MindLab - Reigniting the spark

I cringed in class when they asked us who blogged. I tentatively raised my hand, although thinking of my neglected blog sitting abandoned, with just 3 posts ever composed, I felt like I probably shouldn't have. When I think even more deeply about it, the first post was all about how I had felt that I had lost a bit of a spark in my teaching, or rather my own learning. I talked about how I had, through my PLD rediscovered a bit of this spark; but it turns out I never really fanned those sparks enough to restart the fire. 

In the same lesson, week 1 of my new PostGrad course, (click for an overview) they asked us why we were embarking on the programme. We had to think of 3 reasons and group them on a table with the other students according to the general topic. I dutifully wrote down my three reasons, I finished first (appeasing my inner competitive child) and sat back down to await the others' reasons. 

1. To extend my knowledge of digital and collaborative learning 
2. To provide myself with more opportunities/tools 
3. To reignite the spark in my own learning and professional development 

Then I sat and listened to everyone else's reasons. To help their students, to give students the best opportunities, to be able to make a difference etc etc. I realised my initial thinking was to list reasons that purely focused on the difference it would make to me. Feeling incredibly selfish I took time to reflect on why I did that. It's not like me. As a teacher we are always there for the students. Relationships with the students are so key for me and a huge part of my philosophy. I couldn't quite put my finger on why I didn't immediately think of that as a reason. 

It is a reason. It's at the heart of why we teach - we certainly don't do it for the excellent pay, for the holidays we inevitably work through or the endless paperwork trail. You have to want to do it for them, to put in all the extra hours planing and creating resources, hours at sports practices and in staff meetings. I suppose I just took that as a given. In my misplaced judgement I made it all about what the course can do for me. Of course it has to be about the students, the learning and their future. At the same time, as teachers we need to continue to be life long learners and to model this to our students so they can see that learning never stops. Sometimes we do have to do things for us. We are not robots, continually working ourselves to the point of exhaustion purely for others (although sometimes it might seem that way). Teachers are entitled to their own lives and it is just as important for our students to see us as individuals, as it is for us to treat them as such. Or so goes my self-justification anyway. 

After sitting feeling pretty rotten about my own self-centred brain we got on with the course introductions. The first half of the course is split into 2 parts: Digital and Collaborative Learning in Context and Leadership in Digital and Collaborative Learning. The main questions posed to us were 'what is knowledge?' and therefore, 'what is the purpose of education?' The discussions were pretty epic, it's always great to hear other perspectives and be challenged on your own perspectives. We made a great collaborative video and had a play with some different technologies and editing software which leads into the first assessment (which is to be presented in a video format). 

In the leadership element we talked about the importance of reflecting (cue guilty, selfish thoughts of my neglected blog sitting in the cloud somewhere, unread by the masses). It's not that I don't see the value, I really do, honest! It's more that I am currently at a school that 'enforces' it. By that I mean we use an appraisal tool that requires us to submit regular reflections and engage in critical inquiry. Which is great, probably the most appraisal I've ever experienced in a school. But when someone is telling you to reflect, often it's the last thing you want to do (inner stubborn child emerging here). It also meant that I didn't want to re-write reflections for my own blog and thus a lack of written reflections occurs and becomes habit. I'm working on it. My name is Charlie and I am lacking in reflections. Admitting it is probably the first stage right? Anyway, I have now come full circle and begun again. One of these days it surely has to stick! MindLab may just be the fanning of the spark that I need. It looks promising so far. 

Experience alone does not add value to life, or your practice. It’s not necessarily the experience that is valuable; it’s the insight you get because of your experience. Reflective thinking turns experience into insights! (Maxwell, 2009)

Week 1 Whakataukī

Naku te rourou nau te rourou ka ora ai te iwi
With your basket and my basket the people will live