Friday, March 16, 2012

ICT lead teacher meeting

I always look forward to the ICT Lead Teacher Days and this was another great day.  Thanks to Botany Downs School for hosting today!!

The highlight of the day was a visit to Stonefields School.  What an amazing school!!  There were so many interesting things to see and learn from...
  • MLE - open, collaborative learning environments that have obviously been thought through carefully and with a clear puspose in mind.
  • Collaborative planning between the teachers in each hub amongst three teachers using Google Docs.  Some teachers are using Google Docs in our school but not collaboratively.  I think this is a fabulous way to do planning.  It makes sense to draw on people's strengths and share ideas etc.
  • The furniture in the school is minimal yet functional and practical.  The spaces weren't cluttered with "stuff" and provided areas for the children to find their own space for learning.
  • The "Breakthrough" idea is a fabulous way for the children to pursue their own interests and make their learning purposeful.  I love this approach to learning.  It makes sense and anables the children to learn in a way that suits them and not be restricted to one learning or teaching style.
  • I liked the idea of having a plasma screen instead of an data projector or interactive whiteboard.  The pictures are very clear and they are much more practical for children to use.
  • The school has a clear vision of where they are going and how they are going to achieve this.
  • There was not a lot of book work, most of the learning/recording is done in Google docs and other applications.  Each child has their own Google doc account in which to record their learning.
Lunch was another highlight of the day as usual - The Flying Moa was the venue today.  We had a good debrief of what we saw at Stonefields School.

I am looking forward to building a relationship with Bridget's class through our blogs.  We are both Year 4 classes and it will be interesting to see what they are doing and sharing ideas.

Can't wait till our next session...:)

No comments: