Ultranet Workshop

This was a demonstration put on by EdTech showing attendees the launch of the new learning management system from Ultranet. This LMS has been approved by the Ministry of Education. It enables students, teachers and parents to access information across a closed internet. They have to log in with a password and with different levels of security have access to information from the school. It also provides a safe social networking site for the students. It was an interesting afternoon and provided me with more knowledge about what an LMS is. I fed back to the rest of the staff at the next staff meeting and will contact Ivan at Edtech to demonstrate to the whole staff the benefits of using a LMS such as Ultranet and the way it can be used with ease.

Questioning with Trevor Bond - Cluster Workshop

This was a cluster workshop organised by Jan Thomas of Coley Street School. She invited Trevor Bond to speak to the cluster for the day after a suggestion from myself and Kathy. Halina was invited to join the cluster for the day as she is helping lead questioning within the school. This was a very informative day. He started out with quotes from DeBono and Neil Postman on how important questioning/thinking is. There was staff from other schools that initially did not agree with some of the quotes he shared with us. He then went on to describe thinking and the different types of thinking, knowledge and understanding. During the afternoon he went on to explain what makes a good question. I attended a workshop with Trevor Bond along with Kathy at Learning at Schools in Rotorua last year and some of what was presented was repeated but there also was a lot of new material added. I have done some work on improving questioning within my class last year and have continued this year. I believe it has made an impact on the childrens’ learning and questioning skills. This workshop has provided me with renewed enthusiasm and confidence to continue. Feedback was given to the staff on this day by Halina and I will assist her with further staff workshops to upskill the rest of the staff at Ohau School