Epol301 Course Notes - The Teacher in Context

Teacher in Context: EPOL-301 Course NotesOnline Collaboration for VUW Diploma of Education December 11, 2011

2 Copyright c 2011, Blair M. Smith Please copy, modify and redistribute under the terms of the GNU Free Document Licence (GPL FDL) here: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3-standalone.html

Contents1 Introduction 2 Module 1The Teacher in Context 2.1 Professional Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.2 ReadingsTeacher Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 9 9 9

Lecture on Professional Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Module 1, Values Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Personal Teaching Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.2.1 2.2.2 ReadingsPersonal Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Lecture on Personal Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

2.3

On Importance of Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 27

3 Module 2The Profession of Teaching 3.1

Teacher as Professional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3.1.1 Current Issues in Secondary Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

3.2

Professional Learning Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 3.2.4 Professional Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Strategies for Developing and Maintaining Professional Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Ladder of Inference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Giving and Receiving Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 3

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CONTENTS

3.2.5 3.2.6 3.2.7 3.2.8

Teacher-teacher Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Showing Leadership in 20 Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Summary of Module 2 so far . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 57

4 Module 3Ethics and Regulations 4.1

Readings on Teacher Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.1.3 4.1.4 Code of Ethics for Registered Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Selected Readings on Teacher Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 The Human Factor in Moral Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

4.2

Ethical Dilemma Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3 Blog Entries on Honest Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Blog Entries on HOD Plans It All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Blog Entries on School Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

4.3

Education Laws and Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3 Notes on HRC (2010)Right to Education . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Recommendations of the Human Rights Commission . . . . . 87 Notes on Ben Mills presentationYouth Rights and the Law . 88

4.4

Education Law Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 4.4.1 4.4.2 4.4.3 4.4.4 4.4.5 4.4.6 4.4.7 Question on Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Question on Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Question on Abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Question on Privacy Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Question on Condential Academic Information (Privacy) . . 96 Question on Reporting Violence (breaking policy) . . . . . . . 96 Question on Right to Information (Privacy and Custody) . . . 98

CONTENTS

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4.4.8 4.5

Question on Sexual Abuse (Privacy and Disclosure) . . . . . . 98

Human Rights and Citizenship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 4.5.1 Comments on the lecture by Ben Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

4.6

The Pastoral Role of Secondary Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 4.6.1 4.6.2 4.6.3 Registered Teacher Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Pastoral Care Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Comments on LecturePastoral Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

4.7

Assignment on Ethical Dilemmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 107

5 Module 4Twenty First Century Enlightenment 5.1

Twenty First Century Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 5.1.1 Blog Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

5.2 5.3

Education Outside the Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Outside the ClassroomField Trips and More . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 5.3.1 5.3.2 Notes on LectureEducation Outside the Classroom . . . . . 112 Blog ActivityPersonal Experiences of EOTC . . . . . . . . . 116

5.4

Teacher Unions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 5.4.1 Notes on the LecturePPTA Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

5.5

Developing Professional Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 5.5.1 5.5.2 5.5.3 5.5.4 Notes on Cameron (2007)Starting teaching: Survive or Thrive?119 Notes on Ferrier-Kerr (2011)Moving into the teaching profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Notes on Grudno (2011)Getting o to a good start. . . . . 124 Notes on the LectureNext Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 129

A National Administration Guidelines (NAGs)

A.1 Planning and ReportingRelevant Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 B National Education Goals (NEG-1s) 141

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CONTENTS

C National Education Guidelines (NEG-2s) D New Zealand Teachers Council Code of Ethics References

143 145 148

1. IntroductionThese are free collaborative collective course note for the 2011 online students enrolled in the VUW EPOL-301 course. Please copy and redistribute as you please, respecting the GPL-FDL copyright. I have included a lot of quotes from the online discussion forums, which has added to the length of this book somewhat. The suggestion is to not read this book serially, but to instead scan the topics and delve into the quoted paragraphs as interest guides youthat way the book will hopefully not seem too daunting to read. Also, these course notes are not intended as substitutes for the course Module notes, textbook and readings. The idea is that this book will serve as a reference and memory jog for all of our future work in education. I will state here and repeat often: my editorial comments strictly relate to secondary education and in particular to science and mathematics. Much of the VUW lecture material is more general in scope.

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1. Introduction

2. Module 1The Teacher in Context2.1 Professional Identity

This purpose of this lecture is to guide you through a process of thinking about yourself as a teacher, your values and your beliefs. In preparation for this section please read (Ball, Russell, & Smales, 2005) and (Day, 2009).

2.1.1

ReadingsTeacher Identity

Notes on Ball, Russell & Smales (2005)Facing Realities of Beginning Teaching. My comments strictly relate to secondary education. It is quite staggering that here we have one of the most important and (potentially) inuential professions is the entire sphere of human endeavour and we have academics worrying about the self-image, hopes, dreams, fears and reality checks that crowd the rst few years of practice. What it tells me is that we have novice teachers entering an education system that is ill-suited for them. Look at the focus of this article by Ball et. al., and you see the focus is on trying to help novice teachers survive. This is crazy. There should be no question of survival, only question of quality, of am I being the best I can possibly be ? Yet, the reality is as Ball et. al., , state. Teachers really do have to concentrate a lot on just survival. Why? It seems to me the answer is because the ways schools are currently run, the way curricula are managed and particularly the way the external examination assessments are conducted and overemphasised is killing the creativity of students, killing the creativity of teachers and generally making a complete mess and disaster of older child and teenage education (primarily). After my reading of Ball et. al., my feeling is that most of the issues and challenges they write about would melt away if schools were focuses on motivational 9

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2. Module 1The Teacher in Context

learning and hacking (playful fun and inventiveness) instead of testing, standards and examinations. Teaching and learning which focuses on playful inventiveness and motivation is what I refer to as the 21st Century Enlightenment in Education or TFCE. It is a sad indictment that teachers who would like to operate on TFCE principles are fearful of holding their job and basically are often shut down and eliminated by the current secondary school system. Some further comments on selections from the reading (my comments in italics): Theory often seems impractical to some because they have not yet understood its deeper relevance to their current and future practice. I take issue with this claim. Many colleagues know full well the future relevance of the theory taught at training college, but the school system forbids them implementing the theory. It seems impractical only because there is insucient time to implement the theory because teachers are expected to do so much other stupid and mindless exam coaching and set topic coverage. Remove these hindrances and most teachers I bet would have a great time implementing the modern learning theories and pedagogies. Furthermore, most experienced teachers are not that much better, they hardly ever fully practice good learning theory, most of them are still tied fully and squarely into teaching-to-tests. On Meeting the Challengesinstitutional culture and organization, professional development and so forth.. Some of the article proers good advice, but it is vague and general. What I think would really help a beginning teacher is to simply leave them alone and let them freely teach their classes, let them seek advice, help them when they ask for help, but otherwise leave them the hell alone for Petes sake. Unfortunately, institutionalization of novice teachers is more like a brain-washingthey are taught to follow the school way of doing things and forget about innovation. It is a gifted but rare school that gives novice teachers wings with which to metaphorically y. On Establishing a sound educational programme. When an interesting, challenging programme which meets the needs, interests and ability levels of the learners is provided, potential diculties are often minimized. This is platitudinous. Sure, provide an interesting lesson and things will go swimmingly. . . unless the students in your class are active non-learners. You can provide a programme that meets their interests, but it wont ever be approved by the school, since it wont win them any external examination credits. Even for well-adjusted students, where are the wonderful interesting school programmes? I havent seen any in my teacher training so far. Ive seen

