Cluster Share August 2008

There is no need for me to write a post for our last Cluster Share at Takapuna. Will says it all...click play to listen to his podcast.

Cluster Share May 2008

Again teachers shared and reflected on a variety of elearning strategies they have been exploring over the last term. Thank you to everyone for your contributions and support.

All teacher presentations and links can be accessed from the cluster wiki.

As I moved between the sessions I noted how often teachers reported on the engagement of students in their learning as a result of their participation and opportunities to collaborate with others, including a wider audience beyond their school.

One example of this is Living Heritage (available free to all NZ schools), an opportunity for students to "become investigators and storytellers, collaborating with each other to research, write, and publish for an online audience". Students from Northcote Intermediate have developed and published an online resource from their explorations of Tawharanui National Park, its endangered species and the impact of humans . Alison shared the process her class went through to publish their inquiry and some wonderful examples of how elearning can be integrated for a specific, authentic purpose.

Also see Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand for similar opportunities for student's to share their stories ( bottom left of the Te Ara home page)

Cluster Share April 2008

Thanks to everyone in our cluster for participating in the first cluster share for 2008, specially to those of you who facilitated the breakouts. While this was a first time experience for some teachers both your presentations and your willingness to reflect on your learning and share new understandings with the cluster were much appreciated. Lynne has posted resources and links on the wiki however if you have further questions please feel free to email the relevant teachers.
Instructions for joining the wiki are online too... plus there are lots of wiki experts out in your schools that can help. Remember there are two stages to joining.
First - join wiki spaces and create your user name and password.
Second - login using your username and password then request to become a member of our Central North Shore wiki. This will allow you to edit pages. Please email me if you have any questions or catch up with Lynne when she is in your school next.
Thanks to Sunnybrae Normal for hosting us. Our next cluster share will be on Tuesday May 27th, hosted by Northcote Primary School. If you missed a breakout and would like an opportunity to see it repeated please visit the quick online survey here.

Please let us know if you are interested in contributing either individually or as part of a teaching team.

Cluster Share - Northcote Intermediate

Thanks to Northcote Intermediate for hosting our final cluster share for 2007 last Tuesday. We have had five Cluster Shares and have found them very effective in supporting the programme of professional learning for teachers throughout the year.

Planning Cluster Shares, hosted at each of the 5 cluster schools year, over the 4 terms has enabled regular face2face contact at a cluster level while additionally supporting individual school activities, the cluster's online community and teacher inquiry.

Opportunities for teachers to learn from each other and also reflect on their own learning have also been a feature of the regular cluster share programme. We are making a few changes for 2008 as we continue to focus on opportunities to learn collaboratively and develop leadership capacity.
Links to:
Cluster Share Resources
Cluster Share Photos

Cluster Share - Takapuna Teacher Inquiry

As a cluster, we thank the teachers from Takapuna Primary today, who shared their learning with us in a variety of contexts. I am sure you will agree that the attention to detail in both the preparation and organisation was much appreciated by the teachers who attended.

I saw many examples of teachers demonstrating an increased understanding of how eLearning strategies are identified and used to support the learning purpose. Also the valuable tips and advice for managing ICT in the classroom, as a result of your teacher inquiry, will be beneficial especially when teachers are exploring new opportunities for ICT integration.

As promised the resource pages can be accessed from the Cluster Share wiki page as well as the short presentation that Margaret shared with us at the beginning, a copy of the original "Did You Know?" video on Shift Happens.

This video has been the source of much debate since it was posted by Karl Fisch. I would also recommend you read this post by Tom Hoffman Did You Know? I WANT TO BELIEVE, which also includes comment from Karl. There is also an updated version of the video based on more recent data that can also be viewed online here.

