Cluster+Milestone+4

Milestone Number : 4 Date: November 2008 Lead School: Tahuna Normal Intermediate School MOE School ID Number: 3839 Cluster Name: Otakou ICTPD
 * Contract Number: 07 - 00170**
 * National Facilitator: Support Services Facilitator**
 * Contract Number: 07 - 00170**
 * National Facilitator: Support Services Facilitator**
 * National Facilitator: Support Services Facilitator**
 * National Facilitator: Support Services Facilitator**

Project Director: Brent Ward
 * Facilitator/s: Sarah Dickson and Richard Murray**
 * Facilitator/s: Sarah Dickson and Richard Murray**


 * 1) **Overview of Programme 2007 Term 4**

Otakou ICTPD Cluster continues to develop and grow in many areas. Many of our schools are developing the use of web 2.0 tools in their classrooms and are starting to see real benefits of these to enhance their teaching and learning. This area will be a focus for early next term so cluster members have greater confidence to use these independently and safety in the classroom as a form of communicating and collaborating with others.

Many schools are, or will be early next term, using the Kath Murdoch Inquiry model. We have held workshops outlining the stages of this model and enjoyed a planning morning working with Vicki Nicolson from the Tai O Rapuwai Cluster. This was very beneficial as it gave schools an opportunity to plan using the model and feeling excited and inspired with what this model has to offer. We have also backed this experience up with visits to two different schools that have developed their Inquiry over a number of years. Last week a group of thirty from our cluster visited Elmgrove School to see their GROVER model they use for Inquiry. Elmgrove School was involved in an ICTPD Cluster from 2003 – 2005. Many teachers and principals came away with a number of ideas on how to implement the new curriculum and Inquiry into their school. This week we will visit Vicki Nicolson at Port Chalmers School to have another in-school experience looking at Inquiry. Cluster schools will also be able to demonstrate and explain their own Inquiry or thinking strategy experiences at our cluster showcase on the 28th of November. Many cluster schools are showing a wide range of Inquiry stages and skills with web 2.0 tools and ICT applications that they use in their classrooms to support teaching and learning. We look forward to an exciting afternoon of sharing.

For our cluster showcase, lead teachers have worked with their staff to present a range of developments that have occurred this year from the cluster professional development they have received. We will see a range of web2.0 tools, Inquiry teaching and learning, ICT applications such as **//PowerPoint//** and **//Moviemaker//** and the use of thinking strategies in classrooms, for example; Blooms, Thinker’s Keys, PMI charts. This sharing allows cluster schools to continue to develop their established professional learning community that has been encouraged through the variety of workshops and opportunities we have already offered this year.

Analysing results from our **//Tiger Survey//** recently completed by cluster members, showed that many (69%) have indicated that they would be interested in joining a group to expand their knowledge in a particular area and then lead and support others in this area. This will be developed in terms two and three next year so we can share the expertise amongst members across the cluster. The use of web 2.0 tools for these professional sessions will assist members to easily share their knowledge and new learning across the cluster through tools such as a wikispaces.

Next year we plan to build on the experiences of this year by consolidating many of the new learning we have received. As facilitators we are aware for sustainability to happen we need all members on board feeling confident and successful with this new learning. This is a major focus for next year. Our plan is to target and work with the 35% of people who feel that their personal ICT skills and confidence development this year is average, the 3% who consider themselves to be poor, and the 18% of people who haven’t used an Inquiry model (figures taken from our **//Tiger Survey//**). We want to target these members so they can see the benefits of these tools in their classrooms and use these successfully and independently as effective teaching and learning models.