2.1 Professional Identity

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ashes of interesting stu, but honestly assessing what Ive seen so far, most students in the high schools Ive seen detest mathematics and science classes. This is not their fault, neither their teachers fault largely, it is a systemic problem stemming from massive emphasis on standards and high-stakes tests. There is something sick about New Zealands education system when children can optionally take a music course and love it, while they are compelled to take mathematics and science (at least to Year 11) and hate it. In other words, when we make a subject compulsory it is delusional to believe we can also make it interesting and meet their needs. Or rather, we can do this, but then the programme would be so twisted and articial as to be either vocationally pointless or un-examinable. For example, how do you make trigonometry meet the needs of a future lawyer or doctor when they will never use the techniques in the rest of their lives? Answer: you give them trigonometric puzzles that teach them critical and logical thinking skills. OK, thats useful vocationally, but then will these puzzles help them pass an external exam? Probably not. So you end up drilling them with exam questions anyway because you think the exam credits are more worthy than higher level vocational thinking skills. Great. What have we then achieved? At worst we have shown a student how to fail an exam and given them many reasons to detest the subject of trigonometry, and at best we have educated a student into learning that practising exam questions is more important than having fun. More on Meeting the challenges. The mis-match between theory and reality. There is too much bending of theory to meet reality and not enough bending of reality to better match theory. Teachers end up making unhealthy compromises, then they become acculturated, and then the feel they are comfortable and part of the profession. In truth, what invariably has happened, is that they have simply become bad teachers like everyone else around them, and that is why they feel comfortable. This doesnt always happen, but it is the norm I suspect. Show me a teacher in their third year of practise who does not teach-to-tests and chances are you have pointed me to one of the rarer success stories of teacher education. If a teacher is perfectly comfortable in their rst year of practise, then either they are incredibly gifted teaching genuis or they are so bad at teaching they do not realize it and probably never will. On Uncovering inaccurate self-image. The need to reect. Continual reection and self-assessment is naturally a good way to overcome professional diculties. All of the advice given by Ball et. al., is sound. Most teachers who do this, who engage in professional development, and so forth, do become better teachers. However, I cannot help worrying that in the New Zealand education system what actually happens is that many novice teachers

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are becoming better teachers by compromising on the wrong things. Most likely they are adopting common practices rather than fostering pursuit of their own ideals. Why? Because the common practices help them survive, and once ingrained help them feel part of a community of professionals. Are they perhaps sacricing a degree of independence and creativity? Notes on Day (2009)Passion for Quality. Teacher quality is almost paramount. But how do we dene teacher quality? If a teacher can get a student to pass an exam is that evidence of quality? Perhaps. If a teacher can instil a life-long love of learning in a student, and yet the student fails an exam because theyve been doing fun stu all year and neglected to study for their exams, is that good quality teaching? On Eects of quality teachers. Good teachers have a strong positive inuence on students, while poor teachers have a cumulative and debilitating eect. But what makes a good teacher? I am wary of reports that good teachers make a dierence. For one thing, the performance of students on tests is often given a as a measure of the performance of a teacher. Then there is little or no meaning to statistics purporting to report that low performing teachers result in low performing students. Its like saying red paint splashed around results in red coloured objects. What we really want to know is what sort of teaching and learning environment results in highly condent, thoughtful, studious, and creative students? But until tests are devised to measure these qualitative attributes of students no one can really say much about teacher quality that I would be interested in hearing. A good quality teacher is simply someone how can guide and help students who want help, and who can encourage students who are disinterested and who do not want help to nd reservoirs of motivation within themselves. But unfortunately thee are not the qualities that teachers are currently measured against. On A reliance on curriculum standards and state-wide assessmentsare insucient to gain improvements in sought-after student outcomes. This I can understand. On The Four Qualities of Good Teachers. 1. Technical competencies, deep subject knowledge.


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2. Caring for students. 3. Reective thinking with a strong sense of self-identity (inner knowledge of ones own motivations, areas of strength and weakness, commitments to principle, and eectiveness). 4. Understanding of emotions within self and others (related to leadership and management). 5. Optimism, resilience, the ability to arise to challenges and bounce back after failures. These are wonderful distillations of what I think quality teaching is primarily associated. On Relationship with students. At rst I thought brilliant, this author really knows about education, and I was elated. Then I thought of all the experienced teachers who had told me in these very words (I call these the the old-school teachers dictum) dont smile until November. And I was depressed. This reects my experiences so far. When I engage a bunch of students in interesting discussion, and try to foster positive relationships I get told not to smile so much. Yet, when I teach science or mathematics I cannot help but smile. If I start to teach dry boring traditional lessons then I start to get grumpy, impatient, and the students generally also rebel. In short: if I try to teach like associates tell me, or if I try to teach in order to get students familiar with examination material, then I get grumpy, and students get grumpy, and everyone is worse o. On Care and Courage. Care about students (and subject) as much as care for students (and subject), is importantcaring about means going beyond just caring for, the former involves deep emotional commitment to people springing from deeply held personal beliefs. This is all good stu. So why do most schools nd it so hard to show students they are cared about? It is usually not the fault of teachers. It is the fact that teachers are straight-jacketed by so many rules, standards, regulations and procedures. On Moral Purposes. To place the intellectual and moral well-being of students rst and foremost (ahead of bureaucratic agendas and external targets). Couldnt agree more with these sentiments.

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2.1.2

Lecture on Professional Image

Relevance of this lecture. Graduate Teacher Standard-6 (a) states: Graduates recognise how diering values and beliefs impact on learners and their learning. Reection. Before watching the lecture think about the following questions (my thoughts are in italics after each): Why do you want to be a teacher? Are your reasons the same as they were when you enrolled in this programme last year? I want to be a teacher because I want to make a (hopefully positive and not too small) dierence to the world. I think, with some more experience, I can be of tremendous benet to the way science and mathematics is taught in schools. First I need to learn how to be an eective teacher, which is the main reason for wanting to enter the teaching profession. I doubt I will ever be a great teacher, but I hope to be able to show teachers who have real talent how to be great, and how to avoid focusing on the tests and exams, how to teach science and mathematics for the shear fun and worth of these subjects in and of themselves. Years later I hope to be able to take my experience to a higher level and transform the way secondary education works in New Zealand. Specically, my long term goal is to show how damaging the NCEA and similar examinations are, how they are killing science and mathematics teaching and learning, and how to subvert these examinations. These are the same reasons I enrolled. Though I confess, when I enrolled I thought New Zealand schools were moving towards teaching according to the New Zealand Curriculum, and I thought therefore I would have an easy task helping to transform secondary education in Aotearoa. I was shocked at how bad things still are in the average classroom despite decades of reform. I was shocked at how insubstantial is the real science learning, how horribly the focus is still on gaining exam credits, and how little fun most students seem to be having in science and mathematics classrooms. So while my goals have not changed, they have, over the year, become extremely challenging. I wonder a lot how I will survive teaching as a PRT when there is still so much pressure on teachers and students due to the NCEA exams. The next questions was, What sort of teacher do you want to be? What is your image of yourself as a teacher? Here was an earlier draft response with darker thoughts. (Take 1.) What sort of teacher do you want to be? What is your image of yourself as a teacher?


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I want to be transformative, not merely a transmitter of knowledge, but a facilitator of learning. Not merely a facilitator of learning either, I want to be able to show students the beauty in science and mathematics. I want my students to discover how wonderful mathematics and science are, and most of all I want to show them how these subjects can be fun and fascinating without worrying one iota about the assessments and examinations. I suspect there are comparatively few teachers who are actually doing this and who are not capitulating and teaching to the exams. I want to be in among the class of teachers who teach science and mathematics without a care for the examinations and assessments. Ideally students should be lled with a (sucient) love of science and mathematics that they enjoy studying and learning aspects of these subjects enough to pass the examinations regardless. I am quite fully aware of all the problems when such idealistic self-images confront the cold hard reality of life in a classroom. Of facing a bunch of adolescents who would rather be somewhere else doing anything but studying mathematics and science. My job is to get these students thinking dierently. I do not see my role as coercing students into learning in order to gain exam credits. If that is what a school bureaucracy requires of me then I simply cannot work at such a school. I see myself as perhaps unemployed (or at least not employed as a high school teacher) for a long time as a result of refusing to compromise. I do not have a clear image of how these hopes and dreams will be realized, since I have not yet seen a single teacher in practice who teaches in the way I would aspire to teach, who has their students motivated and self-learning in a way that I would envisage. I believe my dreams are possible, but I do not believe they will be easy to achieve. So many systemic problems in the education system conspire against the learning of science and mathematics as I ideally envisage. My optimistic view is that I will be able to give students interesting and fun challenges, guide them along, monitor their thinking skills and creative development, test them a bit on technique, and by simple encouragement and motivation with fun and interesting questions and puzzles, instil enough motivation in their hearts to want to study further, and thereby motivate them to do well in their exams. But I do not see myself as coaching them through exams unless they specically want to be coached. I want to teach because I love science and mathematics and because I think I can help most students taste a little of this love of science. That is my only goal really, but in order to achieve it I have to gure out smaller goals and objectives that will enable me to get to such a point of professional practise. My pessimistic view is that I cannot see myself doing this successfully at any

