My Learning
Whāia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei.
Seek the treasure that you value most dearly, if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.
There are Three Kinds of People in the World
My old maths teacher once told me that there are three kinds of people in the world: those who make things happen, those who let things happen and those who wonder what the bloody hell has happened. She was standing over me at the time as I whined pathetically about how no one could be
What is the point of marking work?
Not a lot it would seem. I have just finished marking over 75 writing portfolios each with two pieces of writing over 500 words long and needing to be scrutinized multiple times. It took me 15 hours and involved reading over 100,000 words. Was it a complete waste of my time? What bothers me is
The Focus Lesson
The FOCUS lesson is the second phase of the instructional model I am attempting to use in my classroom. It follows on from the first phase: Experiential Engagement and is explained in The Formative Assessment Action Plan. A vital aspect of the teaching and learning cycle is providing FEED UP in order to to establish
Experiential Engagement – What does it look like?
The goal of experiential engagement is to hook students at the beginning of a unit or lesson in order to motivate them to want to learn. The idea is to set up an activity that allows learners to personally connect to the topic and find some authentic context. The concept is explained in more detail
Plan A.
My goal for 2016 is to effectively embed AFL (Assessment for learning) practices into my teaching. I’ve mentioned elsewhere the fact that AFL practices top the list of the most effective strategies to improve student learning and yet almost 20 years after the original research they are still not being implemented successfully in the majority
The Flipped Classroom – The Full Picture
The Flipped Classroom: The Full Picture by Jackie Gerstein My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was very excited when I read the blurb on this book as it offered to answer the pressing question about what to do with class time once you flip the classroom. The book explores how the flipped classroom
The Formative Assessment Action Plan
The Formative Assessment Action Plan: Practical Steps to More Successful Teaching and Learning by Nancy Frey My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is one of the more useful books about how to embed formative assessment practices into classroom teaching. What makes this book a lot better than many others is the fact that it
Cultural Responsiveness
I have always followed the principle that it is important to treat all people equally and until recently made no particular effort to draw attention to culture in my classroom. This approach was clearly not culturally ‘responsive’ since it did not ‘respond’ to culture, but rather ignored it. Sadly, it is clear from the many
Law and Ethics
THE DILEMMA GIRL A’s parents believe that the internet is evil and do not allow her access to it. The dilemma is that the teacher will not be able to prepare that child for life in the 21st century where effective use of technology is a key skill. WHAT HAPPENED? Teachers are bound
LEARNING NETWORKS
A Media for being Social Teaching and learning is dependent on high quality communication and interaction. Until recently, I only really communicated with other teachers through face-to-face discussion at work. However, I now recognise that interacting in this way is like using only the red bricks in a set of Lego. I work with a
