General+Notes+from+Year+2

The Learning@School conference has provided a starting point for the second year of the Southern OtagoNet ICT PD programme. 7 Educators from the cluster attended. Delegates attended a variiety of sessions which promted learning conversations focusing on learning spaces, future technologies and teaching and learning. In school sessons with the faciliator are underway in all three schools. Teachers are working on a variety of ICT develoments either in a one two one or samll group situtations. One to one sessions will continue through out the year as teacher indicated a preference for this and felt it better targetted their individual needs. Professional reading groups in all three schools have begun. These are run as voluntary sessions with teachers encouraged but not forced to join. Good turn outs have happened in two of the schools with the third school looking at ways of increasing numbers. A breakfast session was run in one school and afternoon sessions in the others. These sessions are lead by the Lead teacher – with support from the facilitator. All Principals take part. Topics covered so far are assessment, ICT in the classroom and oral (language) communication. A key focus for this year is development of networking between schools – and using the whatever tools the schools have available to support this. Key technologies will be the My Classes area of Schoolzone and the video conferencing network. Teachers within their subject and interest groups are currently planning for a whole cluster PD session. The cluster will have a guest speaker and then re-form in the afternoon for a subject area cross school group session. They will revisit their last years ‘next step’ and plan for the year. Lead teachers are developing their own skills with My Classes so they are in a position to support teachers. Nearby Area Schools have are also invited - senior staff will attend.

Facilitator visits to schools are underway. Lead teachers in each school are responsible for organization and time tabling of the visit. Lead teachers also follow-up and support for teachers between visits. Further teacher support is provided via email. The school visits focus on supporting individual teacher and group development and where possible working with the teacher in the classroom. There is evidence that these sessions are making a difference but often unexpectedly. For example the facilitator was asked to work with an Art teacher in her classroom with students and digital cameras. The focus was on close-up photography of print images. The learning the facilitator introduced was using macro mode, no flash, framing etc. During the session the facilitator suggested – and set up - using the students as peer teachers for the other students. The following day the Art teacher mentioned that the thing she got most out of the session was using students to teach others – “I hadn’t though of that” was her comment.

The group has also had their first experience in using online collaborative tool (Writley) for discussion after L@S.

The highlight of the cluster programme since the last Milestone was the whole cluster day held for staff in all three schools. This was designed to build on the one held last year and to strengthen the relationships between the school. This is a significant event given the distance between the schools and the fact that it is only the second time an event like this has happened. John Langley was the keynote speaker and spoke on challenges for educators in the 21st century. Teachers took part in a response and feed back session after the presentation. Teachers met for the rest of the day in their subject groups across the three school. These groups revisited their notes and next steps from last years meeting.
 * Milestone 6**

In school facilitator visits are continuing across all three schools with the focus on individual teacher and small group needs. Whole school staff workshop are held where appropriate. Lead teachers follow up the visits with support for teachers. Teachers are working at a variety of levels with some still at the beginning of their journey and hesitant in using technology. There is a core group in all schools who are very keen to learn and are in regular sessions with the facilitator. Where possible the lead teachers encourage other teachers to take advantage of the PD on offer.

A group of teachers from all three schools attended the TUANZ conference in March. The main outcome from this was a greater awareness of new social technologies highlighted by presenters such as Derek Wenmouth. Comment from one of the Lead Teachers - ‘The discussion by Derek Wenmouth yesterday highlighted the 'influence' of different generations. It is important that we include all staff to make an attempt to join race to learn about the new technology and use it to enhance learning and complete the administration (Not to be held back by "we've always done it this way so why change!")’

A focus on My Classes as an eLearning and collaboration tool is underway this term. Currently video conferencing is used by selected teachers for delivery in the wider OtagoNet. My Classes is accessible for any teacher to use within their own school or across the three schools. My Classes has been introduced in the schools, with interested staff are receiving PD. Lead Teachers are up-skilling as experts to assist others. Initially teachers are using My Classes to make information available to students and as a contact list and to share information. Development towards using online delivery as an alternative to, or support for, the classroom programme will take time – especially in terms of teachers practice. This means creating interactive rather than static content for students.

