Author Archives: stevemouldey

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About stevemouldey

Geographer, Educator, Pontificator

Curiosity and my brain

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Today we were lucky enough to have Julia Atkin spend the day with us at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. First of all working on articulating our core learning values and then discussing our results in the Hermann Brain model.

This diagram shows the model that we used with Julia to develop a clearer articulation of our educational values:

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Working through this model gave me a clearer picture of why I have seen value in Guerrilla Geography over the last 12 months. Initially I thought this looks really interesting and a fun way to engage students with their learning but I intuitively knew there was more to it. Today I finally drilled down to what is underneath this idea that gives it such value for me.
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A Mindset for Learning

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“If you haven’t failed in the classroom lately, you probably aren’t pushing the envelope enough. You are being too safe.” Dave Burgess

This blogpost is all about the word “mindset”. I know this has been around for a while but I first consciously came across the word Mindset at ICOT this year. It seems to have really grown on the world and in my consciousness this year and I see it everywhere now. There are many people out there selling tool kits or strategies that will make you a more effective teacher but I fundamentally believe there is no 1 correct answer for education. By having an open mindset we can make more of a difference.

My teaching mindset at the moment is heavily influenced by the following mindsets that I believe really complement each other to help me approach teaching with the enthusiasm (and hopefully effectiveness) that I do:

– Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset
– Design Thinking
– Teach Like a PIRATE
– Exploration mindset (heavily influenced here by Dan Raven-Ellison)

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Ask fm advice for parents

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Like most secondary schools we have had lots of our students using Ask.fm and some of those students being negatively affected by the responses to the questions. Today we are sending out a letter to all the parents of Year 9 and 10 giving them advice on how to help their students stay safe online, but particularly in regards to Ask.fm.

I used these 2 websites (very) liberally in producing the letter:

http://www.netsafe.org.nz/how-can-i-complain-about-ask-fm/

http://www.risk-within-reason.com/2013/05/06/antisocial-media-ask-fm-parents-kids/

(thanks to @NEAL_Education for the 2nd link)

Here’s what we sent:

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NZ Teachers Council Review Submission

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The New Zealand Teachers Council is undergoing a review at the moment and the proposals are up for consultation. You can find all the review documents here.

The initial read of the glossy proposals seems nice enough. There is a major catch however. The more you read, the scarier it looks. I thoroughly recommend that you take the time to read the details hidden within the larger cabinet paper as this is where you will find some of the bits that worried me.

Whilst writing my submission I was lucky enough to get the chance to read some other submissions (ranging from 1 page to 11 pages), all of which had great thoughts in them. Even if you only write a short submission, I urge as many of you as possible to make a submission.

In the interests of collaboration, here is my submission in full which was sent in today:

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Social Networking Surveys

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My Year 10s are currently undertaking an inquiry into the impacts of social networking on societies. They have all taken chosen a specific focus and must undertake primary and secondary research as part of this. Some of their topics are focusing specifically on teenagers so they are fine accessing a number of people to survey at school and online but some students are needing the opinions of a range of age groups. If you have the time please fill out 1 (or more) of the surveys below (they are all 10 questions or less).

Negative Comments and Privacy Settings http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NNJBYGH

Impacts of Social Networking on Different Cultures http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MB2GHFB

Impact of Social Networking on Cultures and Physical Social Interactions http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M3JZXGQ

What has Social Networking Replaced? http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LRFJSFW

Cheers from my students!

Research Access Success

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Two weeks ago, I sent an email to a group of people high up in the Ministry of Education and put it online in this post asking for access to academic journals as a teacher. I have had a range of conversations with people over the past 2 weeks about this and today had a successful outcome to the email.

The obvious message over the last 2 weeks has been that there are lots of teachers out there craving access to research so they can challenge and improve their practice. Everyone I have spoken to has been interested in what the outcome would be. Either because they also want more access to research themselves or because they see the value in it so much they are currently undertaking research or study and want to know where they can read once their study finishes. Continue reading →