Professional Learning Journey

Fresh out of the Graduate Diploma of Teaching and Learning, I was not prepared for the 1:1 digital immersion classroom I was in charge of as this transcended anything that we covered at uni!The first staff meeting with the Manaiakalani Outreach teacher challenged my thoughts about the importance of using pen and paper before moving onto a device, and I think I argued with him about children being unable to write! However, through the weekly Outreach Support sessions, my teaching philosophy was pulled apart, challenged and questioned. I realised that a teaching philosophy is never set in concrete - it is always changing, always evolving and always up for revamping. So I learnt alongside the students. The Manaiakalani Pedagogy is so much more than a cybersmart session - the kaupapa and affordances that are offered to all students allow for success on different levels. Five years later, I am a Leader of Learning.. who is doing the most of the Learning! And today, I am sitting with a group...

The staff meeting this week allowed us to look back on our teaching before and after the introduction of the Manaiakalani Pedagogy. Although my teaching career started in a Manaiakalani school, there were so many things that I had to pick up that weren't even mentioned at Teacher's College. The rewindable learning that came with the use of chromebooks in the classroom, paired with the digital affordances makes me wonder how people manage without  being in a digitally immersed class! We spent some time review what the four Manaiakalani kaupapa were (Connected, Ubiquitous, Visible, Empowered) and which we would want to introduce to a potential new teacher to our cluster and the Manaiakalani Pedagogy. What is Empowerment? To answer this question, this is what four teachers from my school put together as our 'Sales Pitch'.... (Due to time constraints, the animation is not 100% to my liking. However, it did give me an idea as to how some children may feel when they have to c...