Introductory Video

https://youtu.be/MlzD5a3dQmE At the start of our Masters journey, we were encouraged to make an introductory video. In it we highlighted Our Place; Our Practice; Our Intent. It is encouraging to see that this idea of talanoa: talk about nothing in order to get comfortable permeates down from tertiary studies, all the way through college and …

Reflections on the Curriculum Progress Tools

In a previous blog post I said my next steps with the Learning Progressions Framework (LPF) and Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT) would be to work with a diverse group of college teachers. We have met weekly and I thought it would be good to round the year off with a reflective post. Initial steps …

The importance of the Treaty of Waitangi Principle

This year, more than ever before, I've been going back to the original documents that underpin our curriculum. Like the New Zealand Curriculum document, the LPFs (Learning Progressions Framework) and the PaCT tool. We have key principles and values that should drive all that we do in our classes. One of the principles, foundational to …

ADE 2020 Leadership Workshop

In late March 2020, Covid-19 sent New Zealand into full lockdown. Of course this has been the case across the globe, with us looking to each other to try to discover the best approach. It was unlike anything we had ever experienced, and while we were on a rollercoaster of emotions, most of us sprung …

ADE 2020 REFLECTIONS

July is the time when ADEs get together to share, collaborate and inspire each other. And to be inspired by the ADE programme. I feel privileged to have been to institutes since 2015. We all predicted that 2020 was going to be a bumper year given that the ADE programme is in its 25th year. …

Feeling redundant in your own classroom?

If you've been involved in project based learning, or problem based learning, or any student led inquiry, you will know the feeling I mean. You're in the class, but feel surplus to needs. Students have the guidelines; they have the learning goals; they have the tools to get them there. And this may not include …

Lockdown Lessons Learned

If teaching as inquiry has taught me one thing, it is the value of reflection. As we move towards level 2 of the lockdown period, I felt it timely to look at what lockdown learning has taught me. It is important to acknowledge that this is the first global crisis we have all faced for …

Lockdown Learning

Some people don't like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster- Elon Musk As I write this post, New Zealand has been in lockdown for almost a week. We experienced a few days of online learning before the earlier-than-normal Easter holidays began. In that time I have witnessed a flurry …

What to do When the World Shuts Down

When I had the idea of making the following poster, it was done when school closure was a theoretical concept, not a reality. I must say I was hugely skeptical that we would go into full lockdown. But when lockdown came, it did so swiftly and uncompromisingly. ONLINE LEARNING Was I worried about my students? …

Curriculum Progress Tools

I was fortunate to attend a hui run by the ministry in their Wellington offices on Friday, 6 March. Besides loving any excuse to visit our capital city, I found the day to be both informative and incredibly useful for planning our way forward with the curriculum progress tools. As a Kāhui Ako we have …