Category Archives: Teaching

Cybersafety sessions come to Elsternwick Primary.

Posted on June 10, 2010 by mwalker

This week our assistant principal Demos [pictured on the right] in consultation with 3 other local schools coordinated a series of cyberbullying workshops from ACMA [Australian Communications and Media Authority] for staff , students and parents. The staff session was … Continue reading →

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

Teachers not getting quality feedback and recognition

Posted on June 1, 2010 by mwalker

I have just finished hearing a report on the state of teacher performance reviews in Australia completed by the Grattan Institute. Its a fairly controversial report as reported in the education review, ABC in South Australia, Australia ‘fails in teacher … Continue reading →

Posted in school structures, Teaching, Video Clips | Leave a comment

Good grades at school are not the goal – so argues Alf Kohn

Posted on May 30, 2010 by mwalker

You watch these two short video clips where Alf Kohn argues that the more students seek high standards [performance] as measured by grades rather than learning through the task the less they learn. It’s an interesting argument to put and … Continue reading →

Posted in school, Teaching, Ultranet, Uncategorized, Video Clips | Tagged | 1 Comment

pink on performance pay

Posted on May 25, 2010 by mwalker

I was watching question time in Federal Parliament the other night having arrived home from a late school council meeting. I know you must be thinking – what question time? There was a question put to one of the ministers … Continue reading →

Posted in Industrial Issues, Teaching, Uncategorized, Video Clips | Tagged | Leave a comment

Maths Problems: how to engage youth in learning to ask and solve maths problems using a little bit of technology.

Posted on May 19, 2010 by mwalker

Another fabulous TED talk this time on Mathematics, one of our school improvement targets. Meyer’s a secondary school maths teacher shows how we can connect students to maths problems using technology in real life situations. To learn to ask the … Continue reading →

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Our Blind Sides

Posted on May 19, 2010 by mwalker

I have been reading the book Blind Side by Michael Lewis and thinking about the parallels here in life and education. Now I do like watching American football on TV and confess besides the quarterback passing down field to receivers … Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership, Teaching, Uncategorized, Video Clips | 4 Comments

the power of common langauge

Posted on May 10, 2010 by mwalker

In this clip Marzano talks about the power of a common language to describe teaching. While he was talking about using his framework as a base to innovate from – I think no matter what framework the message is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Instruction, Teaching, Uncategorized, Video Clips | 4 Comments

When more is not good – lesson intentions can make a difference

Posted on April 26, 2010 by mwalker

At year level leadership meetings we often read and discuss shared articles or writing from noted educators. Last week we discussed chapter two of Shirley Clarke’s book on feedback titled  “Learning Intentions”. One of her opening lines is “It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Instruction, Reading, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

Ultranet – what is it and why is is important?

Posted on April 1, 2010 by mwalker

Our statewide improvement agenda for public education in Victoria includes using an online learning environment called the Ultranet which amongst other objectives gives students their own online workspaces with all the relevant web 2.0 tools. These online workspaces eventually will … Continue reading →

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Reading comprehension scaffolded for older students.

Posted on March 16, 2010 by mwalker

At our regular team leaders meeting where we gain an overview of curriculum planning across the school we discussed what readers workshops look like for older primary aged students. Our problem of practice started out about identifying what students are … Continue reading →

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Is it that important to build teacher efficacy?

Posted on March 8, 2010 by mwalker

“Well, what are the most important things to achieve in the strategic plan this year?” This question was posed recently at a school council committee discussion on strategic plan accountabilities. While I was initially challenged to say everything in the … Continue reading →

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Using data to improve teaching – a work in progress.

Posted on February 25, 2010 by mwalker

I don’t think many teachers would disagree with the idea that its a good thing to use student assessment data to try and determine what students need to learn next, at least in Victorian schools – or would they? Often teachers … Continue reading →

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Cyber Safety – a bigger issue in homes than in schools?

Posted on February 25, 2010 by mwalker

At the start of the school year I’m teaching a series of workshops on cyber safety for students from Years 3 – 6 . These workshops coincide with the distribution the annual student Internet Agreement that parents and students sign. Part … Continue reading →

Posted in cyberbullying, Family, Leadership, school, Teaching | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Online Safety

Posted on February 15, 2010 by mwalker

Last week I sent an email to the middle and senior team leaders offering to take the students from years 3-6 for an online safety session. This was partly a response to several incidents that occurred last year with students. … Continue reading →

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What are the big ideas in maths that students need to know – in the Early Years?

Posted on February 9, 2010 by mwalker

At the start of the school year most of the local primary schools got together to hear Di Siemon from RMIT speak about the big ideas in mathematics education. Di really challenged some of our teacher ideas and spoke about the big ideas … Continue reading →

Posted in curriculum, Instruction, Mathematics, Teaching | Tagged , , | 5 Comments