Category Archives: school

Shiftables: A part of the future with us now

Posted on February 17, 2009 by mwalker

  http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/457 Thanks to Mrs Durff’s blog I found this TED talk by David Merrill from MIT who has made these small interconnected computerised blocks that enable us to explore and create. Just watch!

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Breaking down silos to make sense of networks.

Posted on February 17, 2009 by mwalker

As a principal of a school we all know about the benefits of breaking down the walls of classrooms or silos so that the teachers can learn from each other and question each other so that we build the collective professional … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaborative Communities, Leadership, Networks of Schools, school, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Wordle Art

Posted on February 2, 2009 by mwalker

I created this wordle using my blog’s main words. Its quite easy to create the picture although I had to use paint to edit the image before I could put it on my blog. Those wanting access to the site … Continue reading →

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Wordia

Posted on February 1, 2009 by mwalker

Last week I found a site that might interest teachers of older students. Its an online dictionary that has videos uploaded from people trying to explain the word. It’s interactive and  encourages people to leave comments. It uses youtube so … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaborative Communities, parenting, school, Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

Graduate Teachers starting at Elsternwick Primary

Posted on February 1, 2009 by mwalker

The school leadership team in conjunction with teacher mentors have spent some time last week inducting 5 new graduate teachers into the profession and working here at Elsternwick Primary for 2009. The first day was for graduates and their mentors and the … Continue reading →

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Survival skills and holiday walks

Posted on February 1, 2009 by mwalker

Over the holidays I spent 3 weeks with the family at the beach, in fact two beaches Point Leo and Lorne. The slideshow in the right column has various pictures taken on the walks. Time went quickly as it does for most … Continue reading →

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School Year finishes.

Posted on December 21, 2008 by mwalker

As I finish the school year, wind down for Christmas and look forward to a holiday I found this cartoon which puts a premium on dialogue. To all my readers have a Merry Christmas and I will return in the … Continue reading →

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Using video is a cultural shift for us as teachers

Posted on December 18, 2008 by mwalker

Thanks to Judy O’Connell I found Howard Rhiengold’s short video which as Judy says summarises some pretty significant shifts taking place and makes a challenge for teachers. Again this would be a good clip to start some conversations with teachers … Continue reading →

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World Mapper

Posted on December 17, 2008 by mwalker

Thanks to Liz Davis I discovered maps of the world of different data sets. This make instant and visual data that students can interpretate. A really valuable resource.

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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 →

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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

Imagine if……

Posted on December 14, 2008 by mwalker

December 8th marked 28 years since John Lennon’s death. There was a small column in newspaper that attracted my attention and got me thinking. John Lennon wrote a number of songs that I believe still have currency today – “Imagine” being … Continue reading →

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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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