Enews 8th August - Vol 4 no 6
Edited by Keith Redman
Topics covered in this
edition include:
- ANSN National Forum announced for November
- Curriculum Design: Breaking Down the Walls
- Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Information sessions for 2010 Hub (VIC)
- Cognitive Coaching(SM) for Educational Leaders workshop in Brisbane
- Hanan Harrison presents keynote at Thinking Conference in Swindon UK
- A new Dimensions of Learning (DoL) Hub starts up in Queensland
- DoL – Report on the Nudgee Advanced Hub’s Showcase Day
- Introduction to DoL: An additional opportunity in Queensland
- Developing Wonderful Readers workshops (QLD, TAS, NSW)
- Some interesting reading
- Reminders of ANSN activities, introduced in previous editions of E-News
ANSN National Forum
announced for November
It has just been
announced that on Tuesday 17 November ANSN will host a national forum
to discuss the Federal Government’s Education Revolution – two years
into the government’s term of office – and its impact on school
education. The Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard, will
launch the forum and deliver a précis on progress with the Education
Revolution and what has been accomplished to date.
The forum will be held in the Old Parliament House in Canberra and the
cost is $100 per person, including lunch. To register, email your rsvp
as soon as possible (places are limited) to cathy.danaher@ansn.edu.au
For further details click
here.
Curriculum Design:
Breaking Down the Walls
Have you booked in yet
for ANSN’s new 3-day learning opportunity, Breaking Down the Walls? If
not, there’s still time, if you’re quick. Megan Parker and Gavin Grift
will present the program for the first time at ANSN’s “work site” in
Williamstown Primary School, Victoria, on 17 and 18 August 2009, with a
final day on 9 November.
The program is designed to help participants develop their
understanding of how to strengthen teaching and learning in significant
ways by developing community partnerships and taking learning beyond
the classroom boundaries.
The program emphasises methods that lead to “depth of learning” rather
than “coverage of material” and is intended to help teachers manage
tensions between negotiated curriculum and teacher-directed
instruction.
For
further details, and to register, click here.
Interactive Whiteboard
(IWB) Information sessions for 2010 Hub (VIC)
Andrea Federico (right)
reports that she and Kate Cooper (below left) will be running a new
series of IWB invitational information sessions in September. These
sessions are to brief Principals/school leaders, e-learning
coordinators and teachers who are interested to have their schools
participate in the ANSN Interactive Whiteboard Hub in 2010.
The purpose
of the sessions is to demonstrate the potential of Interactive
Whiteboards in the classroom and explain what is offered in the Hub’s
comprehensive 5-day, action research-based professional development
training, which will be spread throughout 2010.
Membership of the Hub also gives schools the opportunity to purchase
Promethean Activ boards at a reduced price negotiated by the ANSN.
Over the last three years, approximately 300 teachers have taken part
in the program. If you would like to learn more about some of the
positive outcomes, insights and learning reported by participants,
please download one or both of the ANSN Snapshots that were developed
with participants from the 2008 program –Dean Stafrace (below left) and
Adria Quinn (below right).
To read or download Dean’s Snapshot, including some detailed examples
of materials and planning/organisational resources that he developed
and implemented successfully in his school, click
here.
To read or download
Adria’s Snapshot, click
here. Adria’s Snapshot includes the following feedback
“The ANSN Hub was invaluable … Not only did it provide me with training in how to operate the IWB; it also helped me discover how to USE one in the classroom. While I was learning, and trying things out, I was able to share ideas with other teachers in parallel circumstances, bounce ideas and share materials such as flipcharts.”
The one-hour information sessions are being offered on three dates and
in three different locations, as follows.
Invitational Session St Albans/Keilor Area
Wednesday 2nd September, 9.30-10.30am
St Albans South PS, Lister Street, St Albans, Melways Reference 26 A4
Invitational Session Moonee Valley Area
Friday 4th September, 9.30-10.30am
Aberfeldie Primary School, Doone Street, Essendon, Melways reference 28
B4
Invitational Session Melton Area
Friday 11th September, 9.30-10.30am
Staughton College, Wilson Road, Melton South, Melways Reference 342 H3
To register your interest in attending one of these sessions, email
your details and preferred session to Andrea at andrea.federico@ansn.edu.au.
Get your application in as soon as possible as places are always
snapped up very quickly.
Cognitive Coaching(SM)
for Educational Leaders workshop in Brisbane
An introductory workshop
on Cognitive Coaching(SM), Learning to Coach, Coaching to Learn, will
be presented in Brisbane on Wednesday 16 September. The presenters will
be Sue Presler (below, left), from the Center of Cognitive Coaching(SM)
in the USA, as lead facilitator, together with Viv White (below,
centre), National Coordinator, ANSN.
This workshop is designed to explore the ways in which leaders can
embed the principles of thinking and collaboration into the culture
they are building, so that there are expected ways of interacting with
everyone in the organisation.
For
further details and to register, click here.
