Enews 8th October - Vol 4 no 8
Edited by Keith Redman
Topics covered in this edition include:
- Advanced Hub in Mooloolaba, for Dimensions of Learning (if you’re very quick!)
- Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Hubs in 2010: training and discounted equipment
- Last chance for an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) briefing on 2010 Hubs (VIC)
- Book your place at ANSN’s 4th National Forum, to be held on 17 November
- Register now for Cognitive Coaching training, to be held in Perth, 2009-2010
- Reminder: Integrating ICT pedagogy in School Community workshops
- Check out the Coalition of Essential Schools website
- Some interesting reading
- Reminders of ANSN activities, introduced in previous editions of E-News
Advanced Hub in Mooloolaba, for Dimensions of Learning
(if you’re very quick!)
Tina Doe (below) reminds
us that a second Advanced Hub for Dimensions of Learning (DoL) will be
held in Mooloolaba over the following three days:
12 and 13 October, and 11 November.
If you are very quick you can still register and participate. Contact Tina urgently, at tina.doe@ansn.edu.au or by mobile at 0421 440 725.
For an idea of what you might be missing, read Tina’s report (following below) from Day 3 of the first Mooloolaba Advanced Hub, which was completed with great success in September. The Showcase Criteria for Day 3 of the Hub were
- related to improving student learning outcomes
- specific to identified issues
- achievable
- within the capacity of the participant/team to instigate change in behaviours or the situations associated with them
Tina comments that the range of projects shared on the day was impressive. It bore testimony to the capacity for this professional learning experience to build personal and professional capability, specific to individual learning contexts. The topics presented were as follows.
Immanuel College: What
does a 10/10 DoL classroom: look like; feel like; sound like?
College participants reported on the whole project and on its
development and implementation at Year 1.
The Lakes College: How
do we ‘sell’ Dimensions of Learning to the Lakes College community?
This presentation focused on Year 3 unit planning.
Deception Bay SHS: Leading
in Learning
Participants reported on: how the project was designed overall, to
address the attitudes and perceptions of the school community to
learning; how the DoL framework was used to design and implement the
project; how DoL was demonstrated to staff as a planning tool; and how
they used Dimensions in their curriculum. More specifically, a member
of the team spoke about how to improve complex/higher order thinking in
classes and/or students – addressing issues related to unit planning
and delivery.
For further details, or to discuss the possibility of future participation in Dimensions of Learning Hubs, email tina.doe@ansn.edu.au or contact Tina by mobile at 0421 440 725.
Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) hubs in 2010: training and discounted equipment
In 2010, the highly successful ANSN IWB Hubs will again operate in Victoria, facilitated by Andrea Federico and Kate Cooper (below right).
Membership of an IWB Hub provides five days (over the year) of intensive training in the classroom uses of IWBs. It also gives schools the opportunity to purchase packages, including the Promethean ACTIVboard (above left), at reduced prices negotiated by the ANSN.
Andrea Federico reports that Hub Members of the 2009 Hubs are currently preparing for exhibitions of their work, which they will share with their fellow-members on Day Five of the Hub activities (see below for photos from previous Hubs).
In 2010 ANSN plans IWB Hubs in a number of areas around Melbourne, including: St Albans/Keilor, Moonee Valley, Melton, Ashwood and Williamstown. Current feedback shows that participants will include new schools as well as additional members of staff from previous member schools.
Detailed costings for Hub membership and equipment packages are currently being finalised and are scheduled for inclusion in the next edition of E-News. In the meantime, remember that places for these Hubs always fill quickly, so talk to your staff and register your interest now, for your preferred Hub location.
For further information or to register your interest in Hub membership for 2010, email andrea.federico@ansn.edu.au For a final chance this year to attend a briefing session about the Hubs, see the following E-News item.
Last chance for an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) briefing on 2010 Hubs (VIC)
Following IWB Hub briefing sessions for potential 2010 members, in the St Albans/Keilor, Moonee Valley and Melton areas,there is only one more briefing this year. If you are very quick, you still just have time to book in to attend the session on Thursday 15 October, 9.30-10.30am at Ashwood Secondary School, Vannam Drive, Ashwood 3147,
To register for the 15 October IWB Hub briefing, please email as soon as possible to kate.cooper@ansn.edu.au.
Book your place at ANSN’s 4th National Forum, to be held on 17 November
If you haven’t yet booked your place at ANSN’s fourth national forum, remember that it’s being held on Tuesday 17 November, in Canberra. That doesn’t give you much time, and there are very limited places, so register now.
Participants will consider the first two years of the Federal Government’s Education Revolution, and discuss its impact on school education. The Forum will be launched by the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard.
The venue is the Old Parliament House in Canberra and the cost is $100 per person, including lunch. To register for the Forum, email your details as soon as possible to cathy.danaher@ansn.edu.au. For further background information, click here.
Register now for Cognitive Coaching(sm) training, to be held in Perth, 2009-2010
Register now for the Foundation Training program in Cognitive Coaching(sm), which will be held from 1–4 December 2009 and from 16–19 March, 2010, at Canning Vale College, Perth, WA. The program will be presented by the ANSN National Cognitive Coaching Team, in partnership with the Center for Cognitive Coaching.
