Kia ora tātou this is a brief overview of my Mind lab journey. Though it has been a lot of work I would actively encourage participation in the course. An agile solution to a Trickey problem? My mind bubbles when I think about all the potential inquiries and tangents that I could explore due to my Mindlab journey. An issue in my practice is often I look for the new and exciting and embrace it without fully understanding what it is. The idea of failing fast is not always the best practice for the classroom. I really enjoy talking about changes in my practice with others and me and colleagues are in a constant cycle of reflection. Two inquiries that I am thinking about looking at are: “How can Agile Methodology be applied to the classroom to effectively increase students self-management?” Or “How can gamification be effectively used to increase skill mastery in Mathematics?” These topics may be helpful for my community of practice (COP). #Bafflegitimize is a cross-curricular professional learning group that I belong to in my school. Our domain of interest is increasing student engagement in the classroom. We have regular meetups in a work setting, informally and digitally. When we meet we spend time talking about what we notice in our classroom common problems we have experienced with our learners and what we new strategies we have tried. It can be difficult to meet due to some members being part-time and the busy nature of our work but we are a tight and non-judgemental team with the best in mind for our learners. I am often viewed as the one who seems to be trying out something new and the group would label me as “future-focused”. I do not know if the community of practice would be so receptive to these inquiries. Due to the changing nature of our workplace words like “agile” and “gamified” can often be seen as fad like. Like everything else, this too will pass. We have used Kahoot, Quizlet and other learning games but they have their limitations and students can quickly tune out. Learning sometimes has to have the necessary academic rigour is also a critique that has been levelled at these concepts. I also know that my COP is willing to attempt the new and would love to see how they could possibly develop the practice in their classroom. Being a cross-curricular group will it work in subjects like Dance, Spanish, ESOL, PE and Economics? It actually surprised me when I started looking at the idea of the Agile classroom that there is so much research out there. The beautifully entitled paper referenced at the bottom talks about the friction between cyclical and transformative change and this echoes deep within my COP. We struggle to let go of old systems and feel there is a value in them. I think another important thing for my COP to understand is that the Agile methodology is not about technology but it has humans at the core of its method. Imagine how much improvement we could make within our weekly retrospectives both as a team and our students. As for gamification, we could see more of a need for this in mastering Maths skills. It is very interesting to read about the use and success of the Math Land project on students with Emotional and Behavioural issues. Though from the research it does seem to lend itself to skill mastery well would it result in the deep learning we may require from our students? So I guess it is time to think about which pathway I will venture down and how many of #bafflegitimize will travel with me. Personally, I am very excited by this journey into the unknown and know where ever I am heading student engagement is the aim. ~Duncan Trickey References
https://www.worldgovernmentsummit.org/api/publications/document?id=2b0d6ac4-e97c-6578-b2f8-ff0000a7ddb6 Explorations into becoming new, radical, and quite possibly dangerously progressive within an Aotearoa New Zealand contextDunham, Nicola; Owen, Hazel; Heta-Lensen, Yo https://medium.com/laboratoria/the-agile-classroom-embracing-an-agile-mindset-in-education-ae0f19e801f3 https://www.infoq.com/articles/agile-schools-education Bozarth, J. (2017). Nuts and Bolts: Communities of Practice. Retrieved from https://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/2400/nuts-and-bolts-communities-of-practice Cambridge, D., Kaplan, S. & Suter, V. (2005). Community of practice design guide: A Step-by-Step Guide for Designing & Cultivating. Retrieved from https://net.educa use.edu/ir/library/pdf/NLI0531.pd…
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Seven months ago, I just stepped in my dream postgraduate University. Although I do like the free study environment and experienced and admirable teachers there, I don’t like the city. That city is known for being extremely humid in summer and cold in winter. I didn’t want to bear the terrible weather for too long, so I decided to escape from that city for a period of time. At that time, there was a notice that said we were welcome to apply to do our internship in New Zealand next year. When I first saw the message, I knew this was my chance. After several rounds of competition, strict training and going through a series of formalities, finally I got the chance. I have to say I didn’t know that this decision would make such a big change to my life. ![]() The first city I met here was Christchurch, where the Confucius institution is located. We had more training there to help us adapt to the local teaching model. I still remember the last day when the training finished, the mandarin learning assistants (MLA) who were based in Christchurch got picked up by their homestays one by one. My friends and I helped to put their luggage in their homestays’ car, at that time I was so worried about the homestay I would face tomorrow. I thought they wouldn’t welcome me too much, because I didn’t get any message from them until the last day before I arrived Dunedin. I found I was totally wrong. After a long bus ride, I arrived Dunedin at a sunny afternoon. My homestay and his two kids were there waiting for me, my lead teacher was there too. Those are first bunch of wonderful people I met who have made this year so amazing to me. What the most moving thing is for me is that my homestay chooses to share their life with me and treat me as part of the family members while they don’t have to. They bought me to all kinds of family activities. The most impressive one is Sunday morning breakfast with all family members in Dunedin, through which I see the passing down of love and care from one generation to another. To be honest, I was not an outdoor person, but they are totally an outdoor family. With them, I saw lots of beautiful sceneries around this area, and they also teach me what a good parent should be like through their actions I see every day. There’s no word can describe how lucky I am to stay with them. The only thing I think I could do to reward their kindness is to be a kind person and care about people around me. There is a saying goes like “the world is a book, those who don’t travel read only one page.” During my spare time, I traveled around the country. Because I can’t drive in New Zealand, I always travel by bus. It’s impressive how intercity drivers drive. They can drive while introducing passengers the places of interest all the way! They would stop and let you have a short visit at some of the scenic spots along the way as well. I think that most of the history of New Zealand I have learned from those knowledgeable drivers. When you travel, you will see this country is full of natural beauties and people here really cherish it and have done a great job to protect the environment. Certainly, they get paid back, people from every corner of the world pay lots of money to see the beauty of the country. People value honesty and transparency so much here. There’s not such a thing like compulsory tips for waiters, guides, or drivers, because they think it’s their employer’s duty to offer them a decent salary rather than the people who use their service. Several month ago, I left my kindle at a backpacker by mistake in Te Anau. I thought I must lost it, but the receptionist contacted me as soon as they found it after they cleaned up my bed, and only charged me 5 dollars for post fee. In a word, living in this country, you will have a strong sense of security for people trust each other. The cultural diversity also makes it a very unique country. Beside strong European culture, Maori culture is also highly valued. Once I had an opportunity to experience a Marae trip with year 10 girls in our school, we slept together on the floor with our sleeping bag at night. When all lights were off and everybody stopped talking, the sound of sea wave miles away got so soft and clear in the air. The Māori teacher started to tell us the story of early Māori settlers. The culture inheritance process was so natural and solemn, which inspired me a lot. There are lots of things make me feel great to stay here of which I can’t list them all. People say thank you to bus drivers when they get off the bus, people say hello or smile to each other when they meet on the road, supermarkets offer free fruit for kids, drivers always give way to pedestrians, and animals are also equally respected and protected as lives who share the living environment with us ect. If I have to give a title to this country, I would say it is a distant utopia in my mind.
~Betty Pu |
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