Meg's Mindlab Musings

What fascinated me about the concept of ‘interdisciplinary studies’ is that it has been around since the 1920s (Mathison & Freeman, 1997), and appeared in the 1930s with advocates attempting “curriculum integration through joint teacher planning and block scheduling” (Jones, 2009). This really doesn’t sound that different to what we strive for in our classrooms today with the introduction of pod/collaborative/MLE (the list of names goes on...) teaching, and our range of integrated-curriculum inquiry models!  A common thread in support of this type of teaching and learning is that the skills learnt transcend curriculum knowledge. The greatest benefits of an interdisciplinary approach are that it encourages group work, synthesising information and disciplines, collaboration, participation, a sense of community and personal growth; it requires skills to adapt, analyse, organise and interpret information; and it can ultimately foster independent, confident individuals who develop ...

Social media can be an effective tool for engaging with learners and communicating with parents, whanau and communities. Teachers who model good social media use will grow learners who apply positive, respectful values in their interactions on social media platforms. - Education Council, New Zealand Social Media Map Infographic On the New Zealand Ministry of Education website there is a page that provides information for parents about their Facebook and Twitter accounts. It seems even the Ministry is ‘getting connected’... and yet, the use of social media in my practice is something that I struggle with. I am not a big user of social media personally; I have a Facebook account, that I hit the odd ‘like’ button on, but other than that I delight in my internet anonymity! The creation of this blog, and the interactions within the Google+ community for this Mindlab course have been a big step outside my comfort zone. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good discussion or reflect...

Technology and the Workforce Technology is accelerating progress but causing discontinuities, (National Intelligence Council, 2017). The rate of technological change in our world is skyrocketing! The effect of innovation and productivity this has had on the global workforce is exciting, but requires change in our education systems to prepare our students for this brave new world. The Economist puts it rather bluntly: “When education fails to keep pace with technology, the result is inequality. Without the skills to stay useful as innovations arrive, workers suffer - and if enough of them fall behind, society starts to fall apart.” In fact, state-funded universal schooling was initially a reaction to the Industrial Revolution and the need for workers to support that. Automation in factories saw a new shift in education, bringing with it the surge of college graduates. Now, with the growing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics threatening a vast number of...

School Culture Schein (1985), describes an organisation’s culture to be, “the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation.” A school’s culture is shaped by many things: it’s history; it’s external context, such as what the community and parents views are, and societal changes; and the internal context - who the teachers and pupils are (Stoll, 1998). I can see the influences of all these things shaping the school culture at the school I work. The culture the school strives for is inclusive and (as the first thing stated on its website!), high achieving. Ways the school fosters this culture is: Te Whare Putake, the Maori immersion unit Weekly huis for the Maori community to attend informal open days   presentation of certificates at assemblies However, this is a culture under scrutiny at the moment as we are looking at implementing growth mindset practices into the school, which has led to discussions around th...

What is a Community of Practice? As described by Wenger-Trayner (2015 ) “communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” Communities of practice (COP) define competence as we develop a shared understanding of what the community is about, and our colleagues hold us accountable for what is considered good practice. Wenger (2000) refers to this as joint enterprise . Two other elements help define a COP: mutual engagement, which refers to the interactions between the community that establishes norms and builds relationships; and shared repertoire, which are the “communal resources” or shared practice that the community develop (Wenger, 2000, p.229).   My Communities of Practice As a teacher, I belong to a number of COP, starting with the school I teach at. We have a school-wide vision with a focus on the emotional and academic well-being of our students. As a com...