2009 has been targeted by education authorities as a year to improve literacy, numeracy and science outcomes for students in Australian schools.

For achievement levels to improve in our classrooms. teachers need to make changes to their current practices. Teachers not only need to have a deep knowledge of the subjects they teach, but they also need to know how students learn and how best to develop and nurture a culture and disposition for learning that is expected of independent thinkers in the 21st century.

Productive habits of mind and positive attitudes and perceptions

Setting the stage is about skillful, intentional design through the development of vital learning dispositions and frames of mind.  The aim is to provide tools that assist schools to build the citizenship skills, knowledge, capabilities and values that equip our students as independent thinkers for the 21st century knowledge economy.

Keith Redman, Editor of ANSN E-News, interviewed Gavin Grift for this ANSN Snapshot, which has been developed from that conversation, using a range of Hub documentation. The Snapshot also includes comment and insights from a draft paper by Anne Clement, a colleague of Gavin Grift’s, who was involved in the development of the Curriculum Planning Hub

Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.
John Dewey

John Spierings at the ANSN ForumFollowing advocacy from the ANSN Board, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Training has established an inquiry titled "Combining school and work: Supporting successful youth transitions". Teachers, parents, employers and schools are encouraged to make submissions to the Committee, and students are especially asked to check into the Inquiry web-site, and complete a short questionnaire designed to tap into their experiences.

Successful schools work continually to develop a culture of student, teacher and leadership learning success. Cognitive Coaching is integral to this.

Participation in this intensive workshop will equip you and/or members of your team with a set of strategies, a way of thinking and a way of working that invites self and others to shape and reshape their thinking and problem solving capacities to achieve learning success.

By Hanan Harrison

Participants of the Adelaide Digi Kids continued to be challenged on their digital journey when they attended Days 3 and 4 of their Hub workshops. Their first challenge was to develop and create a claymation. The focus was not only to develop skills for the production, but also to develop a philosophy of technology integration where participants would reflect critically on their own pedagogical practices, to develop a meaningful context for introducing claymation as an additional medium for story telling, which could be used to support various literacy outcomes including recount, narratives and procedural genres, as well as a tool for reinforcing other curriculum outcomes.

Learn Coaching Skills to Support Teaching and Learning in Your School!

Australian National Schools Network and The Center for Cognitive Coaching present:

Schools conversing together: Action Learning through Coaching.

Overview

The You Yangs Learning Community Cluster (YYLC) has worked with Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies (CERES) and other environmental sustainability education agencies to enable schools to work effectively with community partners.

For the last 2 years the Australian National Schools Network has been facilitating a new professional learning program for teachers focusing on the use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Over 200 teachers have taken part in the program since 2006 and participants gain a wealth of technical knowledge as well as taking part in the pedagogical discussions around the question “How do interactive whiteboards improve teacher pedagogy and student learning outcomes?”

During August and September we would like to give you and your school the opportunity to attend an information session to learn more about the Interactive Whiteboard program being offered again in 2009.

The 2 day Digi-Kids workshop was enjoyed by all participants over the school holidays.  Big thanks to Hanan Harrison and the ANSN (Australian National Schools Network) for presenting, as well as Mary Vajda from ECU for hosting the sessions.  The participants certainly had a good time and came away with an enormous amount of open ended ideas to implement into their classroom next term.