Kath Murdoch has been supporting us here at Elsternwick Primary over the past three years as we make great strides forward in developing deep, meaningful and engaging inquiry units of learning for students. For those interested in learning more about what makes a really effective inquiry unit click on the EQ link here to go to an article featuring Kath published in 2004.
However the purpose of this post to share some thoughts and a link or two about our session last night where we reviewed our units of study and began to plan for student learning in 2008. Teachers and team leaders had already audited our 2007 units against our school throughlines, which are our essential understandings and against the Victorian Essential Learning Standards [VELS] framework prior to the session. They had also received student feedback about the 2007 units.
Last night we added a fourth dimension to our planning. We looked at a clip about the ever changing world our students live in and asked ourselves the relevance of our topics for 21st century learners. The clip from the teachertube site was inspiring for starting the conversation and challenging our preconceptions. The link for the clip is titled shift happens. Its worth a look for those wanting to start similar conversations in their schools.
While browsing on the site we also found another clip about classrooms that’s worth a look as well. The clip is titled connected classrooms.
Tip: for those who are fortuate enough to have interactive whitebaords and speakers in schools – use them for this conversation starter as the big screen and sound file are winners. I have also listed teachertube in my resource links.
Nice work, guys!!!