Friday 15 April 2016

One down, three to go!


What an amazing, surreal 11 weeks it has been. I feel like I am about to write an Oscar acceptance speech! To my mentor, Ollie Baker... To my Mother... In all seriousness, this term has provided me with the opportunity to learn from so many skilled and innovative practitioners as well as such inquisitive and welcoming learners...and it is only just the beginning.

The highlight of the term was, without a doubt, the strong foundation of relationships created within the learning environment; colleague to colleague, teacher to learner, as well as developing an identity of myself as a teacher (a never-ending journey, I am sure).

Now that I have spent a term finding my way, in terms of relationships and identity and belonging to Stonefields, my next step is to exert more energy in developing my Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and finding innovative and engaging ways to explore the world through my PCK and the New Zealand Curriculum with my learners. I am rearing to go, but at the same time, about to collapse into a weekend long hibernation. On that note, another highlight for me has been my ability to balance. I came into the term with a real mindfulness about my wellbeing, an awareness of the need to keep all tanks fulls so that come the holidays, I wouldn't crash and burn. Although it has been hard to get back into the swing of all things uni-related, post-grad has been surprisingly eye-opening and enlightening, and the days of digital immersion have been SO engaging and practical! Still ready for a good sleep-in though ;)

And just quickly before you go...

Speaking of practical digital knowledge, here is a sneak peak (still draft stage) of our new Hub site I have been designing! Cannot wait to get it up and running next term!




2 comments:

Dorothy said...

Aloha
Your comprehensive reflection on the term past has thoroughly encapsulated so much of the complex entry to teaching you have embarked on. Well done for achieving the goals you have set and for embracing the learners and environment you have joined so whole heartedly. I do hope the second week gives you some time to relax and have fun. I look forward to following your Site developing from afar.

Dorothy

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Dorothy! It really has been a magical start to my journey as an educator; I wouldn't change it for anything! The site is coming along nicely, it has been an engaging challenge to design the site so that our learners might be enticed. Tomorrow most of the site goes live, so time will tell if I have done a good enough job or not. No doubt I can trust the learners to be honest with their opinions about the site!

Latai