Lead teachers and the Facilitator now meet online once a week via video conference. A MyClasses area and a Blog are also being used for sharing and discussion. The group has so far found this very valuable in bridging the distance between the schools and a better working relationship appears to be developing. The lead teacher are finding the Blog a good way to share thoughts and get feedback. There is hope that this will develop in a model for other groups in the cluster to follow.

Whole cluster professional development was held on the 27th March. All teachers from all schools attended. Format for the day was keynote speaker in the morning, followed by reflection workshop. The afternoon featured subject meetings across the three schools

The Southern Otago Net programme has continued during term 3 mostly as planned. School commitments and pressures caused a dip in interest at the beginning of term but with support from the Lead Teachers the programme has picked up it’s normal pace. There have been a number of new teachers who have now asked for support with ICT, including some who who appear to be confident users of ICT and are not yet using ICT within their own teaching programme. These teachers have been more challenging to move on withing their teaching as they tend to be satisfied with their own ability. Our challenge is the encourage them to be contiual learners – as we all should be no matter what our ICT level.
 * Milestone 7**

The cluster is currently looking at ways of developing ICT within specialist subject areas – especially if they can be grouped across the cluster - for example we have used outside expertise to provide PD with Silican Coach software, GIS mapping software and classroom administration.

PD with Musac has had teachers looking at a series of tools for analysing the data that schools already have in the system - like current NCEA results and results from past years. Teachers were introduced to a document that can be the record of achievement for students leaving the school, as well as a careers summary document and a tool for current data that lets them find the students who are at risk of not attaining literacy and numeracy, either at Level one or at University Entrance level.

A key feature of the term 3 programme has been using VC for meeting between the schools. The Lead Teachers group has been meeting regularly to discuss issues and each school has hosted one subject area VC meeting across the three schools.

Subject areas covered were technology - graphics and agriculture. It is hoped further VC meetings will be held in term 4 and that these will become a regular feature of collaboration between the cluster schools.

A small group of teachers attended the School Tech conference and found it worthwhile. All felt is was good to be able to take the time to find out what technologies are available and to help in planning for further school infrastructure developments. The benifits of this are expected to be within the visioning and decision making about technology for each school as it moves beyond the cluster.

12 teachers from the cluster will attend uLearn in Christchurch. Preparation has begun with a VC with all attendees. The teachers have been encouraged to to explore the 10 key question and to make at least one contribution online. Delegates will be expected to take part in follow up activites which will include a web based discusion and working with their own staff.

Several teachers attended the ICT regional meeting in Invercargill. All felt it was a good networking day and teachers came away with a few useful strategies to use for professional development.


 * Milestone 8**

The Southern Otago Net cluster programme has continued during term 4 mostly as planned. School commitments and pressures such as reporting have proved a challenge but where support has been given from the Lead Teachers, the programme maintained its focus. This is highlighted the importance of the lead teacher role in our programme – and in a secondary school – where there are many components that make focused, continual professional development a challenge.

In-school facilitator visits are continuing across all three schools with the focus on individual teacher and small group needs with lead teachers following up the visits with support for teachers. Teachers are working at a variety of levels with some still at the beginning of their journey and hesitant in using technology. There is a core group in all schools who are very keen to learn and are in regular sessions with the facilitator.

The major event for this milestone period was the uLearn ICT conference. We were lucky to be able to send a group of twelve teachers. An action plan was established before the conference to try and make the most of the opportunity for new learning.

