Ehara tāku toa ki te toa takitahi, engari, ki te toa takitini.
My strength of not the strength of one, but the strength of many.
This year, 2017, will have to go down as the year this introvert has shared her teaching practice in every possible way (I've already planned my reclusive holiday to recover!).
Let me recount the ways...
I was given the opportunity to teach collaboratively with another teacher and de-privitise my practice. That meant taking risks and opening all of my crazy ideas for another to see and evaluate. I've learned how important it is to care, to be honest, to get excited, to give new things a go, to try, to fail, to be patient, to celebrate together the small wins that no one else 'gets.' Like the time Amy looked at me and got tears in her eyes as she read with a previously struggling group of readers who suddenly read fluently from a more challenging level text and I got tears, too.
By the end of this year, I would have presented our -or my- practice to an audience nine times... and counting. These have included parent evenings, teacher PD and assorted conferences. I've learned to articulate my thinking and to connect with the needs of an audience in real time - no more just standing at the front with a slide presentation- while also valuing all the hard slog I've put into honing my teaching practice without being precious or rigid. Doing hands-on presentations is definitely riskier but more real to get the across what 21st-century learning is about.
We have regular visitors to our ILE hub checking out what we do and how we do it (four school teams next week alone). I've learned to let go, share freely and ask for feedback, but also to appreciate the results of our learning design. To work hard but also celebrate.
For the first time, I have a student teacher. Brave soul. He's taught me how to articulate the finer and more subtle aspects of my practice that I do instinctively, and when and how to coach someone instead of preaching or playing 'follow the leader' so that he grows his own agency as a learner and a teacher. And to simplify our innovations to someone stepping into the complex world of teaching and learning.
I'm blogging regularly and tweeting. Blogging has taught me to reflect, to ponder and to keep wondering, whereas with Twitter I keep learning how to connect with ideas outside my echo chamber, to challenge my assumptions and welcome change. My PLN and weekly twitter chats fill me up with inspiration and dare me to dream bigger (yes, you #digitaledchat, #BFC630NZ when I'm awake, and #edchatnz).
I've collaborated within my classroom walls, within my national boundaries and internationally. I've learned to be vulnerable, ask for help, speak up, share my crazy ideas and not be afraid to challenge my status quo to help me design better learning opportunities for my students and those I collaborate with.
Last, and most importantly, I've upped my collaboration with my students. I have doubled my efforts to personalise their learning and include their voice in what we do. Our most challenging students sent us on a journey to try out play-based learning and it has been one of the best discoveries of my teaching career. It has transformed our ILE into a hub of creativity and progress.
Though this could be one fabulous celebration of me, I am well aware that none of it would have been possible without the effective input of others. Little has been easy. Connecting, communicating and collaborating is often complex. But all of it has been incredibly rewarding and help me to grow as a professional and a human being.
As I've let go and given my practice away, I have learned ten fold. The beauty of Ako.
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