EPD

Just spent the day at the Experienced Principals Development run by Auckland University. What a day!

• Vivianne Robinson on Promoting Educationally Powerful Connections
• Graeme Aitken on Helping Students Make Connections
• Educational Connections for Maori with Russell Bishop
• Simon Denny on The Health and Well-Being of New Zealand's youth

Four excellent presenters with great stuff.

Some ideas for me to consider

From Vivianne first

• Relational trust must come first
• We need to 'train' our parents if we want them to be involved in the learning.
• There is no research that there is any crossover between involvement in one area of school life and increase in student achievement
• Why do parents of older children not want to be involved in learning?

From Graeme

• Evidence does not need to be perfect
• 3-5 aligned experiences 2-3 days apart is important
• We do not need a child-centred learning or curriculum-centred learning we need connectedness between the two

From Russell

• Relationships, relationships, relationships
• Everyone's achievement improves when connectedness but Maori improve quicker.
• Are our resources culturally (and gender) acceptable? Need to check!

From Simon

• Connectedness is important in resiliency. Connected adolescents survive!

A great day for huge additions to my knowledge.

Mentoring

Been thinking a lot about how to get learners to achieve. As well as the knowledge and skills of a subject it is also important that learners know the skills of how to be organised, time management, organising work books, keeping data together etc. Saw an interesting programme in operation in how to keep this at the forefront at Albany Senior High School.

Considering trying this next year for some groups. Am starting to develop how it woll work.

Learning culture

Just read David Warlick's post about developing a learning culture. Great ideas about how to move learning from the back to the front of teacher's thinking. I've printed it off and are going to follow these all the time.

Got a meeting today and will be sharing them there as well.

Salary Claim

The teacher's salary claim seems to be heading down an unnecessary path. Negotiations have been going on for five months now.

Unfortunately the Ministry started off with big demands and big clawbacks. One things teachers do have is good memories. Looks like everyone is going to make big lines in the sand which are going to be difficult to jump over.

Can't see a solution anytime soon.

Sao Paulo

Had an excellent Brazilian meal last night. Washed down with ice cold beer. They have their beer very cold here. Actually the weather is not very warm in Sao Paulo.

Like all big cities traffic is bad but it is particularly crazy here. More agent visits today but need to squeeze in some shopping for my girls.

Churitiba

Meet a very positive response in Churitiba. But more plane filghts. when someone asks what I think of Brazil I can tell them lots about the airports.

Now in Sao Paulo. Very big city. More agents tomorrow.

Florianapolis

Off again today to Curutiba.

Four hour bus ride after a late night. Went to listen to a band on our one Saturday night in Brazil. Good music and great crowd. Funny though no one applauds the music. Just watch and dance. They call it 'Rock and Roll'.

Only four more days. Must admit I am feed up with constantly moving but that is the way things need to be. Florianapolis is a nice place but through the whole of Brazil there is a big disparity of wealth. Often related to the colour of the skin of the person. The darker the skin the poorer the people seem to be. Many people living on the street.

Need to pack again!

Brazil

Travelling in Brazil marketing the school for to Brazilian students. This country is big in so many ways. Travelling from city to city is nearly always a plane ride and takes hours.
13 flights in 13 days!

The airports are big, the cities big, the beaches big and the roads wide. But the bikinis on Copacabana beach in Rio are certainly not big.

People are very positive about New Zealand and being educated there but find the distance and the price to be very significant. The major issue is not about marketing the school but marketing the country.

The people are exceptionally friendly and are always wanting to talk. Surprising small amount of English spoken once you are out of the two or three major cities. But the food is great.

More travel tomorrow to Curitiba then to Sao Paulo before a 21 hour trip back around the world to New Zealand.

Trekking

In Pokhara after 22 days trekking. Amazing experiences. Will write more in a few days as the internet is dreadfully slow here.

Have had a wonderful time and are now planning how to get to India as it is very hot here now as the monsoon approaches.

Kathmandu

Spent the last four days in Kathmandu. Hot and dusty but great fun. It is great spending $2 on a beer and $7 on a good meal.

Things have got run down since I was last here and that is sad but still lots to see and do. Most people I have talked to are very excited by the Maoists taking over as the see the previous leaders as corrupt and doing nothing for the people.

Going by the newspapers and the reaction of the previous leaders the people's views are probably true. There is a sense that things can improve from here.

The place is still wonderfully exciting and interesting and really hits you in the face.

Tomorrow we head off on the trek. Five hours on a bus and then into the mountains. Can't wait.

Next blog will probably be after the trek in 20 or so days. Although it may be possible to write some thoughts in the mountains.

Bangkok

So the first part of the journey begins. Found a free wifi in the motel so can do a blog.

The house may of sold the day before leaving so a huge job packing up the house and getting things organised. Then to a lawyer and off to the airport. Except the plane was leaving an hour earlier than we were given so we were the last people to check on.

Never was able to make all the phone calls we wanted to make from the airport.

Long flight to Bangkok. I hate the last hour of those flights with 'cabin fever' taking over. Nice food and service on Thai Air but all well and good. Easiest customs ever.

Nice cheap hotel near the airport. Very quiet!

And cheap bar and food down the road. $NZ10 for food and beers for two. Warm but not hot and poured with rain last night.

Next posting Kathmandu.

Shave 08

The senior learners at the school have been raising money for Shave 08 which is for child cancer. If they managed to get to $3500 I said I would also get my hair cut.

So over $7000 later on the last day of term it was the big haircut.

