J9 Mindlab Reflections 2017

A contemporary trend relevant to my practice: Rapid technological advancements are changing the working landscape, both in New Zealand and globally. "Rapid technological advancements will increase the pace of change and create new opportunities but will aggravate divisions between winners and losers."  ( Global trends: The Paradox of Progress , US National Intelligence Council, 2017, p6) This trend captivates my attention as I see an enormous disparity between the digital skills our students will require, and opportunities for them to learn these through our education system.  I also observe on a day-to-day basis the increased level of engagement my Year 8 students have when using a digital platform; yet I struggle to provide quality digital learning opportunities for my students given the resources currently at my disposal.  As the teacher leading ICT in my school, I am also acutely aware of the vastly different levels of ICT ability of the teachers in my school. ...

Current issues in my professional context: socioeconomic factors, school culture and professional environments. Socio-economic factors of the school community The school I currently work in is an Intermediate school, with a role of 670 students.  The most obvious indicator of socio-economic factors is its decile rating, which is 7.    The Education Review website states that "Deciles are a measure of the socio-economic position of a school's student community relative to other schools throughout the country."   However, ERO warns against making assumptions based on the decile rating of a school. "A school's decile does not indicate the overall socio-economic mix of the school or reflect the quality of education the school provides." Our school differs from other similar sized Intermediate schools with a similar decile rating due to the large, semi-rural zone encompassing our school.  There are seven primary schools that feed into our Intermedia...

My Practice Within the Community     " Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." ( Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner, 2015) Given this definition, I am able to reflect that I have a number of communities of practice relevant to myself as a teacher and learner:  my syndicate team,  my staff  members of our large staff who share my interest in all things digital and in evolving pedagogy,  my teaching social networks, teachers who I have worked with at other schools and still have open lines of communication with for sharing ideas and solving problems,  my Mindlab group, who continue to meet up online and in person to discuss our learning and help each other with assignment questions.   Wegner (2000) discusses the term 'brokering', where a person acts as a broker between communities.  As I have worked in a number...