Mentoring the Mentors of the Mentees.

This year our school has become part of the Manaiakalani Digital Teachers Academy by taking on two MDTA teachers to be mentored by two of our expert teachers.  As we move through this new journey of Teacher education  it's been interesting watching the dynamics take place between the mentors and their mentees (let's just call them MDTAs - mentee is to close to manatee!) and how classroom leadership has transpired. 

While the programme is carefully managed and closely monitored by Manaiakalani, as a manager within the school environment it's important that I keep my finger on the pulse and regularly check on the teams to see how things are going and how they are feeling about how things are going.  After some reflection in my role within this programme, I realised that I was monitoring its progress mostly through the mentors, regularly speaking with them about their classroom programmes, the roles of both teachers in the room, classroom dynamics, behaviour management, professional relationships etc.   So, this week I had my first meeting with the MDTAs in supporting them in the programme, something that I should have done in Term 1!  Interestingly I didn't put our meeting in any overview or calendar, but just asked for them to come to my office for a chat...they ultimately felt like they were being called to the "DPs Office" for a stern talk, so had to reassure them that we were merely having a professional conversation for me to check in and see how they were going.  (Note to self: put our next meeting on the calendar!)  The conversation was open and honest and MDTAs were obviously passionate about their roles and the programme they were in. 

There were a few things I noted throughout the conversation and which I relayed to the mentors later in the day.  Firstly, there are times where the students still consider the MDTAs role secondary to the Mentor teacher in the room.  I wonder how we can change this for future recruits to the programme.  The experience a 1:26 classroom environment provides a beginning teacher is invaluable - being thrown in the deep end is the building block of success and our MDTAs haven't had the chance to gain the lead role as 'classroom teacher' as they weren't given the opportunity from the outset.  Maybe, it would have been better to let the MDTAs start the year solo, with mentors supporting, not in the room, but initially through advice, resourcing, programme and planning guidance.  After sufficient time to set up the class and establish teacher/student relationships, then perhaps we bring in the mentors.  The second observation I made was the professional conversations our mentors and MDTAs were having were always about 'advice and guidance'...but sometimes the MDTAs only need a sounding board.  I realised that our mentors needed to be conscious of what was a 'mentors' discussion and what was a 'colleagues' discussion.  As teachers we like to share our thoughts, ideas and experiences inside and outside the classroom, we don't always seek feedback or feedforward for what we're discussing.  Sometimes the mentors need to take off their Mentors hat and just listen to the MDTAs, let them come to their own conclusions and problem solve their own mistakes.  That's part of growing as a teacher.  My third observation of the meeting was that I myself as a manager needed to be more available to the MDTAs as much as I am to all our staff.  I realised that I speak almost daily to all staff, offering support, monitoring and checking in to see how they and their classes are going, but never really established that same relationship with the MDTAs...this was managed through the Mentors.  But this isn't right...MDTAs are BTs on our staff, exactly the same as the two other BTs on our staff who are sole charge.  My not establishing a the same professional relationship with the MDTAs was putting them in a secondary role behind their Mentors.  This was my greatest learning of the day and one which is now changed and I am acutely aware of.

At the end of the day, I am happy with where we are in our journey with this programme.  We are so lucky to have amazing MDTAs and amazing Mentors to be carrying out this new learning with us.  It all starts with relationships, communication and honesty.  I'm excited to see where these relationships lead us as the pioneers of the MDTA programme.

TAMAKI PRIDE

We received great news this week when we found out that a group of
Y7&8 Tamaki Primary students, who'd entered a Waitangi National Trust movie
competition, came second with their entry.  The students have won an all
expenses paid trip to Waitangi, staying at the Copthorne and
experiencing all the sites and sounds of Waitangi.  This will be a
wonderful experience for our students.  Thank you Kyla Hansell for such a
wonderful job in guiding these students in their creation - it's your
dedication and hard work that sees success come to fruition.

Well Done TEAM!

