Week 27 - Examine Your Cultural Context (Take Action)

To what extent does gamification impact on behavioural engagement for distance learners?

This week I am using Rolfe's Reflective model (n.d) again to review and reflect on the process so far.

 What?

 My understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness is being aware of who my students are, who their families are, where they have come from and what I can do as their teacher to make them feel like they are safe, included and feel like they belong. The area that I have chosen to focus on for the next part of the discussion is communication methods.

So what? 

 I have chosen the ‘Culturally Responsive Practice for Maori Scale’ as the framework for the reflection and the concept I have chosen is Whanaungatanga (building relationships). I chose this as I believe that I am making my relationship with my students and their families stronger by providing them with another way that they can communicate with me, which is value number two in the Whanaungatanga concept. As I struggled to get much response to communication via emails, I hoped that using the direct message option through the ClassDojo App would increase the response rate. And currently up to this point in my inquiry, it is working! I am hearing from my supervisors more regularly. I have even had requests from some supervisors to add other parents or families members to their students Dojo account so that they can be connected also. Creating this deeper connection to my students and their families has felt great and as research shows that 'whanaungatanga increases...even the lowest levels of engagement' (Bishop, Ladwig & Berryman, 2014, p. 28). 

 The very first value of the Whanaungatanga concept I believe naturally is addressed through the higher levels of communication that we are having, but also heavily relies on the students and their supervisors having the very first initial face to face meeting with me. I highly value this meeting as it sometimes can be the only time I get to see them all face to face. To further address this point I sent out an "All about me" google slide that had pieces of information about myself and some pictures and photos and I asked for the students to send an informational slide about themselves back to me. The response that I got back from this google slide was great! Out of the 11 students that I initially started this inquiry with, I got six slides in return. 

 Value four of the Whanaungatanga concept is that Māori students know their teachers care about them. So far in my inquiry, I have attempted to show that I care and am proud of my students by posting out a congratulations certificate to the student that collected the very first Dojo Points and I have sent out a mystery spot prize to another student that was engaging incredibly huge amounts this past week and I wanted them to know that their efforts had been recognised. After the first week of the inquiry, I did send a congratulatory email to all students that had collected points and will repeat that for this week. By doing this, I feel like I am letting my students know that I care but also reminding others that being active engagers is an expectation. There are unfortunately some students that I am even yet to meet, let alone engage them, however, I am not giving up. I will keep trying to connect with my families before its too late and they come off my class-list and end up on the Attendance list to pick up.
What next? 

 The relationships and connections with my students and their families will continue to develop and I am hoping will remain as connected. I see this as a value that will continually grow as we get to know each other more as time goes on and our communication responses increase.

 Two values I feel that I haven't addressed to the same extent as the others are value number one, the tuakana/teina relationship and value five of providing opportunities for students to use their prior knowledge and experiences. I am still trying to figure out how I will be able to provide a platform or have this opportunity happen via distance learning. I think this may be able to happen via google slide activities that I send out to my students, however, this is going to be my focus for the learning activities moving forward into the third week of the inquiry ahead. 
References:
Bishop, R., Ladwig, J., & Berryman, M. (2014). The centrality of relationships for pedagogy: the whanaungatanga thesis. American Education Research Journal, 51, (1), 184-214.

 Otago Polytechnic. (n.d.). Reflective Writing. Retrieved from https://www.op.ac.nz/assets/LearningAdvice/Reflective-writing.pdf
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Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 3, 2019 at 7:48 PM

    Hi Jayde,

    Great reflection, it was wonderful to read about how you have increased engagement rates with supervisors via this platform/inquiry. You are right, the key to success was the face-to-face interactions that set the scene/hooked them at the beginning. When we were completing the research aspect of our last paper I found out:
    Face-to-face communication is still the most successful form of communication when connecting, cooperating and collaborating with whanau. Bates (2014) suggested that teacher-parent conferences are a good time to introduce, support and guide parents in their use of online portfolios allowing teachers to set clear expectations for use and to encourage parents to provide feedback to learners via the platform. Thompson, Mazer and Flood Grady (2015) discussed media richness theory applied to parents modes of communication (responses linked to understanding communication tools). When communicating negative or sensitive aspects ‘lean media’ (e.g. texting, social media) was not recommended, as interactions between parents and teachers could become problematic.

    I know that you are using Dojo for 'engagement in learning, or linking to existing programmes, but based on your comment about linking to others, the tuakana/teina relationship aspect, had you thought about setting up the sharing aspect of Dojo, where students share moments with whanau/connected people? I wondered if they could also share their 'moments' (work/photos/videos) with a buddy who would then comment on their learning and vice versa.

