Monday 25 May 2015

Kia Orana [Activity 1]

Join me on my turbulent journey as an educator learning to walk in the wonderful world of MindLab.

I work in a small decile 1 school with access to an abundance of 'digital tools'.  My strengths are ICT and Science and I have patience and perseverance when it comes to problem solving.

I am currently in my fourth year of teaching and started at my school as a Beginning Teacher.  My first two years of teaching were very challenging as I realised my degree had barely covered the basics of being an effective teacher. In my third year of teaching I was able to consolidate the previous years of teaching which had me prepared to apply for the MindLab scholarship and challenge my beliefs and teaching pedagogies.  

I believed this paper would be suitable for myself, as this year I am teaching in a digital classroom.  I am learning alongside an amazing class of Year 3/4 students who are working 1:1 with chromebooks.
National standards have been very challenging as I feel it narrows the curriculum and our learners are left without the fundamental capabilities of 'critical innovators with inquiring minds fueled by curiosity' in our modern society. This is a challenge for myself, as it is one of the values in the New Zealand National Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007).  MindLab is where I had hoped to find inspiration and direction towards addressing this gap for me.

I believe it is impossible to learn in a learning environment which lacks basic routines, explicitly clear expectations and trust.  I strive to provide a safe learning environment based on trust,clear expectations and routines.  This ties in with my inclusive approach to teaching and learning. 

Please follow this link to my class blog to view photo's of my classroom, and shared learning from my students.  O'Neill Class Blog

References
Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Retrieved May 18, 2015, from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum 

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