I’ve compiled this page to link together the milestones and challenges along the route of my teaching career and to help expose the thread that drives me and continues to inspire me to learn.

2016 – 

Head of Digital Technology at Bay of Islands College

Online teacher for Level one DTY with FarNet

Guest lecturer at the University of Auckland – Introduction to teaching with technology for undergraduate teachers.

2015 –

Woolf Fisher Lead Teacher Scholarship Recipient

Ironically as I walked out of the school door on the last day of the 2014 school year 2014, I received a call from Dr Mei Lai  from the University of Auckland to say I had qualified for the Woolf Fisher Lead Teacher Scholarship.  The Scholarship would enable me to finish my Masters in Education while working alongside some of the best lecturers and researchers in the country.  As well as my supervisors I also enjoyed the support of fellow scholars, Carolyn Crow, Gina Hemmingson, Liz Lapish and Sam McNoughton.  One of the highlights of being in this cohort were the rich discussions we had with lecturers, Professor Stuart Mc Noughton,  Dr.Aaron Wilson, Dr. Rebecca Jesson, Dr Kerry Lee and Dr Mei Lai.

2014 –

Employed by Bay of Islands College as Year 10 Dean, Teacher of ICT, Art, Social Studies and the E-Learning Teacher for FarNet,

This year I’m looking forward to developing my teaching practice further and trying to integrate as much project based learning as possible. Reflecting on my style so far, I prefer  to be more of a facilitator than the ‘sage on the stage’.  I  also like building units of work that give students more input to encourage ownership for their learning and hopefully in that process, forward critical and creative thinkers.

I picked up an idea at  last year’s FarNet Training Day with the sending out of Praise Postcards. This would build on to the PAL (Positive Achievement League) I mention under the 2013 heading below.   Praise Postcards could be mailed to parents periodically when a student has been recognised for an excellent piece of work or contribution to school life. (RTC Criteria: 1,2,10) 

This year my study will take a slightly different route to previous years so that I might develop my management skills.  I’m enrolling in the Leadership of Learning paper.  It’s a .025 point paper which will mean I have 130 points towards my Masters.

2013 –

Employed by Bay of Islands College as Year 9 Dean,  Teacher of ICT, Art and the E-Learning Teacher for FarNet,

Completed EDEM 698 Emergent Research Methodologies

With my new role as the Year 9 Dean this year was a big one, in terms of workload and personal growth.  Hoping to evoke positive behaviour amongst the Year 9 students I proposed to senior management a points league system which would recognise students for good work and effort by awarding them points through our Kamar system.    At our form assemblies certain students are acknowledged for their efforts and at the end of term, the form class with the most points earns a free lunch.  This approach was picked up by the whole school and thankfully it has had the desired effect of encouraging positive behaviour. (RTC Criteria: 5) 

I also initiated the concept of a Junior Certificate for Year 9 and a Junior Diploma for Year 10 which would be awarded through an academic points system at the end of the year.  This was well received at prizegiving and is seen as a good motivator to encourage students to aim high as the awards are differentiated by the number of points 70- 85 points for Bronze, 86 – 105 for silver and 106 – 124 for Gold.   Hopefully, it will encourage students to aim for endorsements when they are ready to sit NCEA. (RTC Criteria: 1,2, 5) 

In July I attended a Learning Network conference entitled, It’s a Learners World:Mapping a New Landscape.  Inspirational speakers who stood out for me at this event were Lee Crocket with his ideas on how to develop creative critical thinking in students,   John Leonard’s presentation titled, Maori Success as Maori, Perry Rush on the strategies and merits of personalised learning, Joan Dalton on project based learning and the inspirational Kathryn Berkett who gave a different perspective on what drives the disruptive student.    This conference seeded a new delivery style for me, one that was more inclusive and student driven through co-construction.    Using the Teaching as Inquiry model I developed a game style approach to introduce a group of Year 10 ICT students to programming with Scratch.  The results of those efforts can be viewed here. (RTC Criteria: 4, 5, 6.12) 

