My Growth as an Educator

A good educator will change and adapt their practice to suit the needs of their individual learners. They will also keep up with changes in the educational sector at a global level. They will continue their professional development actively, knowing that they need themselves to be life-long learners, in order to teach this to their students. They know that their students need to be 21st century learners in order to succeed in the world beyond school, therefore they adapted their teaching before 21st century skills even came up for debate. Most importantly, good educators reflect upon their teaching and their learning and they are self-aware. Self-awareness is the key to being a good educator, a great educator in fact.  Over the last 8 weeks, I have reflected over different topics within the educational sector and I have found that it has not only consolidated my ideas and opinions but given me the keys to being able to describe my thoughts and views in a clearer way....

My interdisciplinary connection map (created with Popplet) shows the connection between developing knowledge, points of view and support from others, and experiences. All together this shapes my learning experiences as an educator. I need all the aspects in order for my learning experiences to be authentic and therefore I am able to take my learning back to my daily life and apply it. If this is how MY learning is shaped, then you can see the need for interdisciplinary learning within the classroom.   From my map, there are a couple of areas I need to work harder on in order to keep my growth as an educator going. In fact, there will ALWAYS be areas to improve on... perhaps this is what makes a life long learner! Firstly, I need to become better at interacting online so I am consistently engaging with fellow educators and therefore continually developing my knowledge based on my own and others' points of view, receiving and sharing of new and exciting ideas ...

Ten years ago when I graduated, I never would have thought that social media would play such a huge part of not only my growth as an educator, but also in my practice as a teacher.  Today I not only belong to social networks and groups such as Google +, Twitter and Facebook NZ Primary Teachers, but I am gearing up my young students to take part in such things as blogging and Chapter Chat (a weekly Twitter conversation between schools throughout NZ, based on a common book we are reading).  Social media allows us as teachers and learners to have access to information, ideas and opinions and be connected on a global level. "In social networking sites a user can participate intensively in activities in the service, share contents, debate and share opinions and create different kinds of groups for different needs." (Silius, Miilumäki, Huhtamäki, Tebest, Meriläinen & Pohjolainen, 2010). I have found the Mindlab Google+ group invaluable in challenging my opinions and mindse...

"Teachers registered to practice in New Zealand are committed by the attainment of the highest standards of professional service in the promotion of learning by those they teach, mindful of the learner's ability, cultural background, gender, age or stage of development" (NZ Teachers Council, 2004) Hall, (2001) discusses how being an educator has long been considered a moral activity, because how teachers "fulfil their public duties" has an influence on the lives of children. I think this is even more apparent in today's digital age, where educators who partake in social media are under the scrutiny of peers, parents and students. This has implications for educators because anything that is seen not to be appropriate by others can have consequences for an educator's career. The problem with ethics is that it is a deeply personal moral code, which the influences of your own life, shape. Due to these differences, our own morals may not marry up with ano...

Where do I start? The  Māori  people of New Zealand have been unfairly treated in this country, largely due to colonialism.  Māori  were promised the same rights as the colonialists they signed the treaty with, in 1840. However, the fine print should have read 'only applicable if you completely adapt to the colonial way of life'.   I went to a CORE Education seminar where a well spoken, educated  Māori  lady spoke about what we could do better as educators to try and lessen the gap between  Māori  and their white European counterparts in the Education system. What she had to say really struck a chord with me. Firstly, I could relate to her as a fellow educator. I didn't have the need to feel sheepish or ashamed as I sometimes do in the company of  Māori .  She seemed supportive to us making changes to better her culture and our heritage collectively.  Why would I feel this way? I am acutely aware that many New Zealan...

I believe that one of the biggest trends that is influencing the New Zealand education system, is the shift towards student-centred learning (ERO, 2012).Here, in New Zealand there is a real shift towards seeing learners as individuals and adapting our teaching to focus on student's interests.  Student centred learning really needs to be personalised learning, in that it is driven by the student. The students needs, interests, aspirations and cultural backgrounds should be addressed (Johnson et al, 2015). Students can be motivated by a sense of ownership and control in what they are learning. Of course we have further to go towards reaching these goals of effective teaching practice and this will be better solved in how we educate new teachers, how we engage with the curriculum as current educators and how effective the leadership is within schools (ERO, 2012). ERO (2012) state that students that are seen as partners by their teachers have a strong sense of identity and are a...

"School culture is one of the most complex and important concepts in education" (Stoll, 1998) If there has been any light in the grimness and devastation of the Christchurch earthquake of 2011, I believe it could be in the education system. In a time where schools have merged, rebuilt or are being rebuilt there has been a forced shift in the organisational culture of many schools. These schools are changing the way they educate in order to help graduates compete in a changing world. The 'structure' (Stoll, 1998) of our school has changed significantly as we have moved into new premises. The days of our single unit classrooms have gone and we now educate and learn from within collaborative hubs. These changes mean we are forced to work collaboratively, and for some staff this has been a learning curve. However, if it wasn't for the management's push for us to think about what we want our school to be and where we are going, our educators would not be mak...

I define myself as an educator, mother, family member and friend. I would love to add gym member to that list, but if you read my last blog... I can be a procrastinator, so I will join the gym tomorrow. These are all 'communities' I belong to.  My community of practice is the Primary Education Sector.  Within this over reaching community there are sub groups, there is my community of practice within the Mind Lab, there is my Year 3 and 4 team that I teach with, the students and their whanau, and of course there is my school, just to name a few. According to Wenger (2000) this makes sense, as communities of practice are part of broader social systems. I define myself as an educator first, because that is my practice. Even though I would prefer it didn't, being an educator tends to permeate itself into everything else that I am. However, I consider myself a learner within this community of practice. After graduating, then leaving teaching to follow another career path, ...

Most of us have been here... We put off tasks until the last possible moment when they just can't be put off any longer. I'm into the last component of a 32 week post grad course. I must say I was defying all the odds I had previously thought about myself. I was getting work completed (and not at the very last minute) and to a high level (according to the grades, I received). If I'm completely honest with myself and you, it did help that I had another colleague doing the course and we had to go along for weekly sessions... and we could do collaborative assignments. If I'm being even more honest with myself and you... it also helped that I went along feeling great about the new professional journey I was taking until I felt completely out of my depth in response to all the 'genius' sounding techie banter that went on between my classmates and the lecturer, and that was just Week 1. This brilliant banter included my dear colleague, whom at the time I thought w...