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Fly away…. as long as you come back some day

I have this super awesome song from fly my pretties on repeat in my head. It has got wedged in my head with the news that not one, not two but three (THREE) people I have a lot of time for are leaving New Zealand classrooms for ‘brighter shores’. All have told me in theContinue reading “Fly away…. as long as you come back some day”

Equity, Equality, Results and Comparisons…

At the NAPP secondary day, we were shown this picture image sourced from HERE (Office of Health Equity, Maine) The image was in context of build collaboration and sharing between schools and being very aware of the language we are using. For example, you are not building collaboration if you ‘offer to help’ primary schools withContinue reading “Equity, Equality, Results and Comparisons…”

Letting it go…… with Yr 10 Staying Alive

I LOVE year 10 Science. There is more freedom (still have to do standard tests/assessments that all the other classes are doing and have the exams at the end of the year but there doesn’t seem to be the same pressure….) and you can take a little bit of extra time to get to whereContinue reading “Letting it go…… with Yr 10 Staying Alive”

How can we get schools and teachers to share?

I have been reading ‘Vital Connections’ – why we need more than self managing schools as part of my professional reading for NAPP. As a relative NOOB to teaching (my first year teaching was in 2010, and my last year of secondary school was 1999) it has given me a much better understanding of whyContinue reading “How can we get schools and teachers to share?”

Mum’s the word

Yesterday there was a statement released that the funding model for NZ schools is going to be reviewed and overhauled. It was published in several papers round the country, much like this article on stuff. What is really distressing me about this article is the 4 ‘risk factors’ identified and suggested as markers for futureContinue reading “Mum’s the word”

Numeracy…. it matters

I saw this tweet on my feed a while ago and it has been nagging at me….. What’s the situation in NZ? @NZScienceTeachr#scichatNZ#edchatNZ@N4LNZ@coreeducationhttps://t.co/ZjAJOFzVSa — Brian Ricketts (@KiwiGeolog) February 6, 2016 Which linked to an article The article raises concerns that less and less students are taking the maths classes that allow them to participate fullyContinue reading “Numeracy…. it matters”

A Sneak preview of #minechem

All of the work here is from Dave Warren and his son Angus. I think it is seriously awesome and have been having a wee play with some of the mods myself. Also, I can’t say enough how awesome Dave (and Angus) are for sharing all of this with me and my class. We areContinue reading “A Sneak preview of #minechem”

Getting going with MINECRAFT

NB. A Lot of the credit for the work talked about in this post go to Dave Warren from Otago University and also to the Yr 10 boys in my Science class who are teaching me as they go. They are awesome and I am really hoping we can get this to work. Minecraft hasContinue reading “Getting going with MINECRAFT”

On relief teachers and class room culture…

I remember vividly a lecturer at T col (which was 6 and a bit years ago – eep) saying something along the lines of ‘you will know if you students are working because they want to work or if they are working because you are making them depending on how they go with a reliever’Continue reading “On relief teachers and class room culture…”

Inking with Office 2016 is a little bit AWESOME

I was ‘FINALLY’ able to get Office 2016 onto my surface last week as it has become available on our school tenant. Microsoft has gone all out to improve the inking and collaborative features in all off the software packages. I am currently obsessed with the inking function – in Outlook especially. I have alwaysContinue reading “Inking with Office 2016 is a little bit AWESOME”