  When I was working as a ski instructor I used what I had learned about teaching children from my primary teaching qualification to help new instructors develop their teaching for children.  When I worked as a personal assistant to a CEO I was able to use what I knew about government and politics to help my boss understand changes to legislation.  Helping students see the connections between curriculum areas and integrating disciplines will better prepare them for live beyond formal education.

Week 32 - Changes in my practice

In all honesty, although this course has been amazing, I'll be relieved when it's all over and I have some time to put more of the stuff I've learned over the last 32 weeks into practice!  Every week I've had so many ideas about how to engage our students and get them collaborating on exciting learning experiences but finding the time to integrate it into our programme properly has been challenging. I'm definitely looking forward to continuing to develop our classroom programme going forward.  I've also remembered that I am a shocking procrastinator who is incapable of getting anything done until I'm under pressure (I was hoping I'd magically grown out of that but evidently not!). 

In terms of the Practising Teacher Criteria (PTCs) I think the biggest change has been in terms of getting students to take more ownership of their own learning and getting them to work collaboratively.  Over the last 32 weeks I have also been involved in setting up our modern learning environment of four classes and helping to develop our classroom programme. From this course I have definitely gained a greater understanding of how we need to change the way we are teaching and how are students are learning to make sure we are setting them up for life in the 21st century and developing skills that will enable them to be successful in whatever they end up doing.  The greater focus on collaboration and on enabling students to follow their passions and interests, as well as finding different ways to engage all our students, has driven our thinking as we've been developing our learning programme.  This clearly ties in with PCT 7 - "promote a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment".

This course has also enabled me to start taking more of a leadership role in terms of sharing what we have been learning with other colleagues and helping to develop ICT programmes and use throughout the school.   This course has definitely provided me with the tools and strategies to help implement programmes more effectively and has made me more confident in my abilities to help lead ICT and collaborative learning initiatives in the school.  This fits in with PCT 5 - "show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning."

Future professional development
Where to next?  I would love to be able to develop collaboration/interdisciplinary approach to teaching maths within our school.  I've found it relatively easy to make changes in other curriculum areas - to integrate them and find ways to engage students using various tools but it's been much harder to do in maths so far (but would be hugely valuable).  I think a lot of the ideas we've looked at do lend themselves to maths teaching and learning but in our school we have a pretty traditional approach to maths and I think it will take longer to make those changes - I'd love to shake up what I do and really engage the students.

I also share more of what I've learned with the rest of the staff - due to time constraints and where the staff are right now this has been limited to specific initiatives so far.  What we have done has very much been Nicki and I leading from the the front but it would be great to get to a place where we can collaborate as a team and share ideas, building on what others think.  We are getting closer as we build the confidence of the less tech savvy but still a long way to go.

This course has given me so many ideas that I think it is going to take me some time to process it all and figure out how to work it into my classroom programme in a way that works for me, my students and my colleagues - I'm definitely excited about what the future in education can look like!

Week 30 - Using social online networks in teaching and/or professional development

What are some key features of social media that are beneficial for teaching and learning? Why?

Every year I face the same issue with my year 7 & 8 students (primarily the year 8 students who have already had me as a teacher for a year) when they tell me they are going to find me on facebook and add me as a friend.  I explain to them that I am happy to be in contact with them outside school hours but that my facebook is for me to connect with my friends and it's not an appropriate forum for us to stay in touch.  However, I can understand where they are coming from - they want to share what is going on and for them, facebook is an important way they keep people updated on what is happening in their lives.  I have eventually caved and made a separate facebook account that is purely for students and their parents which the kids seem pretty happy with (although they constantly berate me for not updating it enough!).  It's not just facebook - if I'd let them, they'd follow me on instagram, snapchat me daily and comment on every tweet I ever posted (I think they may draw the line at this blog though - far too wordy!). Part of it is nosiness - they love to know what is going on but students like that they can get a quick response to questions or issues and don't have to spend ages contacting different people - I'm always fascinated to see what goes up on facebook around the time their science fair project is due or the night before a mufti day.  They also have a genuine desire to connect with each other and me and share their interests and what is important to them. Social media allows students and teachers to access a wealth of ideas, knowledge and opinions in a short space of time and is easily accessible - they can get involved whenever and wherever. Although I'm not keen to share everything with them, I do understand that they spend 5 days a week, 40 weeks a year for two years with me and it's important that I know about them and them about me.

In terms of teaching and learning it would be fantastic to use social media not only to connect with others in the class but also to become more globally connected.  I've lived all over the world and have friends in numerous different countries but I am continually surprised at how little my students know about the world and how isolated they are from what is happening beyond New Zealand.  There is real potential to use social media to connect with others further away and start developing a great sense of what is going on in the world.  There is also the potential for connecting with experts to get information about areas that interest the students.  I get really excited about the idea of students connecting with people who can get them fired up about a topic and that students can see that these issues or subjects aren't just something they do at school but are part of the world beyond - I haven't yet been able to integrate this into my classroom programme but that is definitely something I want to work on next term.  I also think that using social media for this would be engaging for students as it is something that they use and are familiar with.  

How do/would you use social media to enhance your professional development? Why?

I have used social media for a lot of professional development already.  Currently my cluster is involved in an online mentoring programme which is helping us develop our programme for our modern learning environment.  We've been using social media to share ideas with others about what we've been doing and what ideas others have, as well as receiving support from our mentor.  The huge advantage for us is that we can contact people who are in a similar situation to us who aren't necessarily local.  Using social media has enabled us to work with schools all over the country rather than just in our local area.  Similarly for this course, being able to communicate with others when you aren't able to meet face-to-face is fantastic for busy teachers!

At the moment I get a lot of ideas from twitter and facebook on various groups and forums for teachers but I don't yet feel like I'm at a stage where I have much to contribute (which I think is down to lack of confidence at the moment).  I am starting to contribute more, mostly in the form of asking questions, but at the moment I'm definitely more of a lurker!

I also find it incredibly useful to use social media to keep track of what is going on in other countries in terms of education. It gives you an idea of what others are trying and what is working and what isn't.  I'm fascinated by stories of others working in different places, seeing what experiences they are having and working out what I can take from that.