 * Brief paragraph of the activities in each individual school in the cluster.**
 * Summary from each school is taken directly from their school Milestone report attached with this Milestone 4 report.**


 * Please see our cluster wikispace for an extensive report from each school.**
 * http://otakoumilestone.wikispaces.com/**

Portobello School We had a 150th showcase for our school reunion. Technology was used during the showcase as part of Term 3 visual language plan. There were **//PowerPoint’s//**, **//Moviemaker//** movies and **//Photo story//** movies. We have purchased copies of Kath Murdoch’s book for each teacher to help us understand the Inquiry process. We have extensively used this book to plan an inquiry approach for a science unit. Everyone has been using the ‘tuning in’ activities. Staff are now up to the ‘finding out’ stage. All staff have seen a positive impact and attitude from all the students through the use and experiences we have received in using this model.

St Bernadettes School

Board Consultation At the October board meeting Gerard reported on internet learning tools to the board. There was a **//PowerPoint//** presentation on Web2.0 such as wikispaces and protopages. Web2.0 tools such as these are described as a collaborative technology for organising information on a web site that may allow visitors to add and edit contents. They can be used as a tool for shared learning ideas, or as a collective picture of resources and information. The purpose of the presentation was twofold, to describe how these Web2.0 tools can enhance students learning and to gain feedback from board members about their feelings regarding cyber safety, in regards to **//protopages//**, **//wikispaces//** and the soon to be developed St Bernadette’s Web page.

Positive computing For Parents and Caregivers. The Board was also presented with information following staff attendance at the Positive Computing Workshop. This is a project to empower parents and caregivers in helping their children use information and communication technology positively and safely, at home and in the local community. This course could be run by the school for its parent community. There are five modules in the programme and each module can be altered, emphasised or excluded depending on the needs of the individual school.

Marae Unit The senior school Marae unit is including quite a deal of ICT work with children. These include. Kowhaiwhai Patterns: Maori Carving: Virtual Marae
 * Child designs. Digitally enhanced, with contrast.
 * White colour made transparent.
 * Background: Use **//Publisher//** to create Fill effects, two colour gradients.
 * Digital Photo taken of children.
 * Moko and carving using mila.
 * Mila design e-mailed to class.
 * Picture file embossed for carved effect.
 * Colour changed to represent wood.
 * Once the class has been transformed into a wharenui it is hoped that digital photographs will be placed on the classes’ **//wikispace//** and **//protopage//** and a virtual marae will be available for parents and family friends to view. That’s the plan!

St Patricks School

We are all reading books we have purchased about inquiry learning, and are currently planning a unit on birds for term one next year. We had too many other requirements to do justice to teaching an inquiry unit this year. To introduce this unit, we have booked a tour of the albatross colony in week 2 next year. We have located some very good web sites, and are collecting recourses for this unit. We are spending this term teaching the children some of the skills needed for inquiry learning.

After attending a course on Positive Computing for Parents and Caregivers with Brenda and Barb, we have decided to survey the parents to see if they want a programme run at school for them. We will do this at the beginning of next year.

We have applied for funding to replace our server, and to purchase new hardware. It has been very frustrating for both staff and children to have a server which is not up to par. We are waiting with fingers crossed to hear about our application.

We have all noticed that the children are becoming increasingly confident when using the computer. Room 3 are more successfully researching information on the internet, and nearly always remember to check 3 different sites to ascertain correctness of information. They have been using a typing programme in part of their computer time, and improvement has been noticed. They have produced posters and **//PowerPoint//** presentations of a high standard to present work in topics and English units. Room 2 have learnt to use two or more sources of information to answer a question they have posed. They have worked on their **//protopages//** in all sorts of ways. Room 1 have **//protopages//** up and running, and although this is mostly the teacher’s work, stories are being published regularly.

Tainui School

There has been an increased use of ICT equipment and applications across the school. This has varied according to teacher confidence, level of expertise and the perceived level of value in class programmes. Teachers of younger children sometimes see the value of Web2.0 tools to be limited (although not without some worth) when contrasted with the need for basic literacy and numeracy skills, and socialising skills. Addressing this perceived imbalance of value between junior and senior schools could be a worthwhile emphasis for the cluster in the future. We have had a number of good examples of how **//Protopage, Wikis//**, and **//Blogs//** can be used with older children but some examples of best practice in New Entrant and junior classes would be welcomed.