I was hugely impressed with the way the learners organised this especially Head Boy Max. A politician in the making.

I feel a little cold around the ears especially with a change of temperature. But two days till I am off to Kathmandu where the temperature is over 30 degrees C.

Nepal

With the end of term racing near my thoughts are moving towards the next few weeks. This term I have a sabbatical for one term.



The first part of this is travel in Nepal and India. So there will be a few posts coming from the Nepal when I can get near some civilization. We are planning to be trekking around the Annapurna circuit. There are interesting environmental developments in this area so this will be good to see.

I have been keeping my eye on what is going on in Nepal. As many people may know there has been a Maoist insurgency there for the last 15 years. A ceasefire last year resulted in elections last week.

Well amazingly the Maoists (or terrorists according to United States) are winning the election and look likely to set up the next government and then write a new constitution. Hard to get news over in New Zealand (nothing ever heard or read) but you can keep up to date here. Even more surprising the election appears fair and not corrupt. The election observers were from the Carter Institute (Jimmy Carter ex-US president).

Is this the first time a Maoist party has ever cooperated in election and then won the election? Who said communism (let alone radical Maoist thought) had no place in this century?

Should be a very interesting time to visit!

Last Weekend

Last weekend drove to Palmerston North for a rushed trip for the opening of an Art exhibition at Te Manawa. The exhibition was a retrospective of the work of John Bevan Ford. John died in 2005 and is the father of my wife. I had known John for only a few years but he had influence on most people he met through his vision and ideas.

It was humbling to see so many pieces of art depicting John's work over many years. With about 70 works on display (a couple from our collection) it is an exhibition well worth seeing. If you are in Palmerston North drop in and see it (is there much else to do in Palmerston North). I think it is also going to tour.

Year 12

I got some interesting feedback from a previous post about 'role modelling' of our older learners. The comments were probably warranted.

But something is different for teenagers around 16 or so. They see their role as individuals in the school as quite different and are developing an understanding of their place in the world. I have always found people of this age wonderfully stimulating with their energy and thought.

With that age group not in our school for four years it is great to see things happening based around their enthusiasm and ideas.

Some interesting posts

Those of you are little older, about my age can identify the changes that have occurred in computer technology. Two interesting posts one looking forward and one looking back.

The history of memory storage gives a visual picture of how computing storage has changed. Way back when I was at university in the late 70s we were the last student to use punch cards. We were also told as it happens (by the university professors) not to do computing because everything had been done. This was pre-PC, the Internet was not even a word, and Google was just a big number. I listened to them, I wonder how my world would be different if I had not.

The second post is about super fast internet being developed at CERN laboratories in Europe. The entire Rolling Stones back catalogue in 2sec. Bring it on.

The "Key Competencies"

It is interesting to see all the providers of educational support in New Zealand now providing courses on the key competencies of the new curriculum.

"Integrating key competencies into Mathematics" or "adapting the social studies curriculum to incorporate the new curriculum"

This is a concern as many of us feared. The key competencies are good practice around teaching and should not be seen as the outcome itself. If they are significant then these providers should have been doing this for years as many schools and teachers have been doing.

Is our new curriculum going to be determined by educational consultants jumping on the bandwagon or by teachers adapting their programmes to meet the needs of learners?

The Brain

Had an interesting email called the Brain Bulletin. This is a free email from Terry Small which gives interesting information on brain development and the importance of this with aging.

The article starts off (somewhat abridged)
As life expectancy continues to rise, people are doing more and more to ensure that their lives, if long, are going to be healthy. The American Heart Association now recommends 30 minutes of moderate exercise fi ve days a week. Not surprisingly, most large companies
offer health club memberships as a perk; many provide gyms on-site. Find yourself on the road, and you’re almost guaranteed to have a fi tness center in your hotel.

MANAGING YOURSELF Cognitive Fitness

Until recently, however, there seemed to be no guidelines for active efforts you could make to stay mentally healthy. here were no brain exercises – no mental push-ups – you could do to stave off the loss of memory and analytic acuity that comes as you grow older. In the worst-case scenario, you could end up with Alzheimer’s disease, for which there are no proven treatments. But concentrated commitment of resources ... yielded a broad front of research and training that has upended some deeply held beliefs about the brain. One such belief is that the brain necessarily diminishes with age. It turns out that neurons, the basic cells that allow information transfer to support the brain’s computing power, do not have to die off as we get older. In fact, a number of regions of the brain important to functions such as motor behavior and memory can actually expand their complement of neurons as we age. This process, called neurogenesis, used to be unthinkable in mainstream neuroscience. What does all this have to do with you? The process of neurogenesis is profoundly affected by the way you live your life."

The best thing is that the article then goes on with ways that everyone can act to improve their brain capacity. It is really good stuff.

The email is free and anyone can (and should) sign up.

What's with Year 12

Our school is a new school (in its fourth year) so it is our first year with seniors. We have Year 12 this year.

But we need to teach them how to behave and act and what that means. They have had no role models to show them what it means

But what a difference in the school with those sensible young adults around looking and acting so smart. Forgot how much I missed them with their attitude, passion and caring.

Creativity

Suggest people look at Bruce Hammonds latest blog post on creativity. He writes about how the important stuff is getting lost in the drive around numeracy and literacy. Every politician and policy maker should read it.

The concern is as we move towards only teaching what can be measured in output and input terms we will only teach those things that maximise that.

Annual reports, strategic plans, AsTTle, variations, ERO. Numbers, numbers, numbers.

What about creativity, insight, thinking, and never mind fun, happiness or laughter.