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school I have seen so far, because the institutional pressures are opposed and too great for me to overcome. I do not want to capitulate and teach the same way I see other teachers teachingby coercion and driven by examination standards. My current image is one of someone who is a mis-t for the NZ high school system. Whenever I try to teach like other people instruct me to teach, I get grumpy and students get grumpy. Whenever I try to teach students stu they need to know to pass an exam I get bored and students get rebellious. When I teach things that are interesting to me, students nd them interesting too, or even if not they smile and appreciate my enthusiasm and smiles. I am not a terribly funny personality, so my lessons often lack good humour. So I want to work on developing more humour. However, when I am happy and smile with student pranks and wise-cracks, or if I let a boisterous class loose a bit, I feel that none are worse o for it, and yet associate teachers will criticize such informality and chaos. For these reasons I am not at all sure if I should be teaching in the New Zealand school system. I think it would be too stressful. Teaching should be fun, just as learning should be fun. If teaching is not a fun profession then I am not t for it. Before embarking of the Graduate Diploma of Education I had thought teaching could be fun in the modern New Zealand school. I have since found that most teachers are stressed, complain a lot, complain even more, and students nd the lessons dull and stressful, and when exam time arrives even more stressful. This is not good. I want to do something about this, and becoming a teacher seems the best course of action, but if I cannot see hope for positive change then I will have to think about doing something else. Perhaps returning to research to prove how education can be fun, and then bring the research into schools some other way, such as through willing teachers. OK, so that was the dark stu. Ive crystallized them into a more hopeful vision, still fraught with risks though. (Take 2.) What sort of teacher do you want to be? What is your image of yourself as a teacher? I want to be able to show students how beautiful science and mathematics can be. I envisage teaching through showing students some of the majesty of the subjects, then posing challenging problems and guiding them, acting more as a facilitator rather than a direct instructor. I envisage having fun, being playful, and showing students I care deeply about them by making sure they see my enthusiasm and passion and attempts to make the study fun and enlivening. Im struggling at the moment to see how this vision will be realized, because all I see are systemic obstacles. I hope to nd mentors who are like-minded and a school to work at that is supportive. I simply cannot imagine working

2.2 Personal Teaching Theories

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for long at a school where the sole focus is on getting students good grades. I know there is some learning that takes place when students are put under exam pressure, but its not the kind of learning that I value nor would wish to force upon any person. So I see myself making concerted eorts not to teach to the tests and perhaps risking some alienation of ostracism for it, but hopefully also nding pockets of collegial support and encouragement and aid and advice on how to subvert national examinations. I do wonder if I will struggle to motivate dis-interested students. This is the one, perhaps the only, aspect of coal-face teaching that I may struggle with accepting some failure. I know most people do not nd science and mathematics as fascinating as myself, although I deeply think it is largely because they know no better, and so I always have hope of being able to turn a students interest. If I cannot interest most students will I be able to accept the failure and march forward without slumping into depression? Perhaps not. But I wont walk away from the teaching profession, its a calling, so I will instead nd some other way to teach. Keep some notes of your answersthey will help you as you develop your understanding of your personal, professional philosophy.

2.1.3

Module 1, Values Activity

These were blog entries. We had to select a core value and write about how we model it in our work, relationships, and general life. My core value boiled down to wisdom. It felt very unwise writing about it. So I will not copy my entry here unless it garners some interesting feedback.

2.2

Personal Teaching Theories

In preparation for this session please read (Olsen, 2010). This lecture continues the process of developing your personal, professional philosophy of teaching and learning. Relevance: Graduate Teacher Standard-7 (d) Graduating teachers are able to articulate and justify an emerging personal, professional philosophy of teaching and learning. Over the year you have learned dierent theories about teaching and learning and observed a range of teaching practices. You are now asked to pause and consider

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how what you have studied and what you have experienced have impacted on your beliefs. Before the lecture consider the following questions (my comments in italics): 1. How will you teach? (As usual my remarks pertain only to mathematics and science teaching.) Priority one is empowering students. Priority two is giving all students the opportunity to shine unimpeded. These are not empty platitudes, and they mean a lot. For example, to put them into practise means having a classroom that is not disrupted and in which students can always be busy with something worthwhile. But how to I see this working? Mainly by introducing fun topics and entertaining interesting questions. These could lead into formulating problems to be solved. Since problem solving is just about the only skill required for passing NCEA exams this strategy should work fairly well. My departure fro the norm is to ask more interesting questions than the usual NCEA fare. Also, I hope to encourage students to ask questions and use these as learning material. The style should be more like the IYPT and JYPT competitions. Open-ended questions that require some thinking before they can even be attempted at a technical level. The philosophy is that of modelling how real science is conducted. The goal is not to instil particular knowledge of mathematics or physics, but rather to provide students with opportunities to construct their own knowledge and to learn how to actually think a bit like a mathematician or physicists, rather than in traditional science education where students do little more than learn how to think like an exam-passer. I see myself teaching students how to manage their own learning, for example, how to catch themselves when they get tired or bored and show them how to pause, reect and re-energize, perhaps by simply asking me or a friend for a dierent challenge than the one which lulled them into sleep. I see myself helping students nd motivating puzzles and challenges. I also see that in the rst few years this will be very dicult to accomplish because I currently have no direct experience or models upon which to base such a vision. So I am pretty sure the reality will be a struggle and in many lessons I might fail to motivate students. But I know it will not be for lack of eort. 2. What will it look like? Why? I will describe a generic approach to my teaching. My overall holistic approach is uid and not necessarily the same day to day, so not all lessons will look


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like this, some will be quite formal in order to cement certain learning at key stages, mainly for honing technique. Other lessons will be more student driven. Start of lessons will be reasonably formal. Then mostly group discussion on the problem, or individual work for students who accelerate themselves. A healthy stock of good, interesting, fun, motivating problems is thus required so that faster students can keep busy. Then whole class discussion for debating merits of particular solutions or solution strategies, and for summarizing key principles and ideas. Homework would be on similar questions and would involve background reading mainly. I would monitor homework scrupulously, but for analysis, not for discipline. Likewise with class work, eort and participation. Im keen on monitoring the meta-cognitive thinking and soft skills that are mentioned in the NZ Curriculum Key Competencies. I prefer students to nd their own level of diligence, but would do things to encourage diligence and ways to praise honest eort. I would also closely monitor academic achievement, again as a reporting and analysis tool for feedback to students and parents, not for any discipline reasons. At the start of each year and term I would go over my rules and expectations. I would expect respect and honest eort. I would expect high performance, or at least no excuse for failing to perform. I would expect students to remove themselves from class if they felt inclined to be disruptive. I would expect them to respect my prerogative to remove them from class if they were disruptive or disrespectful, and I would clearly dene these behavioural boundaries. I doubt my teaching style would work when I run out of steam and have no interesting challenges, and if I have to degenerate to book work the students would have to understand this is because I was tapped out and means no disrespect for them. In reality I suspect my rst few years of teaching will be chaotic and lled with many periods where I am just mentoring students. Coverage of assigned school curriculum topics might be quite sparse as a result, but I need to gure out how to absorb such failures and pressures and learn how to focus on the positive outcomes and see that students in my care are at least progressing spiritually and intellectually in the Key Competencies. That will be my focus, but whether I achieve these goals will be hard to predict. 3. How will the students learn? By asking questions and largely by answering the questions themselves. To motivate students I will often provide challenging questions. I would not waste too much time instructing them on problem solving technique, since learning is more eective when they teach themselves the techniques. Students will learn heavily from each other, and from asking me questions more one-on-one than