Hanan Harrison presents
keynote at Thinking Conference in Swindon UK
Hanan Harrison, ANSN
National Networker, recently returned from the UK, where she took in
the sights (below, left) and presented at the Krestle Thinking
Conference in Swindon. The 2-day conference focused on strategies to
promote thinking amongst learners and Hanan was one of three keynote
speakers. The photos below, centre and right, show participants at
related workshop sessions.
The other keynote sessions were presented by Gill Hubble, International
Thinking Skills expert and former Associate Principal of St Cuthbert's
College in Auckland, NZ; and David Hyerle, the creator of Thinking
Maps, who gave a detailed commentary on how the thinking maps were
developed and how they can be used to assist students in learning.
Thinking maps are a set of graphic organisers that feature strongly
within Dimension 2 of the Dimensions of Learning (DoL).
Hanan’s keynote presentation, entitled “Setting the Stage for
Learning”, attracted lots of interest from participants, as it focused
on the basic issue that how well we know our learners, as individuals,
is crucial to how well we can teach them. The address investigated
issues around attitudes and perceptions as well as the importance of
providing the learners with tools and strategies to think.
Feedback comments included:
“I felt that I just had to email you. Firstly, I thought that your keynote presentation was terrific; your passion just hit us all full on. Secondly, I would have liked to listen to you for a lot longer. You certainly gave me much food for thought and left me eager to follow up lots of your suggestions. I would dearly like the opportunity to find out more about the 'Dimensions of Learning' and your presentation style was perfect for me.”
Madeleine Walton, Secondary Advisor, Stanley Education Centre
“Thanks for getting us all thinking today. It made me refocus on what makes a good teacher and a learning environment. This is going to be my first conversation with my staff when I get back to school”
Umesh Raja, primary school principal
A new Dimensions of
Learning (DoL) Hub starts up in Queensland
“Straight back into it”
after her return to Australia, Hanan Harrison reports that the Nyanda
DoL Hub held sessions at Nyanda SHS on 22 and 23 July.
In addition, interested schools in Queensland are forming a new DoL Hub
in Toowoomba, for Semester 2.
Increasingly, the Dimensions of Learning are being recognised,
nationally and internationally, as a set of tools to assist in planning
meaningful assessment and curriculum. They are also valuable for
addressing pedagogy – with an emphasis on developing tasks that promote
thinking dispositions amongst learners, based on the premise that all
students can learn. The five Dimensions do not work in isolation but
work together to support learning (see diagram below).
In this
image, the three interacting circles are the basis of the cognitive
strategies and dispositions that are required to manipulate knowledge,
from acquisition to using knowledge meaningfully. Hanan draws attention
to the fact that Habits of Mind and Attitudes and Perceptions are not
part of the circles, but rather provide the background that sets the
stage for learning.
ANSN’s Dimensions of Learning Hubs allow learners to develop an
understanding of all five Dimensions, and the inter-relationships
between them.
To find out more about DoL, or to express your interest in joining the
new Toowoomba Hub, contact Hanan Harrison on hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au
DoL – Report on the
Nudgee Advanced Hub’s Showcase Day
Tina Doe, ANSN National Networker (below, left) reports that this 3-day Advanced DoL Hub culminated with a Showcase program where participants presented their project to their peers. Conceptualised and elaborated during the initial 2 days of this action learning hub, projects were individual or school-team-based, and contextualised to the learning site and the relevant DoL priority/incentive. Tina thanked Nudgee College for hosting the hub. One example of the presentations was Janette’s, from Trinity Lutheran College (see photos below).
Tina reports that Janette explored what can be done to ensure best
pedagogical practice (DoL), as an individual; as an acting member of a
teaching team; and as a whole staff. Janette came from the educating
staff perspective rather than the classroom context, and shared her
professional learning strategies and resources for the long term
sustained DoL plan at her school. Participants particularly appreciated
her use of visual cues and graphic organisers.
The spread of topics addressed by the participants was impressively
wide. To
read short reports of the other presentations and get a taste of what
you might gain from the program, click here. The presenters and
topics included Sharon, from Ormiston College, with an “exceptional
Year 9 Maths support unit”; Deb, from Ipswich Girls Grammar School, on
how to win lasting organisational change; a Year 6 and 7 team of four
teachers from Ormiston College, who focused on explicit teaching of DoL
in their own classrooms; Ian, from Ormiston College, on his Year 11
Maths/Statistics unit; Karen and Meredith from Kirwan SHS, who looked
at creating a school culture based around DoL; Penny from Emmaus
College, on using DoL with Year 9 SOSE; Ivan from Ormiston College, on
his plan for an Applied Geometry unit; Alison and Rebecca from Nudgee
College, on modelling DoL best practice in English and Drama; and
Margaret and Julie from San Sisto, who focused on staff development.
The day concluded with a final feedback session. This provided an
opportunity for presenters to review written feedback from their
colleagues and then formulate a one-minute response, as their “Final
Word”.
You still have the opportunity to share in similar professional
learning. To register in one of the three remaining Dimensions of
Learning three-day Advanced Hubs, check the dates and locations below
and contact Tina Doe, by mobile at 0421 440 725 or email at tina.doe@ansn.edu.au.
