Commitment to the Teaching Profession

Meetings, Events & School life:

As a PRT, I think I have done an adequate job of involving myself in all aspects of Tirimoana school life: being on time for my active supervision duties, starting a lunchtime Spanish club, working with Tiri's Got Talent finalists, attending school expos and events. I have attended all staff, team and PRT meetings that have been scheduled. I try to be an active listener and contribute useful thoughts and ideas. Meetings can often be a point of contention in teaching, however I personally think they have their merits by strengthening collegial relationships and allowing for discussion and clarification. In a single-cell school, we often spend whole days alone in our rooms and so I do enjoy meeting face-to-face. I have particularly enjoyed our Year 3 team meetings. We are able to delegate tasks effectively, come to agreements respectfully and keep meetings concise and within a certain timeframe. It has been a real privilege to work with and learn from these colleagues and I feel that these are positive qualities that I will take with me when working with others in future.

During my 1st year, I met weekly with my mentor. We would create an agenda of things that either of us wanted to talk about and I would add 'calls to action' so that I could refer to this when planning. I kept the same template for my 2nd year of teaching, but as my mentor changed to be my team leader formal meetings became less frequent (bi-weekly) and daily informal meetings were a regular occurrence. I think both styles of meeting worked well for me given the stage in my career that I was at. I needed a lot more formal support during my first year. However, in my second year I really appreciated the daily check ins and bi-weekly meetings as it gave me a taste of what my working life would look like outside of being a PCT. 

My confidence has developed over the last 2 years and I feel more empowered to speak up and share my opinions. I value myself enough to know that while I have only been teaching for a short time, I still have worthy ideas (especially in regards to Year 3 after 2 full years and 1 practicum). I hope to continue building on this confidence and being an upbeat and encouraging member of my team meetings. I think during whole staff meetings it is important to be considerate of peoples time and so if everyone were to speak it would undermine the presenter or the goal of the meeting. I understand the importance of being an active listener, noting down important things and speaking only if I have something valuable to add to the conversation.

Professional Learning & Development:

As a PRT, I was given the opportunity to attend a years worth of PLD at Learning Network NZ. I enjoyed these sessions and used key takeaways and notes to inform my own practice. It was wonderful to share the experiences with other PRTs in West Auckland and gather a collection of games, activities and assessment strategies for our kete. An example of games that have been particularly well-loved in my class include 'Toka, Pepa, Kutikuti' and the 'Pepeha' game. It has been a great way to integrate even more Te Reo into my daily routine, as well as the usual commands, waiata, karakia and vocabulary learning.

I have attended all staff PLD at Tirimoana School as well as Teacher Only Days at other schools, PRT Kahui Ako events, a Murray Gadd literacy course and the Maths PMA. The Maths PMA day was a particular stand out for me. I felt incredibly inspired by the keynote sessions that I attended. A really interesting one was on how to use SeeSaw to set consolidation exercises that could be used as part of a rotation or as independent tasks while running a workshop. Whilst I mainly do whole-class Maths teaching, these templates have proven useful for extension or acceleration activities when workshopping with smaller groups.

It's no secret that I have a personal love of learning! After completing my Bachelors, a postgraduate certificate and then my Masters of Teaching (and one day keen to pursue a PhD), professional learning is one of my favourite parts about the teaching profession. When I wrote about who I wanted to be as a teacher before I started training, I pledged that knowledge would be collected as well as imparted. I see myself as a genuine lifelong learner and I will continue to seek out rich learning experiences like the ones I have been provided over the last 2 years. I am currently working with researchers at AUT university on varying projects, ranging from new school build designs, use of space and place in classrooms and digital technologies in education.

Planning & Reflection:

As well as reflecting during PRT meetings (see above examples), I also try to reflect within my planning. I treat my planning as a working document and find that making notes and annotations throughout the week help me to keep on top of what I have noticed and what I need to prepare for the week ahead. I believe that this is one of the many ways I show my commitment to high-quality, effective teaching. My planning has changed a LOT since I began teaching. I was a little lost at first and unsure of what was required. Once I stopped worrying about what 'looked good' to others and instead focused on what was genuinely useful for my learners and for me, my planning evolved into what it is today. After all, what's the point in planning if it sits in a folder and never gets looked at again? I hope that throughout my teaching career my planning serves as a meaningful document to me and my students.

Examples of Induction Overviews reflecting what meetings, PLD etc. havce been attended and how to use release time. To see the rest click here.