Professional Context - Crossing boundaries to make learning real (Mind Lab Activity 7)

I was quite surprised at the extent of my professional connections after teasing them all out. Looking closely, many of them are new connections brought on by expanding the boundaries of my collaborations and practice. For example, in my online connections, I have the NZ Read Aloud group that I definitely want to work with again. Travelling Tales is very recent (it's a story written in parts by different classes around the world) so I am quite interested to see how that works out.

However, the one connection I would like to strengthen next year are the local connections, in particular around our community or even within our rohe (Wellington). Although I teach in a suburban school, I think pushing outwards from the boundaries of our gates is important. I would like to work with other members of our local community to create projects so that the children have a sense of belonging and see themselves as active members of it. This could mean projects with the local library, kindergarten, retirement home, coastal area or supermarket.

Using a problem solving based inquiry would promote the children feeling a real sense of agency about making a difference. Creating a meaningful link between their communities, their lives and with learning at school would provide a meaningful context that is authentic (Barton & Smith 2000). These real-life rich and meaningful context give great opportunities to engage with more traditional strands (reading, writing and maths) within an integrated unit of inquiry (Mathison & Freeman, 1997). I would like to learn about our shared world and help them grow 21st-century learning skills through those experiences.

One challenge that exists is developing activities that truly integrate traditional curriculum areas within a problem-solving inquiry. Literacy can be more easily integrated, as children can read, research and write about the relevant context, but maths can sometimes be trickier to integrate fully. It is, nevertheless, important for children to see the connections between the different traditional disciplines and how these serve a purpose in real life (Lacoe Edu, 2014).

However, by planning collaboratively with other teachers, we can connect to each other's strengths and be more able to add different perspectives to help integrate as much of the traditional strands into a problem-based integrated inquiry model if learning (ThomasMcDonaghGroup, 2011). I'm keen to explore project-based learning and Deep Learning ideas. The model of how this school has integrated learning and hands-on learning is a pretty big inspiration: How this small country school is turning a profit from the land (thisNZlife).

References:

Barton, K. C., & Smith, L. A. (2000). Themes or motifs? Aiming for coherence through interdisciplinary outlines. The Reading Teacher, 54(1), 54-63.1.

Lacoe Edu (2014, Oct 24) Interdisciplinary Learning [video file]. Retrieved from https://app.themindlab.com/media/32980/view

Mathison,S.. & Freeman, M.(1997). The logic of interdisciplinary studies. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1997. Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/mathisonlogic12004.pdf:

thisNZlife (n.d.). How this small country school is turning a profit from the land. Retrieved from: http://thisnzlife.co.nz/small-country-school-turning-profit-land/

ThomasMcDonaghGroup. ( 2011, May 13). Interdisciplinarity and Innovation Education.[video file]. Retrieved from https://app.themindlab.com/media/32981/view