Category Archives: Teaching

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

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 visits Jefferson Elementary School in New York

Posted on June 26, 2014 by mwalker

This blog entry is the eighth in a series from the team visiting schools in the States and comes to you from the ‘Big Apple.’ Today we visited Jefferson Elementary School (K-5), located in upstate New York in a town called … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Assessment, Data Wise Program, Instruction, Leadership, school, Teaching | 2 Comments

EPS visit Joseph Lee and Harvard-Kent schools in Boston

Posted on June 25, 2014 by mwalker

Here is our new post, sent from South Station, Boston. This is the seventh post in the series from the team participating in the Data Wise Institute at Harvard. (Penny, Jess, Erin and Sarah) Today we visited two schools within … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, Leadership, professional learning, Teaching | 2 Comments

Elsternwick PS meets Tobin Montessori in Boston

Posted on June 24, 2014 by mwalker

Continuing the series of posts written by Jess, Erin and Sarah 3 teachers attending the Harvard Institute and now visiting schools. Today we visited The Tobin School in Cambridge. This school was familiar to us, as we had read about … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, Instruction, Networks of Schools, school, Teaching | 2 Comments

teaching trades and technology

Posted on June 22, 2014 by mwalker

This post is written by Malcolm Dawson, Carpentry Trade Teacher, Holmesglen Institute, Victoria. Bob Dylan must have known something when he wrote the song “The times they are a changing” and there certainly has been a shift in the way things are … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Teaching, Technology | 3 Comments

Data Wise: Summer Institute Day 5.

Posted on June 22, 2014 by mwalker

Well…it’s over. Today was a celebration of our journey so far. We spent some time-sharing our insights and dilemmas with another school, and used something called the “consultancy protocol” to give and receive feedback around our journey to date. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, history, Teaching | 4 Comments

Data Wise: Summer Institute Day 4

Posted on June 20, 2014 by mwalker

Today all the 8 pieces of the Data Wise Improvement Process came together. We  collaborated with teachers from other Elementary schools on a case study about a school in Texas. We used real data, student work samples and videos of … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, Networks of Schools, professional learning, Teaching, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Data Wise: Summer Institute Day 3

Posted on June 19, 2014 by mwalker

We are now officially over half way through the course, and what a whole lot of learning has taken place. We feel that in a sense there has been growth on four different levels – personal, team, school and beyond … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, Instruction, Teaching, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Data Wise: Summer Institute Day 2

Posted on June 18, 2014 by mwalker

Today was a significant day for new learning, during which the ideas we had established in the morning session, had dramatically changed by lunch time. Following the morning session, in which the Principal of the BART Public Charter School, Ben Klompus, … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, Teaching, Uncategorized | Leave a comment