Yvonne MacKinnon's Reflective Musings

What? Indigenous knowledge, as I understand it, is the collection of values, beliefs, perceptions and traditions that constitute the culture of the native inhabitants of a particular area. With that said, according to Jacqueline Jordan Irvine (Teaching Tolerance, 2010), we need to be mindful that indigenous peoples have this knowledge to varying degrees depending on their connection to their culture. To be a culturally responsive educator, is to attempt to see the world through the eyes of each of our tamariki, and help them to connect that which needs to be learned to the cultural ideas and values they are most familiar with (Teaching Tolerance, 2010). The demographic in my context is 50% Pasifika and 30% Maori with the remaining learners identifying as Asian, Middle Eastern and N.Z. European. As luck would have it, one of my colleagues worked alongside Dr Ann Milne for some years at Kia Aroha College; she has now spent the past four years guiding the team at Prospect School in...

What? I had a conversation with my sister recently that went a bit like this: Sister: I’m thinking about taking the boys out of school and putting them in private school. Me: Are you insane? Sister: Maybe. I just feel I would then have paid to constantly annoy their teachers about their progress, and wouldn’t feel so bad about it. What do you think? Me: That it kind of depends on what you send them to school for. Is it so you can track their reading and maths levels (to the point where you know the curriculum progressions better than some teachers) or is it so they develop as well-rounded humans who learn who they are, what they like and how to engage with the rest of the other humans we are surrounded with daily? This conversation basically sums up why I think we go to school. The current focus on the development of personal skills in students (Daggett, 2014), speaks loud and clear to me, and is something always at the forefront of my teacher-brain. As our world cont...

Descriptive My biggest shift in Social Media use has been my professional learning through social networking on Google +, from the sharing of our in-class experiences across NZ, and the rich discussions that have occurred as we engage in this Mindlab journey together. I have also crossed the great divide and connected with the global Hapara Educator Google + community in order to upskill myself in the creation/management of my digital classroom. My next step could be to jointly collaborate on a project outside my immediate environment (Starkey, 2012); possibly something a bit more meaningful for me intellectually than the Zooniverse projects I have simply contributed to. Comparative Using the Social Media Tool Survey highlighted for me that I seem to be stuck using the same old tools I am familiar with and that these are very similar to the ones almost everyone else seems to be using. The highest percentages were for tools such as social and content networking,...

With a whole-school focus on development of learner agency, outlined in our 2018 strategic planning, I attempted to ‘Flip’ my Year 5/6 digital classroom at the beginning of this year. Students had 1:1 access to Chromebooks supplied by the school. The aim was to develop Rangatiratanga in our learners; the self-determination required to drive their learning journey (Bishop & Verleger, 2013). I was really excited at the start and spent a considerable amount of time creating and sourcing suitable material to support their learning. However, I noticed very quickly that the enthusiasm from the students began to wane after the first few weeks and there was an increase in the amount of students who seemed reluctant to participate in the in-class learning. Following much classroom discussion, I unearthed access issues for students at home. I had asked about ease of internet access beforehand but perhaps some learners were reluctant to say in front of peers that they had none. I also made...

Using Jay and Johnson’s (2002) critical reflection model, I examine proposed inquiry topics within my Community of Practice (CoP). Description: I am currently part of many CoP; working collaboratively with a shared purpose and vision in mind, building our understanding and identity as we go, often morphing into elements no one individual could have determined from the outset (Wenger, 1998). The CoP I turn to, to guide my inquiry of choice, is my Mindlab support group consisting of past, current and future (hopefully) Mindlab students. The key difference between this CoP and the Community of Learning (CoL) I am part of leading, is choice. We are part of a CoL due to geographic location, however, the members of my Mindlab CoP freely participate in the joint enterprise of leading the educational change required to build learners for the future through their combined drive, passion and collective resources (Wenger, 2000). We meet regularly to discuss, share, reflect and move our colle...

Examination of changes to future-oriented practice, guided by prompts in Gibbs’ Model for Reflection (1988). Description Of late, I’ve been re-thinking what I have chosen to hold dear for quite some time; the assessment of the individual. Having spent years developing Assessment for Learning practices, leading learning on making accurate OTJs, building school-wide systems of learning progressions, etc. it has really challenged me to ask some tough questions, like… “How did I teach for so long without spending much time on assessing the input of a collective?”. Feelings Changing focus to encompass collaboration on a wider scale has necessitated new learning whilst I reconcile the Yvonne of old with the new me in the classroom. Given that I ultimately will lead others in this direction, I need to be able to articulate the ‘Why?’ of collaboration, the benefits for our tamariki and how we translate that into accurate assessment information for students, whānau and the powers-t...