I still have a couple of posts for Practice 1 to complete, so this is my non-linear, big ball of timey-wimey-not-quite-the-last-blog-post-post.
So, finally, I have made it to the end of 32 weeks of the Mindlab. It's been challenging, and I won't lie, I wanted to give up several times. "I hate Mindlab!" I found myself saying, quite frequently, as managing my time to fit in teaching, parenting, living and mindlabbing got too much for me. However, I have been extremely grateful for the assistance and support of the Mindlab team, who allowed me to push some of my assessment submissions right to the very, very limit of the wire (and maybe slightly past it!). And even as I was bemoaning my bad decision-making in having signed up to this course, I was at the same time saying to anyone who was still listening, that I actually really enjoyed the reading and the ideas that we were being exposed to. The chance to engage in not only scholarly reading and discussion, but to see how the ideas in those readings could be applied in a practical context, have been invaluable. I realised that, when I caught myself saying "Oh, but if ...(person X).. had done Mindlab, they would know..." So, yes, it's been hard work, and I haven't had fun exactly, but I have learned so much.
So what changes have I made to my practice because of my Mindlab learning?
1. PTC 6 - Conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme.
I have always been an early adopter of digital technologies and have been incorporating their use in class for some years. That was done piecemeal, though, with no real plan or link to 21st century skills. However, the readings for Digital 1 and 2, particularly the ITL 21st Century Learning Rubrics and Voogt, really opened my eyes to what the term '21st century skills' actually meant. And my research for the Lit Review gave me so many great, practical ideas as to how to achieve the learning of 21st century skills in my classroom. I have been slowly, but systematically, rewriting my unit plans to incorporate these 21st century skills, ensuring that the learning has a mix of both digital and collaborative activities that enhance my students' learning of the topic. The key trends reading for Practice 1 has also been a factor as I have been tweaking my plan for my combined Classics/History class for term 2, and as I rework my Year 9 Social Studies lessons on the fly. I keep thinking 'students as creators, not consumers', collaboration, real-world contexts; it's all very exciting.
2. PTC 9 - Respond effectively to the diverse and cultural experiences and the varied strengths, interests, and needs of individuals and groups of Äkonga.
The proliferation of digital tools now makes meeting the diverse needs of my learners more possible. It's been much easier this year to devise learning materials and activities that cater to different levels of understanding and to the different paces at which my students work, and to put it all online. No photocopying required. Digital tools have allowed more individual learning plans for my senior students, so the high flying students can continue at their own faster pace and those who need more time to process can take that time without feeling the pressure to keep up with others. And, as a teacher, I can conference and guide students as they need it. This has been happening quite organically this year, but I am now writing it into my unit plans and am giving consideration to how this will impact on assessment requirements, particularly assessment done by a test paper.
Goals for the future
Really, I want to ensure that I continue to implement the learning from Mindlab, and to continue keeping up to date with the latest theories. I will really miss access to the Unitec library! I'm also interested in rethinking how we assess to take into account 21st century skills and tools, so I will be looking at that in more depth this year too. However, another key trend that I am really interested in is changing the way schools work. I think this is a really important trend, we need to move away from the factory model if we are to serve our learners interests. I'd like to somehow be a part of that conversation. Thanks Mindlab.
Kia ora Jo,
ReplyDeleteVery pleased to hear that you ended the course feeling positive overall about the gains made.
I like what you have said about PTC9. It didn't occur to me when I was writing my post, but now that I read it in yours - aha! I too have noted a huge increase in my use of Google Classroom and Blendspace and much less photocopying. I think the whole move towards online, ubiquitous learning like what we have been doing with MindLab, is inevitable. I recall hearing Mason Durie talk about this as one of his scenarios at the 2015 NPeW start of year Conference. I thought at the time that it was ages away, but I now consider that kind of learning will be supplementing current practice within the next few years.
I was thinking of floating the idea of seeing if any of the other local graduates would like to form a group. Kaupapa could include driving the implementation of 21st Century Skills across the school and as well as assessment reform. We could also run a call back day with our respective staff touching on aspects of what we have learned. There are a few of us just at our school - perhaps enough to form a critical mass? We need to somehow harness that shared knowledge and put it to good use. What are your thoughts?
Kia ora Jo,
ReplyDeleteVery pleased to hear that you ended the course feeling positive overall about the gains made.
I like what you have said about PTC9. It didn't occur to me when I was writing my post, but now that I read it in yours - aha! I too have noted a huge increase in my use of Google Classroom and Blendspace and much less photocopying. I think the whole move towards online, ubiquitous learning like what we have been doing with MindLab, is inevitable. I recall hearing Mason Durie talk about this as one of his scenarios at the 2015 NPeW start of year Conference. I thought at the time that it was ages away, but I now consider that kind of learning will be supplementing current practice within the next few years.
I was thinking of floating the idea of seeing if any of the other local graduates would like to form a group. Kaupapa could include driving the implementation of 21st Century Skills across the school and as well as assessment reform. We could also run a call back day with our respective staff touching on aspects of what we have learned. There are a few of us just at our school - perhaps enough to form a critical mass? We need to somehow harness that shared knowledge and put it to good use. What are your thoughts?