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as a whole class. I will try to help students learn deeply at their own pace. I want to try to minimize whole class lecturing, unless it is clearly the more ecient method. Whole class discussions will be frequent after all rounds of group work on common problems. Students will hopefully them learn by many modesby actively doing things, listening, reading, helping. I doubt my classes will cover the NCEA topics in this manner, but I think it should be possible to train them to think critically and logically enough so that they will be easily able to pass any NCEA exams with perhaps a little end of year preparation. The point is I do not want my students thinking that passing an exam is evidence of solid learning. I may fail in this until I gain many more years of experience. Some of the NCEA Excellence level questions and Scholarship level questions are worthy of study, so these will always be possible starter questions for topics where my resources are a bit dry on. In reality I suspect the motivated students in my class will learn most through their own study, the unmotivated students might learn comparatively little depth about the subject but hopefully a lot about themselves (specically they will learn and develop the Curriculum Key Competencies). For the latter type of student such learning is valuable but not assessed by external exams, which makes it dicult to show such students they are making good progress, so I will develop assessment resources whereby all students can assess fairly their Key Competencies in at least a semi-quantitative fashion (using say relative qualitative self-assessment scores). I can see in some classrooms, with a certain type of mix of students, my lessons may degenerate into a battle of wills,: me trying desperately to help students realize the greater benets of learning for themselves, and the students wanting to be spoon-fed. What will I do when after a term the student fail dismally in the common tests? Honestly, I do not know the answer to this. I hope I will stick to my philosophy and continue to guide and help students realize the greater glory of independent learning. It is exhilarating and yet scary thinking about these prospects. I have gone over these questions in my mind so often now, almost every night for two years solid, that I confess to some terrible anxiety. From Teaching Experience (practicum) I know how hard it is to teach students in secondary school how to learn constructively. Most resist the method and, out of habit, want to be spoonfed. When a lesson ends in relative chaos the associate teachers will be critical even though the intent was meritorious, and this is destructive to my psyche and easily leads to depression and despair. So one of the key things I need to focus upon is how to be resilient


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and never give up on the dream of showing students the beauty of science. There are many tools and tricks I have looked into and have developed for helping with this challenge, but I really have no idea how it will pan out in reality. I pray for the courage to stay true to my convictions and not give up on teaching if I nd the reality of year one as PRT too demanding. Further Thoughts of Personal Philosophy of Teaching Ive written a lot more in my Reection Journal, but here are some further thoughts that came to mind after reading some of the course material. These are things I hope to do or accomplish in addition to all the goals and plans in my Reection Journal (in other words, these bullet points dont even scratch the surface of what I envisage). Use explicit learning goal forms with which students can chart their progress. This would be a partially individualized program of action steps and concrete learning goals for each student. It would be an electronic spreadsheet. Essentially it is just a way of tracking student progress, but the important use it has in my philosophy is in given students the power of self-determination. They can edit and annotate their goal sheet and they can ll in the chart of their progress. My developing metaphor for learning and teaching. My earlier metaphor was The Tree. I need to extend it to something like the Sadratul-Muntaha. The Tree of learning is innite. It has complexity that cannot be captured by a metaphor, hence the metaphor needs some sort of fractal structure to capture this irreducible complexity. Yet at each level their is simplicity, as is necessary for any progress. Each step up the branches or through the roots is negotiable, and yet itself is innitely nely layered representing the depth of the human mind. Like the Japanese philosophy of laziness, For the Epol-301 assignment #1 I need to integrate the above notes with those in my Reection Journal to complete my current emerging philosophy and metaphor for learning and teacher self-image.

2.2.1

ReadingsPersonal Theories

Notes on Olsen (2010)Teacher Knowledge.

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Research Historyphases (a) teacher thinking, (b) action research, (c) critical theory. Is teacher knowledge within people (specically teachers) or outside of people? Whats the theory? Olsens discussion of usefulness of theory (background knowledge informing action consciously or unconsciously) is a good one to use for a Year 9 science lesson! Cognitive versus Sociocultural. Olsen contrasts both these types of constructivist learning theory. Ive never found the full-blown sociocultural constructivist theory very convincing. Human minds are the seat of knowledge and insight. One does not need other minds to think, indeed some of the best thinking is a result of isolation from the distraction or bias of others. However, learning in a sociocultural context is valuable and necessary for a well rounded individual mind. So I favour cognitive constructivism, and would tend to run my school lessons according to the recommended practise of such theories, but with a lot of student group work for balance. I would synthesize the cognitive and sociocultural theories by claiming that (a) learning occurs in the mind, whereas (b) this learning takes place within a social and cultural context. It is more than saying simply that social and cultural conditions inuence learning. Using Olsens example of two teachers chatting away brimming with brainstorming ideas, going away with better understanding but not knowing who originated the ideas, well, to me, this is compatible with cognitive constructivism, since even though they may forget where the ideas came from, the nal understanding is purely their own, it is internalized. The social context was not the learner the individual minds were the learners. They achieved the learning within a certain sociocultural matrix. On whether Knowledge is more a thing or more like a process ?. And why this is important. A cannot see how anyone could make a distinction. Knowledge is only visible by Its fruits. Knowledge is a quality displayed by a Mind in interaction with Its environment. So the evidence of knowledge is denitely a process of sorts. The content of knowledge is an abstraction, a set of ideas, often linked, but to argue whether this is a static thing or a dynamic process is a bit academic. The fact is that every human mind or soul is a thing in constant ux. Things can evolve. So a thing can be a process. Acquisition of knowledge is better modelled as a process for sure, while knowledge itself is part of the intellectual


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dynamism of a thing, a self, a mind. There is no real need to try to categorize knowledge any more precisely. The distinction is important because teachers who hold a rigid cognitive view of knowledge as a thing to transmit tend to deny their students the opportunity to construct their own understanding, resulting in a parroting type of learning which lacks depth and leaves students less exible to cope with real world problem solving. On the other hand, teachers who have an extreme sociocultural view of knowledge tend to deny their students the opportunity to memorize and cement basic facts and technique, leaving students perhaps exible problem solvers but incapable of solving hard problems which require recall of basic facts. So for me, the holistic approach is key: use ideas and methods suggested by all valid learning theories. Use a balance of cognitive and sociocultural methods, and even old-fashioned behaviourist methods when applicable. Dont tie your teaching to any one particular ideology or theory. Dont be biased, dont favour either method, try them all, and use evidence to iteratively improve and nd what balance of theories and practical methods works best for a particular class. The balance may often depend on the mix of students in the class. So year-to-year you will be adapting your methods to suit the class, and rening how you go about this adaptation so that you can early settle on the right balance for this particular class of students. On Interpretive Framesthe deeply embedded ideas and images we have about how we look as educators. My own current frame includes things like wanting to be subversive, wanting to show people the beauty in science and mathematics, and compromising as little as possible on creating beautiful lessons. I see my teaching as an art form to be constantly rened and perfected, and student learning outcomes as largely the responsibility of the students themselves. SO my primary goal, at least initially, is to acculturate students into the framework of being life-long learners and seekers of wisdom. If I can only teach them this then I would be wholly satised. On Developing a Teacher Identity. The main thing I take from this reading is how important it is to constantly evolve and rene ones teaching practises and assumptions (internal theories), since ones practise is strongly shaped by internalized theories. If we want to become better teachers we need (a) a strong belief about what it is we wish to improveour goals, and (b) constant reection and renement directed towards improving these goals.

