Edited by Keith Redman

Topics covered in this edition include:

• Third Annual ANSN National Forum
• Dimensions of Learning (DoL) Hub meets in NT
• Digi Kids workshops in Perth
• Digi Kids and Bee Bots: Workshops in QLD, SA and VIC
• Upcoming Habits of Mind (HoM) Conferences and Workshops with Art Costa
• Connecting Lives and Learning (CLL) – A book in the pipeline
• The Use of Protocols in Schools – Victorian workshop
• New on the ANSN web site: two key documents
• An interesting web site
• Reminders of ANSN activities

Third Annual ANSN National Forum

ANSN, this year in conjunction with the University of Western Sydney (UWS), will be hosting its third National Forum in August, to discuss producing an ‘Intergenerational Compact for our Young People’. This special event will provide an opportunity for invited participants from a range of organisations, institutions and sectors to discuss confronting educational issues and assist the Board of the ANSN in developing ongoing strategies to support educational reform. The Forum will take place on Thursday 21 August, 2008, at the NSW Department of Education and Training buildings in Sydney. To request further details, contact Viv White.

Dimensions of Learning (DoL) Hub meets in NT

Hanan Harrison reports that NT DoL Hub members recently spent 2 days in Darwin, elaborating and expanding their knowledge, reflecting on their own practice, and fine tuning their research focus, which will be presented on the fifth and final day of their Hub sessions.

Participants explored ways to help students learn new terms and phrases, building on the findings from Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McRel) research, which indicate that the most powerful way to teach new terms and phrases is to involve students actively in the learning process.  With this in mind the DoL participants tested out their own vocabulary skills in a number of interesting and engaging activities. The activities were adapted from McReL’s Five Steps for Teaching Vocabulary (see below), which expose students to new terms and phrases multiple times, in a variety of contexts:

    McReL’s Five Steps for Teaching Vocabulary

1. Present students with a brief explanation or description of the new term or phrase.
2. Present students with a nonlinguistic representation of the new term or phrase.
3. Ask students to generate their own explanation or description of the term or phrase.
4. Ask students to create their own nonlinguistic representations of the term or phrase.
5. Periodically ask students to review the accuracy of their explanations and representations

Participants also explored hands-on activities that helped them fine tune their understanding of how to extend and refine student knowledge, as well as the more complex reasoning strategies that aim to get participants to use knowledge meaningfully. In the photo below left, a participant shares his perspective on a statement that is given to him for analysis, as part of a group activity. In the centre, a teacher in a similar workshop situation shares a resource idea based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar. On the right, participants use the problem solving strategy to determine which group member was the initial “contaminator” of a "disease" which they enacted in a simulation activity.



For further information on the research referred to above, see the McRel Newsroom article McREL Publishes "Road Map" for Systematic Vocabulary Instruction, accessible at http://www.mcrel.org/newsroom/pr_080417_vocab_book.asp

For further details of DoL Hubs, activities and opportunities around Australia, contact Hanan Harrison on 0407 464 472 or by email at hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au.

Digi Kids workshops in Perth

Recently, a group of dedicated teachers gave up 2 days of their holidays for a workshop on integrating technology into an early childhood curriculum.  The focus was on developing ways to reflect and share effective strategies and practice for technology integration, which, in simple terms, translates into participants becoming critical and effective users of technology.

Hanan Harrison, who presented the workshop, reports that while many technology workshops introduce a myriad of techniques, programs and equipment, this ANSN activity focuses more on developing a deeper philosophy of what technology integration is – as well as promoting dispositions for thinking flexibly and for creating, imagining and innovating, when using commonplace technologies.

Below (left) is a photo of Perth Hub members using the mobile phone as an example of an everyday tool, to aid them in developing resources for technology integration in the classroom. On the right, teachers choreograph a dance with Bee Bots.



One of the activities that quickly converted to the group’s slogan for the 2 days was “there are no full stops; only commas” which was based on an Eric Frangenheim strategy, called the comma thinking rule.  This strategy highlights the notion of being open-minded and continually thinking of alternative options and solutions.  With this in focus, participants looked at examples of open and closed software, which they then used to develop a set of repertoires, strategies and skills. These included creative and meaningful ways of using webcams, digital cameras and common technologies and software programs with young children.

For a report by Helen Davey, the ANSN Networker in WA, including comment on the sessions and local feedback, click here.

Digi Kids and Bee Bots: Workshops in QLD, SA and VIC

Hanan Harrison is continuing to present Digi Kids and Bee Bots workshops around Australia, spreading the word about integration of technologies in the Early Years curriculum, and giving teachers related hands-on experience. Examples include the following.

