Our School has been GAFE for 3 years now and we are finally reaching a tipping point of change.
From e-learning as an isolated little part of a classroom rotation.....to full on ownership of learning through the power of online collaboration. This is not just for our students...but also our teachers...who struggled much more than the students to assimilate the new skills required. But being the amazing professionals they are, they didn't let it beat them! They knuckled down and set of on their journey...all from very different starting points on the spectrum.
And that right there...the fact that we all have different professional learning needs is what makes the journey so complex- for teachers who need to find the time in their already crazy jobs to learn new skills, and especially for school leaders, who have to find ways to ensure that differentiated PLD is accessible for our teachers.
My journey leading our school to the point we are at now has been a steep learning curve. Initially I would make huge assumptions that every teacher, once shown how to do something once, would be ready to rock and roll....how arrogant I was!! What I have come to realise over the three years ( sounds much more organised thinking than it actually was in real life!) is that everyone needed learning presented in different ways, for varying amounts of time and different levels of repetition. So my leadership practice has adapted and is still adapting.
At this point in time I use a lot of video models of the steps required in order to master a skill, so they can be revisited as needed by our teachers. I luckily now have a Principal who is able to slow me down when I rush of ahead of people, which I know will help me to grow even more in my role.
So 3 years down the track we finally have teachers willingly using google docs to plan, a big step as it means all our planning is visible to anyone in our school at any time. The first tiny step towards collaborative growth mindset- we are willing to open ourselves up to feedback. It must be said that I belive the final tipper for this to happen was Google finally sorting out the problem of merged cells!! Finally teachers can have their favorite planning formats work in an online space...sounds silly, but it has been an important step!
So from me to Google...I thank you...not just for merged cells, but also for the tools we use daily without thinking that promote collaboration:)
Our reflection on what we felt e-learning was as a staff has changed in the last few years...the first time this was done, it was filled with ideas such as ...apps to practice handwriting, to keep kids busy while we do teaching with others! So proud of how far we have come