E-Learning Lead Teachers

We had an E-learning Lead Teachers meeting at Glenbrae Primary School this week.  During the meeting we discussed the online access to students in our area of the cluster, who have been waiting for months for the 'switch' to be activated so that they can get online anytime/anywhere within their community.  Now that this has arrived,  we need to 'up the anti' so to speak with expectations around student output.  There really is no excuse for work not to be finished by students in the Year 7&8 syndicate as these are the students who take their netbooks home.  The learning opportunities for our students has doubled!

Another topic of discussion was the development of a cluster-wide data base in which all data around students and their netbooks can be found.  A one stop shop of information for schools to access.  This will make it easier for schools who acquire students from other schools in the cluster, to have a 'whole' picture of where students are in regard to payments, insurance, device history, repairs and contact details.  This should make keeping track of netbooks and the students more transparent. 

In addition to this, we had a great session with Rebecca Jesson (Wolfe Fisher Research Centre) regarding research outcomes from the 2013 year.  There was a lot to reflect on and plenty of discussion around how teachers can become more critical in their thinking around the challenge of their questions and subsequent activities.  I enjoyed discussion around 'dialogic and monologic' teaching practice and how to shift teacher attention from 'testing student's understanding' to 'deepening their cognitive engagement'.

So, my biggest questions around this idea of diologic approach is 'how do we ensure that there's a shared understanding of what dialogic practice is?  What it looks like in the classroom?... and how do we develop the pedagogy behind it?  My thoughts are with teachers who are unsure about pedagogy, and their first default in teaching is to put on the 'lens' most easily accessible to them - which is usually "Monologic" (often how they were taught themselves). We discussed this as a group and came up with a few ideas on how to develop dialogic practice and understanding across our staff.

• Give staff a 'critical question' each week that they write about on their professional reflections blog.  Questions could be based around something like "How have you used dialogic practice in your class this week?"  "What did you do in class this week that you think is a good example of the 'create' aspect of 'learn/create/share'?
• Hold in-house PLD around critical thinking and the dialogic approach.  Carry out the meeting in such a way as to model the  'dialogic' approach.
• In a staff meeting, give staff groups challenges where they have to create a resource or lesson that promotes the dialogic approach i.e - prompt cards for a text.
• Planned observations both peer and SMT focusing on dialogic practice in classrooms.

I think that when teachers see the differences between a monologic and dialogic approach, this will add clarity to their understanding of the practice.

We want to encourage 'critical thinking' across the school and do away with instructional risk - low challenge creation activities such as copying/colouring in.  These benefit no-one.  Creating to learn is where understanding is developed and imbedded in children's learning.

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Through the ideas at the meeting and the discussion that ensued,  I was able to make connections with my 'Critical Reflection in Teaching' paper at Uni.  My most recent assignment has been reflecting on the 'macro/neo-liberal' influences on Manaiakalani and the impact this has on the cluster.  I found that these influences tend to outweigh the social needs of the community and I questioned whether more needs to be done in strengthening the social values, justice and democratic principles of the people we work with.  During discussion around engaging our students in a more dialogic/cognitive based/critical thinking environment, I recognised that in strengthening our students ability to socially interact, develop stronger literacy and communication skills, we would possibly be developing a voice in the political divide between those that have and those that have not.  In developing these skills, we as a cluster also need to think about 'social action' that has meaning and is in direct connection with issues that are taking place around our students. Some of these may be political...so appropriateness would need to be considered, but I think that if an issue has a direct impact on our students, then it's one which should be acknowledged, talked about and possibly actioned upon should the opportunity be there to do so.  This is where I question whether we need to be more open to the idea of using our key competencies and values as a measure of success within our cluster?  Why should we only celebrate the literacy and numeracy successes of the community?  Why not celebrate the 'social actions' too?