Anderson’s Bay School

Six staff attended Tony Ryan’s workshop day in Oamaru – “The Magic of Thinking” and “Schools Unlimited”. This day was very beneficial and inspirational. Sarah also attended the ILT conference in Invercargill during the term 3 school holidays. Again this was an excellent opportunity to listen to outstanding speakers such as Michael Pohl and come back fresh with new ideas and thinking.

Staff are buzzing with enthusiasm as they continue to develop and overcome ICT obstacles like uploading numeracy results into our School Master system. Many classrooms are using a number of ICT, web 2.0 tools such as **wikispaces and protopages**, thinking strategies and Inquiry learning in their classrooms with great success. We are looking forward to teaching our three whole school Inquiry Units next year and also to more cluster development and consolidation.

Calton Hill School There was great excitement as we entered this year with the chance of being part of the ICT cluster. By the end of May all Calton Hill Staff had logged into the ICT cluster official website and looked forward to learning new ideas. During each term Noel Matthews and the lead teacher attended the workshops run by Sarah and Richard. This helped to increase our knowledge on programmes available to use on the computer, ideas on what to do with children and computers, and web tools. The staff also attended various workshops to learn new ideas. Towards the end of term 2 we had set up our own **//wikispace//** and looked at whole school goals, classroom goals and individual goals for ICT. These were recorded on the **//wikispace//**. Term 3, I tutored the staff on the use of the **//wikispaces//** and protopages. Each staff member set up a protopage for each child in their classroom. In September, I made my first **//PowerPoint//** and presented this to a group of teachers about **//wikispaces//**. I introduced my classroom and homework centre to the **//wikispace//**. Term 4 saw the whole school attempt to do an inquiry based learning unit. I set up questions on **//protopage//** for students to answer from home. This was fairly successful. Each student from room 6 and 7 have had a chance to go into their protopage and try and put a widget on it. Later in the term I will be introducing **//Google sketch up//** that I learnt whilst attending a two day workshop for children. Overall it has been a busy year with lots of new information, ideas and things to try.

St Peter Chanel School

There has been less emphasis on our goal of using the cluster website since Milestone 3 as staff are all confident accessing and using this site. It has been bookmarked and it is now used on a ‘needs to’ basis, for example accessing the **//PowerPoint//** on setting up **//wikispaces//** or to find out administrative information. Staff have participated in all workshops organised by the cluster facilitators and also sought other professional learning opportunities. Three staff members attended Tony Ryan’s workshops on ‘The Magic of Thinking’ and ‘Schools Unlimited’ and as a result one staff member has prepared a resource on thinking skills. All staff members have now accessed Tony Ryan’s website and are beginning to use some of these tools in class programmes. Every staff meeting now includes an ICT element and has included such things as revising goal setting, **//protopage//**, exploring websites, inquiry planning and cluster administration. Through workshops teachers are more confident in navigating Schoolmaster and have some understanding of how this can be used for administrative purposes, assessment and planning. Teachers have all made progress on their individual goals and have supported each other to achieve these. All classes except one have **//wikispaces//** and teachers are exploring ways in which these can be used successfully. A school **//wikispace//** ‘Brainy Kids’ has also been set up to support an inquiry where we intend to find out more about how our brain functions so we can become more successful learners.

Corstorphine School

It has been another busy half term at Corstorphine School. Our staff have worked hard at improving their ICT skills and all staff have made pleasing progress! Some goals are still being worked on because of the short time frame that we’ve had to report and achieve our goals. Student teachers have also been teaching in three classes which has made some goals more difficult to achieve. Unfortunately Helen Begbie, who has been part of our staff and milestone reports throughout the year, will not be teaching here next year and as a result has not been attending some staff PD. She has continued to include ICT skills in her classroom environment throughout the term.

