Milestone



1. Overview of Programme 2007 Term 3 The director and facilitators have been impressed by the progress of teachers in our cluster. Our main focus this term has been the extension and revision of web 2.0 tools, the introduction of thinking tools/strategies and an in depth look at the Kath Murdoch Inquiry Model.

The first principal and lead teacher workshop for this term looked at web 2.0 tools – protopage, wikispaces and blogs. Many principals and lead teachers have started to use at least one of these tools with some experimenting with up to three different tools. They are all at different stages with their development. One school in particular have become leaders with their development of their staff wikispace and classroom wikispace. We have permission from this school to show you how they are using a wikispace for staff and their students. They have allowed us to publish their username and password and for this reason we ask that these are only used for this milestone evidence. Please view these excellent examples at these links:https://caltonhillstaff.wikispaces.com [|https://brighteyes.wikispace.com] username for both is tlhayward password for both is samantha7.

Other workshops this term have been on thinking strategies and Inquiry. We have used the Kath Murdoch Inquiry model as an example and have invited Vicki Nicolson facilitator from Tai O Rapuwai Cluster to come and explain in more detail the importance of writing clear understandings for an Inquiry unit. Vicki has used this model for a number of years and is going to spend the morning with principals and lead teachers supporting the planning of an Inquiry unit for their school to be used either in term 4 2007 or term 1 2008. We value Vicki’s input and expertise in this area and have found our term local facilitators “catch-ups” very valuable for this reason – sharing knowledge and expertise among each other has been an excellent support for all.

We are starting to see the lead teacher group take on more leadership in the wider cluster. This term they are generating great discussion during our workshops and are showing a commitment to share ideas from their schools at our workshops. All lead teachers are proving to be excellent role models for their school and have all been able to take new learning and ideas back to staff meetings for further school wide development. Four of our lead teachers shared their web 2.0 tool use to cluster teachers in an after school workshop. This allowed the lead teachers to be the experts at a workshop. It also helped teachers to see the relevance and educational uses of protopage, wikispaces and blogs in our classrooms. The next workshop is planning an Inquiry unit with principals and lead teachers. The aim of this joint planning session is to allow some of our principals and lead teachers together to feel more comfortable with the new learning that is going to take place in our schools by being part of the planning process. Vicki Nicolson will be present and along with Richard and Sarah to assist the planning and the implementation of thinking strategies and ICT skills using the Kath Murdoch model.

All cluster school staff are now members of our cluster web site. As a cluster we are using our centre4 site as an ongoing resource bank that we are encouraging Principals, lead teachers and teachers to add to and refer to regularly. An example of this is the workshop powerpoint presentations that are uploaded onto the site so schools can use these with ease back in their environments. We have also uploaded important web links and resources such as thinking templates and Inquiry cards. Some schools (Musselburgh) are sending their resources to us so we can scan and upload these so our web site is developing into a one stop shop where teachers can access useful material. Holding principal, lead teacher and teacher workshops have been extremely valuable as we are managing to see many teachers across our cluster during the term. We have found there is a learning gap in our group and have decided to hold basic ICT skill workshops to bring the confidence and level of some of our teachers up as at some of our web 2.0 tool workshops navigating a laptop without a mouse was a challenge. So asking teachers at this level to use a web 2.0 tool in their classroom was going to provide extra challenges back at school. We want to ensure that all teachers feel completely comfortable and confident about the tools we are introducing them to.

Anderson’s Bay School All staff are using the web 2.0 tool Protopage to record individual goals, document their progress and to make reflections about their development. The lead teacher and principal are able to view this often. Many staff meetings have been devoted to an ICT cluster meeting time and because of this many staff are enthused and eager to learn about and try new ideas in their classrooms. All staff have a wikispace or are using protopage for their classrooms. These are constantly being worked on and developed. Parents have enjoyed the opportunity to see through the internet what is happening in their child’s classroom. A School management system has just been installed (School Master) and all staff have attended two staff meetings on this and are constantly upskilling themselves with the use and application of School Master. All staff have entered student data into School Master and are looking forward to learning about and recording assessments and planning units on this computerised based programme.
 * //Brief paragraph of the activities in each individual school in the cluster.//**
 * //Summary from each school taken directly from their school Milestone report attached with this Milestone 3 report.//**

Grant’s Braes School There have been many positive outcomes from the last few months work with the contract :– Added to these developments has been the suggestions to increase the laptop to staff scheme so that all teachers will be involved, the inclusion of a wireless network for the school site, and the investigation of a pod of laptops for the school. These developments, while not directly a part of the Otakou ICT contract, have certainly been given impetus because of our involvement.
 * Teachers taking up web2.0 tools in varying degrees but all being prepared to give it a go with varying degrees of success.
 * The staff focus on the Habits of Mind and the sharing of the ideas and opportunities for encouraging our children to develop these thinking skills.
 * The beginnings of using a school SMS

St Bernadette’s School St Bernadettes have included an ICT component in every weekly staff meeting run by a variety of staff at different times. All staff have updated their ICT goals. Most staff are developing their use of useful internet sites within their classroom programmes. (eg: NZ maths, pages related to topic work) Many are using powerpoint in their classrooms as a learning tool in terms of creating and then viewing a presentation for information. Staff are continuing to practise entering data on School Master. Some classes have a wikispace or a protopage operating in their rooms.

