Tuesday 8 November 2016

Mindlab Session 2: Pre-session Readings

What:
As a part of our preparation for sessions, we need to do readings and view videos (a flipped classroom - front-loading first so we can discuss in class).  One of the readings for this week had a section that resonated with me.

The reading was entitled: 

Towards Reconceptualising Leadership: The Implications of the Revised New ZealandCurriculum for School Leaders

According to Wynne (2001), the literature on teacher leadership offers a profile that defines teacher leaders as those who:
  1. demonstrate expertise in their instruction and share that knowledge with other professionals
  2. are consistently on a professional learning curve
  3. frequently reflect on their work to stay on the cutting edge of what is best for children
  4. engage in continuous action research projects that examine their effectiveness
  5. collaborate with their peers, parents, and communities, engaging them in dialogues of open inquiry/action/assessment models of change
  6. become socially conscious and politically involved
  7. mentor new teachers
  8. become more involved at universities in the preparation of pre-service teachers
  9. are risk-takers who participate in school decisions. (Wynne, 2001, pp. 2–3)
So what:
I found myself wondering how I match up against each one:
  1. I feel that I have a good knowledge across the core subject areas (expertise). I regularly share my knowledge with my colleagues, sometimes formally (in a workshop or staff meeting) and sometimes informally in discussions, where people will come and ask questions.
  2. I am constantly wanting to upskill myself. I do this formally through workshops and conference (plus this Mindlab Post-grad diploma) and informally through internet searches and readings (Twitter is a good place to find links to research and blogs).
  3. I think this PLJ is a testament to my reflections and attempts to constantly better my practice.
  4. Number four continues from the previous point. I am involved with teacher inquiry into second language learning with Auckland University, who is contracted to complete this research by the Ministry of Education.
  5. For number five, I definitely do this with my peers, but I am not strong at collaborating with parents and the wider community to bring about models of change.
  6. I am socially and politically involved as y Twitter feed will demonstrate.
  7. I do this formally in my role as a tutor teacher for a first-year teacher, and informally in conversations where I share ideas and answer queries.
  8. Berkley is a 'Normal' school, meaning that we have a constant stream of pre-service teacher through our rooms. I have been an associate teacher to over 60 student teachers.
  9. I am a risk taker in my teaching, but as a Scale-A in a large school, I don't feel that I have the opportunity to partake in school decision making, although I endeavour to do so in my team.
What now:
I was pleased with the way I stacked up in this list with, 'collaborate with their peers, parents, and communities, engaging them in dialogues of /action/assessment models of change' being the only area where I felt a real deficit. Having said that, I'm not sure that this is an area where I am open to change yet. My experience with parents being involved in engaging in dialogue about models of change, has been with parents who are centred on their own children only and have often come from years of feeling that their child has been disadvantaged. The majority of parent interaction I engage in is from parents who are really happy with the current model and want things to continue in this way.

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