*Activity 15 - Summarising your Postgraduate Learning Journey and your planning towards the future:

*Activity 15 - Summarising your Postgraduate Learning Journey and your planning towards the future:

My learning journey

This postgraduate course has been extremely beneficial for me in a number of ways. I feel that the journey has had me look at different aspects of my own teaching and has contributed to being more self-aware and questioning aspects of the way I do things. This is particularly pertinent to what the real learning benefits of an activities that I plan, particularly with the use of technology is. I feel that it has added to my motivation as a teaching professional and this re-invigoration and enthusiasm has had a flow on effect for the students in my class. The course has challenged me professionally as I thought that I was relatively up to date and using newer pedagogies and it the idea of the current disruption that is being proposed globally with respect to education has got me curious and excited

Significant  learning outcomes

1. The role of technology within a collaborative teaching and learning environment - This course has consolidated for me the direction in which education is going and has provided me with ideas for the use of technology in a relevant way to supplement and extend the learning of students in my class.

2. Self directed professional development - digital technologies open up many avenues for teaching and learning for students, and this also applies to me as a professional.  Tools such as social media which I thought of primarily for personal use have real application in connecting me with like minded individuals within the teaching profession giving me access to a greater variety of sources that I am interested in, as well as borrowing from and collaborating with like minded individuals around the world.

3. Consolidation and justification of pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning - education is going through a disruptive phase and it is evident to me that the way to facilitate this change and keep learning relevant is to adapt to the learners and provide learning experiences that are engaging and students find relevant. Through the first half of the course and as a major focus of my research I have investigated flipped classes as a start and I am excited to explore makerspaces and blended learning as I start my teaching next year in a 1:1 device environment.

Future goals -

Extend and develop my professional connections and network.

A recurring theme through my reflection is the fact that I use social media but mostly as a consumer. I aim to create more of a digital ‘presence’ step out of my comfort zone and ask for help as well as share some of the things that I am doing as it could be beneficial for others in my setting. This relates to Criteria 4: Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional personal practice.

Explore and experiment with assessment focuses -

I am passionate about providing relevant learning experiences in a meaningful way. I aim to experiment with this while fulfilling my obligations to report on national standards. I think that if I have success and can share this I can gain support for more use of project learning and justifying the way that the key competencies from our curriculum are crucial to the teaching and learning process, rather than an extra to get ticked.  This goal relates to Criteria 11: Analyse and appropriately use assessment and information, which has been gathered formally and informally

Extend my capacity for leadership with relation to my particular skill sets and developing myself as an individual too.

As I have the ICT responsibility in school at the moment I would like to use this to continue to share with colleagues and modify the in house professional development that I provide to be more self directed in keeping with the ideas shared in (paper reference). I value this because I feel all learners need to have the opportunity to engage in technology to support their learning in meaningful way with equitable access to this. THis is important for my future career aspirations.  THis goal relates to Criteria 5: Show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning.

Continue to disrupt my learning environment in an inclusive learning environment -

as stated in one of my key learnings, it is important to keep abreast of developments and keep the teaching and learning environment relevant, embracing change and looking for new ideas through the network that I have established. This goal relates to all of these criteria Criteria 6: Conceptualise, plan, and implement an appropriate learning programme.Criteria 7: Promote a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment.Criteria 8: Demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn.Criteria 9: Respond effectively to the diverse and cultural experiences and the varied strengths, interests, and needs of individuals and groups of ākonga.

Future dreams

My aspiration in teaching has always been to continue my development through leadership ranks to become a principal. I have had team leader and ICT leading experience and taught across different levels of the primary school which is helping me gain experience and empathy at each of these levels. The learning environment that I would strive to involve myself in is one where learning focuses are negotiated with students and they have space to pursue their own interests. I would integrate the relevant reading and writing standards to these experiences. Access to devices would be equitable, a 1:1 environment where students have the ability to personalise and make choices in their learning. Finally, I would like to continue to facilitate curiosity through makerspace technology, have students question and understand to identify relevance.

*Activities 14: Evaluations of the cultural responsiveness in practice

*Activities 14: Evaluations of the cultural responsiveness in practice

Introduction

The school that I currently teach in is a small-multicultural in Auckland. Over the past three years we have steadily increased the way that we engaged with our community and I believe that the positive response we have had is indicative of our responsiveness to make a change and engage our community in ways representative of their community.

