I started this week in Kyoto at the International Geography Olympiad and ended it with 2 days in my new job at Hobsonville Point Secondary School.
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From Kyoto to Hobsonville
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iGeo Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony for the International Geography Olympiad was held tonight and here are some photos from the evening:
Looking forward to the competition starting tomorrow!
Tokyo Team Travels
Once again the amazing Anna Wilson has blogged about our explorations of cat cafes, towers, intersections and whale meat restaurants. Read more at:
http://nzgeographyolympiadteam.blogspot.jp/2013/07/sightseeing-day-2-in-tokyo.html
Arrival in Tokyo
I am in Japan for the next week and a half for iGeo, the International Geography Olympiad. My fellow NZ Team Leader Anna Wilson has written the following post about our arrival in Tokyo on the team blog:
http://nzgeographyolympiadteam.blogspot.jp/2013/07/we-made-it-to-tokyo.html
A Mindset for Learning
“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)
Ask fm advice for parents
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:
NZ Teachers Council Review Submission
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:
Social Networking Surveys
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
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
A Crumbling Capitalist Schooling System?
On June 13th I was lucky to attend John Morgan’s inaugural public lecture at the University of Auckland. It was entitled “Schooling the Crisis: Education in the aftermath of the financial crisis.”
John Morgan preparing for his lecture
What follows is a synopsis of John’s lecture with my reflections integrated into it.
For the last 3 decades schooling has been thought of as preparation for the real world. So far, the post financial crisis of the last 5 years has not made people question what needs to change in schooling. Yet we need to acknowledge that we are preparing students for uncertain futures.
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Steve Mouldey 