Macandrew Bay School We are thoroughly enjoying being members of this ICT cluster. The lead teacher is finding the contract interesting and very rewarding. She is enjoying the contact with other lead teachers, and talking with them about their experiences with the web 2.0 tools so far. The web 2.0 tools that we have been shown and encouraged to use, are making the links between home and school stronger, showcasing work done by our students to people from all over the world, and providing students with a meaningful context in which to share their learning.

Our staff have enjoyed learning about these web 2.0 tools, and are developing them as they become more confident. Their students are excited about the prospect of adding their work to these sites.

We have enjoyed the focus on Thinking Skills and programmes that encourage creative and critical thinking amongst our students. This is an area that our school has put a lot of time and effort into over a number of years now and it has been good to see ways we can extend our current good practice in this area even further. We were also very interested to find out more about Kath Murdoch’s Inquiry approach and to compare this with the way we have used an inquiry approach in the past. We have purchased Kath Murdoch’s book as a resource for our staff and are keen to trial some of the ideas

We look forward to learning more!!!

Musselburgh School As we are an inquiry school we have found the next step on the journey an easier one. We have set up a wikispace to record our whole school journal through the inquiry process, our current inquiry is Spaces and Places – Playgrounds. http://musselburghplaygroundinquiry.wikispaces.com/ The staff are currently reflecting on their term 3 goals and resetting them for term 4

Portobello Portobello school are developing the use of web 2.0 tools in their classrooms such as protopage and wikispaces. They are also incorporating many thinking tools and strateiges into their daily programmes. All staff have found they are feeling more confident in their use and application of ICT skills. Staff are using the internet as a information tool in their topic studies and also the cluster web site as a reference tool.

Corstorphine Term 3 has been an excellent success in terms of our progress both as staff and as a school. All staff have improved there ICT skills to some degree, and an enthusiasm with the web 2.0 too, protopage has been unleashed – both among the staff and students! As a lead teacher I have enjoyed my role in the development and look forward to the challenges ahead. We have already identified further goals both for our staff, school, and pupils for next term and look forward to implementing them!

Broad Bay The installation and use of SMS is our main priority at the moment. The lead teacher is to continue to develop expertise with web 2.0 tools and to develop thinking skills by utilising internet as a resource, especially the cluster website and links from this.

Calton Hill Staff meetings have been based around the development of the staff wikispace. (Please refer to this as mention in our initial paragraph). The lead teacher will work with staff in developing the use of protopage in their classrooms. The lead teacher recently presented at a teachers workshop showcasing and explaining how to use wikispaces in the classroom. Many teachers were impressed with her powerpoint presentation of this, which can be found on our web site and also her wikispace which is full of exiciting educational resources for the children and parents.

St Peter Chanel All staff have made personal goals with reference to the cluster web site. All staff are enrolled and are using resources from the web site to enhance their classroom programme such as Rainforest Maths taken from the cluster’s delicious account. Four staff meetings have been held over the term looking at the cluster web site, Inquiry learning and the introduction of the school management system School Master. All staff have made a School Master goal and continue to make comments about this and their progress on the staff Protopage reflective journal. Two classrooms have made wikispaces. These are at the very initial stages of development but staff have set aside time in the school holidays to reflect, share and continue to work on these. Many staff are using the pod of laptops to support their learning programmes. The use of the pod has become very popular after a staff meeting was held with Alicia from Magnum Mac to show staff the possibilities and applications you could use in the classroom. Staff are using the internet and applications such as kidpix to enhance teaching and learning.

St Brigids Staff initially started to develop protopage with their classrooms but have discontinued their use as they have decided as a staff to use the school web site for this purpose to communicate to parents and the wider community. Many staff have decided to use the computer suite more often and to encourage use of the classroom computer during class time. Many are using CD rom based applications to reinforce maths skills. Some are using word and publisher for publishing work and some teachers are using Google to search for information about their topic studies. St Brigids have held four staff meeting during term 3 and have reported to the board about the progress with their school website that their lead teacher is developing.

Tahuna Normal Intermediate All staff have set ICT personal and class related goals. These range from developing a class protopage to downloading photos and using applications like Movie Maker and Picture Manager. Staff are at varying levels of ability and during PD sessions have found it worthwhile working separately at two levels but on the same focus with either facilitators or lead teachers. There is a definite buzz amongst the staff. People are openly discussing the positive changes, and excitement is building. Every staff member is keen to learn and relishing the new challenges. Finding enough really valuable PD could be the only handicap. It is essential we channel the positive and productive energy into quality learning situations that allow everyone to grow at their own speed. Outside speakers and motivators like Tony Ryan are a real draw card and should be sought. I could have sent every member of the staff to Oamaru for his workshops, but unfortunately that was not possible.