Historical communication Methods

Communication with, and the engagement of the community within our school has been a major focus since our school had a change of principal in 2012. As an organisation, we have reviewed the way we engage with parents as as part of this we have modified the way we communicate with the community to ensure maximum participation. Before the change our school communication was predominantly via newsletter or at meetings where we focused on a curriculum area on a open curriculum nights. I would suggest that our participation was fairly good but mostly on our terms.

Culturally responsive community communication

As part of the change we have looked at using different ways to engage communities, particularly Maori and Pasifika families which generally had smaller attendance and contribution rates at these meetings.As documented in our most recent ero report, Maori students made up 12% of our school roll and students that link to pacific origins match to 31% as a proportion of our school roll. We have explored a variety of different engagement methods to communicate with parents which I think has had an effect and reflects more cultural responsiveness and awareness. Our main method of communication is still newsletter. We have modified our approach towards parent teacher interviews, initiating a three way conference method, which students are beginning to facilitate their learning discussion with their teacher and their parents. We have utilised meeting formats seen in different cultures, holding a hui to engage Maori parents and a fono to communicate with our pasifika parents. A major component of both of these meetings has been shared food.

Culturally responsive Planning and Assessment

I feel that the planning process adopted at our school is an example of cultural responsiveness. Part of the development of this is facilitated by the fact that we are a relatively small school and our planning meetings involve us coming together and planning in a holistic and organic way.  Each year we focus on an overarching theme - which is then broken down and interwoven across the different curriculum levels. Each plan links back to this theme in some way and as such students continue to contribute their learning using different aspects, the learning continues to contribute to a wider body of growing knowledge for us as a school community and the understanding of the students continues to contribute to our body of knowledge. We are continuing to evolve this and our assessment is beginning to become more open ended and student directed which is facilitated by the extra use of technology to celebrate the different ways that students can share their growing understanding. At an individual level I have been looking at consulting students for more of their ideas and the things that they have enjoyed and would like to consider to pursue.

Culturally responsive Learning Activities

As part of our pasifika fono and Maori hui the ideas around relevant learning experiences for students were also discussed. This was of particular interest as our Maori families shared that some of the learning that we were engaging in was not necessarily relevant for the students as the songs we were looking at were part of different tribal areas. As a response to this and through shared consultation we are investigating the local area of Maori relevant to school and the songs that are relevant to this place so students have an understanding of where they come from and also the area that they are learning in. Face to face and meetings of shared understanding are something that we have looked at. Having the tuakana-teina relationship where students are the teachers and guide their parents through their learning are also an example of culturally responsive learning. When planning our learning activities it is important to us as a school to draw on the expertise that we have in our parent community to share relevant learning and understanding.  On a personal note, last year I made it a focus to provide a service for our parent community and facilitated the ‘computers in homes’ programme. This helps parents to gain basic computer skills and at the end of this the family receives a refurbished computer and cheap access to the internet. This was an example of tuakana-teina relationships in action as some of the students also helped their parents.

References:

Education Review Office (2014) Waikowhai School retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/Early-Childhood-School-Reports/School-Reports/Waikowhai-School-22-12-2014/School-Statistics

*Activity 13: Indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy

*Activity 13: Indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy

Introduction

Culture and the idea that culture underpins learning is a personal belief of my own.. Being aware of who you are, where you come from and comfortable with yourself  are important pieces of the puzzle that contribute to successful learners. Once they are comfortable with themselves, that are able to settle and learn. For me culture is a unique identify and through my own schooling and teaching experiences. This year I have had a personal focus on being able to articulate and share what culturally responsive pedagogy is, because it is a term that I had often heard shared but not known behind.

The agendic teaher

I think that teachers have the responsibility to ‘welcome all and their to the learning conversation’ and acknowledge their culture. So often we hear of the culture of the classroom and the culture of learning. My feeling is that this culture is derived from the individuals who participate in the learning within each class setting.The agendic teacher idea (Bishop, 2009) prompted interesting reflection for me and helped me to qualify what culturally responsive teaching and learning looks like in action. I feel that there have been aspects of this pedagogical approach interwoven through my teaching and this year I have become more aware and provided more instances of this.