Grant’s Braes School

The overriding factor during this phase of the project has been the retiring of the current Principal, the impending changes of teaching staff, and the introduction of staff laptops. All of these have impacted on the direction and possibilities for the future. I know there continues to be a positive attitude to acquiring new skills by the staff and excitement as they introduce and use their new skills in their class programmes.

Macandrew Bay School

All staff made progress with their web 2.0 tools and inquiry learning planning and implementation this term. We have had some staff attend the workshops recently offered, and more will attend the workshops later this month. We have had two after school staff meetings based around ICT this term, and have enjoyed looking at other staff member’s web 2.0 tools and inquiry progress. We appreciate the work done by the cluster facilitators this year in helping our Principal and Lead Teacher learn about web 2.0 tools and inquiry skills, so that they can pass these on to the rest of the staff. We are looking forward to attending the Elmgrove and Port Chalmers School inquiry afternoons, and also the cluster showcase.

St Brigids School

Goals - We have worked well achieving our goals this term. Next year we will look at concentrating on our goals over two terms rather than over one as this will mean we have more time to consolidate the new learning that children and we are working on. Thinking skills and inquiry learning – this has been our schools focus for the last 2-3 years so we are quite far down the track in this regard but we are continuing to add to our resources as more information becomes available through the ICT Cluster. Planning – we currently do most of our planning on the computers and with our SMS training we are looking at recording all of our assessments on the computers as well next year. Broad Bay School

Broad Bay School is making progress towards being more ICT literate. We are positioning ourselves to make a big jump in infrastructure so that children have more access to ICT and the teacher’s are using ICT more in their planning.

Musselburgh School

Musselburgh have enjoyed all and began to implement some of the ICT ideas learned and demonstrated at Cluster PD and then past on during staff meetings. The Inquiry process is already a part of teaching and learning at Musselburgh so we are using the contract as a time to reflect on how we teach and facilitate inquiry. A network upgrade is schedule for this year along with the installation of data projectors in senior classes. We are also investigating options to purchase or lease more computers for classroom use. We are now at a point where staff can set personal goals that are more productive and defined for 2008.

Tahuna Normal Intermediate

This has been such an exciting term with so many things happening in the school. The arrival of data projectors in each room has really increased enthusiasm and skill of teachers and has already become an invaluable tool in the classrooms. The planning and PD sessions have everyone talking and sharing ideas. We are all looking forward to 2008 with far less apprehension as so much is already in place and our confidence is evident for all to see. Everyone knows that if you are unsure then there is always someone to ask and the help is only a question or email away. 2007 has been a very good year in our school for building on our ICT and inquiry skills significantly.

Rotary Park School

The main focus this term has been to use the inquiry process to teach our ‘Practical, Pretty or Peculiar’ fashion topic. This has been very successful so far. Access to computers for children has continued to be an issue, but there is an end in sight! We raised quite a lot of money at our school fair this term. That money is being allocated to a pod of laptops for next year. Carmel (our Principal) is currently researching options. We should have them at the beginning of next yearJ We will soon be meeting as a staff to discuss possible Inquiry topics for next year.

2 Response to Milestone tasks 4.2.1 Liaise with the National Facilitator assigned by the Ministry of Education to this project. A National meeting was held in Invercargill on the 1st and 2nd of November. This was attended by Brent (Project Director), Sarah and Richard (Cluster facilitators). The first day we spent touring schools looking at the use of interactive whiteboards. This was very beneficial as we now have an understanding of how they can be used in a learning setting and contacts for our cluster members that may be considering purchasing these. The next day we went to Bluff Community School for our national meeting. This meeting was run by Marg McLeod. We looked extensively at the **//ICTPD//** **//wikispace//**, which is being used as a resource to support the implementation of the new curriculum document. This was a very useful meeting in generating discussion, answering questions and identifying strategies for a smooth transition planning with the new document. Jill has maintained contact with the cluster, providing information and feedback on the variation to the contract and milestone reporting. This has been extremely valuable as feedback as been positive and instant.

