I have a simplistic but genuine attitude to my teaching practice which is to put the learners at the heart of what I put into practice. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this ethos, it is in need of a revamp after this week’s readings on learning partnerships and learning theories. I need to go much deeper and refine it. I will start by renovating how I define the relationships I have with my students, which have already started to undergo something of a change since teaching internationally.
Relationships in Partnerships
“Effective partnering is built on principles of equity, transparency, reciprocal accountability, and mutual benefit.” A Rich Seam, is a great starting point for me, as it covers a lot of areas that I can use to reflect more deeply on my own practice. It is also vital to get this part right as if there are any weaknesses here, the chance of it unraveling later can increase.
When I look out of the window, this is how I see partnerships being built.
In my media class, students are nearing the end of their summative work, which will culminate in them having created a lifestyle magazine cover. We have been using Photoshop to do almost all of the editing for the magazine, and whilst I have used this extensively in the past, I have not used it much recently, so before the lesson in which I introduced it, I had to brush up on some of my skills. In fact, in that first lesson, rather than do a bunch of demonstrations on how to use photoshop, I instead asked my students to explore different areas of Photoshop, for example, to find out how to remove the background/what is a mask, what are layers and so on. This emphasis, in my opinion, resonated somewhat with – Situated Cognition (Shannon Doak), as it required each of the learners to have an active role in order for the cognition to take place.
During the lesson, I could see some students were struggling with some of the more technical aspects of photoshop, i.e. which tool to use to remove background pixels. So, I asked them to collectively write down 3 things that they would like me to find out how to do before the next lesson. I agreed that I would find two YouTube tutorials, that used different tools to do the same task (equity). Furthermore, I would test these out, write down a list of keywords and then share these before the lesson – all through the stream feature in ManageBac. At the time I did this because I want my students to succeed, but I didn’t want to do the work for them! I was also not afraid to admit to something I didn’t know (transparency), and I got to revise my Photoshop skills and learn something new along the way (mutual benefit).
Inclusive
I was thinking about how to make some of my classroom activities and environments more inclusive, whilst harnessing the power of technology to speed up the cognitive process. In the same media class, as mentioned above, I had asked students to analyze a magazine cover, from another student at another school, using key concepts that we have covered in class! Instead of submitting a written analysis, students had to submit a video version using my current technology goto – Flipgrid. After submission, I gave each of the students written meaningful feedback, sent via email.
Now when I look back, I think I missed an opportunity to build up a secure partnership with my students. Instead of emailing the feedback, I should have left them with video feedback instead (reciprocal accountability), as many students were uncomfortable with videoing themselves in the first place. I should have also asked my students to leave feedback for another student in the class as well – see table Table 1: The Emergent Roles of Teachers and Students in the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning
I do think, by showing that you are ready to carry out the same tasks you are asking your students (particularly those uncomfortable ones), it not only activates the learning, but it solidifies trust and strengthens partnerships.
Supporting Framework
I dare say that Michael Fullen, may have had a hand in developing the TPack learning framework in particular. His work is clearly cemented in redefining the word and practice of pedagogy, which is ubiquitous through the TPack framework. Particularly at the TPK when considering how technology can accelerate the learning process.
Fullen says in his video that the push for change is coming from students and teachers and that students are becoming liberated. I think this is clearly evidenced by the redefinition of tasks using technology, for example creating worlds in Minecraft or collaborating and communicating with students across the world using a variety of messaging and collaborative apps. Indeed I can draw a clear connection between when Fullen’s statement of “students are being liberated” and the Tedx talk by Scott McLeod on the amazing learning students are doing outside of the classroom.
Progression
Since Course 1, Week 5, my practice has deepened in three major areas, all of which use technology. These are reflection, feedback, and collaboration.
Reflection– I just re-read my Course 1 – Week 5 blog, and I had a flashback of using Padlet with my volleyball students so that they could write their goals for the season. I followed up with video tutorials and lessons where I would show them how to complete these skills. I have enhanced this with my current students using OneNote to record smart goals, on which I gave each audio feedback and we make reference to these at various check-ins throughout the year.
Moving onto feedback…I have definitely deepened my understanding of how to give effective feedback. Apart from giving written feedback, I try to check in with every student in each lesson to give them feedback on their work; I was already doing this before, but now the key difference now is I ask the students what things would they like me to find out so we can make new discoveries together, in upcoming lessons. In addition to this, I have fully embraced students giving feedback to each other using Flipgrid – so they can keep coming back to it. This form of feedback has worked better for Grades 6 & 7 than it has for my 9th Grader; time will tell to see if this accelerates learning.
However, the area that I have developed the most since course 1 would be the amount of collaboration I do with other teachers that are not in the same building as me! The PLN I have developed online is just fantastic. Sometimes I just lurk on Twitter, read some amazing things other teachers are doing, and then use them in my class; and pass them on to other teachers! I also have regular meetings with 3 teachers in 3 different countries – just to touch base to see what new technologies they are using in the classroom.
Shifting Sands of Pedagogy
My job involves providing meaningful ways in which to successfully integrate technology into lessons to enhance learning. I like to think of it as the shifting sands of pedagogy, and if you don’t shift quickly enough you might find yourself sinking into the quicksand.
I thought it would be novel to use the 6 C’s to show how I might shift in the coming weeks.
| Skill | Shift |
Character Education | Continue to build meaningful relationships with students and families, for example, having a growth mindset, global context, and real international-mindedness. |
Citizenship | Find out, through data collection, surveys, and interviews with students how to provide a meaningful digital citizenship curriculum. Focus on building and maintaining positive partnerships. |
Collaboration | Students collaborate in class more regularly using technology, using apps/websites such as Google Slides, Weebly, and Word Online. Look for genuine opportunities to build partnerships with other schools both locally and internationally; at student and teacher levels. |
Communication | Expand the ways in which students can choose to communicate their ideas, work, and how they interact with each other. |
Creativity | Give students an even greater choice in the technology they can use to complete tasks. Providing more extracurricular activities for students to use technology to pursue their own interests, |
Critical Thinking | Encourage problem-solving on a larger scale i.e. when working in groups. Point students to use their resourcefulness and initiative. |
The table above simply shows some examples of how I can shift my own practice. However, with any shift in my practice, I will keep the learners at the center of what I do, as well as have a reinforced vision of how to prepare them to be lifelong learners.