Reflecting on relationships in a digital learning environment.

At staff meeting this week we looked at the registered teachers criteria and discussed potential documentation which might provide evidence and support our achievement of those standards. 

As a PRT (Provisionally Registered Teacher) this was hugely helpful. While I may not be required to prove I meet the standards (as I will be endorsed by a school), in some cases people are asked to provide evidence that they are eligible to become a fully registered teacher. Regardless of registration; I find it useful to do this as it provides a stocktake and criterion for ascertaining and reflecting on the effectiveness of my teaching practice. It also encourages me to stay aligned with effective pedagogy. 

The first standard outlines "Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and wellbeing of all akonga". 

We all know that establishing positive relationships with students, whanau, colleagues and agencies is integral to the learning process. The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa both highlight the necessity of collaborative partnerships in co-constructing a school’s curriculum and in promoting achievement. 

I'm reminded of an essay I completed in my third year at University, which looked at the importance of using digital tools to promote the achievement of priority learners and how they can support home-school partnerships.

Beetham & Sharpe (2007) argue that digital tools are just the “latest outcomes of human ingenuity that we have at our disposal” and can be assimilated into pedagogical practice without “altering the fundamental truths about how people learn” (p. 4). What is crucial, therefore, is an understanding of pedagogical approaches within the context of a digital learning environment. In terms of Māori students/akonga, research supports that bringing cultural context into the curriculum affirms the students identity, and validates their cultural knowledge and knowledge of their whānau (Extract from ‘Te ManaKōrero: Relationships for Learning’, 2007). Digital learning should build upon a Māori pedagogical approach founded in Ako which acknowledges the rich diversity that exists within our classrooms (http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/Professional-inquiry-into-e-learning). Effective learning doesn’t happen without “teacher’s deliberate pedagogical actions” (Wright, 2010, p. 23), and this is no different where digital tools are concerned. Wright (2010) explains that the provision of tools isn’t enough; but that teachers need to understand how to get the best out of digital tools: “time, space, place, opportunity, and intellectual energy” (ii) by linking digital learning and co-constructed/collaborative pedagogies (p. 23). Effective learning takes “pedagogically effective” digital tools (Beetham & Sharpe, 2007, p. 3) and provides a safe “pedagogical platform” to support achievement of learning outcomes (Falloon, 2010, p. 110). The Key Evidence (Ministry of Education, 2008) document reports that when schools “emphasise good pedagogy” (p. 18) when addressing the learning needs of Maori and aim for improved learning outcomes, achievement gains can be huge. Research shows effective e-Ako (e-learning) to be that which: fosters respectful working relationships with Māori learners and their whānau, hapū, and iwi; Incorporates Māori culture (including tikanga-ā-iwi) in the design processes, Actively engage Māori learners and whānau in the learning (partnership) through regular, purposeful feedback and constructive feed-forward and which uses digital tools to purposefully plan for and implement learning programmes (http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Pedagogy/Enhancing-Maori-achievement). This highlights the evidence from Te Kotahitanga, which asserts that effective relationships between students and teachers are necessary for learning (Bishop & Berryman, 2006).

So I ask myself these questions:

What is the nature of the relationships I have with students, colleagues, parents and caregivers? How can I develop these further?

Being 6 months into the school year- I feel I have developed positive, reciprocal and respectful relationships with my students. I know them as people, and learners. I have also been making connections with students culture and languages by celebrating and planning around Samoan and Maori language weeks. I assimilated these languages and cultural activities within the everyday classroom and tumble work. Students were motivated and became experts in the classroom. We had fun and for the first time, I saw first hand how we cannot be effective teachers unless we acknowledge and include culture and language as foundations in the classroom. I do wonder how I am fostering links and relationships with whanau. Being a senior class, by nature I have much less interaction with family. Apart from whanau conferences, and reporting to parents I have not had much communication and I wonder if I could be doing more to encourage links with the family. This has been something on my mind, and hence I have been trying to engage whanau in this terms inquiry topic- Tagata O Le Moana- by having students use families as experts (see family interview sheet).

How can I access/use personal information about students that may affect my teaching?

Completing the class description each term has been very useful in maintaining my knowledge of students outside of the classroom. It keeps me up to date with their home lives, so I can adjust my interactions with them in the classroom. It encourages me to be more sensitive, aware and appropriate in expectations during learning time. Assessment information, and using it to monitor target students specifically, is one of my BT goals and has been something I have been working very hard on. I believe, by knowing the class achievement overall and individual students needs I have developed a diversified practice. I remember when I first started my studies, and even at the beginning of the year, feeling totally overwhelmed at the prospect of all the diverse learning needs. Having been in the game for 6 months, while I am by no means there, I am beginning to feel more confident that my learning programmes are catering for my students individually.

How can I access agencies, groups, individuals in the community? Who is out there and how might they support me? What do I do to establish effective working relationships with my ākonga, their whānau and my colleagues and others to support the learning of those I teach?

It has been a huge learning curve, to seek out help and work within and around outside agencies to support those who are in greater need than I can supply on my own. I had to get my head around understanding that just because some students require further attention and support, it does not make me a 'bad' teacher for not being able to meet those needs on my own. I have been working with several agencies and programmes to support a few learners in my classroom. I find I am naturally drawn to students who are struggling and under achieving. There seems to be ample support for these students. It's my natural tendency to lean towards these students, so it may take some PD and active learning on my part, to develop skills around extending students who are excelling. I am wanting to work more cohesively with these agencies and programmes, to make sure that I am supporting and maintaining in the classroom what these students are learning outside of the classroom. These learning needs have led me to have interactions with parents to develop behaviour plans and individual learning plans which further support the relationships in the classroom.