Relationships

From the beginning of my teaching career,  establishing relationships between students and families that are built upon mutual respect and a desire for the best for learning have been crucial to my practice. I specifically focus on knowing the interests of students. We are a small school and I feel this has helped me to establish relationships not only with students from my class but the wider community. This has helped me to facilitate relevant and shared learning experiences.

Balance of power

Teachers who are culturally responsive share the balance of power, students have equal ability to teach and teachers have the capacity to learn and this is shared with the students.  To address this in my learning I constantly let the kids know I make mistakes, I encourage them to help me as the class is our place. We discuss and reinforce that fact that there are 27 learners and 27 teachers in our class.

Visible learning

There are aspects of this that I really relate to, and aspects that don’t always sit right with me. Feedback that is timely, relevant and useful for the students in a formative way is one part of the teaching picture that I could not do without. From this however seems to have stemmed the WALT and Success Criteria phenomenon. I think it is important to make the learning relevant and discuss how we do it. I often struggle with the amount of time this can take away from practising the skill and I feel that the term success criteria had a loaded connotation. They fact is that the learning within any context should allow students to achieve success. If they are unable to reach this ‘derived success criteria’ and this happens often, do they experience a feel of failure?

Cumulative body of knowledge.

Culturally responsive practitioners allow learners to contribute their understanding which is often from their unique cultural perspective in their own way. I have found that this during the process of this postgraduate certificate, this is the area that I have explored the most and utilise with the support of relevant technology. As a school, we have integrated plans for each curriculum area. These curricula all relate to the overarching theme for the year. In the past we have looked at the themes journeys, citizenship, belonging. WIthin this students have options to share their understanding and knowledge in a way that they see as meaningful and hopefully in a context that is relevant to them, starting at a school level, looking out to the community and then the wider context. An example of this is the development of the native bush area of our school as part of our citizenship focus.

Family expertise

When reflecting on the use of family expertise in a culturally responsive way I feel that I have pursued this more often in a one off sort of situation and could be an area that I should pursue in a more in depth way. We have had a focus on culture as a school for the first two terms of 2013 in which we explored the dominant cultures at school and rotated around different learning experiences. TO make the most successful we needed to engage and utilise the parent experts in our community.

References:

Bishop, R. (2009)  Culturally responsive pedagogy relations retrieved from http://www.edtalks.org/video/culturally-responsive-pedagogy-relations

*Activity 12: Code of ethics

*Activity 12: Code of ethics

Create a blog post where you investigate the code of ethics’ principles that relate to your teaching profession. Think about how these principles govern your practice.

What is the role of ethics in relation to the teaching profession?

When considering ethics in teaching I think that codes of ethics are reflective of the societal norms for the majority of teachers who choose this profession. I speak from the aspect of primary school teaching which is my own experience. I have been a teacher for approaching seven years. I have grown up in a teaching family, both of my parents are currently in senior management in education and have pursued careers in primary school teaching. I feel that this experience gives me the opportunity to comment and the majority of teachers have a commitment to learners over and above what is professionally required. Teachers work tirelessly and often without financial recompense that reflects the time that they have put into their jobs. When looking at the code of ethics related to the teaching there are 4 areas from the NZ teachers council and there are four fundamental principles that are also relevant.

Code of ethics -

I think that code of ethics within the teaching profession are important and the document supports quality and development for teachers within the profession.

Benefits of the code of ethics

1. Clarity of position - I think that having a document stating the code of ethics gives teachers a clear statement of the professional standards and ethics to be abided by. These professional standards are conveyed in a decisive and unambiguous way.
2. Commitment to students - this is the top priority and is a clear statement for all teachers within the New Zealand education system of their core practice.
3. Commitment to parents/Whanau - this acknowledges the important role that families play in the learning development of teachers and recognises that have engaging with these key stakeholders.
4. Commitment to society - teachers hold a special place in society and are often tasked with one aspect of equipping students with skills, not just knowledge to be ready for life
5. Commitment to the profession - clearly stating this means that teachers have a n obligation to work collaboratively and supportively and to develop ourselves professionally. THere is also the commitment to growing new teachers and supporting these individuals as they embark on their teaching careers.
6. Conflict resolution - it is beneficial to have the code of ethics clearly stated, should any teacher be in breach of these then there is some documentation which will support with disciplinary action and can maintain the integrity of the profession for the rest of the individuals in it.
7. The four fundamental principles - Justice, autonomy, Responsible Care, Truth which underpin the NZ teachers council code of ethics are given in enough detail to be specific, while open ended enough to be unpacked and discussed at a school level to show what these principles look like in any given context as schools across the country differ.

