Edited by Keith Redman

Topics covered in this edition include:

• Digi Kids Workshops held in South Melbourne
• Digi Kids Adelaide workshop report
• Curriculum Design – a three-day Research Circle in Melbourne
• Curriculum Design – two-day intensive workshops in Melbourne and Adelaide
• One-day Early Childhood Bee Bot workshop in Melbourne
• Habits of Mind – Next Steps Conference – Brisbane and Sydney
• Connecting Lives and Learning – Website launched
• Introducing Dr Sarah Prestridge
• Two-day workshop: Communicate, Collaborate and Create
• Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Hub information sessions in Victoria
• Cognitive Coaching – Research Circle forms
• Some interesting reading
• Reminders of ANSN activities

Digi Kids Workshops held in South Melbourne

Kate Cooper, ANSN’s National IWB Hub Co-ordinator and Digi Kids workshop presenter (below left) reports that fifteen teacher-members of the Southern Melbourne Digi Kids Group met recently at St Mark’s Primary School in Dingley.

They were there for Days Three and Four of the five-day course, which involves integrating Technology in the Early Years Classroom.



On Day Three they looked at creating E-books through the use of PowerPoint, Photoshop and Interactive Whiteboard Software. Participants designed and created a number of digital stories adding their own images, voices and sound effects. A week later they used play-doh, pipe cleaners and digital cameras, to make a Claymation. They spent time planning the story first and different groups looked at themes including: sportsmanship linked to the Olympics; bullying; and “keeping our school tidy”. They planned story boards (above right), added voices and designed characters in mini-sets (below left to right) to put together digital movies.

Digi Kids Adelaide workshop report

Hanan Harrison reports that participants at the Adelaide Digi Kids continued to be challenged on their digital journey when they attended Days 3 and 4 of their hub days. In their first task, to develop and create their claymation (below), the focus was 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. In turn, they found, it could be used to support literacy and a variety of genres, as well as a tool for reinforcing other curriculum outcomes.



The second day was facilitated by Dr Sarah Prestridge (introduced to E-News readers in a later item) who introduced the group to blogs and podcasting.  The participants took on their new skills and developed interactive ways of utilising these on-line communication tools in an early childhood context, by producing their own podcasts and participating in a group blog (above right) about their ideas around technology integration.

For a more detailed report of this workshop, including comments from the teacher participants, click here.

Curriculum Design – a three-day Research Circle in Melbourne

Starting in September, ANSN and Hawker Brownlow Education will present a three-day Curriculum Design Research Circle, in Melbourne. It will take place on 1 and 2 September and 10 November, led by Gavin Grift, National Co-ordinator of the ANSN Curriculum Design Hub, and Director of the Association of Innovation in Education.

This research circle has been designed specifically to support teachers to develop deeper levels of understanding about how curriculum design can be utilised to strengthen teaching and learning. Gavin will outline a six-part process that involves the whole-school context, the teacher and student lifeworlds, and the wider community. He will draw upon the work of the 2007 ANSN Curriculum Planning Action Research Hub and the Connecting Lives and Learning Project (being undertaken by ANSN with the University of South Australia).

 

For further details, and to register for this research circle, as an individual or in a team of two or three, click here.

Curriculum Design – 2-day intensive workshops in Melbourne and Adelaide

Gavin Grift will also be co-presenter, with Andrew Bills, at two 2-day Curriculum Design workshops, in Melbourne and Adelaide. Andrew Bills is ANSN’s Networker in South Australia, Co-ordinator of the Connecting Lives and Learning Project and Research Fellow at University of South Australia. The purpose of these intensive workshops is to support teachers in understanding how to design curriculum that, among other things,

• reflects the six phases of the ‘Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach’ curriculum planning process;
• promotes the ‘process of design’ as opposed to a ‘pro forma for design’; and
• reflects the criteria for effective teaching and learning through utilising both international, national and local research (Harvard University, University of South Australia and ANSN).

The Melbourne workshop will be held at Victoria University’s Flinders Street Campus on 15 and 16 September. For details, or to register for this workshop, click here.

The Adelaide workshop will be held at the University of South Australia’s City West Campus on 17 and 18 September. For details, or to register for this workshop, click here.