Ulearn Conference Delegates - Action Plan Last week of term VC meeting on Tuesday lunchtime Visit My Classes - uLearn Add any contact details e.g. a mobile number? Add ` what you would like to get out of the conference' to the discussion area Visit the uLearn web site and make one (or more!) contribution to the 10 Key Questions discussions At the Conference Have fun!! Group together for the conference dinner Meet as a group on Tuesday lunch time -` for a thoughts so far' session (15 minutes) Identify something that you can take back to your classroom that you would like to try Identify any issues/ideas that your school might consider thinking about and implementing Note any ideas for the ICT cluster Win something!!! After the conference Visit My Classes uLearn page and add your thoughts to the discussion topics – Headings are uTeach (classroom) uDon’t (other things learned) uDream (if it were possible I would) uTalk (highs lows etc) Add any resources that you would like to share with the group that may be useful for the cluster - and to share back with schools VC conference week 2 of term 4 - (Tuesday 12.40pm)Feedback to your staff (negotiate how you would like to do this with your Lead Teacher) Hopefully implement something in your own teaching!!

Generally the feed back from the conference was very positive. The action plan was supported by the lead teachers and helped teachers focus as a group and provided a way of making further links across the three schools. The VC and uLearn meetings were the most worth while with teachers sharing thoughts and ideas. The online component was the hardest part to maintain and suggests that some teachers have not yet adjusted to online communication apart from email – or have not yet made it part of their regular working life.

Delegates ran sessions in their own schools, sharing ideas from the conference.

Outcomes have ranged from - immediate classroom applications for example: ‘I'm using two of their (cluster school) organisational ideas in my maths classes. Draw up a 3 X 3 grid. Place Homework in the centre, list required work for the week in the other grid squares. Use a starter to get students under way. Students then choose where they start and what they do next, marking off what they have done as they go. Students in my classes have to complete 5 of the 9 possible grids with small incentives built in. What they choose must produce a 'straight line' through the centre which picks up the homework. Gives students choice and in one class a small group of boys have set themselves a set of consequences for 'non-completion'! Works so far! ‘

- to the bigger picture ideas for example: ‘I am in the progress of developing an program for senior science students to develop independent learning skills. The idea (inquiry/integrated learning) for this was planted by a couple of speakers at the conference. At the moment I am collecting resources and ideas.’ and (another teacher) What I was reminded of in the Julia Atkin session is the idea of motivation or a motivating experience to get students involved in learning, especially in a situation where you want to carry out enquiry learning. The importance of a hook to draw students in is extremely important. Students who are engaged learn better. I have been using a lot of ready to use assessments and they are often so removed from the reality of individual students that the only motivation is the credits to be gained.

MyClasses has been used a focal point for some of the workshops this term as the cluster hoping to make more use of it next year as part of the cluster programme. A group of teachers in each school have worked on developing topic or unit pages that can be used as examples for other teachers. These teachers have worked with software to create online interactive quizzes and crosswords that can be used by students for self testing, pre-testing or revision. Teachers have had to learn or hone a wider range of ICT skills in doing this. A number of teachers are enthusiastic about the possibilities and this is being seen as a another step for catering for a wider range of students – and for some teachers - a step into e-learning. In one school My Classes is used as a focal point for the professional reading group.

8.2.5 Lead teacher workshops completed Lead teacher have continued to meet each week by VC. These meeting cover a mix of admin and support topics. The group has so far found VC valuable in bridging the distance between the schools and is supporting a better working relationship. Face to face meetings have been held which have included PD sessions to develop lead teachers ability to support their own teachers

8.2.6 Planning for ongoing e-Learning programmes through OtagoNet for 2007 is in place Each school now feels confident enough to support their own teachers with VC PD. Links are maintained with OtagNet and individual teachers attend e-Learning PD sessions outside the cluster. eLearning teachers have been identified for 2007

South Otago High School 28/11/07 - high staff turn over resulted in many new teachers being initiated into the PD programme - David continued individual PD sessions with teachers - teachers were beginning to feel more cinfident in using ICT and a drop off was noticed in teachers susscribing to sessions times during the middle of the year - an emphasis on myclasses was instigated along with the trial of the myclasses platform - some teachers developed online learning environemnts to delvier teaching resources to students - as a general rule, not many teachers used myclasses platform, although it was used by management to distribute important documants and information - teachers continued to gain PD in areas they had particular interest in