Disadvantages of the code of ethics -

1. Awareness of the code of ethics is not enough. The demonstration of these ethics in practice in the teaching and learning setting for each teacher is desirable.

Individual rights vs Minimising Organisational Risk

In my opinion I think the teachers code of ethics in New Zealand is a document that leans toward minimising organisation risk. I think that there is a clear statement of principles and ways that these principles are upheld in teaching practice. Teaching is a very demanding profession which makes a difference every day. It is important that high performing individuals are working collaboratively with children each day. The code of ethics gives organisations and individuals a benchmark for what is appropriate as a teacher and if people are underperforming they have standards to work to. Personally, I would be more likely to contact the NZEI union if I thought my individual rights had been breached and then I would look at the code of ethics to see if my rights had been compromised regarding this document.

Overall, I think the benefits of a clearly articulated ethical document, such as we have currently provides a clear framework for professionals to work within and refer back to in an unambiguous way. The availability of this document conveys the purpose of the professional teacher and conveys the integrity for teachers to the community.

*Activity 11: Applied and Professional Ethics

*Activity 11: Applied and Professional Ethics

Article summary

There are two types of ethical studies discussed in Collste, 2012. These are applied and professional ethics. I think that there are aspects of both which can be deemed relevant to my practice as a primary school teacher.

Applied Ethics

In the absence of governing policy

The key point from applied ethics statement is around the use of applied ethics in the absence of governing policy,. This is particularly relevant to me as some of the new pedagogical approaches that are being utilised and trialled in my setting are not always specifically governed by the procedure, namely our cybersafety policy discussed in a previous blog. I feel that there is some degree of experimentation with regards to the teaching approach and the reflection upon this.

Reflective equilibrium

Another key concept identified in this reading was the concept of reflective equilibrium. The underpinning of this is making a justifiable argument for a situation or a position and using sound reasoning based on gaining insight and understanding from both sides of an argument. As stated in the article, the use of reflective equilibrium is only a provisional justification when making a decision around teaching and learning too. I think this is relevant in the school context because each and every decision will be site (context specific too) and each decision needs to weighted accordingly.

Professional ethics

Professional ethics as stated in the blog post is more relevant to the actual profession of teaching as it is the application or type of ethics that govern a profession. I think for me the key point from this is a professional needs to be aware of the virtues of good ethics that govern a good teacher. This however is not enough, also need to demonstrate these ethics which is where the application of teacher ethics and the registered teacher criteria applies..

I believe that teachers have an ethical obligation in all educational settings, students deserve teachers that have high expectations of them and provide learning experiences that are relevant and allow them to achieve success, that is access to learning is equitable. As professionals, teachers also have ethical considerations to make regarding relationships with parents and colleagues, who all play a major part in the education of students.

References

Collste, G. (2012) Applied and Professional ethics.  KEMANUSIAAN Vol. 19, No. 1, 17–33

Activity 10: Ethical dilemma

Activity 10: Ethical dilemma

Introduction

The ethical dilemma that I would like to explore that is potentially relevant in my teaching and learning setting is an idea around the use of social networking in the classroom.  My previous blog posts that talk about the use of social networking in class to access different experts and engage students sets up the scene for an ethical dilemma.

As a primary school teacher my students are deemed too young to hold personal twitter accounts by the terms and conditions outlined in the service agreement (Twitter 2015). I think there is still potential for me to set up a class twitter account that abides by the cybersafety policy of the school. This gives students the opportunity to gain access to this social networking tool. The use of twitter in this way offers potential for the students to be connected with the global community and we can look at creating lists and accessing experts relevant to our current inquiry themes and areas of interest.

Ethical dilemma

Becoming aware of students in my class that have set up personal twitter accounts through exposure to twitter because of our class account.

The ethical dilemma I could face is one or more of my students may set up their own twitter accounts because they have been motivated and exposed to the use of this technology in my class class. I think that if I am to become aware of a student setting up their own account because they either let me know, or choose to follow our class account. I would be faced with an ethical dilemma. What do I do about students using social networking outside the terms and conditions of use? Have they chosen to do this because my enthusiasm for social networking?

