lwal111

The OECD (2016) says that education is being affected by different trends, two of these being globalisation and technology. Becoming a global citizen is being brought into education through the use of digital technology. Currently my 1:1 class and I are working on substituting books for iPads to enable the students to learn how to manipulate a device, type and troubleshoot simple issues independently. We have begun to use Google Slides to write, with the motivation for writing and their work linked to parents each week with a comment.  In time, students are given a school-monitored blog where they share their learning with the world, getting opinions, ideas and new learning and become global citizens.  This global learning programme gives students the means to connect across the globe with other learners and to access other cultures and countries views and issues. They can become problem solvers in an authentic context, find information to assist them and enable them to b...

Before embarking on this blog post, I feel I am in two minds over a lot of these key ideas, and think I should warn the readers that I pose as many questions as I might answer, so here goes! The contrast between working at 3 different decile rated schools lead me to believe that firstly, the decile system is misinforming (as many teachers already attest to!) and I do not wish to rely on this as data, however I have taught in decile 1, 2 and now 5. The broad generalisation of many NZers is that a lower decile equals a school that is expected show lower achievement, less engagement with family and whānau and more behavioural issues displayed in students due to their home life. I can honestly say that the difference in the three schools I have taught at are minimal and it has actually been harder going at the 'higher' decile school in a 'more affluent area'. I believe that whatever the decile and whatever socioeconomic status the community and school holds, that i...

Activity 1: My practice within the community I have a fairly small physical community of practice and find that information shared within my colleague group at my current school is anecdotal for the majority of time. We have a small staff and we are fairly informal with each other and speak freely - the good, the bad and the ugly are often shared around our staffroom table. However, in terms of online communities, there are vast depths of knowledge available to us through using the primary teachers facebook page. This is a place where we share ideas, projects, successes, ask questions, gauge a situation we might be having, support each other even though we're strangers and get several thousands of other view points. Wegner (2000) speaks about there being three different elements and these can be clearly seen across my teaching communities: Joint enterprise - the sharing and developing an understanding of what the community needs within the context of the school environment,...