I really enjoyed working with two Infotech Engineers with a team of teachers and students to development of water collection and distribution system. This project included everything we believe in: E-Learning, Collaboration, Higher Order Thinking, Team, Authentic Learning, Reflecting, developing a solution to an authenitic challange and reaching out to our school communities.
We developed this Prezi which summerises this project.
http://prezi.com/zlrce8qcwe6_/copy-of-fbs-engineers/
Enjoy the presentation. Prezi is my current favourite presentation tool and our students love it!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Parent Portal is launched at Freemans Bay School
This week we launched our Caregiver Area on our online learning environment - Knowledge Net. This is a screen shot of the home page of our parent portal.
Parents can:
Parents can:
-View their childs learning goals and learning journals.
- View their child's attendance records.
- View their child's school records,
- See their child's profile, class and groups that the child belongs to
- Visit websites to support thier child on their learning journey
- View their child's attendance records.
- View their child's school records,
- See their child's profile, class and groups that the child belongs to
- Visit websites to support thier child on their learning journey
Parents can put in their on reflections on forums about school activities as well as comments on their childrens learning pages about how they see their child in doing with their learning goals.
This is very interactive and supports parents to support their children in their learning. It helps to strengthen the learning partnership between parent, child and school.
This is very interactive and supports parents to support their children in their learning. It helps to strengthen the learning partnership between parent, child and school.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Student Led Conferences at Freemans Bay School
Student Led Conferences Freemans Bay School 2011 on PhotoPeach
2011 Student Led Conferences
Student led conferences provide an opportunity for students to talk about their learning goals and have parents find out what these are and consider ways to support their students learning at home. Students are able to open up their goals on a classroom computer to access our on-line learning environment “Knowledge Net” and talk to parents about their goals and next learning steps. Parents interact with their students in the classroom and take part in some learning activites both online and in the classroom.
The focus of our student led conferences includes:
■Literacy goals
■Numeracy goals
■Habits of Mind (work habits)
What does a student led conference look like?
■A conversation between the students and their parent about learning
■Other families are present in the room at the same time
■The teacher is present but the student is doing the talking about their learning
Student learning artifacts:
Portfolios provide documentation of your child’s learning. Exercise books, digital files, drawings and classroom displays also represent student learning. The information in each student’s portfolio, along with other classroom working documents, clearly informs parents about their child’s expectations, actual progress and achievement. Portfolios also provide a curriculum expectation checkpoint. This enables parents to see information that details:
■The student’s actual level of attainment in key curriculum areas (literacy, numeracy and habits of mind)
■The student’s current achievement level compared to the age expected level
Parents are always welcome to make a time to have an individual appointment with the class teacher to talk about their students learning.
Students and parents find this process very engaging and compelling!
The focus of our student led conferences includes:
■Literacy goals
■Numeracy goals
■Habits of Mind (work habits)
What does a student led conference look like?
■A conversation between the students and their parent about learning
■Other families are present in the room at the same time
■The teacher is present but the student is doing the talking about their learning
Student learning artifacts:
Portfolios provide documentation of your child’s learning. Exercise books, digital files, drawings and classroom displays also represent student learning. The information in each student’s portfolio, along with other classroom working documents, clearly informs parents about their child’s expectations, actual progress and achievement. Portfolios also provide a curriculum expectation checkpoint. This enables parents to see information that details:
■The student’s actual level of attainment in key curriculum areas (literacy, numeracy and habits of mind)
■The student’s current achievement level compared to the age expected level
Parents are always welcome to make a time to have an individual appointment with the class teacher to talk about their students learning.
Students and parents find this process very engaging and compelling!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Knowledge Net Parent Portal to be launched at Freemans Bay School
We are looking forward to launching our parent portal next week at our student led conferences.
The Prezi presentation by Sarah Ingram of Knowledge Net gives you an idea of how parent portal assists parents to support their students learning.
We are looking forward to having feedback from our parents on how they find our parent portal and how it helps to support student learning.
The Prezi presentation by Sarah Ingram of Knowledge Net gives you an idea of how parent portal assists parents to support their students learning.
We are looking forward to having feedback from our parents on how they find our parent portal and how it helps to support student learning.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
South Korea digitizing educational material
South Korea has announced that by 2014, their educational materials will
be digitized, and by 2015, the entire school-age curriculum will
be delivered on an array of computers, smart phones and tablets.
It is estimated to cost South Korea's education ministry $2.4
billion buying the requisite tablets and digitizing material for them.
