Topics covered in this edition include:

• ANSN Snapshot #2 for 2007: Debra Hosking on Habits of Mind at Broadmeadows PS, Victoria
• Expressions of Interest for the ANSN Curriculum Planning Support Hub
• National and Victorian Interactive Whiteboard projects
• Habits of Mind international and local work
• ANSN Networker and Board meetings
• Professional reading: check out Conspiracy Theory ... by James H Nehring
• Sudanese education project report
• Reminders about ANSN activities.

ANSN Snapshot #2 for 2007: Debra Hosking on Habits of Mind

Debra Hosking In the previous edition of E-News we launched our new series of ANSN Snapshots, which focus on teachers talking about their practice. In Number 1, Geoff Hood described how the Habits of Mind were introduced and embedded in the curriculum at Grovelands Primary School, in WA. If you missed Snapshot #1 earlier in March, it's available on the ANSN website. To read it or to download the pdf, click here.

In Snapshot #2 for 2007, Debra Hosking takes up the theme of the Habits, telling the story of their adoption at Broadmeadows Primary School in Victoria. This Snapshot is based on an interview in late 2006, at the ANSN Habits of Mind Expo, where Debra was a participant and presenter (see below).

Debra Hosking TeachingTo read or download Snapshot #2, click here.

The third Snapshot for 2007, dealing with the Habits in a secondary school context, will be released early in April. Watch E-News for details.

Dimensions of Learning Conference: August Conference details

Hanan Harrison, ANSN Queensland Networker, is currently working on a number of projects, one of which relates to Dimensions of Learning (DoL). She draws our attention to a related conference that will be held at Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast from 22-24 August 2007, under the title Learning Management: Pedagogy that Works. The conference is co-sponsored by ANSN and Charles Darwin University and will showcase some of the Dimension of Learning work as well as other examples of pedagogy that work and have a research base.

The conference will be chaired by Viv White, ANSN National Coach. Keynote Speakers will include Dr Robert Marzano, the principal researcher behind ‘Dimensions of Learning' and ‘Classroom Instruction that Works' (who will participate via video conference from the US); Prof Richard Smith, from Central Queensland University; Dr Ken Rowe and Dr Lawrence Ingvarson, from ACER; and Prof David Lynch, from Charles Darwin University.

Further information on the themes of the conference, and how to register, can be found at http://www.learningmanagementconference.com. ANSN will be offering $300 scholarships to support registration for ten ANSN members. To express interest in these scholarships, or to seek details of ANSN's work on DoL, email hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au.

ANSN Curriculum Planning Support Hub

Members of the new Hub came together for professional learning on 22 and 23 March, in Melbourne. Hub Co-ordinator, Gavin Grift, will be reporting on progress over time and we're planning some Snapshots further down the track. Currently the Hub is operating only in Victoria, where Gavin is based. However, reflecting ANSN's encouragement of work across state boundaries, two teachers from Kaleen High School, in the ACT, participated in the March professional learning activity. If you are outside Victoria and would like to register interest in joining the Hub, which Gavin intends to extend gradually interstate, please contact him by email at grift.gavin.h@edumail.vic.gov.au, or call him on his mobile, 0409 110 050.

Interactive White Boards (IWBs)

National IWB project participants will be meeting in Alice Springs in April. Associated research is continuing and will be reported in E-News as the results emerge.

At a state level, the Victorian IWB project began this term with 55 teachers from 16 different schools participating. Workshops have been popular (see below).

Research is being undertaken, with support from Commander, around the question ‘Can interactive whiteboards improve teacher pedagogy and student learning outcomes?' For a more detailed report on the work of this project, click here. If your school is interested in taking part in further IWB projects, in Victoria or interstate, please contact Andrea Federico at andrea.federico@ansn.edu.au

Habits of Mind Hub: international and local work

Art Costa TeachingJames Anderson, National HoM Hub Co-ordinator , has just returned from a trip to the US. There he worked as a HoM consultant with schools, alongside Art Costa ( right in a US classroom), who is soon to visit Australia again (see Reminders, below, for details).

James Anderson

James is undertaking work with individual Hub schools, and groups of schools, across Australia. One example is Deepdene Primary School, where he led a Curriculum Day at the beginning of March and will have an ongoing role as the school trains its teachers and integrates the Habits into its curriculum.

ANSN Networker and Board meetings in Melbourne

On 22 March, ANSN State Networkers came together for a workshop and planning day at Victoria University (see Melbourne skyline from the meeting room, below). On the following day some joined with the Network's Board, reporting on current ANSN activities around the country, and considering possible directions and initiatives.

Viv White chaired the Networkers session, introducing it as an opportunity for people who customarily work on their own in their state settings, to explore ‘core business' in the ‘comfort of the collective'. Proceedings were started with participants asked to state what they brought to the group to share, what they wanted to gain from the group to help with their work, and who they most needed to work with later in the day. A number of group sessions followed, including the clarification of processes and requirements for planning and managing projects/Hubs, and discussion about ways to build capacity as Networkers, to support the broader aim of educational reform.

Andrew Bills Some Networkers were asked to give more detailed reports. Andrew Bills, from South Australia gave an overview of the RPiN project (Reinvigorating Pedagogies in the North), for which ANSN is working with University of South Australia and schools in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. The results of related research will be hosted on the ANSN website as they emerge – watch E-News for details.

Hanan HarrisonHanan Harrison, from Queensland , focused on finalisation of KidSmart and planning a related kit; getting Dimensions of Learning up and running; and looking towards the development of a new Early Childhood project.

Meg Parker Meg Parker, from Victoria talked about ongoing work in the Geelong area with students at risk, including how she and her cluster schools have drawn on experience from Reggio Emilia (Italy) and from Denmark to explore models of school-community partnerships. To read or download a detailed (38 page) report on research carried out in this area, click here.

This led to discussion of how projects might cross-fertilise within the Network and related work such as Big Picture Schools. Networkers then worked with the partners they had identified earlier, for collaborative planning, mostly across state boundaries. More about the workshop and Board meeting in the next E-News.

Professional reading

As part of the ANSN Networkers workshop, an article was distributed for participants to read and discuss. Given the interest that it generated, readers of E-News might also find the article thought-provoking. Written by James H Nehring, from the University of Massachusetts, it's entitled Conspiracy Theory: Lessons for Leaders from Two Centuries of School Reform and was Phi Delta Kappan's front page feature article in February 2007 (pages 425-432). The author identifies six destructive tendencies (or “conspirators”), so deeply embedded in our culture that they often operate unnoticed, which he argues have thwarted educational reform since the 19th century. He also offers some practical suggestions for ‘rooting them out' – which must be done if school leaders are to bring about successful reform. For further details about this article and other PDK publications, check the PDK website, at http://www.pdkintl.org.

Sudanese education project report

ANSN Board Member Margaret Vickers, from University of Western Sydney, is Program Director for a project to support the learning of Sudanese immigrants. She has forwarded a progress report including details of a range of related activities. To read or download the report, click here.

Reminders

The following activities have been covered in detail in previous editions of E-News.

Cognitive Coaching – Intensive courses in WA and Tasmania
Perth, WA, 11–14 April and 23–26 July 2007. For details, click here.
Hobart, Tasmania, 2–5 April and 30 July – 2 August. For details, click here.

Invitation to join the ANSN Authentic Assessment Hub
For details, click here.

Letters to the editor

Would you like to comment on issues that relate to the work we do as educators? To email a “Letter to the Editor of ANSN E-News”, click here.