The intention of Karl Fisch was..."never meant to be "scholarly" or "authoritative." It was meant to highlight some of the changes that were/are happening, and give my staff an idea of the trends that I saw and what that might mean for our students. I still think the presentation does a decent job of that. (Also, keep in mind that the original presentation starts with 8 slides about my school, which I think changes the tone from the version that starts with the China and India stuff)." (Fisch, 2007)
I believe that it is important for us, as New Zealand teachers, to consider and discuss how these trends relate to New Zealand and their relevance, or not, to our students and their learning.
If you have any questions please email the Takapuna teachers or contact me. 

2008 Cluster Shares

Cluster Share - Milford Teacher Inquiry

"Often in our classrooms we get so busy planning for and managing the lessons we do with our students that we don’t allow ourselves time to reflect...Taking the time to reflect critically on the things we are doing in our classrooms is perhaps the most effective thing we can do to ensure that what we are doing is having the desired outcomes, and is changing our practice in the ways we want it to" (Wenmoth, 2007).



Our third Cluster Share this year was hosted by Milford School. Teachers shared, through a selection of classroom-based breakouts, the eLearning inquiries they have been exploring this year. These included a variety of ways they have been utilising ICTs to support student learning along with challenges and recommendations. This was a new format for our Cluster Shares and provided opportunities for all teachers to participate through questioning and contributions as we hoped the sessions would develop as a professional conversation rather than a 'sit and git'.

An important step in our teacher inquiry process is to reflect and teachers have found their participation has also provided them with opportunities and time to think critically about about what is happening in their classroom.

A big thank you to the Milford teachers who have also posted their resources on the cluster wiki including their contact details for cluster teachers who need to follow up from the breakouts they attended.
Click here for the wiki page.

Cluster Share - PhotoFUN

Following up from the successful Northcote Primary Cluster Share in March, Sunnybrae Normal School hosted our second share, PhotoFUN. Again this was an opportunity for teachers to demonstrate how they are integrating eLearning to add value in a variety of curriculum areas. Thanks to the Sunnybrae staff who provided us with some effective and creative use of digital photography throughout the school. The programme also included a valuable session lead by Cathy O'Hanlon, DP at Sunnybrae on the art of taking quality photos. Cathy acknowledged what she had learnt from Stuart Hale while attending iSchool last year and has shared some excellent tips and work she has done with digital photography since.

As the facilitator I am in the privileged position of spending most days in our cluster schools experiencing first hand some of the wonderful learning.
Consequently we have set up a collaborative project for the cluster at PhotoFUN - Why learning is fun at our school. we hope this project will also provide more opportunities for all teachers to experience the learning in our cluster schools.

To find out more about the PhotoFUN project and links to resources demonstrated at the cluster share, including Cathy's presentation, visit the Central North Shore wiki

Lots more photos to see on the wiki too...including some taken by teachers during the Photo Challenge...good effort team!

Cluster Share - Virtual Field Trips

 

The cluster gathered in force this afternoon (over 75 teachers) to support our first cluster share of the year hosted by Northcote Primary. The theme was exploring virtual field trips and how they can add value to the compelling and creative learning that is already happening in our schools. Special thanks to Helen Rennie-Younger and Nicky Ling for sharing their learning and experiences with us all. You can view Helen's presentation on our cluster wiki Teachers at each class level also explored an archived virtual field trip and collaborated to record some of their thinking. I read through these and have collated into 3 pages at each level. Noticeable was the range of strategies and also recommendations from teachers who have already participated. Worth a read before you start a field trip.We finished with a conference call and questions to Audrie McKenzie, LEARNZ eduactor, who is currently on location facilitating a virtual field trip at spectacular Aoraki Mt Cook. eMail Audrie if you have any further questions or suggestions. Cluster schools have already registered for future field trips and we are keen to see the results of their 'virtual travels'. See more about this event, including links to resources and photos on the Central North Shore wiki. It's such an exciting time to be teaching... and learning. Northcote teachers report they, like their students, couldn't wait to get to school each day! Coincidently YouTube announced their first video awards today. An animation from NZ simply called KIWI! won the award for most adorable by the YouTube community...worth a squizz if you have 3.09min.