Mentoring New Teachers

What is collaborative sense-making? I've come to that part of my appraisal where I need to show evidence of my collaborative sense-making this year. It does sound like more of education jargon but at the same time needs to be investigated in order to get it right. It is one of the 6 components of the appraisal cycle put out by the Education Council. Luckily I went to their workshop this year and this was explained as: How you collaborate with others who have different perspectives from yours eg experts, colleagues, mentors etc through conversation to look at different perspectives on a situation. From these conversations you share findings, learning and implications for changes in practice. An example given was to use another person eg have a conversation with the Te Reo teacher to give you feedback on your work with Standard 1 (Treaty) Questions from ERO include: What do we already know about this? What do we need to find out? How might we do this? Catalysts that lead ...

I have just been re-reading the notes I took at the Education Council (EC) workshop on the new standards at the beginning of this year. Provisionally certificated teachers (PCTs) are always worried about having enough evidence and what to record. I currently mentor 7 PCTs, 3 of whom are coming up for certification this year. What the EC has said is that they do not want voluminous portfolios of stuff and that they want to shift the emphasis from the showing of evidence to improvement of practice done through discussion and documentation. Teachers engaging in “learning talk” analyse, critique and challenge their current teaching practices to find and/or create more effective ways of teaching. ( Annan, Lai & Robinson 2003) The current situation is that ERO will audit the documentation for certification of teachers recently certificated. They are looking to see that the school has a robust system well founded in evidence. They will be looking at the level of support and inducti...

What is appraisal exactly? The Education Review Office is very clear on its purpose of appraisal in schools . Teacher appraisal has two purposes: improvement - appraisal supports personal development and school capability to meet student outcome goals professional accountability - appraisal provides assurances to the wider community that teaching standards are rigorously applied. The Education Council sees it as: The appraisal process exists to affirm and develop a high standard of teaching in New Zealand. Effective appraisal systems using the  Standards for the Teaching Profession  help teachers learn, grow and achieve the best outcomes for our learners. PPTA describes appraisal as : Performance appraisal has two purposes – development and accountability, or to put it another way, formative and summative assessment. It should be about helping teachers to develop their practice and do their personal best Appraisal is a good way of reflecting on your...

On the 27th February I was fortunate to be able to attend a workshop run by the Education Council on the "new" standards that have been put out for teachers in schools. Unfortunately, some teachers have brushed this off with "Oh they have just put 12 criteria into 6 standards but really nothing has changed". When you read the standards carefully you notice that there has been a sea change which has already been reflected in the more progressive schools especially those who engaged with assessment for learning , Kia Eke Panuku , and to a lesser extent PB4L . So what has changed? Std1   Waitangi partnership - Practise and develop the use of te reo and tikanga Māori Std2 Professional learning - Critically examine how my own assumptions and beliefs, including cultural beliefs, impact on practice and the achievement of learners. Std3 Professional Relationships - Communicate clear and accurate assessment for learning and achievement for learning Std4 Learning-fo...

Teaching as Inquiry is criteria 12 of the Practising Teacher Criteria  which all teachers, including provisionally certificated teachers, need to provide evidence both for appraisal & certification. For this criteria teachers are required to use critical inquiry  to critically examine their own beliefs,  including cultural beliefs, and how they impact on their professional practice and the achievement of ākonga (learners). I found this set of descriptors of good practice for teaching as inquiry in an article "Leading inquiry at teacher level" by Mike Fowler. The inquiry is based on a group of students you teach which could be selected students in one class, a whole class or students from different classes. You look for evidence of what is happening for these student in the classroom by asking these questions: Why are students in my class struggling with....? What are the challenges students are facing in this topic, course? How confident are these students a...

At a recent meeting with PCTs there seemed to be some confusion around evidence for appraisal and evidence for certification. Appraisal Appraisals are about   " improving teacher capability and student outcomes " (ERO). That is why the teacher's goals are linked to the vision and goals of the strategic plan of the school. Often there will be a school goal, a department goal and a personal goal. The appraisal process is  focused on valued outcomes for students, from goal-setting, evidence gathering and analysis, observations and professional discussions to the annual report (ERO). Attention can de directed to priority students and evidence from teachers' inquiries can form the basis of an appraisal discussion. So teachers choose their own goals within the guidelines & parameters set by the school. Originally this process did not include the Registered Teacher Criteria but the Practising Teacher Criteria are now being used in appraisal. There has been confus...

This year I have been appointed to the role of Specialist Classroom Teacher and Mentor Teacher for Teach First Teachers and Provisionally Certificated Teachers at Tamaki College.I had a vague idea as to what a Teach First Teacher was so I went to this site  http://teachfirstnz.org/  and found stories and videos from the participants themselves. I was pleased to see that Tamaki College is a Manaiakalani school as this will push me further in my digital journey. Already I am having to create a Google site which I haven't done before and as part of my appraisal create a blog which will evidence my learning journey. I dragged my dinosaur colleagues into Blogger last year so this is not new. Last year's blog was a collaboration to investigate the true meaning of collaboration through readings and the practicalities of working together to construct knowledge. This year I will be spending a lot of time in the classroom with the 11 teachers I am supporting.