Challenge #1 - Think about your teaching practice. How has it evolved over time? What are you currently working on developing in your practice? What tools have you used during this inquiry time? Blog about it!
The upkeep of my blogs has been on my radar for a few weeks now. When your work involves developing teacher capacity for this kind of thing it looks pretty terrible if you are not walking the talk! So when Connected Teacher provided me with motivation to get going again it seemed like the chalk was lining up on the easel.
Where do I even begin on the first task? My practice before stepping out of the classroom and into facilitation for CORE Education and Te Toi Tupu had gone through a major transformation. I have moved from the traditional sage on the stage model to a teacher-learner - someone who is as much a learner as those I teach. The spaces have changed - though I have not been lucky enough to facilitate learning in a flexible learning space yet. I have completed papers and other research about models of inquiry for myself and my students.
Current development within my practice has seen me move roles and develop as a facilitator of androgogy. Alongside this change I am also working on ensuring my practice is culturally responsive through self reflection and development against a Māori Achieving Success As Māori framework. Undertaking the CORE Education EMPOWER course 'Te Reo Puāwai Māori' has encouraged me to consciously begin using more reo within my day to day written and oral language. I am also hugely grateful for the patience of the Māori Medium team members who make up a huge proportion of the team I work in - I seek their knowledge on a regular basis. To add to this I am fortunate to have the equally amazing Pasifika team, including a memeber attached to our own team, to learn from as we undertake our work. This will be my next focus as an adventure in learning - one step at a time. I guess you could say the greatest tool I have at my disposal for this inquiry is 'he tangata, he tangata, he tangata' - It is the people. It is the people. It is the people.
Facilitation as Inquiry is part of our brief as was Teaching as Inquiry when I was in the classroom. The work related to cultural responsiveness is one part of my inquiry into my practice this year, with the other focus being on keeping a close watch on new ways of working, new tools and any other new developments in eLearning. It is great to feel like I am on constant professional development this year with access to people I have held in high esteem and learned an awful lot from now amongst my colleagues.
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