Blake Foundation

 

Following on from Cluster PD on the 28th of Jan this year the Blake Foundation were invited to our school.  This was such a magic opportunity for our students to see technology in action and using it to experience being totally immersed in a new and meaningful learning environment they would have never been able to experience before.

Today students were able to view and learn about what makes a healthy and unhealthy marine environment.

Technology opens the eyes and the hearts of our students so they can experience and learn both in and about environments that are important to us now and in the future.  Sustainable change must come from the heart.

Thinking ahead to the future:  Blake offers an opportunity for teachers to become more immersed in inspiring environmental leadership.

Kids Tryathlon 2021

This year's group of Weetbix Try-athletes was much smaller than previously.  It was magic to continue to offer weekly training sessions at school to help them all to prepare.  We also had a trial run triathlon prior to the day so students felt prepared for the distances they would need to complete on the day, and to experience the jelly legs as students at Ohaeawai School like to call it.

On the 10th of April, we all received the bad news that although the triathlon would continue the swim leg was being swapped out for an additional run (due to the water at Waitangi being unsafe to swim in).  On the 11th of April Nakita (my daughter) and I got up super early to head to Waitangi to set up our school area.

The kids did themselves proud and all completed the course and had such amazing smiles when they returned to our school area with their medals.  They all did us their teachers and parents proud with their manners and their encouragement towards each other and other students from different schools.  

Seeing students grow in areas outside the traditional learning areas is one thing that makes teaching magic, especially in the areas of values, perseverance, and relationships with others.

Teaching and learning goes beyond what is seen to that which is unseen.  It is not just about what students can read, write and calculate, but also about how they view success, themselves, and the world around them.

 

Weclome to Class on Air

Yesterday a package arrived at school.  Receiving this package was both very exciting as well as extremely scary as it makes this year's professional journey seem even more real.  

Late last year I applied and was successful in being offered the opportunity to be a Manaiakalani Class on Air teacher for 2021.  I am looking forward to sharing what learning looks like in Rural New Zealand schools and within our Kaikohekohe cluster.

As we did not have 1:1 devices in Team Maunga to make Class on Air happen it also meant that I had to change year groups and move to a 1:1 Chromebook learning space.  So this year's professional learning journey is massive, but also very motivating.

These are some areas I will be growing in:

Class on Air - Recording and critiquing practice

New collaborative teaching buddy

New Teaching Level

Using 1:1 devices

Students using blogs to share their learning.

Like my principal has said these are all areas I have strengths and passions in already so this is not a daunting thing but more a natural progression and bringing all these points together to maximize growth in both myself as well as my students.

Change is a catalyst for growth, and if we always do what we have always done, we will always get what we have always got.