Ohau School has developed a draft curriculum, including our Inquiry document, which will meet our requirement to deliver the new document in 2010. It needs to be said that this document will forever be in draft form, as the needs of our students change. Achievement analysis dictates forward planning and adjustments to our delivery are made accordingly. A copy of this can be viewed on our Ohau School Wiki: http://ohauschool.wikispaces.com

Sonia Glogowski - Key Competencies

This was a cluster workshop organised by Jan Thomas and Richard McMillan of Coley Street School. They invited Sonia Glogowski from the Ministry of Education to speak to the cluster on Key Competencies in the New Curriculum. First Sonia went briefly over what the Key Competencies are and how they relate to skills needed to equip people in all occupations. Then she went on to explain how the drivers of change – globalization, ICT revolution, demographic changes and shift in values are impacted through levels of Key Competencies and that we need people to bring ideas together. Sonia reinforced Ohau School’s beliefs that it is impossible to assess the Key Competencies but that they needed to be planned for explicitly in how they are to be taught. The value of e-learning and how it has the potential to change pedagogical practices was looked at and how it is interwoven with Numeracy, Literacy and the Key Competencies. The Key Competencies were also looked at as adults and also how context dependent and value laden they are. Sonia also linked them back to the Principles that are listed in the New Zealand Curriculum and how these form the basis for all learning. This made us think of revisiting the New Zealand Curriculum and the Principles are ensure that staff are aware of all of them and how they are connected to the Key Competencies. This workshop through a Ministry approach was completely different to one attended at Learning at Schools even though based on the same Key Competencies. It provided a different aspect with valuable learning to share with the other staff at Ohau School. Along with paying more attention to the principles in the New Zealand Curriculum, planning will now include a more specific outline of how Key Competencies will be taught.

Inquiry Learning in Room 2

Personally I feel fortunate that I spent six months completing a paper in Action Learning because it helped me to intepret what Inquiry Learning is. It is not a matter of children writing a question and being let loose to find the information.
I needed to go through the steps thoroughly and do exercises in the steps to get the processes in place. It is on going teaching / learning. Eg. Deciding on an area of interest, Questioning skills and levels of questions, Where to find information, How to make notes then write into their own words, How to access information (parts of books), Managing time, Researching, Presentation skills, Bibliography, Evaluating.
After each homework inquiry I find the need to reteach / elaborate on some of hte inquiry processes. During term 1 on average there were 6 pupils who did not hand in an inquiry every two weeks. The pupils improved each time on their level of questioning, researching and presentation. I have had some excellent results from some pupils but very little effort on the other hand from a handful of pupils. I have rung the parents recently to explain what is expected and had good discussions as some supposedly didn't know about it so have not been reading or maybe not getting their newsletters or the children have not been telling their parents.
Those children who have been consistent with doing their homework have embraced it and obviously enjoyed it. Hopefully the rest will cotton on. Their inquiry processes are improving. I have set up a system to record what questions the children have inquired and monitored when it is handed in.
I am unsure how to mark the Inquiry so simply write a comment giving praise or suggesting improvements. A rubric will help.
In class Inquiry I have found difficult with my special needs children and low readers as I need to guide their questioning and research / read with them and even write for them. G.B. Room 2

Inquiry Learning in Room 3

Yesterday our ICT lead teachers asked us to write a paragraph on how we felt about Inquiry. Hmm. One had to think about where we have come with questioning, answering and inquiring. The SOLO workshop was very intense yet food for thought where I constantly have to revisit the diagram of the different levels and stages of questioning. Then there is the ICT involvement which I am still trying to integrate with the whole inquiry process especially when students seem to think of a question, google the key words and then their questions are answered. The purchase of expensive digital equipment is successful for all involved if it is used effectively and students receive quality feedback for their experiences. I support the Quest article that ICT is not an educational solution or a magic fix. The real magic comes from teachers who have high expectations, create relevant and challenging learning experiences, support and scaffoldm pupils to success, and provide quality feedback for their pupils (ref Quest Article about the author). But I shall persevere with the Inquiry Rubric that was received last week and whatever more printout or workshop that is needed to improve on to better Inquiry Learning through ICT at Ohau School.

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

Creating Wikis - hosted workshop

To meet the requirements of the ICT Cluster, Janine and Col held an afterschool workshop on 23/3/09. Initially booked as an introduction to wikis, Jan Thomas changed this to a more advanced Wiki workshop. There were approximately 25 people in attendance with a good number from Coley Street School. Janine/Col had the use of Coley Street School’s computer suite with wireless internet access for those with their own computers.
There appeared to be a huge range of ability within the group from those that did not know what a wiki was to others that were using wikis on a regular basis. This made Ohau’s job a little difficult to get the participants a good understanding of what we were discussing. There was also some difficult initially as the computer suite was not set up as expected (ie. With data projector, etc working)
Col/Janine both found this an invaluable experience as it gave them insight as to how others use wikis. It also demonstrated that not many teachers within the cluster are using wikis with their classes. Teaching others about changing the wiki space and making it more user friendly was beneficial in cementing their own knowledge with how to change. It was a collaborative day with other colleagues giving hints as to easier ways of doing things.
Col/Janine both benefited from the day and enjoyed it immensely. We hope the other cluster members got as much out of it as we did.