In Queensland, a Bee Bots workshop, for early childhood teachers, was held on the Sunshine Coast on 22 July.

In South Australia, Days 3 and 4 for the Digi Kids Adelaide Hub were 28 and 29 July.

In Victoria, Day 3 for the Digi Kids Melbourne South Hub was on 28 July, with Day 4 on 4 August.

For further details of Digi Kids and Bee Bots workshops, contact Hanan Harrison on 0407 464 472 or by email at hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au.

Upcoming Habits of Mind (HoM) Conferences and Workshops with Art Costa

As advised in previous editions of ANSN E-News, Professor Art Costa, co-originator of the Habits of Mind, is coming from the USA in November 2008 and will co-lead with James Anderson a 3-day conference, Mindfulness by Design, in Melbourne.

In addition, Professor Costa will be leading a series of 1-day ANSN workshops, under the title Next Steps. Venues will be in Brisbane, Darwin and Sydney. Fliers for these 1-day workshops, with full details and registration forms, will be sent out to members and schools within the next few weeks.

Connecting Lives and Learning (CLL) – A book in the pipeline

Andrew Bills (pictured below left, presenting at a Networkers Workshop) is ANSN Networker in South Australia and Co-ordinator of the CLL Project.



He reports that the CLL project team is working on a book, designed to cover the learning from the whole project – including the developmental work on RPiN (Redesigning Pedagogies in the North). As the book is not scheduled for release until 2009, Andrew sent synopses of some of the key papers that will form a substantial part of the book. An example, for those of you who want to read something substantial prior to release of the finished publication, was presented at The World of Educational Quality, 2007 AERA Annual Meeting and Presentation, Chicago, April 2007. Entitled Researching the “Funds of Knowledge” Approach in the Middle Years, it was presented/written by Robert Hattam (above right), Bill Lucas, Brenton Prosser and Sam Sellar, from the University of South Australia. To read or download a pdf of their paper, go to
http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staffpages/brentonprosser/Researching.pdf

The Use of Protocols in Schools – Victorian workshop

Andrea Federico (below left), ANSN Networker in Victoria, has provided details of the upcoming professional learning program on The Use of Protocols in Schools. This learning opportunity is designed for teachers and school leaders and will be facilitated by Viv White, ANSN National Coach (below right, pictured chairing an ANSN Networkers meeting earlier this year). The Protocols program will take place on 8 and 9 September 2008, at St Albans South PS, in Victoria.



For a decade, ANSN has been exploring the premise that if teachers and students produce learning together, the evidence of that learning can be found in the students’ work. To help explore this further, Protocols can help us structure our conversations about the associated challenges and feedback. They can be used to help us learn from each other by having productive conversations and they can help us learn from the students by providing us with structured ways to look at student work.

The purpose of the 2-day workshop is to: explore a number of protocols and their uses; identify and practise ways to engage in conversations about teachers’ work; identify and practise ways to have structured conversations about teachers’ work; and help participants think about and plan for using protocols in their own schools

For more information on Viv White, the workshop facilitator, go to http://www.ansn.edu.au/viv_white

To download a form to register your interest in attending this workshop, click here. To find out more about the 2-day Protocols program, contact Andrea Federico on 0414 472 189. To contact her by email, click here.

New on the ANSN web site: two key documents

New on our web site are “The ANSN Annual Report for 2006–2007” and “An Overview, 2008”.  They make a fascinating read, providing a practical and conceptual framework for what we do and why we do it. The Annual Report, prepared by John Hogan, Chair of the ANSN Board during the period covered by the Report, is subtitled “A Year of Reconnecting, Renewing and Restructuring”. It includes reports on activities undertaken during the year, training and development, and related structures within the Network. To download or read a pdf, click here.  “An Overview, 2008” outlines the philosophy and operations of the ANSN, including its advocacy role; key questions that the Network seeks to address; work that is undertaken; ways of working; leadership; the ANSN Hubs and Research Circles; norms for working together; and the nature of the Network as a not-for-profit organisation. To download or read a pdf, click here.

An interesting web site

Andrew Bills draws our attention to a site that may be of interest to numbers of E-News readers. If you don’t already know it, have a look at http://www.aapae.edu.au/index.html, which is the home site for the Australasian Association for Progressive and Alternative Education.

Reminders of ANSN activities

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

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

Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Hub – Expressions of Interest for 2009

Andrea Federico and Kate Cooper will run invitational sessions during Term 3, for schools interested in taking part in IWB Hubs in Victoria during 2009. If you would like to be notified of these sessions, email andrea.federico@ansn.edu.au

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