Redesigning and Redefining

The journey down a more digital pathway through the all-encompassing world of e-learning means you have the opportunity to really get creative.  Not just in a literal sense.  Yes, I can design my new blog, create new-Google-fied versions of my planning and show links (cyber and the traditional kind) between my Blog and my planning, but it also gives me the opportunity to rebrand myself and the way I think of myself as a teacher.

Redefining the way we do things means opening doors to new practices and asking questions about what we do and why and for whose benefit.  The more we do this, the more I realise the implications and potential benefits for students of redetermining what our roles as facilitators and educators and 'planners' could be.

What a wonderful world it would be, where our planning was user-friendly, relevant, real and done once.  Once for me, for the kids, for ERO, my lead teacher, Principal and Board of Trustees.  Where my taskboard is my weekly plan and the kids can access the learning through a clickable link.  And where we co-create classrooms to be learning environments for our students where they are working harder than the teacher, taking charge of their learning.  This would mean knowing their goals, knowing how to (with guidance) create a pathway towards locating the information they need, progressing through the learning steps at their pace (more quickly - driven by their enthusiasm), where they don't have 'down-time' in the classroom because they know what they are going on to next and how to get there and where the students are actively making links between the goals they have set and the journey they are driving to get there.  Why should I be the only one with the reins?  Don't they have a better idea of the importance of what they do to their future?  If not? Why not?

It's a bit intimidating, beginning this journey, as it opens so many doors that it can be tempting to shut them all and go and stand 'at the front of the class where I belong'.  It's time for a change though.

From the Beginning

It is my wish for my practice to become mindful.  To be clear on what I'm trying to achieve as a big picture in our classrooms and to move closer towards this ideal in everything I do.  It is my wish to look around my room and see visible learning - in the actions and activity and language of our students, in my planning, in the displays and in the discussions the children have with their whanau.  It is my wish that several times a day either myself or the kids will pause and smile and exclaim - "This would be great for our blog!" and snap a picture to add to it.  

I'm excited about the possibilities - excited about the profession of teaching again.  Taking our learning and making it thoughtful.  Making regular and timely links between my professional learning and our classroom practices.  Which tools are we using now to enhance our learning and what pedagogy has provided the foundation for this?  It's my wish to use this Professional Journal to make greater and more implicit links between what really interests me in education:

*Leadership - how is leadership visible in classrooms/schools/communities? How does this impact on our students.

*Motivation and Engagement - how can we ensure our students remain passionate about their learning and begin to guide this with greater input themselves?

*Communication, community and citizenship - what builds a great community?  How can we engage with our community to ensure schools remain important parts of the community and utilize our communities to enhance our student's in school learning and wider world learning?

This is exciting!  What a great road.  What a great journey!