Earlier in the year I was in Wellington for a conference. Our conference dinner was at Te Papa Tongarewa, our National Museum, and as part of the evening, we were able to go and visit the ‘Gallipoli: The scale of our war‘ exhibition. It was OUTSTANDING. I am not often left speechless, but…
Are National Standards An Excuse?
How often have you heard an educator say ‘If only I didn’t have to teach the standards” (insert assessment or standardised tool of choice). Often, it is in the context of ruining creativity or killing off ‘fun’ in the classroom. I am going to be controversial – so here is your chance to stop reading….
Social Media and the Dark Side
Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube have revolutionised the way we connect, communicate and collaborate. When I first started teaching, connecting with other classrooms around the word was problematic, took a long time, or it was expensive. You could write a letter and hope for a response, make a phone call (teleconferencing came later) but most times it was expensive…
We Grow When We Are Challenged!
Forgive me dear reader (all two of you), for I have been remiss! It has been some time since my last posting. I should feel guilty and I should be berating myself for not publishing, but instead, I am going to be a little kinder on myself. It is not like I haven’t been writing…
Guest Post – To Korero Or Not?
Guest Post from Kerri Thompson, founder of #BFC630NZ twitter chat, and a passionate and innovative year 7/8 kiwi teacher. Kerri has been exploring cutting edge personalisation processes in her classroom, with fabulous results. Her blog is ‘Learningmyway‘.TO KORERO OR NOT? An emotional post after a comment directed at me by someone I don’t know via…
Teams Are About People – Lessons From The All Blacks
It has been an exciting month or so.A potent mix of adrenaline, passion, drive, commitment, leadership, and raw power splashed with a dash or two of testosterone. What is this wonderful excitement she speaks of, I hear you ask?Rugby.Not the grass roots garden variety, but the real (Richie) Mcaw kind. Over the last month of…
Educational Coaching 101- a Vlog Challenge #EdblogNZ
If you are a regular reader then you will know that I have been participating in the #EdBlogNZ blogging challenges. Some have been interesting, some have been problematic and this particular challenge – down right petrifying! The challenge:“Create a 1-2 minute video of an educational topic you are passionate about and post it on your blog…
Sources of Inspiration #EdBlogNZ
The last three weeks have been busy in the ‘blogosphere’ with the #EdBlogNZ challenges. One of this weeks tasks is to write about what have been my top three sources of inspiration over the last three weeks. It almost feels like a trick question. Top Three Sources of Inspiration 1. ULearn This was my first…
Accelerated Learning Tiers of Intervention Graphic #EdBlogNZ
EdBlogNZ Challenge Week 2 The Challenge: ‘Find an example of a resource you have made for your students, embed it in your blog and discuss how it has helped them with their learning. Reflect also on how you might further adapt/redesign the resource to take student learning to another level.’ The following resource is the…
Collaboration – An Innovation Challenge Accepted #EdBlogNZ
October is Connected Educator month, and this post is a celebration of connecting with others through a collaboration, on the theme of Innovation. Most importantly, it serves to meet the #edblognz challenge to collaborate with another blogger (or in our case, bloggers) on an important issue in education. We are a triad (to clarify,…