Cognitive Coaching(sm), designed by educators for educators, was pioneered in the USA by Art Costa and Bob Garmiston. Participation in this intensive workshop will equip you and/or members of your team with a set of strategies for thinking, and a way of working, to help you shape and reshape your thinking and problem solving capacities, to achieve learning success.
For details, contact gavin grift - gavin.grift@ansn.edu.au
Reminder: Integrating ICT pedagogy in School Community workshops
As reported in the
previous edition of E-News, in a national initiative, funded by DEEWR,
workshops are being organised around Australia to explore teaching and
the facilitation of student learning through the use of ICT. These
professional learning opportunities are designed for regional/rural
school teachers at both primary and secondary level. The project is
managed by Education Queensland International (EQI), with assistance
from ANSN and engagement from Australian Government Quality Teacher
Program Project Officers. To participate in these workshops, contact
your local State-based ICT Coordinator:
NSW - Joe Wickert - joe.wickert@ansn.edu.au
VIC - Mark Richardson - richardson.mark.m@edumail.vic.gov.au
SA - Neil Tregenza - neilt@leadingdigital.com.au
NT - Serge Komadina - serge.komadina@ntschools.net
WA - Leith Hogan - Leith.Hogan@ansn.edu.au
TAS - Craig Tyeson - Craig.tyeson@education.tas.gov.au
QLD - Hanan Harrison - hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au
For further information, you can also contact:
- Hanan Harrison, the Learning Mentor facilitating the workshops, by email at hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au
Check out the Coalition of Essential Schools website
In his most recent weekly email, John Hogan (ANSN National Coach) reminds friends and colleagues of the long-standing connection that ANSN has had with the Coalition of Essential Schools, in the USA. In particular, he suggests we revisit the book Horace’s Compromise (below left) – written in the 80s by Theodore (Ted) Sizer (below right) and still highly relevant to improving professional practice in teaching and learning.
John also suggested we look again at the 10 principles that underpin the Coalition’s work, and to reflect on how they fit with current practice in our schools.
1. Learning to use one's mind well
2. Less is More, depth over coverage
3. Goals apply to all students
4. Personalization
5. Student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach
6. Demonstration of mastery
7. A tone of decency and trust
8. Commitment to the entire school
9. Resources dedicated to teaching and learning
10. Democracy and equity
To read about the principles in greater detail, go to: http://www.essentialschools.org/pub/ces_docs/about/phil/10cps/10cps.html
Some interesting reading
A Brotherhood of St Laurence research paper – The cost of a free education: Cost as a barrier to Australian public education, by Sharon Bond and Michael Horn – was published in August 2009 (see below for cover pictures).
Sharon Bond, co-author and Brotherhood Research Officer, reported to E-News that the paper canvassed the cost burden to parents of education in a government school. Applying a social inclusion lens, the researchers allowed for subject fees, uniforms and textbooks and also took account of related expenses, such as transport, sport or music costs and (a share of) home computer and internet access. Comparing these School Education Expenses (SEE) with the incomes and educational assistance available to three hypothetical disadvantaged households showed that such families would struggle to afford the education taken for granted by most Australians. The researchers concluded that to achieve 90 per cent Year 12 attainment clearly will require educational policy reform. The paper can be read or downloaded for free from the ‘Recent Research Reports’ page at www.bsl.org.au. Hard copies can be purchased from the Brotherhood of St Laurence bookshop for $6.00.
Hanan Harrison emailed
from Queensland, suggesting that some readers might like to check out
the following item (the title is self-explanatory).
http://bwatwood.edublogs.org/2009/09/15/why-dont-students-like-school/
Further items of interest, via Australian Policy Online, include the following.
Orsetta Causa and Catherine Chapuis, from the OECD Economics Department, have written a paper focusing on the inequalities in learning opportunities that are experienced by individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds across the OECD member states. In their paper, published in September 2009 by the OECD, Paris, they explore the role played by policies and institutions in shaping relative positions in the various countries. To read or download the paper, go to Equity in student achievement across OECD countries: an investigation of the role of policies
Readers of ANSN E-News will know that the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests are conducted in May each year for all students across Australia in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 – over one million students nationally. All students in the same year level complete the same test items in the assessment domains of Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy.
To explore the most recent NAPLAN results, displayed in relatively simple tables and graphs, download the pdf text of National summary report: achievement in reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy 2009 (see below, left). The photo below right shows students at the launch of National Literacy and Numeracy Week, in August 2009.
Reminders of ANSN activities, introduced in previous editions of E-News
Cognitive
Coaching – Research Circle
The 2009 Cognitive Coaching Research Circle helps member schools build
reflective communities, using action learning and cognitive coaching to
support changes in teacher pedagogy. For further details, email the
Research Circle Co-ordinator at gavin.grift@ansn.edu.au
Interactive
Whiteboard (IWB) Hub, Victoria – Reminder of dates
For the three IWB Hubs that started in Term 1, the remaining session
dates are:
Group 1: 12 November 2009
Group 2: 19 November 2009
Group 3: 26 November 2009
For further details, contact andrea.federico@ansn.edu.au
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