Category Archives: Collaborative Communities

Marketing a school to prospective parents through fortnightly tours

Today I have just finished the last of 20 group tours I have conducted in 2008 for prospective parents. It’s interesting to reflect on their value – do they answer parents questions? – do they present the school in the … Continue reading

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Challenges of learning to change and changing to learn

This 5 minute clip is useful for educators either as individuals or in teams in schools to talk through and using technology to so new things in new ways. It challenged me – do we have classrooms or learning communities [go outside … Continue reading

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Sage words for bloggers

I have just stumbled upon Chris Lott’s blog which has provided some sage like words to explain why I share my thoughts on a blog and …. the words were written 500 years ago by Michel Montaigne.   [An account of a … Continue reading

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Does consistency mean sameness or mindfulness?

At this weeks staff meeting Sarah, the assistant principal and I talked about the weeks walkthroughs posing some questions in particular the above question – is consistency between classrooms sameness or mindfulness?  We used a fish bowl strategy to share our thoughts where Sarah and I … Continue reading

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takingitglobal.org

I have just joined Michael Furdyk’s learning community called takingitglobal. I heard Michael speak in Sydney last year about trying to connect the youth around the world so that we can truly understand whats happening and take action. When you … Continue reading

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Toronto Superintendent Kathy Cowan visits Elsternwick.

On Wednesday 7/8/08 I was honoured to host Kathy Cowan a superintendent of a family of schools [SE6] in Toronto. I first met Kathy at Harvard University in 2006 and again in 2007 in Toronto when I visited a number of the family’s principals. … Continue reading

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Shift Happens updated video

I have posted the updated version of Shift Happens as its still worth showing teachers and parents to set the context for change in education. It goes for about 7 minutes but hang in there – the discussion afterwards is … Continue reading

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New Learning Spaces

This is another post on learning spaces we have constructed. These images are of a new building that houses years 5 and 6 students. The first image is of a large central spaces that facilitates learning in different size groups. … Continue reading

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Kath Murdoch, an inspiration on how to learn within a social context.

Readers of my blog will know that we have had Kath Murdoch working with our teachers at Elsternwick Primary over the past 4 years. Kath initially worked with the whole staff to develop some shared understandings about inquiry learning and … Continue reading

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Andy Hargreaves speaks about a new learning gap.

              I heard Andy Hargreaves speak at the ACEL conference in Sydney last year and was impressed with his candor about governments setting what seemed to be easy targets for schools. I thought his … Continue reading

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Interactive Whiteboards

     | View | Upload your own I was at school with the whiteboard electrician, Steve yesterday as we resolved wiring problems in the new building. We are installing 4 new interactive whiteboards in the new learning spaces as well as motorized screens and data projectors … Continue reading

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Classroom 2.0

Over the weekend I discovered this online collaborative learning community dedicated to supporting educators use technology with learners. It’s worth a look.

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