In my post for Leadership Day 2010 , I wrote about the McTighe ‘Schooling by Design’ model, in which programs, practices, hiring of staff and allocation of resources all rest on the foundation of the mission statement (what we stand for) and learning principles (what we believe about learning.) Our school has a mission statement […]
There’s an army of people out there fighting for reform. Educators who know that education has to change. Teachers striving to change the way teaching and learning take place. Rebels fighting against standardized testing and calling for abolishing grades. Tech enthusiasts driving the implementation of technology to make learning meaningful in the 21st century. Flat […]
Apparently this random comment (my response to a tweet in last week’s #edchat) was well received! This got me thinking (again) about the principles of effective professional learning for educators. In no particular order, the following points are based on my own experience. Effective professional learning needs to be… 1. Conceptual Effective learning for teachers […]
Joining the cohort of teachers learning with @langwitches last week, when I could, I found them highly engaged and involved in their own learning. The approach was different from the last time Silvia visited our school. This time she worked with a group of teachers, each of whom elected to participate, a diverse group with varying […]
Day 1 of the new school year had a hundred and twenty teachers gathered in one place to think about student ownership! What could be better? In cross campus, mixed role groups, teachers took turns to talk about something they had learned during the holidays and how they had learned it. Conversations were varied and […]
‘The back channel is the conversation that happens behind the real life front conversation.’ I love the way @langwitches explains this to the children, even though the back channel is as much real life for me as the front conversation! On her first day working with teachers, a full day, full on workshop which blows minds […]
Do you set the bar high and constantly seek to improve your practice? It’s a privilege to work in a school with a strong learning culture, where teachers’ professional learning is valued and new opportunities for further learning and growth are constantly being sought. The latest initiative is a one-on-one coaching model, providing opportunities for […]
Our strong beliefs about what comprises effective professional learning underpin the planning for our up-coming professional learning day, BY the teachers FOR the teachers… We have so much knowledge, expertise and passion within – It’s not always necessary to depend on outside presenters to take our learning forward. We begin by surveying the teacher-learners to find out what […]
Do you wish you had more time for your own learning? Would you like to have time to explore new ideas and reflect on things you have learned? Over the past few years, we’ve abandoned the one-size-fits-hardly-anyone approach to PD and experimented with a range of other approaches to professional learning. I’ve written before about […]
“It’s not about making learning happen, it’s about letting it happen”… This is the crux of Sugata Mitra’s message, whether he is talking about minimally invasive education, self organised learning environments or the School in the Cloud. It’s very different from traditional approaches to education, but not so far removed from the student centred, inquiry driven learning that takes place […]
What Ed Said 