    Once again, I agree with you the 'Value four of the Whanaungatanga' is at the heart of your inquiry!

    Bec

    Bates, C. C. (2014). Digital Portfolios: Using Technology to Involve Families. YC: Young Children, 69(4), 56–57. Retrieved from http://libproxy.unitec.ac.nz:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=98384619&site=ehost-live&scope=site

    Thompson, B. C., Mazer, J. P., & Flood Grady, E. (2015). The Changing Nature of Parent–Teacher Communication: Mode Selection in the Smartphone Era. Communication Education, 64(2), 187–207. https://doi-org.libproxy.unitec.ac.nz/10.1080/03634523.2015.1014382



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JaydeMarch 4, 2019 at 1:05 AM

      Hi Bec. Thank you for that awesome reference about face-to-face communication! So true about setting the expectations, because that's exactly what I did at the meetings. I have a few more set up for this week, which is great!
      Yes I have actually. In fact now that you mention it, my students have started to put photos up into their portfolio sections of their Dojo that some parents have gone onto "like." I am wanting to share learning into their portfolio's so that parents can see first-hand so that will be a mission of mine this week.
      For the tuakana/teina I was hoping that the activities that I set through Google Classroom on slides, (as they can all see each others slide) that from next week I start getting them to provide a comment or feedback on one other person's slide. I just purely had the focus of getting them to find their slide the first week, with a very simple activity, then this weeks I made the activity required slightly larger, needing more thought put into it, but I reckon from next week I should be able to get them to comment on one another! Thank you so much for your feedback.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousMarch 4, 2019 at 9:40 PM

    I think by sharing photos and learning online, via Dojo, you are actually working on one of the identify 10 CORE Education trends (I love following these - they keep me in the loop as to changes in education). You are working on the below: http://core-ed.org/research-and-innovation/ten-trends/2019/
    Structural
    Technology
    Cultural

    Can you link Google Slides/Docs to Dojo? or get the students to screen shot a screen/screen capture (photo) and share that on their Dojo, where they have been commenting (to show collaboration & agency/engagement). This way they can show learning in a 'real time' reporting format to supervisors/parents if they post via Dojo too (tick another box...).

    Let me know what you think of the trends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JaydeMarch 11, 2019 at 12:45 AM

      Evening Bec. Oh thanks for that! I actually didn't make that connection so that's incredibly helpful. I haven't seen that website so thank you for sharing that with me. I have bookmarked it, so that I can stay current too!

      Yes I can look into linking Google Slides to Dojo and will do this! Many many thanks for your help.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousMarch 12, 2019 at 12:01 AM

      Hi Jade,

      I wanted to find out myself if you could embed a 'live' Google Slide presentation within the 'story' aspect of Dojo. Um, I think not, it appears you can add 'documents/attachments'. Therefore, this would not be the tool to 'collaborate by'; see article online https://classdojo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/213495366-Upload-an-Attachment#web

      But, I now wonder if you can add in a link? Which would then take you to a 'live' Google Slide?
      Bec

      Delete
  3. AnonymousMarch 5, 2019 at 1:42 AM

    A very good read Jayde. Thank you for sharing your week 26 reflective journal with us. Building relationship with whanau/students and wider community is very important to help you understand where they come from, their background and what uniqueness they bring into the school. I find class dojo to be a very effective way to be connected with the parents. You can also create a questionnaire and possibly send it home for the whanau to fill in about themselves and their children. Having an open mind about the different culture is really positive way towards going forward. Goodluck!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JaydeMarch 11, 2019 at 12:28 AM

      Kia Ora Arti. Thank you very much. I am finding that ClassDojo is working very well with communication with my supervisors also! Is that creating a questionaire within ClassDojo do you mean? Thanks very much!

      Delete
  4. UnknownMarch 9, 2019 at 12:56 PM

    You are right in that our students need to know we care about them if we want to achieve them to maximise their learning. It is also important that their family and wider whanau know this as well, as they can continue the learning at home. Dojo is a good way to stay in touch and then caring attitude that you are creating is reinforce by the positive points given out. The more they see themselves achieving, the more they want to achieve.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JaydeMarch 11, 2019 at 12:31 AM

      Evening Shane. Yes I am needing my connection to home to be a lot stronger so hoping the app ClassDojo opens that up for me. So far, so good! I nearly have everyone engaged so it's feeling great! Hope your inquiry is going well.

      Delete

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