Week 25 - Act on My Plan!
4th February 2019
This week I sent out information letters to the whanau of my Year 12 class to inform them of my intention to implement flipped learning into my course over a period of 6-8 weeks. I created the letter and sent it home via the students in class as I had concerns about the reliability of it reaching them if posted (I know that for me it can sometime take me a week or two to open post based on how busy I am and how urgent it looks). The letter was meant to open communication with whanau about a potentially sensitive matter, namely no access to technology at home and to encourage openness to express similar and other related concerns.
I also got my boys to write a pre-test to test their writing skills (diagnostic before implementing writing strategies via flipped learning).
At this stage, I feel positive and apprehensive about the actions I have taken. Reaching out to whanau is not something I have done often (certainly not in this context). While I'm excited about the flipped learning initiative, I'm apprehensive that whanau will come back with concerns around unfair expectations of their boys and how this might impact their son in my class. Having researched the ethical ramifications of Kura Kaupapa Maori and in particular, being conscious to not come across as superior or condescending, I question whether the tone of my letter and the information presented/requested will be well received or not. I also hope that all the boys in my class actually gave the letters to their whanau, as their responses will directly indicate to me whether to go ahead with the learning strategy. As it is, the day after I asked the boys to give the letter to their parents, not all had and some admitted to still having them 'stuffed' into their bags. Other concerns might be that parents do not want their son to be spending any more time on a device at home, for school or otherwise.
The diagnostic pre-test, however, was successful. I had 100% engagement from the boys to produce a sample of writing in a set time. All the boys adhered to the requirements of the task and wrote solidly for the allotted time. From this, I could see (using the AsTTle writing rubric) that the boys were writing consistently at Level 6 of the curriculum with a few exceptions on either side of that. Grammatical conventions and spelling were good and not of any major concern across the board. The structure of writing (sentences and paragraphs) required the most attention as did the development of ideas. This was very helpful as I now know exactly which elements of writing to focus on in my flipped learning. I'm glad about this too as teaching developing ideas will require deep discussion in class which I'm expecting the flipped learning to promote, hence it being part of my hypothesis.
Due to my concerns about the letter, I have decided to phone each family I have not received a response from by the end of the week. I'm hoping this will meet with the Kura Kaupapa Maori principles and that whanau will feel valued and considered due to the direct, non-threatening contact.
Looking back on this week I feel that all-in-all, things have gone well. I feel that I have overcome potential obstacles with whanau voice and that my boys are engaged in the possibility of learning to improve aspects of their writing. I think this is largely due to me adopting an agile and transformational leadership style that has given them (students and whanau) a voice in the process, which has "emphasized the quality of the relationship between leader and follower through ethical role-modeling, motivation, and care for individual needs" (Bass, 1997). I have also noticed how more than half of the class have identified as early adopters,"high levels of education and a reasonable approach to risk" (interaction design foundation, n.d.) , seeing the potential that could come from the innovation but not too concerned if it does not work as they already have a strong belief in their own ability.
Refrences:
Bass, B.M. & Riggio, R.E. (2006). Transformational Leadership (Second Edition), Routledge
Ministry of Education. (2010). Tū Rangatira: Māori Medium Educational Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leadership-development/Key-leadership-documents/Tu-rangatira-English
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/understanding-early-adopters-and-customer-adoption-patterns
4th February 2019
This week I sent out information letters to the whanau of my Year 12 class to inform them of my intention to implement flipped learning into my course over a period of 6-8 weeks. I created the letter and sent it home via the students in class as I had concerns about the reliability of it reaching them if posted (I know that for me it can sometime take me a week or two to open post based on how busy I am and how urgent it looks). The letter was meant to open communication with whanau about a potentially sensitive matter, namely no access to technology at home and to encourage openness to express similar and other related concerns.
I also got my boys to write a pre-test to test their writing skills (diagnostic before implementing writing strategies via flipped learning).
At this stage, I feel positive and apprehensive about the actions I have taken. Reaching out to whanau is not something I have done often (certainly not in this context). While I'm excited about the flipped learning initiative, I'm apprehensive that whanau will come back with concerns around unfair expectations of their boys and how this might impact their son in my class. Having researched the ethical ramifications of Kura Kaupapa Maori and in particular, being conscious to not come across as superior or condescending, I question whether the tone of my letter and the information presented/requested will be well received or not. I also hope that all the boys in my class actually gave the letters to their whanau, as their responses will directly indicate to me whether to go ahead with the learning strategy. As it is, the day after I asked the boys to give the letter to their parents, not all had and some admitted to still having them 'stuffed' into their bags. Other concerns might be that parents do not want their son to be spending any more time on a device at home, for school or otherwise.
The diagnostic pre-test, however, was successful. I had 100% engagement from the boys to produce a sample of writing in a set time. All the boys adhered to the requirements of the task and wrote solidly for the allotted time. From this, I could see (using the AsTTle writing rubric) that the boys were writing consistently at Level 6 of the curriculum with a few exceptions on either side of that. Grammatical conventions and spelling were good and not of any major concern across the board. The structure of writing (sentences and paragraphs) required the most attention as did the development of ideas. This was very helpful as I now know exactly which elements of writing to focus on in my flipped learning. I'm glad about this too as teaching developing ideas will require deep discussion in class which I'm expecting the flipped learning to promote, hence it being part of my hypothesis.
Due to my concerns about the letter, I have decided to phone each family I have not received a response from by the end of the week. I'm hoping this will meet with the Kura Kaupapa Maori principles and that whanau will feel valued and considered due to the direct, non-threatening contact.
Looking back on this week I feel that all-in-all, things have gone well. I feel that I have overcome potential obstacles with whanau voice and that my boys are engaged in the possibility of learning to improve aspects of their writing. I think this is largely due to me adopting an agile and transformational leadership style that has given them (students and whanau) a voice in the process, which has "emphasized the quality of the relationship between leader and follower through ethical role-modeling, motivation, and care for individual needs" (Bass, 1997). I have also noticed how more than half of the class have identified as early adopters,"high levels of education and a reasonable approach to risk" (interaction design foundation, n.d.) , seeing the potential that could come from the innovation but not too concerned if it does not work as they already have a strong belief in their own ability.
Refrences:
Bass, B.M. & Riggio, R.E. (2006). Transformational Leadership (Second Edition), Routledge
Ministry of Education. (2010). Tū Rangatira: Māori Medium Educational Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leadership-development/Key-leadership-documents/Tu-rangatira-English
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/understanding-early-adopters-and-customer-adoption-patterns
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