Wellington Loopwww.wellingtonloop.net.nz

About our clusterSecond year of clusterRegional cluster

Context: Lead teachers, Loop trustees/principals, attendees of conference/professional development.

What is the Wellington Loop?

Programme outcome 5:To build teacher capability in facilitating authentic community projects as the basis for powerful learning

Two projectsWar Memorial project with Ministry of Culture and HeritageWGC Tech Angels liaison with Thorndon School’s Geeks on Feet

Research frameworkSylvia Martinez, GenYES work

War Memorial project

Stephen (Teacher involved with MCH project)The war memorial project has been an authentic example of learning beyond the classroom. It has been an excellent way for students and teachers from a number of schools to make contact with each other. People such as Gregor Fountain and Steve Watters have given valuable guidance and insightful perspectives. The girls have gained a lot through their connection with the National War Memorial and the National Archives. They have been largely self-directed in filming and researching; I have been impressed with the level of ownership they have developed for the project.

Angels meet Geeks

Interview

Student reflection (Kimberley)On Thursday the 29th of September, Mr McClymont and I – as representatives of Tech Angels, were invited to a meeting at Thorndon School. Like Wellington Girls’ College, Thorndon School is part of the Wellington Loop, a “learning community of schools connected by a high speed fibre optic cable”.Thorndon School, has its own ICT group called ‘Geeks on Feet’ which is a group of 10 students, aged from 7-12 who help support ICT in their school. The purpose of the meeting was to inspire the students and get them thinking about what they could do in their school to enhance what they currently do and possibly incorporate some of the ideas we shared with them, such as running competitions and fun activities during group sessions.The Geeks on Feet had a prepared list of questions for us. These included things such as - What my role was as a Tech Angel? What kind of fun things we do? What keyboard shortcut commands and applications we enjoyed using, to how many computers we had in our school?...

For me personally- this visit allowed me to see how there is a much bigger focus on the use of technology at primary schools nowadays and in particular the use of computers in learning. This is a big change from when I was at primary school just 7 years ago, when computers were hardly used to assist with learning.I was really impressed by how keen and tech savvy the students at Thorndon School were and their desire to learn from what we had to offer.

I think the meeting was a brilliant idea and believe other schools and those within the Wellington Loop could also benefit from sharing their knowledge and ideas in this ever-changing technological world.

Angels and Geeks

Programme outcome 6:To build a community of confident, connected and reflective practitioners who willingly share their inquiries and reflections with an audience beyond the Wellington Loop Trust cluster.

Activities/projectsAttendance at conferences (L@S, U-Learn)Presenting at conference (L@S)

Research framework Leadership building with Geoff Childs Distributed leadership http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leading-

change/Strategic-leadership/Building-leadership-capacity

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/GrowingtheNextGenerationofLead/163103

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/leadership/leadership002a.html

http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/exploringPractice/Characteristicsofeffectivepractices/DistributedLeadership.aspx

SEE folder of pdfs too.

ATTENDING CONFERENCES

Kate (Secondary school)The aspects that I find valuable about going to conference are

-the teaching colleagues one meets and has informal discussions with about issues that we both have in common. In my role as Specialist Classroom teacher I take especial note of the ways the presenters present to motivate and inform the participants, and try to transfer these skills to my own presentations.

-the sharing of resources

-seeing what's new in the world of teaching in the Trade Hall

I have felt inspired to use various presentation tools eg Prezi, Twitter for keeping and using Google docs for collating surveys for staff and students, also using Google docs for getting students to complete and submit homework. 2012 is the start of a new year. I feel way more comfortable using our school's chosen LMS system KnowledgeNet. Over the past two years my IT knowledge and improved exponentially and I now feel comfortable tackling any kind of task.

PhilippaThis was my first time at U-Learn and I found it really inspiring! Having been weighed down by the implementation of the new Level 1 standards this year, it was extremely refreshing to take a step back

and look at the big picture - what are we actually trying to teach our students, and how can we best give them opportunities to grow in the ways we intend?

Two speakers inspired me hugely and have helped me regain my enthusiasm and energy for teaching. I am looking forward to

planning a little differently for next year, with greater confidence in what I personally have to offer my students and

greater confidence to trial new technologies and ideas. It was also valuable to meet with other teachers from around the country and discuss ideas and issues. I think everyone should experience U-Learn!

Collaboration and preparation for presenting at Learning @ Schools

Tash (Primary teacher)Working with other schools has helped widen my knowledge about different systems, ICT tools, and teaching and learning that happens in other schools. It’s been

great to build relationships with teachers in other schools, that are now becoming learning communities with my students involved. For example, when the Thorndon School Geeks on Feet worked with the Tech Angels from WGC.

Being involved in the Loop, and through networking by having the opportunities to go to

conferences, has introduced me to the VLN. My students benefit from the resources, conversations and ideas that I’m exposed to in the VLN. More directly, my students are starting to learn online through VLN opportunities, and I am also upskilling as I teach Japanese online. A group of students learnt astronomy online. They were really engaged

with the topic, but also engaged through the medium of learning online. They developed knowledge about astronomy, but more

importantly, the competencies they were using through this style of learning, developed greatly. They had to manage themselves, be organised, communicate well, co-operate with tools and responsibilities and problem solve.

Ben (Secondary teacher)I have found working with Tash and Richard very

rewarding and informative. It has been great to see how other people are using technology and to have a chance to sit down and compare techniques. Having the chance to see their

classes in action has helped me feel like we are all in it together as teachers, rather than being different schools just swapping resources.

It has made me more confident that the direction we are going with ICT and netbooks is the right way to go for our students.