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2.2.2

Lecture on Personal Theories

Lecture key points: Everyone has some innate ideas and internalized theories on how to teach and learn, whether we admit them r not. It is wise to get to know yourself so that you can adapt your conscious and subconscious theories so that your actions better reect your beliefs and so that you become a better teacher, as least according to your own standards. Even though we know and believe we want to teach in a certain way, often when faced with classroom reality we end up defaulting to a more primitive (often a controller) mode of teaching which upon reection we may abhor. What to do about this? One solution is to capitulate and become the type of teacher we formally despised. Thats an easy option perhaps and probably a very bad idea. Bad for our own spiritual growth and even worse, if we are honest, for the children we teach. A better solution is to accept our failures, learn from them, and work hard to turn our default mode into one we are philosophically comfortable with, which may take many years of practise and trial and failure before we reach satisfactory adaptation. In todays schools it no doubt takes a strong willed and courageous person to act on their own priorities (playfulness, constructivism, student-empowerment) and avoid being sucked in to the vortex of pressure to conform with other peoples priorities (coverage of syllabus, exam grades, orderly or quiet classrooms). What can one say or do about this? Stick to your guns? Sounds ne, but how will this play out in reality when you are stressed and anxious? Will you be able to stick to your plans when even the students rebel against them and want to be spoon fed?

2.3

On Importance of Motivation

To me, motivation is one of the fundamental keys to learning, if not the most important key.

2.3 On Importance of Motivation

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These notes were not part of the Epol-301 course, but they arose during my reections of philosophy of learning. First, I came across an issue of The Journal of Experimental Education entirely devoted to the issue of motivation. How Teachers Can Motivate Without Stress. Whislers article (Whisler, 1991) provides a key. It could be called the Mental Health Model of motivation. In a sense it is very simple. Teachers need to rst make sure they are in a good mental state, and this seems to wash onto students. Here are the main suggestions and ndings: The key is the teachers own state of mental health or level of functioning. We discuss and stress ways that teachers can calm themselves and raise their own mood levels so as to access their own higher levels of consciousness. Some guidelines for accessing and continuing to operate from a state of mental health include staying calm; eliminating or disengaging from thoughts that generate negative feelings; eliminating or disengaging from thoughts that produce stress; monitoring feelings and moods; remembering that students have their own separate realities and are doing the best they can, given how things look to them; not taking students actions and behaviors personally; remembering that students arent bad, just insecure; and maintaining a sense of humor. Teachers discover that, when operating from higher levels of understanding, they feel good about themselves, are relaxed and at ease, and are able to access their own common sensethus responding to their students appropriately as each situation arises. They have more positive beliefs about their students and, more importantly,a higher level of understanding of their students inherent mental health and the availability of their higher, agentic self. They naturally communicate and relate more appropriately and eectively and are able to see things from their students perspectives. This promotes mutual understanding and empathy. As a result, they naturally create a learning environment that fosters mental health in their studentsthat elicits students mental health or higher, agentic self. Students, in turn, feel good about themselves, are interested and motivated to learn, exhibit common sense and the ability to

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make mature judgments, and are creative and productive. Their positive mental health, in turn, reciprocally fosters mental health in their teachers. Again, when functioning from their own mental health or higher self, teachers have common sense and inner wisdom available. Cool. I might add that maintaining a sense of humour might not necessarily mean being a clownish teacher, but instead simply listening to students and laughing along with their wise-cracks and jokes. Whisler concludes: Students who in the past have been viewed as throwaways are seen as inherently healthy and capable of succeeding. Teachers do not need to x them or supply them with self-esteem or motivation. Rather than relying on strategies and tips to rectify a situation, often experiencing frustration and lack of success, teachers can relax, access their own mental health, and, in turn, tap directly into their students higher, agentic self. The result is students displaying their natural curiosity, motivation, and love of learning, and succeeding academically. Although more research is needed to systematically study the effects on students, their motivation, and learning, the model and teacher training intervention presented appears to be encouraging and eective. Wherever we go and share this perspective, we are met with enthusiasm and hope. Teachers who feel stressed, burned out, and unappreciated seem to get back in touch with their initial vision for teachingto make a dierence with their studentsand their deeply held knowing that all students can succeed and be the best they can be. In the same issue of Journal of Experimental Education (Mills, 1991) mentions success in pilot programs for at-risk youth which help the youth access their higher conscious awareness through self-reection. In this model, individuals capacity for consciousness is related to what has been termed metacognition, or the ability to recognize and experience a higher and more natural condition of mental health, that is outside the framework of conditioned ways of thinking. This state of mind is accessed in human beings when they are in a more positive feeling state and seems to be most directly accessible when they recognize a state of unconditional esteem or realize, to greater degrees, non-contingent well-being that comes from within and is not tied to external circumstances or their past.

3. Module 2The Profession of TeachingThe rst topics for the week are professional learning communities and professional relationships. This material will be in written format following an introductory video clip. These topics will be followed by a video presentation on teaching as a profession. Early on we strike some readings that ask whether teaching is a profession or not. This is a dumb question. Who cares! However, we can come at the question from a dierent angle and ask instead, Why might it be important to regard teaching as a profession? And given an answer, is the current status of teaching living up to this importance and if not how can this be remedied?

3.1

Teacher as Professional

This presentation asks what is meant by teaching as a profession and to consider the contested nature of professionalism in teaching. Compulsory readings: (Vossler, 2005), (Groundwater-Smith & Mockler, 2009). Before you listen to the lecture take a few minutes to consider the following (my thoughts in italics): 1. Think about those occupations that are widely acknowledged as being professions (e.g., law and medicine). Make a list of three to ve characteristics that you think professionals share. A profession: (1) Requires substantial higher knowledgeknowledge that moreover requires higher order thinking in practical use and typically requires some devotion and eort in practicecannot be undertaken without considerable devotion of time. (2) Has a code of ethics and associated moral obligations, or 27

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3. Module 2The Profession of Teaching

similar requirements outlining good practise. (3) Has a degree of autonomy and self-determination as a professional collective. 2. Do you think teachers meet this criteria? Yes and no. When teachers are allowed to blindly follow a syllabus then the rst aspect is removed, although most teachers, whether good or bad, devote considerable hours to their work. When teachers ignore the moral obligations towards their students the second aspect is removed, and many teachers are able to function without attending to moral obligationsparticularly when the professional standards are not explicit. State mandated curriculum and assessment means teachers have very little autonomy in New Zealand. So I guess that is a strong score of 0.5 out of 3, but in an ideal world teaching does merit a 100% or 3 out of 3 score as a bona d profession. The question e is, why cant we make teaching more like the ideal?

Notes on Vossler (2005)Is Teaching a Profession? Vossler concludes teaching is currently not set up in New Zealand as a profession. Teachers are more like slaves of the State. Teachers lack autonomy, they lack a professional policy making body independent of government, and they lack a healthy degree of selfdetermination. On Respect for the Profession: Vossler notes teachers are accorded high personal respect, but the profession itself is not often perceived as valued by society, judging for example by teacher salaries. On Autonomy (the lack of): successive neo-liberal agendas have diluted the worth of teaching by removing the freedom and autonomy teachers have in their classrooms. Vossler mentions attitudes conveyed in surveys and anecdotally, indicating teachers are more often expected to deliver a standardized product, and become more like trade practitioners rather than highly skilled and creative knowledge-economy workers. On Teacher Knowledge(pedgagogy and content) is it of a professional nature: No doubt it can be and should be, the question is whether too many teachers are not practising at a suciently advanced and rened level to be justied as showing the exercise of high level professional knowledge. On Disrespect for Theory: Vossler notes that many teachers express a distaste for theory, arguing that the reality of teaching is more about noting experience and accumulated wisdom through practice.