Resolution of the ethical dilemma

Initial consultation with whanau

Personally, I think that consultation with the class community from the initial setup of the twitter account is the best approach. being open and honest with both the parents, whanau and students about what twitter is being used for, and the conditions under which it operates will be helpful. My hope is that open communication will let student know what and why we are using twitter, and how they can benefit without their own account.

Open honest three way conference

If the students do set up their account and I become aware of it then I feel that I would need to discuss the issue with the parents. At my first awareness of this I would let my principal know about the issue and discuss the next step forward. I would have an informal chat with the student about the account that have set up, their motivation behind it and how whether or not their parents are aware of the account. With this background information I feel that my next step would be to make contact with the whanau of the student to discuss what has happened, the reasons behind and how the parent would like to proceed as it is ultimately their decision as the caregiver of the child, the school access has given them the potential to access this. I feel that this decision would be based on the context of the child and the parent relationship. I think the parents should have the password for the twitter account to access at any time to monitor student use at home. As it is technically breaking the terms of the contract then I would ask that the use of twitter in the school setting, is in accordance with the cybersafety policy and limited to the class use, although the student could discuss with the class tweets or followers of interest.

References

Twitter (2015) Twitter Privacy Policy retrieved from https://twitter.com/privacy?lang=en

*Activity 9:Legal contexts and digital identities

*Activity 9:Legal contexts and digital identities

Introduction

The closest link to a policy or procedure regarding the use of social media in school is our current cybersafety procedure. This is a component of our school health and safety policy . The procedure does not currently specify the use or issue of the integration of social media within the teaching and learning environment at our school.

The policy states ‘The BOT of Waikowhai Primary places a high priority on providing the school with internet facilities and ICT devices/equipment which will benefit student learning outcomes, and the effective operation of the school.’

My previous blog posts have highlighted both positive and negative aspects of social media within the education context. There are two areas of the policy statement that I think could be supported by the use of social media.

Community communication

The first involves communication and the effective operation of our school. As stated before, our school has a variety of stakeholders with different backgrounds. In 2013 we surveyed our community and 86% of the respondents (not of the total school roll) reported they had access to internet at home. We have had a major focus on community engagement and the importance of a learning partnership between home and school. I think that this aspect could fall under the effect operation of the school and there is potential for the development of social media to further enhance the sharing between home and school.

Student learning outcomes

The second area of engagement relates to the benefit of student learning outcomes. The agency and awareness that come about from students blogging and identifying their learning journeys seem more relevant to me than the current portfolio system that we utilise in school. At enrollment students sign their cybersafety agreement and parents agree to photos being available online. This is the starting steps for the online blog environment. We are joining the ‘ako hiko’ cluster as of next year, part of the maniakalani program. This will involve access to the use of blogging and as a school we will definitely need to communicate openly with our whanau before we implement this.Students are familiar with social media. As I teach in a primary school and the facebook terms  and twitter terms state that people under the age of 13 shouldn’t use these I would need to look at how I as a teacher could integrate these within the policy.

Planned implementation of policy

As an organisation we have recognised the importance of having relevant policy, especially around the use of blogging by students. At the beginning of next year we are looking to implement a 1:1 device environment. Our focus as a school over the next two terms will to be to consult with the stakeholders as well as other people further along the journey of implementation in our cluster to ensure we have robust policies and procedures in place.

References

Facebook (2015) Statement of Rights and Responsibilities  retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms

Twitter (2015) Twitter Privacy Policy retrieved from https://twitter.com/privacy?lang=en

*Activity 8: Create or extend your professional social media network

*Activity 8: Create or extend your professional social media network

As mentioned in the previous blog post, I have used a variety of different social media networks in both a personal and professional context

Virtual Learning Network (VLN)

I have primarily used the VLN for support around the integration of iPads to our school. I joined the ipad/ipod user group because it gave me access to people further along their learning journey in a New Zealand setting. This has enabled me to ask questions when I have needed to. I found that searching through most of the previous discussion posts and the email notifications that have come up have supported me, and also provided me with more access to resources from like minded individuals. The use of media in this way had been useful because the record is available at any time and is dated to provide relevance for me.

Screen shot of my emails - VLN searches

Facebook -

Most of my use of facebook has been personal. I have become friends with colleagues from work in this digital environment. I also stay in touch with other teachers that I trained with through this network. Early this year I  joined the New Zealand primary teachers page. Since joining this group, I have had mixed feelings about the benefits that this group provides. There are a number of teachers calling for resources from scratch which I think is a bit lazy and not in the spirit of collaboration. In the following screenshots you will see however I have saved some articles of interest which have popped up in my newsfeed from this. These articles have been useful and I have shared them with other teachers too.

