were given debate topic "Alcohol should be permitted at senior school ball functions." A topic which at first seemed ridiculous but led me to consider teachers' involvement and the delicate balance required to manage the teenage to adult transition, especially where alcohol is concerned. 3) A difference of opinion amongst staff members caused a minor rift in an otherwise successful team. Should teachers be permitted a quiet drink to celebrate the end of a long day when offering a significant proportion of their own time to school production? Or is the role of teacher considered to be so sacred and the drinking of alcohol so denigrated that the two cannot easily sit together?
I have to ask myself why such an integral part of our societal life has become such a contentious issue? and what is making a situation where people are fearful of the repercussions of a drink? Clearly the example of Terry (Cinelearning, 2016) gives the viewer cause for concern and creates a situation that compromises her colleague's integrity. Should the girl hide who she is? In fact, although this initially goes against my idea of what is acceptable. I was horrified by her behaviour. On analysis, this was generated by my clear boundaries of what I post and what I don't. However, then I began to consider whether my self-imposed boundaries may be inappropriate for others. In fact, I began to think that the younger generation have been raised with social media and that Terry might have considered her actions to be entirely appropriate (within her friendship circle). Furthermore, one post can be shared and it raises questions of trust between friends versus loyalty to your employer. Ultimately, is it acceptable to hide any of our actions as teachers? If the eye of social media is as all seeing as the 'eye of Sauron' (Tolkein, 1954). We are almost living in a society that dictates such a level of openness that we need to consider the ethics of NOT publicly posting our actions. At least the character in the short film is being honest about who she is and what she does. Is the act of not publishing, therefore in itself, devious? and in that sense is this privacy a quality that we would not wish to encourage in our young people? public and private personas?
references:Cinelearning. (2016, August 17). Teacher Ethics Video - Social Media Dilemma HD [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGQbLSEPN5w
Connecticut’s Teacher Education and Mentoring Program. (2012). Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educator: Facilitator’s Guide [PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.ctteam.org/df/resources/Module5_Manual.pdf Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers.. Brisbane, Australia: Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. New Zealand Teachers Council. (2012). Commitment to Parents/Guardians and Family/Whānau on Vimeo [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49804201 Orwell, G (1949). New York, Harcourt. Tolkein, J R R ( 1954) The Lord of the Rings. Ballantine Books, New York.
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My cultural backgroundI am someone who was not born in New Zealand (born in the UK) but also as someone who has been privileged to have an upbringing that guided me to awareness of other cultures (we often had French or Spanish home stay students with us). I am aware of my constant short-comings in indigenous knowledge. As such, I strive to get to know cultural snippets as part of my daily practice and I have studied a Te Reo Maori course to level 2 in 2012. It is important to note the place that you come from so as to better understand the cultures you wish to. should we ever label anyone according to race/hair or eye colour?
Each of these two Maori students is a unique individual; where one is quiet, the other is loud; where one buys into the Maori oratory culture, the other is shy; where one is intelligent in writing, the other has a greater social presence. With this in mind therefore, we must consider the individuality of our students, at the same time as ensuring we take into account their cultural background. how can i encourage my students to think about cultural differences?That said, my research this week (Bishop, 2012; Potahu, 2011) have led me to think deeply about how I am currently encouraging my multicultural class to reach a state of awareness of these differences. At present, they are jovial in their recognition of difference and this reflects only a superficial understanding on their part. My reading has led me to consider how I can adapt lessons to allow greater awareness of culture in student voice (if only there was more time in the term). By this I mean that I could encourage focus on students expressing opinion more specifically related to culture. I will adapt next week's debating activity in class and ask students to include an element of 'cultural self' in their statements. extra-curricular - Debating clubIn an extra-curricular context, I am encouraging this multicultural friendliness through my debating team. Maori have a history of oratory culture and debating offers a forum for student voice and an opportunity for them to develop their points of view with supported arguments. The students have agreed to my sharing this picture with you of their first debate. As you can tell, I have Indian, Maori and pakeha students working collaboratively here. Furthermore, somehow, we have created sufficient energy and excitement around the club that we have students from around school wanting to join. A fellow teacher stated "I was blown away" when a quiet and at times diffident Maori student wanted to join the club. The student's statement was "I argue a lot so I've decided to put my talents to good use!" In the wider school, there are many extremely traditional aspects that appear to be driven by pakeha culture. Of all the schools I have worked at, this has the least focus on Maori learners as Maori. However, I think my choice to drive cultural development through debating club is appropriate and beginning to lead students towards the higher end of Pohatu's (2011) spectrum of "State of being Maori Ora" - Te Taunga o te Mauri Moe. referencesBishop, R. (2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations on Vimeo [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994
Boyne, J. (2006). The boy in the striped pajamas: A fable. Http://the-classroom.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Blue-eye-Brown-eye-activity2.pdf. (2014). Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Activity. Retrieved from http://the-classroom.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Blue-eye-Brown-eye-activity2.pdf Http://www.janeelliott.com/ Potahu, T. W. (2011). MauriModel.pdf - Google Drive. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8swBIPJQ1N-RTd1ZUQ0dkp6VlE/view One modern trend in education is how we deal with, and must become more open to, students' rights (human) to express their sexuality in a way that is suited to them. I open my blog this week with a link to the beautifully shot "Awa's Story" (Sunday Special, 2017) which explains Awa's life, growing up labeled male but feeling as though she had "a girl's heart." The heartfelt tale is fascinating, not only because it deals with the subject matter of transgender sensitively and from a Maori and young person's perspective, but also because it is filmed and directed by Awa herself. With my personal interest in film, I am inspired by the powerful way that this teen has portrayed a complex and heartfelt story and how she demonstrates, in an authentic context, her mastery of subject matter. I found myself asking - why aren't all families as supportive, open, forgiving and loving as this one is shown to be? and why aren't all teens given the means to demonstrate their skills through agentic learning that channels their interests so that they can create something powerful and evocative for assessment purposes that also serves a function in an adult world? This TV programme offers insights into transgender issues, family life, Maori perspectives and teenagers curiosity about a world in which they don't fit.