3.1 Teacher as Professional

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My own view is that this attitude tends to result in poor teaching practice. Teachers get lulled into a comfort zone of thinking about what has worked for me as the best practice. More self-critical examination and openness to theory, willingness to experiment, might lead to short term worse performance but longer term higher quality teaching. On Teacher Training: if teachers are merely trained in the skills required to teach then this makes teaching a fairly thin profession. Vosslers notes suggest a higher professional standard might be achieved if teachers are fully and roundly educated in many arts and sciences, rather than just narrowly educated in teaching skills required to survive a rst year of classroom teaching. In New Zealand in the 1990s teacher education degenerated into the technical training mode, and only recently in the late 2000s has revived into a more well-rounded education with a focus on encouraging life-long learning in students using more enlightened pedagogy. Yet in practice the ERO demands and NZQA demands still see too much mere technical practice with little to inspire students. On Dilution of Autonomy: Vossler vastly understates the damage caused by excessive pressures and lack of autonomy. Vossler cites many examples where teacher autonomy and creativity have been stied. These pressures have encroached on the time and inclination of many teachers to develop their own programmes, or have encouraged the wholesale adoption of a range of solutions which have been provided and mandated externally, which may or may not necessarily meet the needs of their particular early childhood service or school. Is Vossler kidding? There simply is no doubt that the pressures mentioned have caused a drastic decline in education and learning overall. Schools and teachers have adapted to cope, but the impact on children has been incredibly unfair. Maybe the chance children have to develop their full potential is no worse than it has eve been, but this is no excuse, we should be living in more enlightened times. The pressures that reduce teacher autonomy simply have to be removed, with some urgency. I would cite research on human motivation, e.g., the research by Dan Pink, which shows that humans are motivated by three fundamental things, (1) autonomy, (2) mastery, (3) purpose. Deny these to teachers and education is in crisis. Material reward turns out to be a motivator only for mechanical repetitive task performance. For any moderately demanding cognitive task the

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three human motivators just mentioned result in (by far) higher quality of performance. On the Consumer Model of Education: parents and children as clients, government and schools as providers, teachers as deliverers. Sounds about right. It is pretty abhorrent and deplorable for an otherwise fairly liberal and enlightened country. On Teacher-proong Education: no doubt this sort of State control occurs in spades. At this point reading the article I got pretty depressed. The main trouble I think is the complete lack of autonomy in the teaching quasi-profession, and hence the almost total lack of creativity in teaching in todays classrooms. Its not that teachers are un-creative, it is that their natural creativity is stied and has to be channelled towards teaching to the assessments. This means teachers are being highly creative in may instances, but the creativity is largely a waste because it is channelled into activities that students nd forced or articial and lacking relevance.

Notes on Groundwater-Smith (2009)Developing Courageous Teachers. In the article (Groundwater-Smith & Mockler, 2009) it is argued that teachers need to be encouraged to show courage in eight essential areas. I add a ninth. 1. The courage to have a concern for procedural justice 2. The courage to engage with teachings moral purpose 3. The courage to be truly professional in undertaking practice 4. The courage to be progressive and take a transformative and liberating stance 5. The courage to tolerate ambiguity 6. The courage to have hope 7. The courage to ask the dicult questions and 8. The courage to propose the challenging solutions 9. The courage to truly empower students


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3.1.1

Current Issues in Secondary Education

There was a fun online Discussion Forum activity. The issue to discuss was roughly as follows. A school has put an expensive iPad on its compulsory stationary items. Much outcry at the cost and educational advantage/disadvantage created by the precedenthaves and have-nots et cetera. The research summarized saying IT is of dubious benet to learning, or at least hasnt been proven as a golden wand for learning just yet. Then an interview pulled from Wired with Steve Jobs who was rubbishing the idea that Apple computers would improve education. He said that schools are mostly not teaching kids anything useful, and computers would only make teaching in schools more ecient at teaching kids useless knowledge. So anyway, the online students gave some typical contributions, such as, Oh, I think computers are over-rated and quality teachers dont need them. To which I replied, Wait a mo, what if you want to teach students about fractals, or uid dynamics, or nd a counter-example to the Riemann Conjecture (lol). . . . But yeah, in all seriousness, let the rich fat cats have their iPads. Well do without. If it really does create a learning divide then the government will use the fat catz tax money to distribute laptops to all kids. No problemo. Then there was a lovely rebuttal of some of my comments by Isaac. He wrote: I nd myself in quite a lot of disagreement with the practicalities of Blairs comments. I dont think NCEA is a system to be subverted, unless you mean summative assessment in general. I believe NCEA is a fantastic system in that it is so exible as to allow us to both motivate and teach at the same time, and I believe it is the teachers job to integrate the various aspects of classroom life including teaching models, assessment and increasingly technology.

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I also reject the dichotomy between studying related to NCEA and real learning that you have presented. What is real learning? Why cant you incorporate both without leaving students to fend for themselves regarding the actual assessments that will aect their grades? If you mean assessment specic areas of knowledge required, where is the evidence that they will be able to incorporate the information by themselves at home? I submit that a teacher that pursues an agenda that is explicitly in the interests of having as little to do with NCEA as possible, and expects students themselves to deal with the aspects of education that keep both the teacher accountable and the students own knowledge of progression, is in fact doing a disservice to the students and the profession. Youve mentioned crap teacherswithout explaining what exactly that meansand thus you cannot expect to be able to accuse teachers who integrate NCEA successfully without also facing the real possibility that attempting to subvert NCEA instead of improving yourself professionally could also be considered crap teaching. Im not saying either, because I dont believe such language is actually helpful in dening what makes a teacher eective or not. It sounds like you have an agenda to teach the way that you want to teach, rather than in a way that will actually promote passing the assessments (like it or not, thats what needs to happen). I would be very cautious about employing your ideas without signicant evidence, particularly in terms of lower-class families, Mori, Pasika, and other under-served demographics of the a educational system, that it actually produces results. Practically, not all students have access to technology outside of school time, so leaving it to students to rely on such technology is not reliable or even ethical. On a relevant level, I dont think we should rely on Life nds a way either. Graphic calculators are all the rage right now, and that started when I was about 14. My family couldnt aord one at the time. They started becoming the foundation equipment for the course. I was a very motivated student, and was unmotivated by everyone else having a technology and me not having it, and the teacher basically left me to work out things like simultaneous equations for myself. If life nds a way, graphic calculators beat life. I nd it dicult to take seriously a lot of the language descriptors and arguments you put up in the absence of any evidence. To which I had to reply: Wonderful response to my insanity Isaac, I really appreciate your


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thoughts. HUGE Cheers 2 u. I hope you realize in these forums we do not have the luxury of writing a thesis and backing up our assertions with references :-) So you need to read my comments and interpret them heavily to make full sense. So I will try to do justice to your criticisms without writing a thesis. 1. You say NCEA is not a system to be subverted. We disagree somewhat. This touches on a lot of other points you made. First I would agree that NCEA is exible in principle, however in school practice I have seen with my own eyes (theres your reference!) that students do not have the choice. Teachers and HODs typically decide what the school will oer and even then the students typically sit in a class with no say whatsoever in the papers they will be allowed to study within the subject choice. They have subject choice only, which is the same choice they had under the older systems. This does not need to be so, but it is the sad reality. I seek to subvert the aspects of NCEA and any summative high stakes qualications system that prevents full student choice. I will return to other aspects of NCEA (and you can certainly feel free to lump into this any other examinations of similar ilk) that I think make it my moral responsibility to try to subvert and undermine (this is not an imperative I demand others follow). Besides all this, cant you imagine a better education system? One without the articiality of high stakes tests? One where students are assessed on an entire portfolio of work or similar? If you can, isnt it morally reprehensible not to try to do something about subverting the current system? Granted, we have to go about this in clever ways that do not wreak havoc with the lives and fortunes of students. Practicalities yes, are a huge issue. I confess I am not a very practical person, but I am not naive about this. It worries me a lot, it causes insomnia and great anxiety in my soul. 2. I agree it is teachers job to integrate the various aspects of classroom life including teaching models, assessment and increasingly technology, but there is also a moral responsibility to go beyond merely teaching students to pass examsI think you agree. 3. What is real learning? Here you need to assume our common knowledge from the VUW Grad.Dip.Ed course. I think we all agree that real learning is associated with deep understanding, something that springs from within a learners mind through desire and motivation for learning. Real learning (whatever else it may be) is something I take for granted occurs when the motive is intrinsic, not motivated by external goals such as grades. However, the two are not mutually exclusive. 4. Why cant you incorporate both (CNEA study and real learning)

