Activity One: Who am I

Activity One: Who am I

Welcome to my first blog. This blog has been created as a requirement of the Post Graduate Certificate in Applied Practise Course at Mindlab Unitec in Auckland New Zealand, that I am currently enrolled in.
My name is Shiralee Sands and I am a child of the sixties and seventies. I think this defines us to a certain extent, it certainly influences us. I have two step daughters in their thirties and two sons in their twenties, who are very important to me. Personally, I have a love of the outdoors, sports, art and travelling. I live alone in an apartment in the middle of Auckland City; my backyard is Albert Park, my playground the waterfront. Teaching has been my profession and passion for the last 12 years. Previous to this I worked in the photographic industry, sold paintings and welcomed overseas students into our home. 

My current teaching position is Syndicate Leader at Waikowhai Primary School in the Mt Roskill area of Auckland City, with a Year 5 and 6 class. During 2016 it will be amalgamated with two other classes of the same level in a new ILE environment and building, that is being developed, as the school roll is growing. This is an exciting new phase that coincides with our school joining the Ako Hiko Community (a group of schools in the Roskill area). Ako Hiko is one of five outreach clusters of the Manaiakalani Community in East Auckland.

Image Source: https://goo.gl/9YGxxS

Part of the philosophy or pedagogy of Manaiakalani is that all students, at an age determined by the community, have a device connected to the net, with learning as its focus and visible learning a core element of the retooling. (Burt, R. 2015).  The Ako Hiko Cluster use Chromebooks, and so in Week One of 2016 our classes began the journey of 1:1 devices. 




For the students it was a very exciting time with full engagement from all 25 of them. For me embracing these changes has been rewarding, exciting and terrifying as well, as my learning is only steps ahead of theirs. However, pushing personal boundaries has always been a driving force in my life and learning to become at home in a digital world is one of my current 'activities'.

As a child I would mentally 'tick off' what I had done, where I had been, what I had been involved in, and what I had learnt. As a young person I always thought people should give everything a go and that there was always a solution to a problem so if you had learnt enough skills or tried many things you could fix it yourself. When I started teaching my pedagogy was heavily influenced by my experiences in life, and somewhat influenced by what I had learnt in my one year Post Graduate Degree in Primary Teaching after a degree in Visual Arts. I loved to observe and experience things; places, sports, adventures, people, opportunities, creativities, situations. I believed in students developing independence in learning, in believing they are valuable citizens in the world they live in and can effect change even at a young age, in having a social conscience and participating in their world, in learning through experiences both physical, creative and collective, in being challenged to more than is expected of them. 
These are all still strong ideals of mine, and they have been added to, reflected upon, changed and rejected over the last twelve years. 

References.
Burt, R. (2015). Retooling School. Retrieved from http://www.manaiakalani.org/our-
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