Articles and links relevant to teaching that I have saved on facebook

Pinterest -

Pinterest is the one of the few social media networks available at school currently under our privacy settings. I have only used this on a few occasions and the reason is that it links with our school inquiry model which is underpinned by SOLO taxonomy. Pam Hook has run PD with us as a school and suggested following and scanning the different boards that link to relevant curriculum areas. This has been useful as the boards are based on subject areas and show examples (often from within the New Zealand context) which are easily adaptable, as well as providing links to the educators which could be pursued if relevant.

SOLO inquiry boards that I follow on Pinterest

Twitter -

I think twitter is the most likely platform for my personal professional development. I have only really started using this platform and have been able to follow a wide variety of people relevant to my areas of interest. At the moment most of these are companies and I need to look further into educators within New Zealand. Twitter has also provided me with the opportunity to engage in professional discussions with other educators around focus nights using the hashtag function, This is something that I intend to explore, particularly the focussed edchats and discussions that happen regularly. This is an area that I need to contribute to and will help me to establish connections with educators around the country.

Some of the educators that I follow on Twitter.

Activity 7: Social media in learning and teaching and professional development.

Activity 7: Social media in learning and teaching and professional development.

Benefits of social media

Social media provides a range of benefits for teaching and learning.

Connected audience

The first is that social media allows people to be connected on a wider scale. Through this, like minded individuals and people that have similar interests are connected. This connectivity can serve to increase the relevancy of learning for students. The different learning experiences that students engage in are shared with an authentic audience. This audience could be local, from within the school community, or shared with the global community.

Timely feedback

Producing and sharing ideas with audience also facilitates effective and meaningful feedback.  Students and teachers can provide each other with feedback to support teaching and learning. This feedback can come from different areas and could validate the learning and sharing of students. One example of this is blogging. From my perspective, students that are blogging can share their learning journey. This is also powerful for the reflection upon the progress that students have made throughout their learning.  Current trends suggest that social media is relevant. It is a way that students engage with material and have the opportunity to engage collaboratively. As a teacher, getting students motivated and engaged emotionally, behaviourally and cognitively are important for their learning.

Challenges of social media

While apparently beneficial, there also appear to be challenges associated with the use of social networking in teaching activities.

Justification

The first is the justification or reasoning behind using this platform. As teachers we need to question, is the use of this social media platform enhancing the teaching, or am I using it just as a flash tool. It is important that there is sound reasoning that underpins the pedagogical approach. I suspect that the perceptions from whanau and the school community could also potentially interrupt the use of social media in the class. It is likely that parents have had personal experience with social networking, which is more than likely going to have been during personal use, outside the context of use in the class. This being the case it will be important to articulate the purpose of using social media so that communities are on board with this pedagogy.  

Cyber safety awareness

The safety of all learners is paramount and this extends to the digital community that a teacher is facilitating as part of social networking. It is then crucial to model and maintain cybersmart behaviours and expectations for learners in this community. Ensuring that real life and online life are the same thing.

Equitable access

It is also important that access to the social media is equitable for all. In my school context there are some families with limited access to devices or limited connectivity. To ensure a robust teaching and learning programme I believe that it will be important for all students to have equitable access and the school could look to provide this in different ways.

Social media that enhances my professional development

I have used various social media platforms. Initially for personal use.  I am progressing towards more use in the professional context. In most cases I have found that scanning through resources I have been able to utilise and modify ideas from like minded teachers. The second thing that I find useful is that people are sharing blogs/articles that have challenged my thinking. Social media and networks have facilitated my access to these documents, it is unlikely that I would have found and accessed these anywhere.

I have used the VLN access for ideas relative to the implementation of iPads in our school. I have been, reading discussions online. These have helped me to solve problems using posts that others have shared in NZ context. I have joined the NZ primary school teachers facebook page which I have mixed feelings about, but use to get relevant learning articles.

Pinterest - SOLO taxonomy boards after PD with Pam Hook, directed me to where to go

I have used twitter more professionally, to follow education providers and some educators. Finally, I am beginning my journey in Pond and I have started to facilitate the ‘make a splash’ programme in our school.