A little while ago, the class reflected on whether there was more to being a successful learner than concentrating hard and working hard. They decided that there most definitely was! From this came the idea of ‘learning buddies.’ Students would tell me what learning skills they were good at and which they needed to work on (such as … Continue reading »
I was lucky enough to attend the Springboard Trust’s Leadership in Education Forum recently where global, national and local education issues were discussed. The day begun with a McKinsey and Company representative guiding us though their report “How the world’s best school systems come out on top“. This was followed by a talk from Cathy … Continue reading »
I was lucky enough to take part in Sonya Van Schaijik‘s initiative “TeachMeetNZ” on the weekend and presented a little 3 minuite presentation titled Youth and (relative) Inexperience in Education. My slides and notes are below if you are intereted in my experiences of being a new, young teacher in New Zealand. Youth and (relative) inexperience … Continue reading »
I recently visited all 3 Year 6 classes and spoke informally to randomly chosen students. I had decided to do this to get an idea of where the students were at with their learning and what our next steps as teachers were. This is what we came up with after reflecting as a team on the students’ responses: … Continue reading »
We are currently doing a unit of inquiry into systems of government and organisation and decided to get the students putting their learning into practice this week. Could they organise themselves without the teacher present? At 9:00 yesterday the Year 6 teachers played a short video explaining we were now relaxing on a beach in Fiji (if … Continue reading »
What makes an effective leader? This below video explores this and provokes thought. Enjoy. Continue reading »
I went to Educamp today, which was held at Stonefields School in Auckland’s Mt Wellington. Educamp is essentially an opportunity for like-minded educators to get together and share in an open and flexibly formatted day. I’ve really come to see the value in stepping outside the day to day running of your school life, whether literally (as I did today) or figuratively. … Continue reading »
This term we have decided to change the way we do ICT professional development a little and try out something new. The concept is this: “Coffee and Computers” (I’m sure you can come up with a better name than this but, under time constraints, boring old alliteration won when deciding on a title. This is … Continue reading »
“Yet undergraduate education changes remarkably little over time. My predecessor … famously compared the difficulty of reforming a curriculum with the difficulty of moving a cemetery”Lawrence H. Summers, former president of Harvard University. Following the Emerging Leaders Summit last term I’ve been talking to a few people lately about what the principal at school, Jeff, … Continue reading »