As part of my continuing study I took a research paper called Emergent Research Methodologies.  This was a completely new area of study for me and a big mind shift away from traditional research.    The first assignment required an investigation into the different methodologies available to us, action research, arts-based research, auto-ethnography and decolonising methodologies.  I created a video for this assignment  to explain my understanding which can be viewed here.   I wrote an auto-ethnography piece for my second assignment.  The act of exploring my own emotions and motivations through my teaching practice was a most powerful and insightful experience, one that has given me a fresh perspective on how to build relationships with students. The results of my reflection is in this paper Kerry Boyde_Preece_Assignment Two .  (RTC Criteria 3, 4,9,10,12) 

2012 –

Employed by Bay of Islands College as a teacher of ICT and Art

Completed EDEM 628 Best Practice in Online Teaching

At last I get an opportunity to have my own classes and the opportunity to start to create some relationships with my students.  There were many challenges along the way and looking back on my first term I was far too rigid in my structure but it was my way of trying to control my nerves whilst having some sense of order in my day.  I was well planned (weeks in advance) and my delivery style could be termed didactic, similar to what I remember of school.    I’m glad to say that as the year progressed I became more relaxed and accommodating of an inclusive environment, classes were noisier and to my surprise less stressful.    I attended a number of workshops during 2012, Best Practice for Technology  and Learning to Assess which helped a lot.  Regular weekly sessions with my STM helped tremendously, our discussions always inspired me and gave me something new to try in my teaching practice. (RTC Criteria: 12) 

I also completed a paper on Best Practice in Online Teaching.  This gave me the perfect framework to conceptualise a delivery and introduce my Year 11 ICT students to programming with Scratch.    I’ve continued to reflect on this unit of work and build on my initial framework.  See here for a full review. (RTC Criteria:4,6,7,11)

2011 –

Enrolled with the University of Canterbury to do a Post Graduate in Education Endorsed in E-Learning Digital Technologies

Completed EDEM 627 E-Learning and Pedagogy: Effective Strategies for the Classroom

Completed EDEM 630 Change with Digital Technologies in Education

I didn’t manage to secure a teaching placement this year so I embarked on a year of relief teaching.  Nothing quite like cutting your teeth in behaviour management as a relief teacher.  This was a hard year but I learnt some helpful skills along the way, a big thank you to Keri Keri High School who really know how to look after their relievers.

Highlights that stood out this year were the Wiki Development Action Research Project  which I completed for part of  EDEM 627 E-Learning and Pedagogy: Effective Strategies for the Classroom and  this paper I wrote which was published in the 2012 online journal Computers in NZ Schools.   Blended Learning in Secondary Schools is a Start in the Right Direction .

EDEM 630 Change with Digital Technologies in Education complimented EDEM 627 well and expanded my appreciation for the challenges schools face when adopting new technologies.  It’s interesting to note how much focus the government is now putting into utilising digital technologies since I created this powerpoint – The Adoption of Teaching in an Online Environment in 2011.  There is now a growing network of support and infrastructure for schools through the Virtual Learning Network and Network for Learning or N4L. (RTC Criteria: 1,4, 5, 6,8, 11, 12) 

I was lucky enough to go to the first Nethui Conference held in Auckland.  It was here that I learnt about the Computers in Homes Programme and passed on the information to Bay of Islands College which they picked up and have since run successful programmes in 2012 and 2013.   There’s another Nethui planned for 2014. (RTC Criteria: 4,5,6)

I also attended Moodle Moot in Auckland in 2011 which again was another inspirational event.  All things to do with Moodle were on show, including how to customise your own Moodle, how to use conditional formatting in Moodle to create a games like environment and Moodle for mobiles.  I took a lot of ideas away from this conference and built them into the delivery of my online Level 1 Digital Technologies course which I teach for FarNet, part of the Virtual Learning Network.  (RTC Criteria: 4,5,6)

2010  –

Post Grad Diploma in Secondary Teaching with the University of Auckland

Here is a link to my first blog Accentuate the Positive.  Now 4 years on I can see how my perspective has widened, I have more of an appreciation of the education system and the processes necessary to bring about change but it was a good starting point.

I was lucky enough to go to two conferences this year the first was the Digital Technology Symposium in Auckland.  There was a fantastic presentation on the future of 3D printing exemplifying the many possibilities like printing replacement hips, healing bandages for burn victims and even the avant garde idea of printing a full sized house.

I also won a scholarship to attend Apple’s Create World in Brisbane and was impressed by the work of some very talented app developers.