Mindlab

Activity 8: Key change in my professional practice 1) What? Reading other teachers' themes from Hack Education I really fall in the line of "in the future, education will be more collaborative through digital technologies, thus breaking down silos in departments. " This course has opened my eyes to linking my subject (Mathematics) into other subjects.  I have had a chance to collaborate with two great teachers from my school and to reflect the integration of student collaboration with the use of digital technologies.  Taking away the subject I have looked in depth toward a focal point of student engagement and transference of knowledge via a digital innovation. 2)  So what? Looking at my practice and using Osterman and Kottkamp's (2015) cycle of experiential learning, I have almost completed my reflective journey. Stage 1: My problem was my close-mindedness of utilizing outside social media to strengthen and broaden possible digital technologies into...

Activity 7: Bucher's (2008) writing about the importance of cultural intelligence related to me.  The global consciousness and intercultural communication is important because it deals with moving across boundaries, exchanging ideas, and looking at the world from multiple perspectives.  Being half Chinese and half American, this is very important because I have been walking down this very road seeing things from my dad's perspective (Chinese) and my mother's (American). My school  has fostered a very diverse school.  It has a large international department as well as a very established Kapa Haka group.  The school is focused on making faculty aware of our Maori students and this is an integral part of the core values.  There are many school-wide activities including the cultural show, pacifica awareness, and also a Maori leadership club that meets weekly.  These indigenous-focused pedagogies are specifically chosen to inform staff and students and e...

Activity 6: Contemporary trends in New Zealand Step 1 (What): The one trend that is most relevant is the impact of digital learning.  Within the Mathematical field the amount of changes from the old style of pen and paper/route learning is something of the past.  The Ministry of Education site has stated that a focus on the "influence of digital technologies across all aspects of education" should be a trend to focus on. The growing impact of desmos, geogebra, and NZgrapher are a few visual Mathematical digital learning tools that are being used in NCEA assessments at our school.  Being able to stay up to date and build on this trend is of major importance in order to stay relevant within an evolving digital world.   Another trend that I would like to come back and focus on would also be the development of personal skills that Daggett (2014) was speaking about. Step 2 (So What): Career readiness data from the ACT's national studies has stat...

Activity 5: Using social online networks in teaching or professional development Using the Jay and Johnson's (2002) model for reflection, I will be focusing on the epak as well as the team drive for sharing best practices.   Descriptive : The professional development that the Math's department has been focusing on is the shared Team Drive with in the google drive network. Our department has been building on this drive to gather and be able to share our best practices among each other. Pakuranga College itself has been focusing on the up-skill of teachers to keep them up to date with the ongoing technological innovations. Our Epak wheel covers multiple areas to facilitate for the 21st century learner. My objective for this year was to integrate digital innovations and work on a collaborative environment. Not only have I been doing this with the students via google classroom, google docs, and padlet, but with the Mathematics department as well. Comparative : Whit...