Sept Reflective Summaries

Here is a link to veiw or download our September Reflective Summaries. We have used these school reflections to help collate our overall cluster milestone and reflective summary (you can read this shortly on the vln).

There will be a link posted here, on our cluster blog, so you can read our reflective summary. It makes for some encouraging reading! It's worth seeing the overview of the progress the cluster has made this year - which is hard to see when we are all working hard in our sub clusters and individual schools.

Here are a few stats and common threads, gathered from our school reflections -

- 6 / 10 schools have followed through and completed their teacher inquiries this term.

- 2 schools using these as part of their appraisel process.

- 9 / 10 schools report a substantial increase in teacher confidence and capability in ICT integration. Many schools preparing purchasing plans for increasing the number of devices in their schools.

- Most schools reflected a year of embedding their inquiry process and establishing consistent planning and assessment practices across the school.

Here are some other links to some fantastic sites, wikis, videos and other web 2.0 activities happening in the cluster!

School Video 1

School Video 2

School Video 3

School Website

School Wiki

Class wiki for spelling

Classroom Blog

School Radio Show Blog

Use of Skype in the classroom

Wallwisher in the class

Online Connections Tips

Our techie session is on using the web to connect our classrooms and ourselves with other professionals. Here's an example of using Mindmeister to connect. We're working on it to start the session and as a way for sharing our thinking - great for using in class or as a homework task.

Extention! Check out Go2web2.0 and find three sites you will use in class - explain how!

Cluster Reflective Summaries

Thankyou for all your hard work preparing the reflective summaries for this terms Milestone Report. We are most of the way through preparing the report for the preliminary submission date on Friday.

We thought we would post the reflective summares here on the cluster blog for us all to share the progress so far. It's been quite rewarding to read your descriptions of increased ICT integration and the other developments happening in our schools. It would be well worth your time reading some of the reflections.

Don't forget you can visit our cluster reflection summary on the VLN website or on this blog, which we will use to share the summary with you, also.

Community Engagement

One of the 'next steps' we've identified from the lastest cluster survey is the need to engage our communities in the shift that's occuring in education - especially in regards to elearning.

This presentation by Regan Orr, the Principal at Kopataroa School near Levin, is a great example of one way to engage with our parents and caregivers about the changes that are occuring to teaching and learning. Regan was really pleased with the positive response he had from his community, both during and after the evening's presentation. He has also said he's happy to be contacted for further comment. You can visit his professional blog here.

How we decide to engage with our communities will vary across the cluster but it's great to see how one school is approaching this important aspect of leading change in it's school.

E-Learning Community Meeting

View more presentations from Regan Orr

Web 2.0 Tools

Are you looking for some websites that can help with your Teacher Inquiry? Paula, from Myross Bush, posted this link to a great collection of web2.0 sites you can try out.

You can search for specific sites - there are lots of categories - and I've yet to see a bigger collection! Happy hunting!

Teachmeet - 30/04/11

It was great to see such an enthusiastic bunch meet at Makarewa last night. These were the groups that split off after we met up for a quick drink. It was an informal chance to share, learn and explore some strategies for elearning in our classrooms!

Thanks to Julie, Evelyn, Kiri and Renee for starting the groups and getting the ball rolling. There may possibly be another teachmeet early next term!

Competition Winners!

After studying the results over many hours this weekend we have a winner for our Marshmallow Challenge - Winton School! They winning height was 1201 cm and you can see the creative spin this team put on their design.

The consistent message I gave to everyone was that you can do what every fits within the rules on the board... and one of the rules stated that the distance was from the table top to the height of the marshmallow.

The rules didn't state which way the table had to be positioned. So, this team has taught us all some important lessons about reaching our goals.

If we're striving to do the best for the learning of our students then sometimes it pays to move our preconceived ideas of what effective teaching and learning is really about. What are we 'holding onto' in our practice because it's always been done that way? - food for thought.

Another winner today is Grant, also from Winton School. He saw this qr code that was

around many staff rooms, took the photo and saw the message on line to send me a text. A Crunchie bar is on it's way, Grant (it's also been in my bag for 10 days so might be a little broken up...).

QR codes are being tipped as one of the next big things this year - they help bridge the gap between the physical and online worlds and should be seen more with the uptake of smart phones around the place.

Check out these links to find out more - especially about QR codes and your classrooms! I wonder who'll join Grant and be the early adopters in the cluster?

Don't Waste your Time - What are QR codes and how're they used?

The Daring Librarian - Qr codes in the library

Edtechvision.org - Tips for using QR codes in the classroom

Staff Meetings - Wks 1 and 2

It's been a wirl wind tour of schools for me in the last two weeks. Thanks for the gentle introduction. I'm really excited about the enthusiasm you all have for growth this year and I'm looking forward to learning alongside everyone this year!

Here is the link and the video for the marshmallow challenge we've been using to kick the year off. I will let you all know the winning school for the marshmallow challenge at the end of this week! A morning tea shout is heading your way.

Look out for some more pictures of the best structures to be posted soon.

Mark - Facilitator