Justin's Insights

Education & Technology Quotes from Tony Vincent

In 2014 my journey as an educator continued to develop. I had the responsibility of introducing a 1-1 digital class, with the biggest challenge being to convince the community and whanau of our students that it was the right decision to make.It developed to a point where I provided my students with the opportunity to take some control of their learning and allow them to redesign their learning environment. What it demonstrated, not only to me, but to the people who witnessed the learning environment, was that through student ownership the engagement levels exceeded all expectations. Everybody in the class found a valuable task that they could contribute to positively. The respect that the students had for the environment they had created was considerably higher than if it had been given to them. One student was lambasted for using a sharpened paper clip to draw on the newly made desks, because it was "their" desks. It was a successful and hugely rewarding experience for ever

This term my students have been reading "Macbeth". It is not Shakespeare's original but a contemporary adaptation aimed for primary school age readers. The group had been working in a Literacy Circle for four weeks and to conclude their reading they had to discuss and identify the main themes in the text. When they had established what they thought the themes were, they then had to locate examples in the text. Once the examples had been identified and located in the text, the students had to share their learning in a video no longer that two minutes, with no dialogue and with music that fit in with the themes as well. The students decided to use WeVideo and came up with the following video. I am extremely proud of the work that has been created. This group of students consistently take ownership of their learning, require very little motivation and thrive on being given the opportunity to be creative and produce work to a high standard.