Tahuna+Intermediate+Milestone+6

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 * __ Milestone Report __**
 * __ Milestone Report __**


 * Name of School: Tahuna Normal Intermediate **
 * Names of lead teachers: Linda Clifford and Nic Gibson **


 * 1. __Personal and Class related goals:__ **

Ø Staff have been working hard to achieve personal and school wide goals throughout 2008. Ø The whole staff has filled in the Tiger survey on ICT PD for 2008.

Staff have experienced and enjoyed a range of Professional Development opportunities throughout the year as well as being provided with an increasing amount of resources and equipment, allowing them to continue to develop programmes that are engaging and exciting for our children. The result has been rewarding for both students and teachers alike. Ø Individual PD on the use of a scanner, video cameras, ActivBoard when requested Ø Several workshops have been attended by school staff either with cluster facilitators, lead teachers or international speakers. § Learning@schools Conference 2008 ü Principal and Lead Teachers attended and reported back to cluster. § Graham Watts – International Speaker. ü Personalised Learning and Putting Effective Pedagogies into Practice – Whole day workshop. ü Thinking: A Key Competence – Whole day workshop § Kath Murdoch – International Speaker ü Inquiry – Whole day workshop § Teacher Workshops run by Cluster Facilitators and/or Lead Teachers ü Basic Wikispaces ü Advanced Wikispaces ü School Master ü Photobucket ü Comic Life ü Planning and Assessment of and Inquiry Unit ü School Master and Useful Websites to Use in the Classroom ü Inquiry Planning – The Olympics ü Senior and Junior Inquiry Examples and New Curriculum Development ü Presentation of inquiry happening at Tahuna Normal Intermediate by Tahuna classroom teachers. ü Visits to other schools to view inquiry activities. § Kids ICT Days ü Year 5,6, 7 and 8 children attending a two day series of workshops aimed at improved the interest and skill levels in a range of computer programmes. One of the aims here was to develop student leaders for 2009. ü Tahuna Year 8 students had an opportunity to develop their skills further by being involved in the delivery of some sessions over these two days. ü Tahuna staff along with our cluster facilitators were involved in the on site running of these two days. This involved a great amount of organising of equipment and rooms for each session. ü These two days were a huge success and were thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended them. § Demonstration Lessons ü Attending Inquiry sessions in senior primary classes. ü Providing opportunities for other teachers to observe use of ActivBoards in Year 8 classrooms at Tahuna.
 * 2. __Developments for Tahuna in 2008:__ **
 * Professional Development:**

Ø A series of professional development sessions have been happening with ActivBoards, with lots of sharing of ideas, skills and resources for use with the boards. Ø All staff are using School Master on a daily basis to record student absences and for administration tasks. Ø New digital cameras for all classes to allow more ready access to still images and movies for inquiry. Ø More scanners for each syndicate to allow fast access to projecting children’s work onto the ActivBoard for collaborative editing or reworking. Ø New Information Communication Technology Centre and Library opened at Tahuna with 10 more computers available for independent or small group sessions.
 * Resource Use/Development:**


 * __ Inquiry Model __**

All classroom teachers have become more and more familiar with the Kath Murdoch model of Inquiry and have been actively using these components in their inquiry teaching. Teachers feel confident to use the Kath Murdoch format to plan a unit of work, and have benefited from a collaborative planning approach. Everyone has been using the plans in some way in their programmes. We have had a real focus on active teaching of the skills involved in Inquiry eg vocabulary, thinking skills/tools (eg De Bono’s Hats, Bloom’s Taxonomy), use of graphic organisers, Gardiner’s Multiple Intelligences (SMARTS), adaptation of the matrix based on the Ralph Pirozzo model is being used in most units to direct the inquiry component of the integrated units. The use of graphic organisers to improve written language and questioning skills for web searching development by teachers and children has seen skills in this area improving on a daily basis.

Year 7 and Year 8 teaching staff have been working on planning an overview for 2009 that incorporates Key Competencies, Values, Thinking Skills, Curriculum Areas and Inquiry components – such as having a big question and following through with the Kath Murdoch Model. Staff have been looking at planning that allows for more freedom to Development of leaders with a variety of skills across the inquiry learning process has played an important part in building up the confidence of teachers to deliver new and exciting inquiry based programmes. We are constantly evaluating and reflecting on the effectiveness of our programmes and developing them to suit the needs of the children. As staff confidence continues to increase in these areas, so does the quality of the programmes being delivered. Year 7 and 8 staff have increased their confidence in a range of areas throughout 2008, and are looking forward to continuing to develop and improve these skills in 2009. Throughout the year teachers have presented ideas, skills and experiences at staff meetings, and have also invited teachers from across the cluster into their classrooms to share their inquiry learning successes. Leaders are being developed.
 * __ Preparation for 2009 __**