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without leaving students to fend for themselves regarding the actual assessments that will aect their grades? I hope we all can incorporate both. But you must be very naive if you think this is easy or even possible in any given school. The prevailing culture is so exam focused that it really gets in the way of what Ive dened as real learning. Again, let me repeat, this need not be so. My examples are drawn from mathematics and science, and you may have a dierent perspective from other subject areas which are in healthier states. I cannot debate you on this without more of a thesis, but from the evidence Ive gathered on TE and from visiting four other schools in my own time, the reality in science and mathematics is depressing. Schools are not listening to what students want to know in these subject areas and NCEA is exacerbating this badly. I invite you to show contrary evidence (which by the way I would love to see and would welcome with open eyes, arms and ears). Ive also interviewed a lot of students, and there are incredibly few, maybe 1%, who do not hate mathematics and science classes. Its not always the teaches they hate. They are smart enough, they know their teachers are hamstrung by exam and curriculum coverage pressures. 5. On leaving students to fend for themselves. . . : this is interesting. I never said I would ever leave students to fend for themselves, but I think you are just provoking me here, which is good :-) In their learning for exams I would indeed leave students alone, in a manner of speaking, and let them ask me to help them. But I would give them all the tools to study of course, and I would always be standing along side ready to help. I think most current research shows the teacher who teaches to the tests is pretty ineective (theres your crap teacher in one sense), and from my own experience over many years of private tutoring (about ten years worth) I fully know that a lot of students achieving Excellence are studying on their own or with a private tutor. Its not really their teacher is crap, thats just my emotive phrase, rather their teachers simply cannot cover the exam topics in real depth, so from 50 min a day in class the students simply cannot cope, they need to study the material for themselves. So like it or not, students have to fend for themselves in a big way under the current system. You can try to prove me wrong, but I know Im right ;-) 6. On the practicalities of my comments. I never said they were practical. I think my ideas are a bit insane. But if they work out then Ill let you know. I am not an experienced teacher and I hope you take my comments in this spirit. I hope to prove to you in a few years that my methods will work wonders. However, already there is a lot of research which shows students learn when they learn for themselves. So you need


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to wake up and see the positive in letting students fend for themselves. I do not advocate leaving students unsupported, and if they truly wanted to study solely to pass NCEA then I would support them 100% in this endeavour. Its just I would rst counsel them on the things they would be missing if they adopted such a narrow focus. NCEA surely works for a few students. It does not help the majority in the way we should hope though. The evidence is almost overwhelming if you just look: pass rates are low in math and science, universities constantly complain at the uncritical and incurious nature of their rst year students. (Universities dont exactly do much more to help, they seem to expect schools to engender curiosity for them). Again, Isaac, please dont complain that Im not supporting these claims with evidence, because I could if you rally wanted it! I will just mention the new University of Minnesota program which leaves students to largely learn on their own or in groups, with the lecturers facilitating. I dont know if they still sit exams, but it doesnt matter because they are learning so much, the exams are merely a piece of paper showing some nominal attainment. The real learning within students minds cannot be fairly assessed by an exam, I hope you will agree. 7. On the proposition that subverting NCEA is poor teaching. Well of course it could be! The way I propose it will almost certainly be fraught with diculties and disruptions. But my long term interests are for the health of students. So some pain is perhaps worth going through. Believe me, I do not play the agent provocateur lightly. If I didnt think the exams and assessments were killing a love of science and mathematics that is latent in just about every child then I would not be ranting so vehemently. The aims of schooling need to be considered, not just some hypotheticals. I would be in total awe of teachers who manage to integrate NCEA focus into whole organic deep learning teaching practise. Maybe it is dierent in other subject areas, but in mathematics and science the evidence is palpable that students are being dealt a harsh blow and their learning is hindered by the manifold ways the exam focused schools stie student creativity and curiosity. Do you really need me to supply evidence? Let me just ask you and anyone who defends NCEA whether there is a single question any any of the past nine years worth of mathematics or science exams that any student would seriously be interested in exploring? You could count the number on one hand probably. So you see, exams are a way of assessing learning, and that is a t purpose, but when they become the focus of study, well, do I need to tell you how

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much harm that causes to cultivating deep understanding? One problem is that the exams are so predictable, they dont encourage students to endeavour to understand things deeply. 7. You wrote: It sounds like you have an agenda to teach the way that you want to teach, rather than in a way that will actually promote passing the assessments (like it or not, thats what needs to happen): doesnt everyone want to teach the way they want to teach? Wouldnt it be immoral and dishonest not to? You must be mad to think otherwise, but I assume you are not. But this is a false dichotomy. I certainly do desire any students under my care to achieve what they wish to achieve, and if that is passing an exam then as I wrote before, this is what I would help them accomplish. My subversive activities are aimed at improving the lot of students who do not want to be constrained by exams. Dont you dare think otherwise! :-) 8. On the remark I would be very cautious about employing your ideas without signicant evidence, particularly in terms of lower-class families,: I will be also cautious. But someone has to start somewhere improving the system. Can I ask you if you are prepared to experiment and take risks? Sure, no one wants to botch up a students life for the sake of a pedagogical experiment. I doubt any school or PRT programme would allow it anyway, there is almost no fear whatsoever since there are so many constraints and bounds in the system to prevent innovative experiments in teaching. Its laughable to think my ideas would be allowed to be applied without scrutiny and supervision (I gather youd agree, but Im just stating this for the record). So while you might be cautious, it behooves some of us to risk more, and yet such are the pressures and regulations one cannot really do too much damage. Another thing, Im not at all sure what you mean about insinuating some hazard for low-income families. . . . I would never make expensive equipment compulsory. If I cannot use IT to help students ace their exams then I will nd other ways. There is no question about this in my mind. Im kinda hurt anyone would think I could be so callous as to wilfully adopt teaching practices that disadvantage lower-income families. 9. So I agree with you completely about the ethics of using technology outside of school. 10. I am sorry your teacher left you to work simultaneous equations out for yourself. That wasnt the technologys fault. One cannot blame the graphic calculator. I am also sorry I was so ippant in my language. I honestly never meant to infer that students who struggle in a class-


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room without technology which other students possessed were too dumb to nd a way. To me this is a case of inhumanity. If all students cannot access the same equipment then any lesson based on the equipment should be canned. I think most of us on this forum agree that the technology does not enhance learning in general, it only makes certain tasks easier or harder, and there is no way that a teacher should ever feel constrained by having to run a lesson that necessitates a certain technology other than the human sensory perceptions. Even a blackboard or whiteboard is often unnecessary, depending upon the topic or mode or learning. My comment about life nding a way simply meant that when someone is at a disadvantage the human spirit seems to nd alternatives, but not that this always works out swell. Im not sure how it worked out in your 14 year old case, but if anything it taught you a great lesson in how not to teach! Am I wrong? Are you not better o for the experience? When since has solving a simultaneous equation been of any great advantage in life? Or when has any lack of practice at solving simultaneous equations done you harm, havent you since gured them out? (Im not trying to be facetious or condescending here.) My point is that if solving this or that really meant anything to you other than an exam grade then I bet ANYTHING you will have gured it out since, and probably in a deeper way than the other students who had the graphics calculators. If not, then I sincerely apologise for my earlier ippant remarks. 11. Isaac, you wrote a stinging last line, I nd it dicult to take seriously a lot of the language descriptors and arguments you put up in the absence of any evidence.: Fair enough. Language descriptors need not be taken too seriously in some of my comments. I do however hope you have fairly assessed the deeper import of my arguments and give me some allowance for withholding full evidence due to the restricted nature of this forum. This is a discussion forum, not a court of law. I hope you can loosen up a bit and take my more extreme remarks with suitably mild milk. However, have you justly appraised the deeper intent of my comments? Surely I wanted to spark some debate and ferment. I did not write anything that I cannot defend of course. But the reply you wrote (and plenty of the other comments I havent yet had a chance to read) were brilliant! I love your thoughts so much Isaac. You have given me a wonderful challenge with which to rene and hone my ideas. So whether you think any dierently about my posts in this forum or not, I thank you from the depth of my heart for your contribution. It really means a

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lot to me to get such thoughtful critical feedback. There was more debate and it was good. Some other issues that arose follow. TWIGTeaching with Immersive Gaming. Neuroscience studies suggest gamebased learning is highly eective. It grows grey matter. The direct cause of grey matter growth is learning, but apparently gaming is a very good way for children to learn. Studies on youth and adults is lacking. Brain BoostersDrugs that Enhance Memory. Ritalin and modanil seem to be drugs that some people are taking to improve their cognitive performance. Modani for example demonstrably focuses the mind and improves memory, planning and reduces impulsivity. The online discussion forum was about the use of computers in schools and the potential this would create a two-tiered education system. If the issue is the cost of the learning enhancements and the fact some kids wont therefore get access, then the use of expensive cognitive enhancing drugs presents another potential for increased educational inequality.