4.2.2 Principals attend SMS workshops Most Principals in the cluster have attended SMS workshops. The majority are using Schoolmaster. Further development of this is a focus for next year.

4.2.3 Workshops targeting identified PD needs led by facilitators and lead teachers. On the 31st October, we invited Brenda and Barb from “CWA New Media” in Wellington down to hold a workshop on “Positive Computing for Parents and Caregivers”. This was attended by at least one representative for all our schools and proved worthwhile. As a condition of attending all schools were asked to hold one evening next year briefing parents and caregivers on aspects of positive computing as appropriate to the communities need. Brenda and Barb also held an afternoon workshop on TKI. This was attended by over 40 of our cluster members and was very well received. They covered a wide range of features on the site and showed the benefits to teaching and learning that it has to offer. We would recommend other clusters take hold of this opportunity to have Brenda and Barb visit. This term we have also held workshops covering **//PowerPoint//**, **//Keynote//**, **//Moviemaker//**, and **//iMovie//**. These have been well attended. We have also held whole school workshops at Tahuna (**//Moviemaker//**), Musselburgh and Macandrew Bay (**//Keynote//** and **//iMovie//**) to cater for their staff needs as they were unable to attend cluster workshops due to other PD or in Tahuna’s case the sheer number of their staff who wanted to attend. We have seen great spinoffs from all of these workshops, which will be demonstrated at the upcoming Cluster showcase. AS well as these we have had visits to Elmgrove and Port Chalmers Schools, who have both been through the ICTPD contract. They are good examples of schools who have embraced Inquiry Learning, implementing their own models We have a planning and reflection workshop with Lead Teachers and Principals on 12th of December.

4.2.4 Submit a progress report to the Ministry by the milestone date on each of the above tasks and relevant performance measures, as per the Second Schedule of this agreement.


 * 3.** **__Performance measures__**


 * Intended Outcomes**
 * Success Criteria****/Evidence**
 * Significant Findings**
 * Consequences/Actions**
 * Significant Findings**
 * Consequences/Actions**
 * Consequences/Actions**
 * Consequences/Actions**

Teachers’ confidence and skills in using ICT have increased

Evidence shows participating teachers have increased confidence and skills in using ICT

Instances of teachers using relevant electronic and online material and resources



//All cluster schools have commented in their milestone reports about the increased use and confidence in their staff in the use of ICT applications, web 2.0 tools, Inquiry learning and thinking strategies.//

//One school commented that teachers of younger children see the value of ICT as a small part of their programme as skills such as numeracy and literacy come first.//

//Tiger Survey// //Rate your personal ICT skills and confidence development this year…// //Excellent 9%// //Good 53%// //Average 35%// //Poor9%//

//Over the year we have held at least 3-4 Principal, lead teacher and then teacher ICT application workshops a term to increase skill and confidence. The most successful courses were; web 2.0 tools – protopage, wikispaces, Powerpoint, Moviemaker and a session with Brenda Crozier looking in detail at the TKI web site and what resources it has to offer. Teachers that attended these courses have commented on how they have changed the way they incorporate ICT into their classrooms.// //Tiger Survey results TKI workshop// //How helpful was the TKI workshop?// //100% very helpful// //Before taking part in TKI workshop how would you rate your knowledge of the resources available on TKI?// //Excellent 6%, Good 38%,Average 31%,Poor 25%// //After the TKI workshop how would you rate your understandings of resources available on TKI now? Excellent 63%, Good 38%// //TKI workshop proved to be very powerful.//

