Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges

 the way we're educating our children.

 He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to

cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

In this video Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a

radical shift from standardised schools to personalised learning --

creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.

Check out our new NSWDET BlogED tool.

2009 comes to an end.

Check out the animoto film clip of our teachers:

2009 means retirement 4 some.

The Differentiator

The Differentiator is a great tool for assisting teachers with the

planning of differentiated lessons: 

Students will ...

First, pick a thinking skill...then

content

resources

product

groups

Revised Bloom's Taxonomy adapted from "A Taxonomy for Learning,Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives" by Anderson and Krathwohl.

 

Love to hear from you

BER Primary School Library and Classrooms

 There are two handouts available to give you more information about 

our new BER buildings:

BER Primary School Library (New Build Projects)
BER Primary School Classrooms (New Build Projects)

ADHD kids trade ritalin for recess and running!!

In a blog called "Schools Matter" there is a recent post called New Cure for ADHD: Recess.

The post discusses the results of a report on school-based physical activity and its association with academic performance, based on a review of 50 studies published in 43 articles 

Conclusion:-for those of you who don't have time to read the post (not long)

"Rambunctiousness in children is normal. And it should be treated with recess, not Ritalin!"

The program, available to all for free at http://www.davidkatzmd.com/abcforfitness.aspx, not only allows for intermittent bursts of activity throughout the day whenever kids 'need' one, but matches aerobic routines to grade level and subject matter.  

Teaching time actually goes up!

Ten Disruptive Uses of Your IWB

I found this fascinating quote today:

As I said before, there is a great temptation to be the didactic teacher when you have this type of technology. While it is fun to play with the toys, you will be surprised when you give your students the opportunity to try their hand at working on the board – and not just to write one word or to circle the mistake in a maths problem. Give groups of students control of the board for extended lengths of time, use your IWB as a station in a learning journey. Even just to brainstorm what they have learnt at the end of the day.Hall Jackson, The Interactive Classroom, May 2010

You should read the whole article.

Professional Learning needs to take a new direction.

 Ben Jones is a Professional Learning and Curriculum Support Project officer with the NSWDET Program delivering the Digital Education Revolution is NSW Public Schools.

Recently Ben posted: If we can’t teach ourselves, who can we teach?
Ben states that: "We are at a cross road with professional learning. Down Status Quo Avenue we can continue to feed, structure and support our dependence on the 16th century professional learning models. The alternative path leads down ‘New Directions’ street requires us to evaluate our position, and then most importantly we need to play our position.

The provision of the Connected Classrooms in our schools and the widespread availability of webinars, online training modules and tutorials open many doors for growing knowledge.

Explore Ben's questions for reflection:
Consider what professional learning could look like?

I particularly love one these professional learning suggestions from Ben which would help build a strong and supportive school culture:

■Provide extra relief time post professional learning for teachers to
pay it forward making it part of school culture and
 ■Build a culture of play and exploration by time tabling 15 minutes play!!

