You know
when...you start a new role at a new school and there is just so much to learn
like the names of the staff, the names of the students, the support staff’s
names, the admin staff’s names, where the kitchen is, where the wharepaku are,
where do I get the stationery from? How do I book things? What time do we
start? What time do we finish? Where do we park? Where is the staffroom? What
are the bell times? Where's the meeting place in case of an emergency drill? On
top of all of that you are still learning what it is you must do first.
Well that is
where I am now in my teaching career after being over a decade in the
classroom. I am two weeks into my new role as a Resource Teacher:
Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) in Cluster 21 from Mohaka to Potaka. I
am thoroughly enjoying my community of practice as a newbie and learning
all over again – learning never ceases by the way it is forever. Just in
case you want to know more about the RTLB service and how to access it you can
find more information from the tki website.
Community - My
community I consider to be in is the national RTLB service which works
collaboratively with schools and educators to find solutions to support the
needs of students in Years 1-10 with learning and/or behaviour difficulties.
Layers in the
RTLB community - There are 40 RTLB clusters nationally, from the Far
North to Southland. Each cluster has a lead school, lead school principal and a
cluster manager. Each cluster also has a team of RTLB, specialist itinerant
teachers.
Practice –
RTLB work in a cluster or team. The work of the team, and workload of RTLB, is
managed by the cluster manager. RTLB support students with learning and
behaviour difficulties in the cluster who meet the set criteria. They do this
through:
· networking
· school
policy developmentworking with kaiako to meet needs in the classroom
· initiatives
such as peer reading
· individual
needs, for example Individual Education Plans (IEP).
When working in
kura or secondary school settings, RTLB meet the learning and behaviour needs
of students through negotiation with a range of people. These may include:
· the
class kaiako
· Special
Education Needs Coordinators (SENCO)
· parents
· whanau
What are the
issues that we face – According to a senior RTLB colleague, she has found
that communication and time can be a difficulty when not all
supportive networks of the child or the whanau and/or the wrap around services
are unable to come together at the one time to action or discuss how to support
the child further. As for me, there is just so much to read, action and
remember that my thoughts and reflections are filled up with mainly
learning my new role now which I’m sure will change overtime. So take
care out there until my next blog you know when...
Knox, B. (2009, December 4).Cultivating Communities of
Practice: Making Them Grow.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk
Wenger, E.(2000).Communities of practice and social
learning systems.Organization,7(2), 225-246.
http://rtlb.tki.org.nz/The-RTLB-service/The-RTLB-service
http://rtlb.tki.org.nz/The-RTLB-service/The-RTLB-service