In the same way as Awa uses metaphor to convey the idea of her transgender, we as teachers need to create metaphors to enable our students (our future adult population) to become more accepting of each other and to eliminate racial and religious judgement. The new site, Stuff.co.nz, are regularly posting articles about the need for students to be offered choice in their uniform (if schools should have uniform at all when parents are financially challenged) and gender-neutral options as well as the PPTA (Stuff, 2017) the idea that gender neutral bathrooms would also be a positive move.
referencesHickson, A., & Holloway, H. (2017). LONDON TERROR ATTACK: Five dead as knifeman rams car into crowd at Parliament. Daily Star. Retrieved from http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/599033/Shooting-parliament-gunfire-UK-attack-report-terror-government-London (I am transgender (mtf), 2015) Youtube Pearson. (2013). Global trends: The world is changing faster than at any time in human history. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZiTQy3g1g PERSICO, C. (2017). PPTA gender-neutral proposal for school uniforms and toilets an 'amazing idea'. Stuff.Co.Nz. Retrieved from (http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/93304194/ppta-genderneutral-proposal-for-school-uniforms-and-toilets-an-amazing-idea) backing Sunday Special. (2017). 3.
critical reflection
"IS this legit?" Parent email to high school teacherAs part of my ethical undertakings for my teaching inquiry this week, one parent wrote back to my formal email asking for engagement from them via a survey. His comment was simply "Is this legit?" - The father, a security employee, was seemingly surprised that a teacher had contacted a parent to gain their permission for class activities. From my perspective, I was entirely taken aback that this parent thought it appropriate to write to a teacher in such a non-formal manner. I guess the occurrence is a rarity and perhaps unexpected. I am none-the-wiser as to whether he was saying it in a supportive or derogatory way. Stoll and Fink (cited in Stoll, 1998, p10) identified ten influencing cultural norms of school improvement. My school has the shared goal of 'improving relational learning strategies' and we meet regularly to discuss, compare and drive forward teaching inquiries. As I am fairly new, it is difficult to assess points 4 and 6 so my TAI will test these hypotheses. Factors 7,8 and 9 have been extremely evident to me. I'm guessing that the reason the 'humour' aspect is missing from our PLG is to do with the fact that we meet at 8am on cold winter's mornings. I am proud to be part of a community that is whole-heartedly comprised of 'lifelong learners' - (myself included!) - and am looking forward to the opportunity of presenting my TAI plan to the group in subsequent weeks. referencesGargiulo, S. (2014). Principal sabbatical report. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leadership-development/Professional-information/Principals-sabbatical-reports/Report-archives-for-2007-2014/Secondary-award-recipients-2014/Gargiulo-Salvatore OECD. (2015). Education at a Glance 2015: OECD Indicators. OECD Publishing, Paris.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2015-en. Retrieved from http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/96... Stoll. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture He kura tangata – He kura whānau - A person educated is a community educated Practising Teacher Criteria 12(iii). critically examine own beliefs, including cultural beliefs, and how they impact on professional practice and the achievement of ākonga 5(i). actively contribute to the professional learning community Activity 1: Using Knox's (2009) questions as a guide: #1) Who is your community? My community of practice (COP) comprises of our professional learning group (PLG) at my school. I also am part of the Mindlab COP in the Google+ forum. #2) What is the domain we share? The shared domain is that we are all required to engage in a teaching inquiry. #3) What are the layers? The layers are generational, cultural, based on experience and specialist as we are all high school teachers but teaching different subjects. #4) What are our connections? At present, I am feeling very much like the 'newcomer'. As Wenger (2000) defines it, I am the 'child without a voice' as I am new to the school and observing how thing are done. The onus is on me to learn and build connections within this community. #5) What are the issues? As a newcomer, I need to identify how things were done prior to my arrival. I am also considering that we are operating more like 'teams' as management have instructed us which Professional Learning Group we sit in. However, this could equally be understood as 'fractals' as Wenger (2000) defines an appropriate mechanism for communities operating in large organisations.
As a newcomer to the group, I need to make some enquiries about how the group was formed and how it operated last year. I am developing a relationship with one of the group leaders through his observations and feeling the 'energy' that is required, this is very much two-dimensional at present and I will certainly need to work to develop deeper relations with the rest of the community. I've been asked to present my work on student agency to the group and hope that I can generate a sense of excitement and create the 'energy' that is seemingly lacking at present. This is not to say that I'm the only one - I'm sure other members are doing exciting work, it's just not apparent at 8am on a Tuesday morning. Knox, B. (2009). Cultivating Communities of Practice: Making Them Grow. YouTube. Retrieved 26 May 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk
Wenger, E.(2000).Communities of practice and social learning systems.Organization,7(2), 225-246 |