DART provides rich resources for classes

Connections - Virtual Excursions for May 2010

Rural and Distance Education
NSW Department of Education and Training 

Connections Events for May 2010 Free Events Connections offers free Open events regularly.  These are usually of a more informative nature as opposed to highly interactive.  We do try to keep them as interactive as possible, but we also try to make them available to many schools, and it is difficult to deliver both! Please visit our website to view all our free events. Country Access Program - Astro Collie This term, Collie , our adventurous garden gnome is LOST IN SPACE. He has been exploring our Solar System and seems to have lost his way. He needs your help. By finding out as much as possible about the planets and celestial bodies in our Solar System you can help Collie. He will send clues each week to help you determine where he is. You can use this information to plot his course. Can you help him find his way home? Astro Collie's virtual excursions are available on: 12th May 2010 - Astro Collie - Journey Through the Solar System 18th May 2010 - Astro Collie - Weather in Space 25th May 2010 - Astro Collie - Stars and Planets 1st June 2010  - Astro Collie - Space Exploration 8th June 2010  - Astro Collie - Stars and Planets 22 June 2010   - Astro Collie - Careers in the Aerospace Industry Australian Museum You can now view  ALL Australian Muesum events for 2010 at our website. Their events available for May are listed below. Meet the Megafauna Join us for some fascinating insights into Australia’s megafauna. What are the megafauna – are they simply ‘large animals’ or is there more to the story? Meet some of Australia’s megafauna including our biggest and our most vicious predator. See their fossils and compare them with some living relations. This virtual excursion is available on: 17th May 2010 Paleontology Through Puppetry Winny Saurs a life size Muttaburrasaurs dinosaur puppet takes you to her world. Explore the Australian Museum fossil collection, talk to Museum staff and interact with Winny; to find out about her like and dislikes. This virtual excursion is available on: 18th May 2010 25th May 2010 Human Evolution Journey back through time to meet some of our ancestors – including the ‘ape-men’, ‘work men’, Neanderthals and the so-called ‘wise humans’. Find out about the major changes that made us human and use skull features to place our ancestors and ancestral cousins within our evolutionary family tree. This virtual excursion is available on: 19th May 2010 Coming Up - June Dynamic Earth What's In The Box - Dinosaur Puppet Show What's In The Box - Inside The Earth Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Our unique and affordable videoconferences let your students experience the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef without getting wet. Our videoconferences are filmed from within Reef HQ Aquarium, the world’s largest living coral reef aquarium, situated in Townsville, Australia, centre of the magnificent Great Barrier Reef. We can take you into the stunning Coral Reef and exciting Predator exhibits through state of the art videoconferencing technology. What will I see during a Reef Videoconference? a turtle, sharks, sawfish and rays amazingly colourful reef fish living coral in its many stunning shapes and colours some of the Great Barrier Reef’s most precious threatened and protected species … and so much more! Have your questions answered from deep in the tanks from our expert scuba divers who will be linked by microphone within the scuba mask. You can now view  ALL Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority events until July 2010 at our website. Kigluait Educational Adventures Video conferencing to Talkeetna, Alaska. Meet sled dogs, drive a sled and meet the Mushers. Kigluait Educational Adventures offers complete standards-based video conference programs, customizable curriculums, and training via onsite, video conference, and web-based communication tools. The Mushing Series explores the lifestyle of running dogs in Alaska - from racing the Iditarod to keeping your family warm and well fed throughout the long northern winter. There are six separate 1 hour video conference programs in this series. All are supported by Kigluait Curriculum Adventures online Moodle classroom, a daily Kennel Blog, and resource rich Flash Kennels website. You can now view  ALL Kigluait Educational Adventures events until July 2010 at our website. NASA - Space Center Houston NSW teachers and the NASA Space Center education specialists have collaborated to develop education modules and live virtual excursion experiences to the Space Center. These modules and excursions address NSW learning outcomes. You can now view  ALL available NASA Space Center dates until July 2010 at our website. Coming up in June 2010 Fizzics Education - NEW PROVIDER! Fizzics Education offer engaging hands-on experiments and interactive demonstrations designed to improve students understanding and appreciation of science. Our school science workshops have been previously assessed by the NSW Department of Education & Training Performances for Schools Unit. Enrich your curriculum and make your next incursion one to remember! Our science programmes are presented by qualified teachers, science communicators and science undergraduates each with experience in reaching audiences of all ages no matter what the setting . Coming virtual excursions for June include: Chemical Capers Stars and Planets Human Body Weather and Pressure You can now view  ALL Fizzics Educations events for 2010 at our website.

Blogging Is Rewarding

NSWDET has recently introduced BlogED Principals need to register to access this facility.

Check out what some other schools have been blogging about.

This tool will enable staff to quickly and easily establish blogs for each student, in every class, generated using ERN.

Read what Tim’s Blog de Blog has to say in his Education diary about BlogED:
Adoption of new technologies:

With the release of BlogED into its second month, we are quickly trying to assess its uptake. Since April 25, over 6 000 teachers now have been provisioned , and over 24% have actively built a blog. The rate of uptake of any new technology is always a source of interest, and needs to be carefully understood before we can say with any confidence if the adoption is what might be expected .

Are you ready to give it a go?