Reflections of the year that was Mind Lab
Woohoo! What a ride! 2017, and the journey with Mind Lab,
has been the most challenging and stimulating year of my teaching career. While
the challenge has been teaching fulltime and then adding study on top, it has
reminded me to think about the demands we place on our students in terms of
assignments and working to deadlines (thank heavens for extensions!). And yet…I
find myself thinking that I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.
It has been many a long year since I last undertook any
study and I have often looked on at colleagues who have completed their
Master’s degrees, while working fulltime, with nothing short of admiration. Now
I have proven to myself that ‘there’s life in the old girl yet’ and that it is
possible to ‘teach an old dog new tricks’! So far, so good…
Mind Lab has had numerous benefits for me, not least of
which has been to force me out of my comfort zone and stretch my boundaries –
or replace them altogether in a new position! I feel re-energised and more
enthusiastic about teaching in general and my practice specifically. It has
given me more confidence in using digital technologies and including them more
and more in my teaching. While both semesters have been interesting and
challenging, I found that I missed the weekly meetings with Lynley and the
whole Taupo group of the first 16 weeks once we began the second semester.
However, the online collaboration through Google+ and webinars has been
stimulating and given me access to a far wider group of like-minded people, and
I have learnt to blog.
Changes to my practice related to the
Practicing Teacher Criteria in e-Learning
Criteria 4: Demonstrate
commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional
personal practice.
Completing the Mind Lab course
has been the most worthwhile PD I’ve ever done. While it has challenged me to
makes changes in my personal practice, it is the regular and ongoing aspect
that is important and most effective as we teachers have become part of the
learning process through collaborating, researching and facilitating our own
learning in ways that are important to us as individuals (Osterman, 1993).
The course, including weekly
sessions, readings and online collaboration with other teachers from both
primary and secondary sectors over the 32 weeks, has meant I have had the
opportunity to start putting some of what I’ve learnt into practice. And the ‘ongoing’ part will not end here.
Criteria 7: Promote a
collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment.
Through Mind Lab I am engaging in
more reflective practice, looking with a critical eye and with reference to
evidence-based research to help inform and improve my practice. Osterman (1993,
p.2.) describes reflective practice as “a challenging, demanding, and often
trying process that is most successful as a collaborative effort…..a means by
which practitioners can have a greater level of self-awareness about the nature
and impact of their performance”. I have particularly enjoyed learning about
the 21st century learning rubrics and am already starting to deploy these in my
teaching (collaboration, and real-world problem solving and innovation
particularly), along with a move to more project-based learning. This aligns
well with the current approach in our science faculty where we are moving to
more evidence-based assessment linked to the science capabilities in the junior
school. It also addresses the concept of ako – using effective teaching
strategies that will motivate and promote learning for my students.
Where to from here?
I will continue to use the 21st century learning skills
rubrics and look forward to continuing with an ongoing collaborative,
real-world problem-solving project started this year with colleagues from my
school and one of the local primary schools. I also want to further explore the
use of project-based learning in science and look at adding student blogs to
the mix.
The new Mind Lab Masters course starting in 2108 has also
piqued my interest. However, I’m not quite ready for that yet!
Mind Lab has opened my eyes in new ways to where 21 century
education is, and should be, headed. The downside to this is that I’m now
itching to get on with it but find that the change we need to implement within
my school environment is going to happen much more slowly! The ultimate dream
would be for all staff at my school to complete the Mind Lab course so we can
get some real change starting to happen. 6 down, 70 to go! The digital future
is already upon us, whether we like it or not, and our education system needs
to catch up so we can really prepare our students for their futures.
References
Ministry of Education (nd). Practising teacher Criteria and
e-learning. Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/
Osterman, K. F., & Kottkamp, R. B.
(1993). Reflective practice for educators. Newbury Park, CA: Corwin Press.
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