EduThinkering

On the 9th December this year, our school hosted two very engaging and inspiring speakers Manu Faaea-Semeatu and Marcus Akuhata-Brown to present professional development session on increasing engagement for Pacifika and Maori Students. Both speakers touched the specifics of their own cultures, however the main message for us teachers brought forward was the importance of using two cornerstones: relationships and trust. The focus of this article are two areas that we should use in our teaching practice to establish better engagement and higher achievement for Pasifika and Maori students.

Did you ever consider comics as an additional fun activity in the classroom or as a homework? This short video might give you some ideas for its application in education.

This post should provide a critical discussion of the three things I have learned about myself as a learner and three recent key changes in my own practice. There is probably a few more items on this list, however, I think these are the ‘top three’ that deserve to be looked into.

“I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”
Socrates

This eternal words of Socrates’ quote are as contemporary as they are wise. In the time of ‘teaching paradigm shift’, ‘student centered learning’ and implementing ‘the 21st century skills’ these words are completely ‘nailing it’. Education of today is essentially about introducing lifelong skills of problem solving and metacognition. We are shifting education into a permanent ongoing process for life, therefore being a science teacher of today is not exactly the same as it was even few decades ago.

As a science teacher I am a part of my vibrant school professional community that is based on community of learners, their families, teachers, support teams and school leadership which are all involved into establishing learning process on a large scale.

Teaching science connects me closely to other science teachers within my school, as well as with science teachers in other schools in Auckland region.

“Reflecting on reflective practice” by Lynda Finlay (2008) is a research article that explores the modes of reflective practice and its possible effects on educational practitioners. Her articles is primarily focused on reflective practice in nursing that can be easily translated in a wider general educational field. This article will discuss some of author’s points and how they can influence my personal reflective practice.