Learning to be a teacher, one day at a time…
For the last two years, my blogging output has slowed to a crawl due to completing my Masters of Education through the University of Canterbury. This semester blogging is a requirement of my coursework. Past readers can look forward to three months of me reflecting on the use of Instagram in the classroom! Alongside our major... Continue Reading →
Video is a powerful medium for provocation. Images, words, music can help us visualize powerful concepts and support storytelling that explores big ideas. Traditionally, teachers gather the children into one group and all watch the video together. Yet during this process how much precious learning time is wasted: Organising the children to sit down in... Continue Reading →
Over the week there's been a flurry of tweets and Facebook updates from those educators who have been selected to attend this year's Apple Distinguished Educator institutes. With all the back slapping and congratulatory updates, those who didn't get in may be feeling their application was the only one not accepted. There were plenty who didn't... Continue Reading →
There's still another week to go until application period closes on the Apple Distinguished Educator programme for 2015. I've written extensively about this programme in the past (and there's a great video about the programme here). You can find the application for the programme here. Go have a read, I'll still be ranting when you get... Continue Reading →
Every two years or so Apple opens applications to the Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) programme. Applications have just opened for the next intake of into the programme. Like anything in education, the programme is not without its critics. However in my experience so many of the teachers selected into the programme describe their acceptance into the... Continue Reading →
Confession time. My handwriting is so messy I can barely write my name legibly. Actually messy is an understatement. A drunken chicken making its way across the page is a more accurate description of my penmanship. It's not for want if trying, more a lack of fine motor control and spatial awareness. Unlike many primary... Continue Reading →
If ever there was an event to take a sledgehammer to my end of year funk , the Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) global institute in San Diego was it. After the phenomenal Asia/Pacific institute in Bali last year, my expectations were high. Apple didn't disappoint. The institute was not a conference where participants spent much... Continue Reading →
My moment of notoriety at the Apple Institute so it seemed fitting that the first new thing I would implement in the classroom was improv. I had fun during the sessions and decided that most of my kids would enjoy it too so decided to give it a go. We started in pairs with the... Continue Reading →
Intense. Incredible. Indescribable. I'm out of adjectives to describe my week at the Apple Distinguished Educator institute in Bali. Seven days of hardcore geeking out with a spectacular group of educators in a breath-taking location is my nirvana. I frequently had to pinch myself wondering if I was *really* there and how on earth my... Continue Reading →
At the end of last year Apple called for applications for the Apple Distinguished Educator programme. The application consisted of a series of essays and a 2 minute video. Despite being heinously busy trying to finish reports, I figured I'd give it a go thinking that the application process itself would be an awesome reflective tool to document... Continue Reading →
Teaching the Teacher 