Leonie Weavers Learning Blog

I have used Andrews (1990) definition of  interdisciplinary collaboration as occurring "when different professionals, possessing unique knowledge, skills, organizational perspectives, and personal attributes, engage in coordinated problem solving for a common purpose" (cited in Berg-Weger &. Schneider, 1998). When reflect on the  interdisciplinary collaboration I currently undertake, I have a wide range of connections.  However, these connections are defined for specific purposes through a narrow lens. To explain this further, the public health nurse comes to our school to work with specific children rather than using her expertise in other areas, for example to support our learning in science. When I think of potential interdisciplinary collaboration, I believe it is important to make those connections to local people. In our local area, there is a local group of athletes who are wanting to create a marathon.  This group of people are trying to re-en...

As a school, we use social media in a variety of ways - to connect to others, to find out information from experts, and to share our learning and understandings. When considering the benefits of social media, I think that it depends on the purpose. Firstly, social media has provided opportunities for us, as West Coasters, to connect to others within New Zealand and beyond.   Twitter and edmodo have been used as part of Chapterchat and NZreadalound projects that our classes have been part of.  In agreement with Sharples and others (2016) in   Innovating Pedagogy 2016: Open University Innovation Report 5 , this social media has provided opportunities for our learners to draw on the experiences of others.  Furthermore, we have found this an effective way to collaborate with classes within New Zealand and across the world.   Learners find this highly engaging. This was particularly evident  when learners took part in a global project through edmo...

I think when considering an ethical dilemma that I am likely to face in the further, the use of social media is the one that springs to mind.  The dilemma  in the Teacher Ethics Video (2016) by Cenelearning,  I think is all too real.  I agreed with Hall’s ideas that teachers need to conduct themselves in ethical ways and they need to be accountable for their actions.  I think the challenge is that we communicate digitally and publicly. That’s ok, until... it isn’t.    So here is the issue: a staff member posts images of themselves intoxicated on facebook with the comment needed a blow out after a tough week at school, they have parents of the school as friends who see the images.  The questions to consider are: Is it ok for teachers to have parents as friends? Is it ok for teachers to post intoxicated images on facebook?  However, on the other hand, teachers have a right to a private life, and the drinking was outside of school hours. ...

I subscribe to the understanding that cultural responsiveness is using learners experiences, perspectives and characteristics as part of your teaching and learning (Gay, 2001).  Additionally, using the Effective Teacher Profile ( Bishop & Berryman, 2009 ) supports the how of being culturally responsive in the classroom. I thinks that the challenge is, in order to truly be culturally responsive, it requires you to truly know yourself, your bias and your assumptions and ultimately have the emotional intelligence to know how this affects you in your setting and in your decision making.  I have decided to use the Mauri Model (Potahu, 2011) to reflect on how proactive our practice is in regards to the levels of Mauri as I feel that I want to reflect on the engagement of stakeholders..       When reflecting on the teaching and learning opportunities that we provide at my school, I believe that we ensure that  teachers care about the performance of the...

When considering the trend that I feel has a major impact of my practice is the changing nature of families.  Several aspects of the OECD Trends Shaping Report section Family Matters (2016)  resonated with potential impacts on the practices within our school.   I agree with the OECD Trend Shaping Report (2016) that family structures are changing and it’s our job as schools to ensure that all learners feel comfortable about their family and have equalibitle access to the curriculum.   Learners come to school with a kete of knowledge, understandings and skills and all whanau have different experiences and expectations that influence their child and their learning and therefore our school.    At my school we have noticed an increase in solo parent families and mixed families.  This is supported by the Census 2013 data says that the number of  the increased number of children in one parent households with  most parents in families of...

My school community including socioeconomic factors. My school was established in 2005 following on from a District Network Review merging five 1 and 2 teacher schools merged into one school with an additional site in another location. The two sites are approximately 18 kilometres apart.  Thus, joining 7 small distinct communities into one school.  Feeling all cohorts are part of our community is a focus of the strategic plan.  In addition, the one morgan (Wilson, 2013) approach resonated me one as focus is one school on two sites.  This challenge still needs to continue to be a focus at my school.  As my school is a decile 5, the school has students from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds.  Other than census data, the school doesn’t hold any specific statistical data other than knowing all the families within the school community.   At my school some correlations concur with the  American Psychological Association (2016) statements linkin...