You will have to act
very quickly if you want to get into the August Hub sessions.
| 10 and 11 August, and 14 September | Advanced 3 Day Hub Mooloolaba State School, Sunshine Coast, QLD |
| 12 and 13 October and 11 November | Advanced 3 Day Hub Mooloolaba State School, Sunshine Coast, QLD |
| 20 and 21 October and 10 November |
Advanced 3 Day Hub Ipswich Girls Grammar School, Ipswich, Qld |
Introduction to DoL: An
additional opportunity in Queensland
On Monday 20 and Tuesday
21 July, Tina Doe presented a two-day Setting the Stage workshop for 20
participants – representing 9 schools, primary and secondary from Qld,
NSW and Victoria – at Mooloolaba SS in Qld. She reports that
participants found the workshop most effective, especially in the way
that it focused on a diverse range of practical activities and
strategies for 21st Century learners. The educators who attended
particularly enjoyed the opportunity to spend time considering and
reflecting on the use of Habits of Mind as a Thinking Framework to
educate students for the future.
At the request of participants, ANSN is now extending what was
initially established as a 2-day workshop to make it a 5-day hub. The
remaining 3 days will be staged on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 August and
on Wednesday 14 October at Mooloolaba State School, Sunshine Coast,
Qld.
While this is an ideal opportunity for the initial 20 participants to
extend their work, Hub leader Tina Doe reports that ANSN is also
inviting individuals or school teams who would like to learn more about
Dimensions 2, 3 and 4 at an introductory level, to join the current Hub
members for these 3 days.
On Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 August, the Hub will have an introduction
to Dimensions 2, 3 and 4, and will revise Dimensions 1 and 5 through
participants sharing their practice. By the end of the Tuesday session
all participants, as individuals or school teams, will set themselves a
project task, related to Dimensions of Learning, or more specifically
to the Habits of Mind.
Wednesday 14 October will be a Showcase day where participants will
share their findings in relation to their site-specific DoL context and
the project they framed. A project can range from a planned unit to a
staff professional learning model.
For further details, and to register, contact Tina Doe, by mobile at
0421 440 725 or email at tina.doe@ansn.edu.au
Developing Wonderful
Readers workshops (QLD, TAS, NSW)
ANSN Networker, Lynda
Page (below left) presented Developing Wonderful Readers workshops
on 24 and 27 July in Williamstown, Victoria.
Lynda has further 2-day workshops scheduled in Queensland, Tasmania and
Queensland, as follows:
Brisbane: 14 and 21 August
Hobart: 25 and 28 September
Launceston: 1 and 2 October
Sydney: 21 and 22 September.
Workshop participants consider how to tap into the children’s prior
knowledge and enthusiasm when using ICT, and explore ways of using
technologies to develop their students’ literacy skills. The two days
of the workshop are separated, to give the participants time (homework
between days) to develop literacies that are relevant to the children
in their own classrooms.
To register for one of the workshops listed above, click
here.
Lynda can also work with
you to plan and deliver programs in your area. If your school, or
cluster of schools, is interested and has the space and numbers to run
either Wonderful Readers or Bee Bot workshops, contact her on lynda.page@ansn.edu.au and
she will work out dates that suit.
Some interesting reading
Geoff Allemand wrote to
draw our attention to an article, “Why teenagers don’t use Twitter”, in
The Age’s Digital Life pages. It’s about a paper written by a
15-year-old, Matthew Robson, who wrote it while on work experience with
the US bank Morgan Stanley in London. The result was described by his
boss, Edward Hill-Wood, as "one of the clearest and most
thought-provoking insights we have seen".
The Age article comments as follows. “The research note – which has
been circulated to Morgan Stanley clients– reveals that while teenagers
consume a huge variety of media, from television to computer games to
the internet and music, they are unwilling to pay for it.” Read or
download the article at http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/why-teenagers-dont-use-twitter-by-matthew-robson-aged-15frac12-20090715-dla6.html
For those wanting to pursue similar themes somewhat more formally, the
Australian Communications and Media Authority recently published a
report on “Use of electronic media and communications: Early Childhood
to teenage years”. A pdf version of the full text is available via
Australian Policy Online at http://apo.org.au/node/17877
Reminders of ANSN activities, covered in previous editions of E-News
Cognitive Coaching – Research Circle
As
reported
in previous editions of E-News, Gavin Grift has been busy 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 details email, gavin.grift@ansn.edu.au
Interactive Whiteboard
(IWB) Hub, Victoria – Reminder of dates
For the three IWB Hubs
that have started in Term One 2009, the remaining session dates are as
follows:
- Group 1: 21 May, 27 August, 12 November 2009
- Group 2: 28 May 2009; 3 September; 19 November 2009
- Group 3: Thursday 2 April, 4 June 2009; 10 September, 26 November 2009
For further details, contact andrea.federico@ansn.edu.au
Bee Bots
Workshops are scheduled as follows:
28 August, at Marrickville Public School
4 September, at Osbourne Primary School, in Mt Martha, Victoria.
To register for one of these workshops, click
here. For further details or to explore the possibility of running
a workshop for schools in your district email lynda.page@ansn.edu.au
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