Are you pulling the wool over your own eyes?

1. Are you pulling the wool over your own eyes?

2. Action Research at Bucklands Beach Intermediate School

3. Think about how the world has changed in the last 20 years. What will teaching and learning look like in the next 5, 10, 20+ years?

4. 21st Century Skills • Basic, Scientific and Technological Literacy • Visual and Information Literacy • Cultural Literacy and Global Awareness Digital Age Literacy: Inventive Thinking: • Adaptability and Managing Complexity • Curiosity, Creativity and Risk Taking • Higher Order Thinking and Sound Reasoning Effective Communication: High Productivity: • Teaming, Collaboration and Interpersonal Skills • Personal and Social Responsibility • Interactive Communication • Prioritising, Planning and Managing Results • Effective Use of Real World Tools • High Quality, Meaningful Results

5. Marc Prensky Author - "Don't Bother Me Mom, I'm Learning." "Schools are stuck in the 20th Century. Students have rushed into the 21st Century. How can schools catch up and provide students with a relevant education?' "Outside school they are fully engaged by their 21st Century digital lives. If educators want to have relevance in this century, it is crucial that we find ways to engage students in school."

6. My question Was my present teaching practice relevant, engaging and empowering for the students that I taught? Would changes to my practice improve the quality of learning for my students? How could I change and improve my practice?

7. How it is conducted It is a cycle of posing questions, planning and implementing the action, observing and recording, reflecting, and deciding on a next course of action.

8. The outcomes INITIAL SURVEY Students wanted their learning to be. Useful and fun 22 Interesting 11 Relevant 18 Easy 6 Free timetable 22 Choice 20 Teacher support and scaffolding 21 Just in time learning 3 Other aspects Relevant learning Independent learningLess bookwork More integration of ICT Reference to current events Exciting

9. How I changed my practice • Introduced weekly task monitoring sheet • Integration of ICT into all aspects of learning • Introduced an open timetable for part or all of the day • Student choice became a high priority • Choice and variety of spaces to work in and groupings • Included ‘why’ in the learning intention, focus on reflection and • metacognition • Weekly self-reflection of teaching techniques and strategies with • critical colleague • Time management • Less teacher talk • Weekly student reflection sheets giving the students voice

10. Summary of students’ reflections • Happy with open timetable choices • Learning was more interesting and fun, useful and relevant • Enjoyed individualized learning time • Enjoyed the variety of learning spaces • Empowered • Heightened level of engagement and completion of tasks • Able to articulate their learning and thinking • ICT rich environment • Student voice heard and acknowledged • 4 students felt that there had been no changes to their • learning or my teaching practice • 6 students said that their suggestions had not been implemented

11. Benefits of Action Research • Reflect on and modify practice • Grow professionally • Gain knowledge through professional reading • Share knowledge and skills with colleaguesMore effective communication with colleagues and students. • Empowered to make informed decisions • Bridges the gap between professional development and actual practice • Improves ICT knowledge and integration • Ongoing professional development and implementation

12. “Built into action research is the proviso that, if as a teacher I am dissatisfied with what is going on, I will have the confidence and resolution to attempt to change it. I will not be content with the status quo…” - Jean McNiff “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” - Alvin Toffler