Category Archives: Teaching

Teacher challenges in setting up creative, collaborative and competitive learning spaces in classrooms.

Posted on December 17, 2008 by mwalker

It’s near the end of the school year here in Victoria and the pressure is on to finish the school year [student reports have been distributed, class lists finalised with the transition session tomorrow morning, the roll over of our … Continue reading →

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

Start the school year with some inspiration

Posted on December 15, 2008 by mwalker

I found this video which may be of some use to teachers in classrooms looking to inspire students to greater heights. I thought some teachers might want to show it either in a transition program to get students to talk … Continue reading →

Posted in school, Teaching, Video Clips | 2 Comments

Google documents and the growing awareness of web 2.0 means

Posted on December 14, 2008 by mwalker

I have just stumbled upon google documents as a way of sharing in an interactive way student work that can be commented upon by peers and teachers alike and published if that’s the end product. Its easy to enrol and … Continue reading →

Posted in school, Teaching, Technology, Video Clips | 1 Comment

TIMMS test results spark controversy

Posted on December 14, 2008 by mwalker

This past fortnight I have talked about my schools performance on national tests to school council [NAPLAN] and now I’ve seen lots of editorials and responses in newspapers about Australia’s performance in the recent international tests in maths and science for years … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Assessment, politics, school, science, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

School is about more than tests

Posted on December 10, 2008 by mwalker

  I have just spent some time this week with school council looking at our year 5 student results for this years national tests [NAPLAN]. I publish the performance data of year 3 and 5 students on these tests each year … Continue reading →

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Elephants on the Table!

Posted on December 4, 2008 by mwalker

Ever been to a meeting where some “elephants” were raised from under the table?  Well at a recent staff meeting two elephant type issues were raised: student’s repeating classes and teacher roles and how allotment decisions are made.  I have previously made … Continue reading →

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Ancient Rome in 3d

Posted on November 28, 2008 by mwalker

Thanks to Cindy Barnsley I discovered this resource for teachers of history or those structuring student investigations [www://earth.google.com/rome].

Posted in Teaching | 2 Comments

Student transitions from year to year

Posted on November 28, 2008 by mwalker

Today whilst hearing about the Departments latest version of the school review I had one of those light bulb moments when I heard a school reviewer talk about student transitions. To put this into context in Victoria all public schools … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Assessment, Leadership, Teaching | Tagged | 1 Comment

Shadowing

Posted on November 6, 2008 by mwalker

Last week I had a leading teacher, Kendra, from a neighbouring school shadow me for 2 days as part of a leadership program for teachers interested in becoming a principal. I think it was a full 2 days with Kendra amongst … Continue reading →

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New Learning Spaces in Denmark

Posted on October 28, 2008 by mwalker

Thanks to a new site I discovered by Andrew Fraser I was able to get this clip from a school in Denmark who are trying to change their pedagogy using more flexible spaces – really like his comment that the … Continue reading →

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Vivian Robinson’s work on Instructional leadership

Posted on October 27, 2008 by mwalker

Thanks to Greg Whitby I found this clip of Viviane Robinson’s work on instructional leadership in schools which in my opinion is well worth a look by leadership teams.

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“Necessary but not sufficient”

Posted on October 25, 2008 by mwalker

  This phrase “necessary but not sufficient” has been ringing in my ears of recent weeks when thinking about those students who are achieving below minimim standards. I first heard Paul Brock use the phase and subsequently I have used … Continue reading →

Posted in 2008 ACEL Conference, Leadership, school, Teaching | Tagged | 4 Comments

Data Conversations – worth the time?

Posted on October 21, 2008 by mwalker

At a recent leadership meeting we discussed several articles on the value of data conversations. One of the articles posed a question around gathering data on the different levels of implementation of curriculum in individual classrooms and the need to assess gaps … Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Class Size Debate

Posted on October 20, 2008 by mwalker

I was fortunate to meet John Hattie recently who is one academic I often quote in my work. John Hattie is from New Zealand and has been researching amongst other things the effects of various strategies or innovations on student learning. … Continue reading →

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Ethics in teaching grammar – surely not to pass tests?

Posted on October 19, 2008 by mwalker

I recalled a conversation I heard between Jerry Starratt and Hedley Beare recently on how metaphors can portray or even drive our thinking about curriculum when I read an article [featured in the daily newspapers in most capital cities] about the new National Curriculum. … Continue reading →

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