Author Archives: mwalker

A twist on parent teacher interviews

Posted on August 28, 2014 by mwalker

This week we completed our 2nd round of parent teacher interviews. They were held in August, which is just over half way through the academic school year. So what’s different you might ask? The students 1/2 year written reports were … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, school, Teaching, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

What might Benjamin Franklin have to say to our young students?

Posted on August 19, 2014 by mwalker

  At Monday’s school assembly I used Benjamin Franklin’s story to talk about the importance of effort and persistence as we strive for personal excellence. “energy and persistence conquer all things” Benjamin Franklin I talked about his childhood days in … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Leadership, Reading, school, Teaching, Video Clips | 1 Comment

“I am eleven” a tremendous resource to explore intercultural understandings.

Posted on August 19, 2014 by mwalker

I just had to share this resource which I have just ordered for my school. I and I should say we are really just starting to get immersed into the intercultural understanding space in schools. It’s an really interesting space … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Sister School, Teaching, Video Clips | 7 Comments

What about measuring learning found through cultural travel experiences to counterbalance missed schooling and lower national test scores?

Posted on August 6, 2014 by mwalker

At the recent ACER conference in Adelaide Stephen Zubrick presented a paper on school attendance and the effects on academic performance. The Sunday Age in Melbourne picked up the story with a headline “No safe level of missing school, study … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, politics, school, Travel | 1 Comment

What do you remember of the first 100 days of your school experience?

Posted on July 30, 2014 by mwalker

  This week I was invited to visit the foundation years classrooms where they celebrated the first 100 days of their schooling experience. Each child had to bring a collection of 100 things to share with the other students. They … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Spending too much time after lunch in early intervention conversations?

Posted on July 27, 2014 by mwalker

Recently we had Marg Armstrong do a refresher at our staff meeting on the need to continually build relationships in classrooms and across the staff. We sat in a circle at our staff meeting and Marg regrouped us according to … Continue reading →

Posted in curriculum, school, Teaching | 3 Comments

Alberta and Victoria: separated by two great oceans but close in educational thinking.

Posted on July 16, 2014 by mwalker

I have just finished rereading a 2012 research paper on transforming education in Alberta Canada. I found it a great read. I didn’t know for example that Alberta has been Canada’s highest performing province for over a decade. Andy Hargreaves … Continue reading →

Posted in curriculum, Leadership, school, teacher efficacy, Teaching | 1 Comment

Mandarin the 4th most popular language in primary schools! (updated)

Posted on July 9, 2014 by mwalker

I woke up yesterday to read from a local newspaper that Mandarin is now the fourth most-popular choice for primary school pupils in Victoria. The article went on to say: The news comes as schools prepare for the introduction of compulsory … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Chinese Language, curriculum, school | 1 Comment

Japanese Prime Minister apologies for WW2 atrocities in seeking a future of closer relationships.

Posted on July 9, 2014 by mwalker

In an historic event the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addressed the Australian Parliament I think to seek closer ties between the two countries. These ties of course include valuable trade deals and increased tourism. His father, Shintaro Abe, was a former … Continue reading →

Posted in history | 1 Comment

World Congress Art Educators visit EPS!

Posted on July 8, 2014 by mwalker

This week our school hosted an international group of art educators here for the 34th World Congress of the International Society for Education through Art. This group of educators camera from countries like Japan, China, America, Brazil, United Kingdom, Hong Kong … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Teaching | 1 Comment

Reinventing Writing is that possible?

Posted on July 6, 2014 by mwalker

Recently I stumbled upon the work of Vicki Davis a classroom teacher (middle or secondary I think) in the States who is working on using technology to reinvent writing. The clip above is long (20 minutes) but I think she … Continue reading →

Posted in Feedback, Instruction, Teaching, writing | 1 Comment

A crash course in Chinese History.

Posted on July 4, 2014 by mwalker

As crash courses go and allowing for a few mistakes like the great wall was started by the Qin dynasty and the Ming dynasty, like the others, just expanded and fixed the Wall or that Chinese recorded history is 5000 not … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Instruction, Teaching, Uncategorized, Video Clips | 1 Comment

“education is not a horse race”

Posted on July 3, 2014 by mwalker

Over the holidays I came across an easy to read article by Elliot Einser on Benjamin Bloom. Essentially the article made a some key points about Bloom’s work: education as a process was an effort to realize human potential, indeed, … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, curriculum, differentiation, Instruction, Instructional Rounds, Teaching | 1 Comment

flipping classrooms?

Posted on July 3, 2014 by mwalker

I’ve been thinking about the concept of “flipped classrooms” now for a while and the great thing about holidays is that it frees up time to do just that – think and in this case write, share and hopefully promote … Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership, Teaching, Technology, Uncategorized, Video Clips | 1 Comment

EPS data wise team reflections

Posted on June 27, 2014 by mwalker

This is the last post in the series by the 4 teachers overseas inquiring into the data wise process. As our trip draws to a close, we spent time reflecting upon and synthesising our learning both from the Data Wise … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Data Wise Program, Harvard, Instruction, Observation, reflections, school | 2 Comments