3.2

Professional Learning Communities

Aims of this section: 1. To consider the nature of professional learning communities and professional relationships. 2. To explore factors that impact on teachers contribution to and participation in professional learning communities Among the Registered Teacher Criteria there is a key indicator of one of the professional relationships and professional values criteria, which is that fully registered teachers should: Actively contribute to the professional learning community (New Zealand Teachers Council, 2009) So what is a professional learning community? Read the following chapter (Hipp & Human, 2010) which introduces this concept.

3.2 Professional Learning Communities

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Notes on Hipp (2010)Demystifying Professional Learning Communities. On Shared Values and Goals: a school community cannot be an eective learning community without a shared vision everyone buy into. The leadership cannot be sole dictator, all must feel they have a stake. Improving Student learning: whatever the form and methods, this is the ultimate goal of the school professional learning community. A PLC modus vivendi is thus in brief, improving teacher learning to improve student learning. On Support, Community Collegiality: a superb PLC must have more than simple collegiality, it must go beyond such base ideals and aim for true caring of each member. Supportive conditions are the glue that hold the other aspects [of a PLC] together. On Making Time: to build an eective PLC requires allocating time, time enough to build relationships and get on with progress towards the goal of improving student learning. On Relationships: it takes time, as just noted, but shouldnt a great PLC be so much fun that all involved try their darnedest to make the time? That requires more than great leadership, it requires inspired leadership. The lecture notes add to all this. Other educationalists (reference is cited but not given as Stoll and Fink (1996, p. 151)) also discuss professional learning communities and suggest that eective professional learning communities: Treat teachers as professionals. Promote high quality sta development. Encourage teachers leadership and participation. Promote collaboration for improvement. Develop ways to induct, include and develop new members. Function successfully within their context. Work to change things that matter. Have processes and procedures that elicit trust.

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A similar concept to that of professional learning communities is learning organisations. A learning organisation may be characterised by the following: People feel they are doing something that matters. People feel free to take risks and be creative and innovative. People work collegially and there is mutual trust and respect. The organisation has a shared vision. People work together rather than as individuals. Think about organisations you have been part of either within or outside of the education sector and whether they could be described as learning organisations. Not all educational setting function eectively as professional learning communities. According to one author1 , organisations learn if they can detect and correct errors (individually and collectively) and if the practices they use to do this become embedded in the culture of the organisation. Organisational culture can be described as the way things are done around here or as beliefs, values, habits, and assumed ways of doing things2 . There can be a mismatch between the observable aspects of culture, the values that are espoused or articulated and the underlying beliefs held by people in the organisation. Reection Activity. My comments in italics. Reect on what you believe are the important indicators of professional learning communities in your sector. Fun and eager awaiting to attend sta or departmental meetings. Wonderful camaraderie. Tangible benets to teaching practise and student learning. A sense of being part of something way bigger than yourself. Reect on and think of examples of how the educational settings you went to on your teaching experience tted with the indicators you have described. There was a will, but drowned by pressures and a rushed uninspired syllabus. Glimpses of inspirational leadership, but the better leaders were in subordinate positions unable to gain wide support. There were faint, dim, glimpses of fun at meetings, mostly from jokes and wise-cracks. Often however sta meetings were seen as obligations, or necessary business, rather than opportunities for inspiration.1 2

Cited as Cardno (2010) but not referenced. Cited as (Hargreaves, 1994, p.165) but not referenced.


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3.2.1

Professional Relationships

The nature of the professional relationships between teachers is an important indicator of an eective teaching culture sometimes known as a critical teaching culture. Within eective teaching cultures the following may occur: Teachers regularly discuss practice in terms of current theory and research. Opportunities are provided at meetings to share understandings and discuss issues. Teachers regularly give each other honest and constructive feedback. Reading, joining in professional discussion and taking part in professional development are encouraged and expected. There is a willingness to accept new ideas and make changes when appropriate. People feel comfortable to disagree with one another and challenge each others views. Engagement in appropriate professional relationships is an expectation for a registered teacher. The rst criteria under Professional relationships and professional values states: 1. Establish and maintain eective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all konga. a The key indicator of this is: Engage in ethical, respectful, positive and collaborative relationships with: akonga; teaching colleagues, support sta and other profession als; whanau and other carers of konga; agencies, groups and individuals a in the community. (New Zealand Teachers Council, 2009).

3.2.2

Strategies for Developing and Maintaining Professional Relationships

Developing and maintaining professional learning communities is all about relationships. According to the literature, there are a number of skills that are necessary to build and maintain eective professional relationships. These include:

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Building trust. Having open-to-learning conversations. Giving and receiving feedback. Coaching or taking the role of a critical friend. Building Trust. The importance of developing trust in professional learning communities has been emphasised by (Hargreaves, 2007) who suggests that an atmosphere of trust allows emotional issues to be surfaced. Four interpersonal qualities: respect; integrity; competence; and consideration for others inuence how trustworthy others nd us (Robinson, 2007). Trust is developed when relationships are characterised by reliability and honesty (Hunter, Bailey, & Taylor, 1999). The impact of an absence of trust is shown in the following diagram (Fig.3.1) by Lencioni taken from his book Five dysfunctions of a team (Lencioni, 2002). Elaborating on these:

Figure 3.1: Five dysfunctions of teams.


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Absence of trust stems from team members being unwilling to be vulnerable within the group. Team members who are not genuinely open with each other about their mistakes and weaknesses make it impossible to build a foundation for trust. Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unltered and passionate debate of ideas. Instead, they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments. Lack of commitment results when debate is not passionate and open. Because of a lack of commitment, team members develop an avoidance of accountability. Failure to hold one another accountable can lead to inattention to results. This happens when the needs of individuals come before the needs of the team. Reection ActivityTeams. How does this model t with your experience of teams or relationships you have been part of? Use any form of team or relationship for your reection not necessarily one in an education context. It pretty much ts perfectly in both positive (good teams have trust) and negative (poor teams lack trust) experiences. Though there are shades of grey and the cause of initial distrust can vary greatly. Sometimes it can stem from misunderstanding and can be repaired. Sometimes distrust is just endemic and would require almost rebooting the team entirely to repair. Sometimes it requires two or more team members to thoroughly change their personality, which is not easy. Strategies for building trust. Building trust requires shared experiences over time, multiple instances of follow-through and credibility, and an in-depth understanding of the unique characteristics of team members. It is important that the leader demonstrates genuine vulnerability in order to build trust.3 If trust exists in a learning community then it is more likely that robust conversations (unltered and passionate debate of ideas in Lencionis words) will occur. In the School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration (Robinson, Hohepa, & Lloyd, 2009), the concept of open-to-learning conversations is discussed. The following chart explains the guiding values and key strategies behind such conversations. (Table 3.1).3

Cited as (Lencioni, 2002) but not referenced.

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Table 3.1: The guiding values and strategies of an open-to-learning conversation (from: Robinson, Hohepa & Lloyd, 2009, P. 193).Guiding values Increase the validity of information. (Information includes: thoughts, opinions, reasoning, inferences, and feelings.) Key strategies Disclose the reasoning that leads to your views. Provide examples and illustrations of your views. Use the ladder of inference. Treat your own views as hypotheses rather than taken-for-granted truths. Seek feedback and disconrmation. Listen deeply, especially when views dier from you own. Expect high standards and constantly check to see how you are helping others reach them. Share control of the conversation, including the management of conversations. Share the problems and the problem solving process. Require accountability for collective decisions. Foster public monitoring and review of decisions.

Increase respect. Treat others as well-intentioned, interested in learning, and capable of contributing to your learning.

Increase commitment. Foster ownership of decisions throug

Documents

Epol301 Course Notes - The Teacher in Context