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26960/
While we can envy this level of resourcing being spent on e-learning we would not want to go down this path as it is systematic of a 20th century learning model. Chalk (even if it is digital chalk) and talk. Rote learning and worksheet mentality.
At Freemans Bay School we are using Knowledge Net as our integrated Learning Management e-learning environment. Our use of Knowledge Net allows our students to reflect on their learning and thinking and have their peers/parents/caregivers and educators provide feedback on their progress towards their goals.
We believe our students should have opportunities to collaborate with others, self manage their learning through their use of habits of mind and reflect on that learning and thinking.
Some further resourcing from our Government to support 21st century learning would be appreciated as we would like to be able to have 1-1 netbooks and fibre instead of asdl to support our access to the WWW. However I expect this will be a reality in the next few years.
Meanwhile I do not believe that we will go down the path of South Korea but we will continue developing a pedogogy for the world of our students live in- this way they will be engaged and motivated to learn.
be digitized, and by 2015, the entire school-age curriculum will
be delivered on an array of computers, smart phones and tablets.
It is estimated to cost South Korea's education ministry $2.4
billion buying the requisite tablets and digitizing material for them.
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26960/
While we can envy this level of resourcing being spent on e-learning we would not want to go down this path as it is systematic of a 20th century learning model. Chalk (even if it is digital chalk) and talk. Rote learning and worksheet mentality.
At Freemans Bay School we are using Knowledge Net as our integrated Learning Management e-learning environment. Our use of Knowledge Net allows our students to reflect on their learning and thinking and have their peers/parents/caregivers and educators provide feedback on their progress towards their goals.
We believe our students should have opportunities to collaborate with others, self manage their learning through their use of habits of mind and reflect on that learning and thinking.
Some further resourcing from our Government to support 21st century learning would be appreciated as we would like to be able to have 1-1 netbooks and fibre instead of asdl to support our access to the WWW. However I expect this will be a reality in the next few years.
Meanwhile I do not believe that we will go down the path of South Korea but we will continue developing a pedogogy for the world of our students live in- this way they will be engaged and motivated to learn.
National Standards and Resourcing What Matters
One of the things that annoys me about National Standards is that I think it is a waste of valuable resourcing that could be spent on really making a difference to education in New Zealand where it matters.
The National Government sold the idea of National Standards to voters on the basis that our education system is in crisis and needs fixing.
However this was manipulative electioneering and as move into the next election continues to be so.
We have a very good education system in New Zealand - this is well proven by our results in OECD research. We are listed in the top countries for literacy and mathematics. However we do have a tail of underachievement. This tail comprises mostly of Maori and Pasifika students.
The National Standard policy is supposed to address this tail of underachievement. But it will not. How can continually testing students make them improve?
I believe that the money that is being put into National Standards would be better spent on a national strategy to address the underachievement tail.
Reversing the staffing cuts to early childhood centres would be a good place to start on this issue.
Imagine if all of the funding that is going into MOE officials hasseling principals and schools about school charters, the employees salaries that are tied up in the promotion of National Standards, training, media and the like went into a national strategy on addressing the real issues of underachievement.
Now that would make a difference.
Meanwhile the next meeting in Auckland for Boards of Trustees Against National Standards is to be held at Freemans Bay School on July 12. These Boards of Trustees and Principals are demonstrating courage around what they believe in: That we have a high quality public education system in New Zealand and that the resourcing that is being spent on National Standards would be best spent elsewhere to address the underachievement issue in our system.
The National Government sold the idea of National Standards to voters on the basis that our education system is in crisis and needs fixing.
However this was manipulative electioneering and as move into the next election continues to be so.
We have a very good education system in New Zealand - this is well proven by our results in OECD research. We are listed in the top countries for literacy and mathematics. However we do have a tail of underachievement. This tail comprises mostly of Maori and Pasifika students.
The National Standard policy is supposed to address this tail of underachievement. But it will not. How can continually testing students make them improve?
I believe that the money that is being put into National Standards would be better spent on a national strategy to address the underachievement tail.
Reversing the staffing cuts to early childhood centres would be a good place to start on this issue.
Imagine if all of the funding that is going into MOE officials hasseling principals and schools about school charters, the employees salaries that are tied up in the promotion of National Standards, training, media and the like went into a national strategy on addressing the real issues of underachievement.
Now that would make a difference.
Meanwhile the next meeting in Auckland for Boards of Trustees Against National Standards is to be held at Freemans Bay School on July 12. These Boards of Trustees and Principals are demonstrating courage around what they believe in: That we have a high quality public education system in New Zealand and that the resourcing that is being spent on National Standards would be best spent elsewhere to address the underachievement issue in our system.
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