Justin's Insights

Week 2: Reflecting on week 1 and first day back for week 2, I feel a sense of conflict between my expectations and the reality of where the students are at. I also feel a sense of confusion at having so many ideas for what I hope the students will enjoy and engage with that I have difficulty knowing where to start or what to start with. Today I felt as though the biggest issue i have is encouraging or teaching students to think critically and to reflect on their effort - to get them to want to push themselves to improve and be better. It is part of our Growth Mindset approach to learning and development as people. I am not sure if we are getting this right in terms of how we deliver the message to our students. I’m thinking something like “Solo Taxonomy” ties into the Growth Mindset focus and perhaps we have to spend more time unpacking this. When things are not going well I find I fall into a thought process that goes something like this. Start to question student...

This year I am venturing into unchartered territory on my journey as an educator. I am team teaching in an open environment with 55 students ranging from year 6 - 8. I am participating in an eFellowship where I am looking at innovative ways to engage and teach students. All of this is very new and as such I thought it would be interesting to share my reflections with an authentic audience in the hope that by doing so it will provide me the forum to be honest with myself so that I can improve my practice. If anybody should come across my blog, please feel free to provide some constructive feedback/feedforward, what ever you prefer to refer to it as. Week 1: What has gone well - team teaching going very well Share similar philosophies - growing people, understand and value the importance of community, empowering students communicate well, no ego’s and willing to learn off each other and recognise each other's strengths What can go better - team plannin...

stevemouldey.wordpress.com As you would expect, reflecting on uLearn2015 requires you to try and absorb so much. Fabulous Keynote speakers, a plethora of workshops and presentations and of course, the wonderful connections we make and re-establish. However, the lasting impression I leave with is the reaffirming of the importance that community plays in the success and direction of our schools. This was brought home to me like a slap in the face today when I went to my school to do some prep work before tomorrow. Vandalism... This was not the first time I have seen this over the last two weeks of the holidays, but it did highlight to me the disconnect between some in our community and our school. It saddened me to think that there are people in our small community that could destroy so much of that which belongs to our students. It also highlighted for me he need to engage with the problem that I face each day and that is the disconnect that many of my students bring from the commu...

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.