How My Understanding of the Purpose of Education Manifests Itself in my Classroom

1. Learning Environment:

• Within the confines of the school, we make use of every available space. There are times when teachers and teacher aides have conducted small group learning sessions in the staff room, school library, or other classrooms that weren't being used. This was a significant first step in dismantling the traditional teacher ownership over space. No longer are classrooms referred to as a teacher's space, they are available to be used for the benefit of the learners (both students and teachers alike). These changes have provided us with an authentic context in which to explore the values of respect; community; equity; and integrity, and the key competencies of relating to others; managing self; and participating and contributing.
• Our classroom has a variety of seats and tables. We have worked on developing a culture of shared ownership and responsibility - we are all the kaitiaki (caretakers) of our learning environment.
• One of our school's strategic goals is to continue to develop and strengthen our connection with the local community. In order to achieve our goal we are conscious of creating opportunities for the students to share their work with an authentic audience. Some of the strategies that we use to do this are class Facebook pages; a school Facebook page; Twitter; a senior class blog; participating in community events such as the Breadcraft Art Exhibition; Pre and post interventions sharing sessions (Accelerated Learning in Maths and Accelerated Literacy Learning) in which students have an opportunity to share their most significant learning and achievements; school assemblies; and praise postcards to name but a few.

      2. Pedagogy:

• As a school, we are working on developing a planning system that will ensure the key competencies become a greater focus for teaching and learning. We acknowledge the importance of the key competencies and want to do them justice, however we are aware of how easy it is to slip back into old habits. Regular reflection and ongoing professional discussions are helping us to keep the key competencies to the fore of our teaching and learning. 
• Our school values are very closely linked to the New Zealand curriculum values and key competencies. Every term we choose one value to focus on and reinforce through explicit teaching. 
• Within the context of my own classroom, I have embraced the use of varied information sources such as YouTube, Wikipedia, online journals, and other teachers' and students' blogs. I use these information sources with my class as they are the sources of information that my students choose to use when working on independent inquiry projects. The focus of my lessons is very rarely about where to find information, but rather how to use reading strategies such as skimming, scanning, synthesising, and evaluating the quality of the information contained in these sources. 
• Before, during, and after planning learning experiences I always make sure that I can justify the why. Why do my students need to know this? How will this help them in the future. This helps to ensure that most of my lessons have a connection to real world experiences. 
• I make time to reflect on lessons and inquiry projects with my students, and I'm careful to ensure that these reflections aren't only completed at the end of a unit. One of the most valuable lessons that I have learned over the course of my teaching career is that students are very honest and astute in their observations and reflections. It is my firm belief that student-teacher relationships are strongest and most productive when teachers are willing to relinquish power to their students and let go of their ego. Many teachers (often of the older generation) have commented on my bravery at allowing my students to give me feedback. They have also gone on to assert that this is something they would never do as they fear what their students would say. But isn't that the point? We need to model how to give and receive feedback, and to prepare students to be productive citizens of the world. And fortunately for us (or unfortunately - depending on which side of the fence you're on) we are in the real world right now - students don't have to complete thirteen years of formal education before we allow them to be active and productive citizens in the 'real' world!
• I am a risk-taker. Student outcomes and achievement are important, but I believe in looking at the bigger picture. And fortunately, experimenting with new ideas and innovating on old ones has not led to any major backward steps for my students. I believe that change and exploration are the very things that have helped to enhance student agency and keep my students engaged in the learning process.

      3. Tools for Learning:

• I strongly believe in allowing students the freedom to select the best tools for the job. My students enjoy making decisions for themselves about how best to complete a task. It has created an authentic opportunity for practicing: problem-solving; time management; creativity; communication; peer tutoring; and collaboration. The students love the encouragement and celebration that comes from sharing their unique interpretations and creations, and through these sharing sessions students are motivated to strive for bigger and better things - something they would be deprived of were I to show them an exemplar and ask them to replicate it.  
• Through self-managing their learning tool choices, I have found that my students are becoming more confident at expressing their ideas and opinions. They are less worried about getting the 'right answer', or completing creative projects in the 'right way'. The quality of their work and the depth of their thinking is far greater than ever before as they have been liberated from the shackles of trying to read the teacher's mind. These are perhaps the most important 21st century learning skills for students to master - critical thinking; the ability to justify one's opinion with sound logic and understanding; and to accept and celebrate diversity.