Week 18 Changes in my Future Practice

Week 18 Reflecting on Changes in my Future Practice

I am going to reflect on theme 4 “changing the script” in rethinking learners and teachers roles in the report 'Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New Zealand perspective' (Bolstad et al. 2012) as this really resonated with me when I read the article. Re-working the traditional role of the teacher has been a strong attraction since finding the work of Sugata Mitra and his 'Hole in the wall and the power of self-organised learning' (2012). As he found in his groundbreaking work, ‘this can open space for both learners and teachers to see what learners are capable of- often to the surprise of both. (Bolstad et al. 2012 p. 39)

 My method of reflection will be guided by Gibbs cycle as this is the clear reflective tool I use with my technology students, especially my scholarship students.

                                                                    

                                                                                                                         Fig 1

In the implementation of my inquiry, I hoped to foster the ‘managing self’ key competency with my students. I have never taught in a traditional classroom, mine being a textiles workroom, so my practice has always been more of the facilitator anyway, but I wanted to go further and enable my students with their design and construction skills. I also hoped to push them into the zone of proximal development in their learning and, more selfishly, ease my own load by creating more of me in the classroom by making videos for my students to view so helping themselves in the workroom.

Fig 2.

I hoped with the creation of videos and the BYOD focus the school was pushing, we would create more independence in the making and the students would have a better experience of learning in the workroom. It would allow them to learn at their own pace and free up my workroom rush around, to try and get to all students in a 50-minute lesson. It also could help prevent the student downtime and boredom as they wait for help too.

I had lots of hopes!

I felt at the time the students did ease my load in the classroom I was able to get around the class and help more students so that was a win. They did gain the skills I wanted them to as they were able to use the videos to help themselves and when I asked them to evaluate their learning they told me what I wanted to hear, that the videos were a good idea!

 I felt that I was developing an idea which could be so much more. As I reflected later, the implications of this could go much further than I had first anticipated and we could do so much more with the students taking their own filming skills to the next level as we could enable them to ‘Redefine the task’ as in the Putendura’s SAMR model. 

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In sharing with another teacher who had used a similar idea in a primary school, using Maths, he told me of how his students really enjoyed seeing other students succeed and eventually all of his own videos were superseded by his students demonstrating the ideas and principles. This gave me so much encouragement that I am on the right track but yet there is so much more I can actively facilitate with my students. The next steps will be to use this method with older students with NCEA and create a whole library of videos self-made, by our own community.

My Mindlab journey has been the vehicle to instrument the change in my practice and I have been able to put the theory to the action and find the labels to describe this change and my students are benefitting by my being more mindful of their needs.

I think my change so far is just the first cycle of what I can do and I will develop the next step in the movement towards greater self-management by my students, and myself, as this has made me see how I can develop ways to rewrite the script of this teacher to becoming more efficient and effective.

References

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306

Fig 1. Gibbs Reflective Cycle Retrieved from;  https://www.crowe-associates.co.uk/coaching-and-mentoring-skills/gibbs-reflective-cycle/

Mitra, S. (2012) Retrieved from; https://www.edutopia.org/blog/self-organized-learning-sugata-mitra

Fig 3. Puentedura, R. (2014)  SAMR model image  Retrieved from http://www.schrockguide.net/samr.html

Fig 2. Visualising the zone of Proximal development. Retrieved from:

https://www.verbaltovisual.com/visualizing-the-zone-of-proximal-development-vtv007/