Critical Reflection for Teachers

This semester I have been taking a paper a AU called 'Critical Reflection for Teachers' with John Roder.  I have found the paper has given me a whole new lens in which to view my role as a teacher and manager of a school.  Since leaving teachers college all those years ago, I never went back to formal learning outside of professional learning development received in schools I have taught in.  The critical reflection paper has given me the tools to delve into 'why' and 'how' I think and act in my role as a teacher.  

When I first started the paper, we had an 'on campus' day where all of the participants met on a Saturday and John Roder took us through the purpose of the paper.  At the end of that day, I came out with my mind spinning...I didn't have a clue what he was talking about and found it very difficult to connect with his messages of gazes, lenses, either/or...AND.  It was a all a little overwhelming, but exciting at the same time.  Flashes of interest were coming on and a lot of tiny connections between how I think and why I think that way was beginning to filter through.  

The many theorists and readings we have studied in the past few months have introduced me to the idea of 'governmentality' - the idea that we are compelled to stick to the rules and do the right thing (democracy) where we believe we have rights and freedom but within an unspoken dimension.  We think we have 'freedom' but we are in fact restrained without actually knowing it. An interesting and challenging space to be in is a 'liminal space', a space that isn't sitting on the fence, but one which is fluid and allows for investigation and reflection where thoughts and opinions change with learning. 

The theorists I have most enjoyed getting to know are:

•  Diti Hill, who introduced me to personal narratives - being able to convey the complexity of ones thoughts and actions where the focus of practice is for people who have not yet developed advocacy skills of their own.  Hill talks in terms of 'early childhood' but reading her article through my lens as a teacher in a low decile, multicultural school, the connection I had with this reading was very strong.  Her explanation of the four areas of sedimented theory and looking for connectedness through new ideas resonated with me as I was able to reflect on how I use and develop these areas in my own practice. 
• John Codd and his reading around neo-liberalism and globalisation was another I connected with through my involvement in the Manaiakalani Education Programme.  The reading showed me the political aspects of education and how strongly politics influences what and how we teach.   It was mostly through this paper that I realised how much of a conformist I was.  Not that there is anything wrong with Manaianakalani, but that I did need to step back and view the programme as a whole which is what I did when I focused my first assignment on the affects the programme has on not only the educational outcomes of our students, but on the social outcomes as well. Carrying out this assignment gave me opportunity to view  Manaiakalani as a socio/political issue and problematise it.  I had never closely examined the programme through this lens before.  I learned that it is ethical to recognise complex spaces and that questioning the policy makers and programme creators doesn't necessarily need to be viewed as 'cynicism' but 'professional skepticism'.  
• Joe Kincheloe's paper about 'teachers as researchers' reiterated the need for teachers to look deeply into our practice and recognise and understand the principals of 'good' and 'bad' teaching.  It also opens up the idea that teachers have been 'deskilled' into teaching pre-packaged programmes forced upon the profession through politically encouraged public perception that teachers are incompetent.  While I think that this is more heavily directed at the American system, we need to observe and learn through their mistakes and be wary of the same political influence here in New Zealand.  In reflecting on this, I made connections with this reading through our own history of tomorrows schools, national standards and now performance pay.  I recognised the debatable issues in this article, but after discussion in our 'on campus' day in May, I changed my lens to look at the 'good' aspects of these things and realised there are some good things that have come out of these policies.  Tomorrows schools gave schools autonomy, national standards gave teachers expectations and clear pathways, performance pay - the jurys still out on that one!

I could go on and on about each theorist we covered though out this course so far, I have learned something from everyone of them...but I don't want this blog to take days to read!

The most important thing that I have learned so far on this course is that being a reflective practitioner allows me to develop my 'power' through self-care, advocacy and open mindedness.  Not just accept, but reflect and question through different 'gazes' not just the one tunneled lens which I think I've always used.  I know I have reflected through out my career, but I now understand and have identified 'how' I reflect and can develop my reflection further through the different stances, lenses and gazes I have been introduced to...in short, I have developed my tool box in thinking and reflecting more 'critically' than ever before.