iThink

I am loving this series of digital resources available through digiStore on TKI. Schools will need to register to access here.

iThink is a series of animated short features that include the unscripted voices of some engaging groups of children discussing their ideas on a range of topics from rubbish to relationships. The style is similar to that of the documation creations by The Simmonds Brothers and the UKTV series Creature Comforts.
I can see these being used with students in a variety of ways:

• To model and promote dialogue between groups of students
• Explore concepts in a real life context students will find engaging and can relate too
• Demonstrate the use of animation to communicate thinking and new understandings
• Students may develop their own iThink style animations to reflect on their learning.

Central North Shore Cluster Celebrates

Auckland turned on a spectacular day for our cluster celebration last Friday. Many thanks to Milford School for hosting us...the view of Lake Pupuke from the hall says it all.

It was wonderful to celebrate our eLearning journey together and look back over the past 3 years. Each of the schools presented a celebration of their learning and the impact of viewing these reinforced not only how far everyone had come but also how much we had grown in confidence...and what a lot of fun we are having learning together!

I have embedded all the presentations in the wiki here...(where else...lol!) I have cut some of the original sound tracks and replaced with FreePlay music because of copyright but feel confident that the images and video continue to convey these messages about our journey...

Change ...Everybody Learning Together...Shift Does Happen...
Student Voice...Thinking Differently

Finally what's a celebration without some dancing!

Congratulations Stephen and Helen!

We have acknowledged both our cluster and ICT PD network links as primary sources for staying current with both educational research and elearning trends as the cluster plans for 2009 and beyond. This also includes identifying opportunities for teachers to both continue their learning and to support sustainability of the learning community the cluster has developed over the past 3 years of the contract.

We are therefore very pleased to congratulate two of our teachers, Stephen Gordon and Helen Rennie-Younger who have successfully applied for teaching scholarships for 2009.

Stephen has been awarded 1 of 40 paid Primary Teacher's Sabbatical leave positions for 2009. The purpoase of his work will be to continue to build teacher capacity and understanding of eLearning and effective pedagogy and further inquiry into the development of the school's LMS to support professional development, eLearning and the NZC2007.

Helen will be one of the 10 e-fellows for 2009. Helen's research will be to inquire into strategies that may increase the level of motivation and engagement of a diverse group of young learners who are experiencing difficulties in producing written text.





We are very happy for both Helen and Stephen and recognise the value their work will bring to the continued learning opportunities for the cluster as we approach the end of the contract.