One-day Early Childhood Bee Bot workshop in Melbourne

In late August, Hanan Harrison, National Co-ordinator of the ANSN Digi Kids Hub, will present two one-day Bee Bot workshops in Melbourne, under the title Play, Make and Take – Bee Bots – Robotics for Young Learners. She will be focusing on activities suitable for teachers of children aged 3 to 7. Regular readers of ANSN E-News will know that Bee Bots are exciting new programmable floor robots (below, with their programmers), which won the “2006 Education Resources Award” in the primary ICT category.



The first of these Bee Bot workshops will be held on Wednesday 27 August at St Albans Heights Primary School. The second will be on Thursday 28 August at Williamstown Primary School.

The workshops are designed to help Early Childhood teachers make connections within their curriculum that support engaging technology integration, through the use of the Bee Bots. Participants will play with and explore Bee Bots; make resources for future learning experiences that integrate Bee Bots with their curriculum; and take back to school their collective ideas and strategies, as well as their very own Bee Bot (1 per participant) valued at rrp $80.

At a recent Bee Bot workshop in Coolum, participants learned about using Bee Bots as an open-ended resource, discovering that they can be used as a tool that not only hooks students into learning, but continually reinforces concepts such as sequencing, directional language, counting and problem solving in various contexts, ranging from numeracy, science and literacy to social outcomes. Highlight of the Coolum workshop was the Bee Bot race, where teams had to decide on their champion programmer, and then race against other teams and the clock to find the overall winner (above right), who could navigate and program the Bee Bots with precise accuracy within the shortest time frame..

For more information about Bee Bot workshops, or register for either of the Melbourne workshops, click here.

Habits of Mind – Next Steps Conference – Brisbane and Sydney

The Habits of Mind Next Steps Conference, with Professor Art Costa, will be held in Brisbane on 5 November and in Sydney on 6 November. Art Costa is a world renowned figure in educational research and development. First in Brisbane and then in Sydney he will be leading a one-day conference that focuses on:

• introducing and extending the Habits of Mind;
• exploring how Habits of Mind have impacted on schools cultures and student learning;
• investigating how Habits of Mind can develop a climate of dispositions for learning and better thinking.

Click here to get further information from our website or contact Hanan Harrison on 0407 464 472 or email hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au

Connecting Lives and Learning – Website launched

Andrew Bills reports that the Connecting Lives and Learning (CLL) Website has been launched officially at the International Middle Years Conference in Adelaide. The website has been designed to respond to an urgent need for innovative curriculum and pedagogical resources for teachers, schools and systems that wish to confront and address alienation in the middle years – when too many young people 'drop out', drift off, or are excluded from schooling.

The website foregrounds teacher stories about pedagogical change across a range of subject disciplines involving deep curricular connections with student lifeworlds. CLL provides all teachers with ways into offering rigorous and engaging teaching approaches that are relevant to their context, their students, their community, their school challenges and the requirements of the official curriculum.

Andrew says that membership of the Connecting Lives and Learning website is a must for all schools and systems seeking ways to address educational disadvantage. It is the largest teacher resource website of its kind in the world. CLL offers teachers and school systems a `turnaround pedagogy' that works – even in our most challenging schools. For further information about becoming a member of CLL, please contact Andrew Bills on 0431 060 499 or email Andrew.Bills@ansn.edu.au

Introducing Dr Sarah Prestridge

Dr Sarah Prestridge (below, left) has recently joined the ANSN and will be working with Hanan Harrison (below right) to explore ways of challenging and engaging educators as they develop ways to utilise and implement on-line tools for learning.

Sarah currently works at Griffith University in Brisbane, as a teacher educator. She teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Her focus is on using ICT in learning and she encourages her students to think about effective use of blogs, wikis, podcasts and creating multimedia programs in student learning experiences. She tries to make sure that students think about ICT more as a tool to support conceptual understanding and critical thinking rather than a tool to present learning.

Two-day workshop: Communicate, Collaborate and Create

ANSN invites interested teachers (P-12) to attend a 2-day workshop entitled Communicate, Collaborate and Create, presented by Dr Sarah Prestridge (see previous item), in Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne.

