Anne Sinclair

  Term 2 Extension Group and the challenges they face this term  At the first session the group reflected on last term and thought about what they had learnt, what they wanted to learn and what they could improve. They came with a very upbeat attitude and full of excitement and anticipation for what we were going to do this term. They had learned a lot last term on collaboration, dialogic discussion and listening to others and hearing what they said.  This resulted in responding, questioning, clarifying, inviting, piggy backing, challenging ideas and presenting their viewpoint informed by evidence. This was quite a task for yr 5 & 6 learners and the skills were taught within a contextualised situation, so integrated into the normal class programme.  If we want learners to take part in discussions they need to know something about the subject/topic/issue so they can actually talk and grapple with it. So content (learn) is important.  This term we are work...

SPARK MIT day 15th May was an illumination into the importance of partnerships  and collaboration. Partnering our MIT teachers with SPARK buddies will provide sounding boards and expertise through reciprocal collaboration. The buddies expressed the hope that this would be a great opportunity for both pairs to learn from each other. The buddies were excited about the chance to 'put something back' by offering their support. Sarah and Mary from the Foundation put the pairing together and the expectation that ideas will contribute to @clusternz learning.  Here are the SPARK Buddies doing their introductions. Dorothy presented some tools for Google Save and Google Keep, which got everyone excited. So to work unpacking, reframing, assessing, deciding, collaborating, puzzling, debating, supporting, making connections, refining and clarifying the Inquiries so they are innovations not repetitions. It was interesting to hear the different Inquiries, but in talking aloud...

Yr 5 & 6 in role for the Paideia Seminar ,which drew together a range of viewpoints and findings Being in role helped to show where different viewpoints come from and how they influence ideas and decisions