The following is an essay that brings together all my thinking about my philosophy of teaching. This is the considered, researched, position of why I do what I do. This is a work in progress as the second and third areas of investigation need a lot more work – I have decided to put it aside to write a much short, less formal piece as advised by trusted colleagues. Appreciate feedback 🙂 Read More
It’s been 12 months since we were organising our flights to Amsterdam for the ADE conference. I can hardly believe it. The conference itself was great; the presentations, the workshops, everything was wonderfully inspiring… but actually it was the connections that has made the most impact. Read More
Book Creator has been an amazing tool this year for curating learning portfolios for students in Grades 2 thru 5 in our primary school (reflection on the year coming soon). Next year, with the beginning of a three year, phased introduction of iPads to Read More
Supporting teachers to be amazing is my passion. I love teaching students and being in the heart of student learning is a wonderful place to be. Teaching teachers however, and supporting them to implement technology in their classrooms particularly, is where I think I am having the greatest impact as a professional. Read More
One area that we have been working on this year at our school is Literacy. As a young school, it’s exciting starting fresh with new systems and programs but it does take time to decide which one will meet our needs. Read More
The program of inquiry (POI) for a PYP school is the centre of learning, teaching, and planning. As a new teacher, in a young school, with a new Head of Primary, there are many opportunities this year to be creative, innovative, and courageous! One way of bottling that freedom is with a whole school POI board. Read More
I once made these very colourful posters on the PYP attitudes and Key Concepts. I have seen them around, on other peoples websites and cringe to see a spelling mistake! Read More
This is part Mum bragging and part teacher excitement! “The Lightbulb” is a research project that my son Joshua made with Book Creator! Joshua is 10 and growing up fast so having a piece of his work including voice narration is just so special. As a teacher I am equally excited about giving the parents of our students the same joy… but more about that later… Read More
I am moving back to the PYP! For the past year I have been getting to know the MYP, with their wonderful fruit salad of subject based criteria/objectives, ATLs, and Command Terms, but are now returning to the fruit smoothie of PYP transdisciplinary learning (thanks Wayne for the cracking analogy). I now have a combined position as 4/5 Classroom Teacher and Digital Learning Specialist. Read More
Simplifying and condensing information to the bare essential facts can sometime be challenging for students. I read this blog post by Glenn Wiebe on the PERSIAN graphic organiser and knew I wanted to try it with my I&S students. Read More
