Author Archives: mwalker

Can we see through the looking glass into an alternative world?

Posted on August 27, 2020 by mwalker

In Lewis Carroll’s book Alice is playing with her white kittens when she ponders what the world is like on the other side of a mirror’s reflection. Climbing up onto the fireplace mantel, she pokes at the wall-hung mirror behind the fireplace … Continue reading →

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Parents want more than jobs out of education for their children.

Posted on June 22, 2020 by mwalker

The Australian Newspaper features an article by Chris Mitchell “Parents want education system to prep kids for jobs, not political activism”. In the article he makes a number of claims and offers solutions which I think need a response. Mitchell’s … Continue reading →

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What does back at school look like?

Posted on May 22, 2020 by mwalker

. As schools in Victoria resume face to face teaching over the next 2 weeks there might be a temptation for a period of testing to see where students are up to, what gaps may have occurred and know what … Continue reading →

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Teaching has 4 Seasons

Posted on May 18, 2020 by mwalker

During this Covid 19 isolation period I have been catching up on my reading and I came across an article in the ASCD Education Update (Oct 2019) titled “Teaching Comes in Seasons”. The author Chase Mielke talked about the careers … Continue reading →

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Lilydale High School

Posted on November 22, 2019 by mwalker

During November I worked with the leadership team at Lilydale High School on collaboration. Some of the resources we used: https://hbr.org/2002/06/a-survival-guide-for-leaders Lilydale HS Meeting Rolling Agenda.docx http://mwalker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Inventory-of-Instructional-Initiatives.xlsx

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Use differing Genre in teaching Reading and Writing

Posted on September 9, 2019 by mwalker

I’ve posted these two images from the work of Cass a reading specialist after recent discussions about the growing effects of NAPLAN particularly on writing. It seems the genre we teach is narrowing to narrative (what sort of narrative I … Continue reading →

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Effect Size: using Hattie’s work

Posted on August 20, 2019 by mwalker

In my ‘using data wisely’ work around Victoria I’m asked about calculating Hattie’s effect sizes. There are several good sites that show you how, here are some. From Visible Learning In the interests of perspective here I have included a … Continue reading →

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How to determine zones of proximal development.

Posted on August 13, 2019 by mwalker

In my “using data wisely” work with Principals and teachers I’m sometimes sometimes how to look at a data set and calculate zones of proximal development. This clip featuring Patrick Griffin from Melbourne University I think answers that question.

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Student Reports: Are they worth the time and cost?

Posted on July 24, 2019 by mwalker

During May I visited a number of schools and invariably teachers spoke to me about starting their student reports which were due in 4-5 weeks time to parents. It seemed a long time in the prepare phase but then as … Continue reading →

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Yarra – Darebin Network of Schools

Posted on November 8, 2018 by mwalker

Hi everyone, This post has the requested resources from our day together and some snapshots to remember the highlights: De-identified Primary School Data Inventory 2016 – 2018 DW Minutes sample The Five WHY’s protocol. Compass Points (survey monkey) Leadership-compass-self-assessment   … Continue reading →

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Maribyrnong Network of School Leaders

Posted on October 29, 2018 by mwalker

This post is to follow-up our network day on the first 2 steps of Data Wise. We spoke about answering the WHY question when change is being advocated – as we are about to advocate for change in collaboration in … Continue reading →

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Inferencing in the early years

Posted on May 23, 2018 by mwalker

This week I’m writing about inferencing. It’s nearly 5 months into the Australian academic year for our Foundation to Year 2 students and teachers have built Reading Workshops where students build sufficient reading stamina for guided groups to run, where learning … Continue reading →

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Lesson Transitions

Posted on May 6, 2018 by mwalker

About 9 months ago I started working as a casual academic for Deakin University, Faculty of Education, in Victoria. Students are placed in schools for at least 80 days, depending upon their course. They work along students and experienced teachers … Continue reading →

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Painting a new school’s curriculum and pedagogy.

Posted on October 1, 2017 by mwalker

As an educator, and now consultant, it’s hard not to get excited when you are asked to support a newish school develop its curriculum and pedagogy.  In many ways, it’s like a starting a painting with a blank canvas, or … Continue reading →

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Why have learning intentions without success criteria?

Posted on July 24, 2017 by mwalker

John, in this 9 min clip, puts the case for why we need to explain what we intend students to learn, why and how they might self assess success. It’s hard to defend the opposite. In this clip John’s work … Continue reading →

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