As outlined in the previous item, this workshop is designed to help participants investigate and explore the potential of on-line tools, and their capacity to change education radically in the future. Throughout the hands-on workshop, participants will explore and create their own on-line tools, including (but not limited to) blogs, wikis and podcasts, within an educational context. This workshop will challenge teachers’ thinking about what could happen to education if these tools become mainstream as an integrated tool for learning. The workshop details are as follows.

• Adelaide – 15 and 16 September, 9.00am – 3.00pm, at St Pius X School, 8 Windsor Grove, Windsor Garden, Adelaide
• Brisbane – 22 and 23 September, 9.00am – 3.00pm, at St Laurence's College, 82 Stephens Road, South Brisbane
• Melbourne – 13 and14 October, 9.00am – 3.00pm, at Williamstown Primary School, Cecil St, Williamstown

For further information, and to download the faxback registration form, click here. Please note that the form will need to be faxed back to our head office on (02) 9590 3416 no later than 8 September.

If  your school or district is interested in registering interest to have a 2-day Communicate, Collaborate and Create workshop organised in your area, or if you want to find out more about the sessions, please contact Hanan Harrison on 0407 464 472 or email hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au

Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Hub information sessions in Victoria

Andrea Federico, ANSN Networker, reports that during August and September, schools in Victoria are being given the opportunity to attend an information session where they will learn more about the ANSN Interactive Whiteboard program. The one-hour information sessions are being held in the Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western metropolitan regions.

The purpose is to demonstrate the potential of Interactive Whiteboards in the classroom and to give schools the opportunity to join the ANSN IWB project for 2009 – including a comprehensive 5-day professional development training program that will be spread over the year. This project will also give participant schools the opportunity to purchase Promethean Activ boards, at a reduced price negotiated by the ANSN. Session details are as follows.

• Southern Region Invitational Session, Wednesday 13 August, Mentone Primary School, Childers St, Mentone 3194
• Western Region Invitational Session, Wednesday 20 August 2008, St Albans South Primary School, Lister Street, St Albans 3021
• Northern Region Invitational Session, Wednesday 3 September 2008, Heidelberg Primary School, Cnr Cape and Darebin Sts, Heidelberg 3084
• Eastern Region Invitational Session, Thursday 18 September 2008, Kalinda Primary School, Kalinda Road, Ringwood 3134

For further details of the ANSN IWB program or to download a registration form for the information sessions, click here.

Cognitive Coaching – Research Circle forms

Gavin Grift is in the process of founding the first Cognitive Coaching Research Circle, which will be presented by ANSN and the Center for Cognitive Coaching. The research circle has been designed to assist schools to build reflective communities, using action learning and cognitive coaching to support changes in teacher pedagogy. To read or download a flier, click here. For further detail email, gavin.grift@ansn.edu.au

Some interesting reading

At http://www.aeufederal.org.au/Publications/2008/LBehrendtpaper.pdf you will find the full text of Welfare payments and school attendance: an analysis of experimental policy in Indigenous education, an Issues Paper. Written by Larissa Behrendt and Ruth McCausland, and published by the Australian Education Union, it addresses the policy of making the welfare payments of Indigenous people conditional on measures such as their children’s school attendance. The paper discusses the increasing influence of the concept of mutual obligation in Australia and its particular application to Indigenous policy. It canvasses the current trials linking welfare payments to school attendance and outlines what evaluations have indicated about such schemes to date. It then provides an analysis of key concerns about the approach – namely its lack of basis in evidence, the fact that measures introduced under such schemes do not necessarily serve its overall aims, and that there are particular human rights implications for such an approach. It also points to the reality that the resources and attention focused on such schemes combined with the ongoing issue of chronic under-resourcing in Indigenous policy generally is unlikely to ‘close the gap’ for Indigenous communities.

Reminders of ANSN activities

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

Third Annual ANSN National Forum

ANSN’s third invitational National Forum, on an ‘Intergenerational Compact for our Young People’ is taking place on Thursday 21 August, 2008, at the NSW Department of Education and Training buildings in Sydney. Contact cathy.danaher@ansn.edu.au

An introduction to Protocols – September workshop

ANSN is offering a 2-day “Introduction to Protocols”, on Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 September, at St Albans South PS, Lister St, St Albans, in the western suburbs of Melbourne. For further details, click here. If you are interested in participating/bringing a team of teachers, please email your expression of interest to andrea.federico@ansn.edu.au

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