St Patricks We are all successfully working towards achieving our goals. All classes have now set up a protopage and we are teaching the children – and ourselves - how to use this as a teaching and learning tool. The children are very enthusiastic, and are enjoying using their protopages. Rooms 2 and 3 have been using web quests as part of Social Studies and Reading. The new school web site is well under construction. We are having to look at our computers in the school, especially the server, as in the very near future a considerable amount of money is going to be needed to be spent. Both the staff and students are experiencing frustration at times, with inability to get onto some web sites, and the need for more computers in Room 2.

Our next goals, which we are still discussing and refining, are related to inquiry learning. We have begun reading current information, and are discussing how to integrate this into topic work throughout the school.

Rotary Park School Having been slightly delayed with our goal of having our laptops up and running by the end of week one, we are finally on our way. Our progress has been slow as we are getting up to speed with technology in the school. We hope to purchase a data projector next term as we had to borrow one for our assembly last week. Any work that has been done on wikispaces and protopage has been slow because the children only have access to one computer in each classroom. We hope to purchase/lease a pod of laptops at the beginning of 2008. Next steps
 * To use Gillian May Plantastic to plan our units on computer.
 * Use Inquiry to teach our Planet Earth and beyond topic next term.

2. Milestone tasks

//3.2.1 Liaise with the National Support Services Facilitator assigned to the cluster// This term we have had a meeting with our National Facilitator Jill Hammonds in Queenstown on the 24th of August. We looked closely at the implementation of the new curriculum document and in particular values, principles and key competencies. This was a very beneficial day as all of our schools are currently looking at ways of implementing key competencies. An audio conference was held on Thursday 6th of September. A small number of our principals were unable to take part in this due to a pre organised event in Dunedin. They emailed their responses to Jill’s questions to the facilitators, as outlined on her agenda. We feel the level of support from our national facilitator has been valuable and we have enjoyed sessions when Jill is able to bring in experts such as Christina Ward to speak about her involvement and knowledge of the development and changes to the draft curriculum. We are looking forward to more sessions regarding curriculum development, the use of inquiry and implementation of these aspects into our classrooms.

//3.2.2 Lead teachers modelling ICT to support the learning programmes// In our workshops lead teachers have had the opportunity this term to share their learning during our workshops. Our primary focus during these sessions has been the introduction and the development of web 2.0 tools such as protopage, wikispaces and blogs into our learning environments. Many lead teachers are showing improved confidence and leadership in these areas and during staff meetings are passing on this knowledge to other staff members. Many school principals have recognised the importance of allowing release time during the school day for lead teachers to work with other staff to develop these tools. This shows that the development of this professional learning is valued. A small group of our lead teachers showed their web 2.0 tools at one of our “Teacher Hands on ICT workshops”. Leadership and expertise in web 2.0 tools is developing within our group. It was pleasing to see the development of our lead teacher’s confidence and professional knowledge to a point where they can “showcase” their web 2.0 tools to a number of teachers. Lead teachers have also been asked to experiment with a variety of thinking strategies in the classroom. Many have come back to sessions and commented how these tools and graphic organisers have helped students to concentrate and produce ideas with more depth and detail. Our end of term workshop will involve all principals and lead teachers together developing an Inquiry unit for their schools with the integration of thinking strategies and ICT tools. After we have completed these units we will involve all principals and lead teachers in a reflection and sharing time. We are also planning in term 4 to hold a mini expo which will allow our lead teachers to again model in our cluster the ICT they are using to support their learning programmes.

3.2.3 //Workshops targeting identified PD needs led by facilitators and lead teachers// This term we have held three lead teacher workshops. The focus for these have been; Web2.0 tools review and revise, Thinking tools and strategies, Inquiry learning models and planning. These have been held during the school day with lead teachers being released for all these sessions. Teacher workshops have been held after school. The focus for these has been; Introduction of Web2.0 tools, Showcasing Web 2.0 tools and Back to Basic applications such as word, digital camera use and implementation of these applications into everyday classroom programmes. These workshops have been held after school with maximum numbers of 25 being full for each session. As the term has progressed we have revised our plan for teacher’s hands on ICT workshops because the feedback we were receiving from lead teachers was that teachers wanted to see practical use for Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Therefore we are holding a ‘Showcase” time for our expert lead teachers to share their knowledge and development of their preferred tool. The Back to Basic application workshop catered for the needs of those teachers that are low in confidence with ICT use and understanding. We found in our initial Introduction of Web 2.0 tools some teachers were having difficulty navigating with a mouse to move tabs or make tabs in protopage so from this experience we have decided to target these teachers so the gap in confidence and basic knowledge use decreases.