//Smaller schools next year will be invited to join a larger school involved in the cluster for their ICTPD staff meetings.// //Showcase on the 28th November will provide some evidence of web 2.0 tools being used in junior rooms.// //Next year we will plan a bus tour for junior teachers to see good practical ideas of ICT used in junior years that can enhance the children’s learning and support their teaching.// //It is a cluster goal next year to consolidate learning from this year into next year. We are already organising basic ICT application and web 2.0 tool review in term 1 so all cluster teachers are confident users. This Tiger Survey question will be sent out again at the end of 2008.// //57% found the ICT contract to be helpful to increase the use of ICT in their classrooms while 22% found it very helpful. 17% found it not very helpful, 4% confusing and 1% totally useless.(Tiger Survey results) The last three results are the people we will target for next year. We can track these people and make contact with them on a regular basis to ensure they feel they are getting useful professional development through the cluster and to support them and their lead teacher where and when needed.//

Increased capability of teachers and principals to use ICT for their own professional learning and to facilitate improvements in students’ learning, engagement and achievement.

Evidence shows improved understandings of the role of ICT among most participants. Instances of teachers aligning ICT use with student learning Instances of teaching using ICT that facilitate the learning of students and raise achievement for all learners

//Schools in milestone reports have commented on the increased use of ICT equipment and applications and what a positive impact this has had in their classrooms.//

//Schools using Inquiry models and thinking strategies have seen positive attitudes in staff acquiring new skills and then excited classrooms when skills are being introduced.// //Staff and children are becoming increasing confident in use of a variety of tools that support teaching and learning.// //Staff and children are using these tools more effectively – searching on the internet successfully and using three sources of information, communicating and collaborating by using web 2.0 tools eg: Calton Hill School, Grant’s Braes School staff professional development wikispaces, St Peter Chanel School ‘Brainy kids’ wikispace to support their Inquiry unit.//



//Targeting those teachers who feel less confident through a buddy system within their school or across the cluster to ensure that no-one is left behind. (Tiger Survey see above for results)//

//Cluster schools to visit schools that use an Inquiry model to see how it works across a school and age groups.// //Cluster schools to share Inquiry planning with each other and store these on the cluster web site.// //Next year we will visit each others schools to see the Inquiry development and support each other through this process of change and reflection.//

Strengthened professional learning communities and increased collaboration within and across schools.

Development of a rigorous professional learning community focused on critical reflection of practice using ICT.

Developing rich resource of expertise, experience and materials in effective ICT use at a national and local level.



Evidence of participation and contribution from participating teachers and principals to local, regional and national conferences, the online learning network and cluster network communities. Instances of discussions within and between schools, focused on student achievement and changing teaching practice and how ICT can contribute to these. Instances of information, strategies, case studies, action research or resources contributed to: · Te Kete Ipurangi · Conferences · Publications

//Director and facilitators attending national and regional meetings to gather up to date information regarding things such as the use of interactive whiteboards in classrooms and developments in the new curriculum to pass onto our cluster schools as such;// [|www.ictpd-curriculum.wikispaces.com]

//A small number of our cluster attended a workshop run by Tony Ryan in Oamaru in September. Many shared this experience with their schools through professional development sessions and staff meetings.// //Brenda Crozier CWA Media ran a workshops on the 31st of October called Positive Computing for Parents and Caregivers. This was very successful as it made cluster members aware of many issues surrounding computer usage// //We have at least six interested cluster members for attendance for the learning@school conference in Rotorua for 2008. Seven members including facilitators and directors went this year.// //Showcase on November 28th will provide time for cluster schools to review and reflect on their progress and the development they will see in other cluster schools.//



//Regular Principal, Lead Teacher and hands on teacher application workshops have allowed cluster members to develop and strengthen their professional learning community by mixing and working with a variety of people from outside of their school.// //The cluster showcase/celebration will allow teachers to gather good ideas and practical ways to use ICT and Inquiry in their rooms from others in the cluster. They will also form links with members from other schools to continue to share and gather ideas from.// //Schools that attended the Brenda Crozier workshop will take a Positive Computing for Parents and Caregivers course in their schools. This will help many parents to become aware the benefits and ways to overcome hurdles when using the computer with children.//