#aucklandcentral

[aucklife]

Grey sky over Auckland and rain, rain and more rain. · #aucklife #auckland #aucklandlife #aucklandnz #ourakl #livinginauckland #lifeinauckland #newzealand #aucklandcbd #aucklandcentral #aucklandskytower (at Sky Tower) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvr19QbBQJK/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=178tq279oa5lj

[trvcerr]

While taking photos in the city one day with my friend, we thought it would be a good idea to check out one of the abandoned buildings in town. Otherwise known as Challenge house for the Auckland Locals, notorious for the drug addicts and graffiti which lied behind its walls. As the place had been abandoned for over 10 years, the only occupants were the homeless and pigeons who have made this place their new home..

[gemsbloggy-blog]

Week 19 - Communities of Practice

According to Wenger (2002) a community of practice is a ‘group of individuals participating in communal activity, and experiencing/continuously creating their shared identity through engaging in and contributing to the practices of their communities’. Over the past few months, learning about Communities of Practice (CoP) has reiterated why I have a total Growth Mindset towards this. Through Wenger-Trayner’s model I can see we are a community of practice in the sense of sharing passions and practice where we are expected to be an active participant and strive to extend our knowledge by interacting positively with each other, students and the community (Wenger-Trayner, 2015).

The first inquiry topic I have thought about is collaborative teaching - this links into what Wegner (2011) states saying that “communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.”

Wenger states that there are 3 characteristics that are crucial to a community of practice:

The domain - a defined identity with shared interest.

The community - building relationships to enable learning from each other.

The practice - members of practice sharing their practice.

Over the last 6 years since becoming a teacher, collaborative teaching and collaboration has become something I have learned more about in education. At our school we have been bringing collaboration into the classroom more and have had a big change this year with the setup of a new MLE which has 3 teachers working collaboratively.

The new MLE has been extremely successful this year as a CoP and this is due to the immense learning and sharing that has made a positive impact on the students and the teachers as professionals. Our school also uses the Teaching as Inquiry/Spiral of Inquiry models as a form of collaboration, all of our teachers are continually engaging in professional learning discussions. We all share the same vision for our students, wanting them to “Achieve the Extraordinary”.

My second inquiry topic is “how can I promote student agency from year 0-8?” I feel that incorporating reflection (from myself and my students) will enable students to make connections to their prior learning, and engage in ongoing conversation. Our students have a real need to take purposeful initiative within their learning. This is a topic that I am passionate about and would love to dig deeper into promoting student agency within our school. I feel like I have a long way to go with this topic but am determined to explore and facilitate the effective ways of promoting and having my students achieve a high standard of student agency.

References:

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

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

[spilt--ink]

have you? #whatistandfor #whatdoyoustandfor #election2017 lection2017 #ivoted #vote #aucklandcentral #politics #electionnz #nzelection #democracy #shoes #adidas #socks #nature #deptheffect (at Auckland CBD)

[mikahaka]

Ngā Mihi e te whanau - it's time for our voices to be heard. #vote #pōti #beauty #nz @mikahaka is standing for #theopportunitiesparty #top ... for #aucklandcentral - your right - is to vote - to help make change ... change for the good of us all (at Manukau Insitute of Technology - MTC)

[thedustylogs-blog]

Date night always includes a visit to @giapokitchen in #auckland 😍 . . . . . . #giapo #giapoicecream #icecream #icecreamart #aucklandcbd #aucklandcity #aucklandnz #aucklandfood #aucklandlife #aucklandeats #aucklandcafe #aucklandcentral #aucklandharbour #aucklandvegan #aucklandfoodie #aucklandfoodies #aucklandfanpage #hospolife #hospo #hospitality #cafe #foodstagram #newzealand #nzmustdo #vegan #veganfood #vegansofig #workwear #staffuniform (at Giapo)

[worldnewsinpictures]

The NZQandA Colmar Brunton poll for Auckland Central shows the three-way battle is becoming a tighter race. Never heard of Helen or Emma. VOTE FOR _chloeswarbrick!... Do you have an opinion on this? Share it! HERE -> https://worldnewsinpictures.com/auckland-central #TheNZQandA #TheNZQandAColmar #Auckland #AucklandCentral #AucklandCentralNever #EmmaVOTE #EmmaVOTEFOR #NZQandA #Colmar #Brunton #Central

[luis77shima]

Os dois primeiros dias em Auckland - andanças, chuva, frio, sol, ventania, tomar umas 🍺 com os camaradas!!! #auckland #aucklandcbd #aucklandcity #aucklandcentral #streetart #beer #breja #cerveja #city #newzealand

[aucklife]

Pohutukawa tree growing along Waiheke Islands coast line, overlooking the ocean with views over Motuihe Island and Auckland Skyline in the distance. · #aucklife #auckland #aucklandlife #aucklandnz #ourakl #livinginauckland #lifeinauckland #newzealand #aucklandcentral #nz #akl #aucklandstreetphotography #aucklandharbour #sailing #sailingvessel #ship #haurakigulf #nzislands #waiheke #waihekeisland #nzcoast #aucklandskyline #pohutukawa #pohutukawatree https://ift.tt/32KgvF9

[trvcerr]

overcast lookups..

[gemsbloggy-blog]

Week 18 - Future-oriented Learning and Teaching

Whilst reading 'Supporting future oriented learning and teaching: A New Zealand perspective' (2012) the sub-theme surrounding 'the role of new technologies' really stood out and helped me reflect on my Mind Lab journey so far. Mind Lab has completely transformed my perspective within my practice and my philosophy on teaching. The Mind Lab Postgraduate course is a strong advocate for 21st-century learning and collaborative practices. When we were introduced to the 21st-century learning skills and the SAMR model, it became coherent and really exciting to explore these two frameworks and I began to incorporate some exceptional new technologies in the classroom.

The ITL rubric contains six skills which students need to develop -  collaboration, knowledge construction, self-regulation, real-world problem-solving, innovation, the use of ICT for learning and skilled communication; this has been a powerful framework within my teaching and learning over the past two terms.

I have had the ongoing challenge of getting my students to work more collaboratively, and in my own practice I have identified the need to refine my teaching of being able to further unpack the attributes of collaborative learning with my students and get them to be able to develop the ability to effectively discuss the features and challenges of collaborative learning.

I am passionate about the need for explicit teaching of the skills needed for positive social interactions including sharing, negotiating, turn taking, managing frustrations/big emotions, problem solving and communicating effectively. This year there has been a complete restructure of pedagogy in order to give students more space to apply and practice these skills in authentic contexts, this includes working in a MLE.

My ongoing challenges are based on exploring how to provide collaborative learning opportunities where students are interdependent and how to embed and expose the essential skills of collaborating most effectively. This is something I wish to explore and practice further within different aspects of my classroom programme, and I am looking forward to effectively implementing these important skills into my practice for our 21st century learners.

References:

ITL Research. (2014). 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. 21st Century Learning Design, (December), 1–44. Retrieved from https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/ITL-Research

Ministry of Education.(2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching: A New Zealand perspective. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306

Puentedura, R. R. (n.d.). SAMR and TPCK: A Hands-On Approach to Classroom Practice. Retrieved from http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2014/12/11/SAMRandTPCK_HandsOnApproachClassroomPractice.pdf

[mikahaka]

#theopportunitiesparty #waihekeisland #aucklandcentral #viaduct great day with the team and esp the young women of #otarabluelight who's weekend of empowerment started today. Glad we could be there to share. (at Viaduct Harbour)

[thedustylogs-blog]

Who can guess which iconic Auckland Pub we visited last night? Free tee to first one who guesses correctly! . . . . . . #auckland #aucklandnz #aucklandcbd #aucklandcity #aucklandfood #aucklandfoodie #aucklandlife #aucklandeats #aucklandcentral #aucklandcafe #aucklandpub #akl #newmarket #grafton #nzfood #nzrestaurant #nzbeer #newzealand #newzealandfinds #instanz #instacomp #freetee #pub #craftbeer #nzcraftbeer #poutine #newzealandguide #newzealandcafe #nzmustdo #nz

[infiniteteaandcoffee]

#mist #fog #neon #outrun #newsynthwave #retrosynthwave #aucklandcentral #newzealand (at Auckland Central)

[aucklife]

Mexican for lunch at Mexico at Sylvia Park shopping mall. Good start into the weekend. · #aucklife #auckland #aucklandlife #lifeinauckland #livinginauckland #visitauckland #aucklandnz #ourakl #tourism_nz #aklcouncil #akl #newzealand #nz #aucklandnewzealand #aucklandcity #mtwellington #sylviapark #nzshopping #aucklandcentral #centralauckland https://ift.tt/2TF9cv3

[gemsbloggy-blog]

Week 17 - My Reflective Practice.

It has been an extremely busy past few weeks and I now finally have the chance to do my blog entries! Having had 16 impressive weeks of learning about new digital tools and effectively implementing these tools into the classroom and applying them within my teaching practice has been incredible for my professional development.

I feel that reflection is important to me as I am continuing to grow and develop on an incessant learning journey, and have discovered the awesome benefits of reflection; which is positive for myself and my students. Finlay, 2008 states that “the point is to recapture practice experiences and mull them over critically in order to gain new understandings and so improve future practice. This is understood as part of the process of lifelong learning”. This is something that stood out to me in the (Finlay, 2008) reading and I believe that in order for me to grow as a professional and within my teaching career, I need to be able to critically reflect on my practice and take these thoughts on board because being truly reflective takes time but is so rewarding and also inspiring when you have those “a-ha” moments!

I enjoyed the Finlay reading and thought it was really beneficial with helping me really delve into thinking about my own reflection. Something that I have thought about to support and explore my critical reflection of my practice, is that I need to focus on “how” and “why”.  I would like to explore a range of models to help me critically reflect, looking for a model that is successful and that works for me. One that is credible, but does not require writing a massive amount; according to Finlay (2009), “different models are needed, at different levels, for different individuals, disciplines and organisations, to use in different contexts” (p.10).

Although I regularly write down notes in my diary or planner, or often “reflect” with peers and colleagues, I need to dig deeper and I am going to try and incorporate critical reflection into part of my routine more regularly, this way I will be able to assess my learning so that my learning informs my practice. I think that ‘looking for inconsistencies or contradictions’  will be an effective and dynamic way to challenge assumptions and support me to move from reflection to critical reflection (Finlay, 2008, p. 9).  I believe reflective blogging is an excellent way to help me (and my students) and am looking forward to exploring this more.

References:

Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file…