Surfing the Literacy Wave - NZLA Conference

In the September school holidays I was lucky enough to attend the 2014 NZLA Conference in Tauranga. I would like to thank NZLA and TTLA for providing me with such a valuable professional development opportunity. It was a very worthwhile experience and I went away buzzing with ideas on how I could further improve my classroom literacy practice. It also enabled me to gain an insight as to how the national literacy conferences are organised and run. As a result I have a better understanding of how I can contribute to organising the 2016 NZLA Conference, in Northland.

Two keynote speakers that stuck out for me were Dr Mere Berryman and Rob Southam. Merry Berryman spoke about enjoying education success as Maori: a home school approach to learning and literacy. Mere reminded us that no matter what background a child comes from, every child arrives at school with skills. We need to consider how we value these skills, rather than saying that a child comes to school with ‘nothing’ or very few experiences. Having heard similar comments time and time again, as well as previously teaching children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds made her words really hit home for me. Another gem of Mere’s was when she shared about providing students with responsive feedback, where you initially only respond to the message in their story instead of any punctuation and spelling errors. The importance of positive teacher-student and home-school relationships were also a focal point of her keynote.

Rob was a fantastic keynote speaker and even more exceptional considering she was asked to present on the morning of the conference, due to Stephen Graham been unwell. The content she shared was light, but inspiring. She spoke about the latest trends in children’s publishing, shared a smorgasbord of books to hook young readers in and touched on the importance of correctly teaching reading strategies. The fact that Minecraft has motivated so many of our reluctant readers to read more, especially boys, was also mentioned. This is something I’ve personally noticed in my own class too. 

My purpose for attending this year’s NZLA Conference was to gain a better insight as to how I could further improve my writing programme in my year 4 classroom, as well as to take away ideas around improving student engagement with my reluctant readers and writers. I felt that the ideas needed to be fresh, practical and have some evidence to support their success in the classroom. Louise Sherrington’s workshop around building reading stamina during independent reading sparked a few ideas for me and really got me thinking about how I can support my struggling readers to build their stamina. Louise is a literacy coach in the Gold Coast, as well as a friend of Sheena Cameron’s. She shared how reading stamina wasn’t only important in the classroom, but that she also believed kids are failing tests because of a lack of reading stamina. Louise talked about how we shouldn’t expect that all children can simply sit down and read for thirty minutes. She compared it to how you wouldn’t expect an adult to run a marathon, if they struggled to run for ten minutes. It takes time, effort and practise. Louise shared a variety of practical strategies to improve children’s reading stamina. Some of which I am looking forward to trialling in my own class.

Gay Gilbert’s workshop was the presentation that I personally got the most out of during the conference. Her topic was called Picture the Writing. Gay enthusiastically shared her experiences of running an integrated visual art and literacy programme – something she did for years. Immediately I thought of my target group of writers, all students who love art. Something that I know I am guilty of not making enough time for in the classroom.

Gay gave examples of ‘hook ins’ she had used over the years e.g. taking a live chicken into school, putting jam on the concrete and watching the ants come out of the cracks to eat the jam, observing a praying mantis or a group of snails, swinging on the swings while closing your eyes, taking kids out in the rain with raincoats on. Straight away I noticed that all of her ‘hook in’ activities were hands on and authentic; that also enabled all students to have a shared experience. During, or straight after the activity children would sketch pictures. Criteria was co-constructed and set for the sketches, as well as the major art piece. Different media was used for different art projects. Close up photographs were also taken and put on display for further reference. For example when the chicken was taken into the class close up photos were taken of its different body parts e.g. feet, beak, wing and feathers.

In Gay’s classroom reading, writing and visual art all dovetailed together. Narrative and personal writing runs through their school like a heartbeat. ‘We can’t give children rich lives, but we can give them the lens to appreciate the richness that is already there” by Lucy Carkins. Other genre such as explanation is only taught when it’s relevant. She was very passionate about not forcing genre and teaching it where it didn’t fit. Gay often told her children not to over egg the pudding, referring to too many over the top, fluffy language features. She will also scribe for children for five minutes, when needed. Gay doesn’t only do it for the lower learners, but for the top end learners too. She’s found this to be a very successful strategy to get boys moving with their writing.

There are so many inspiring ideas to take away from the 2014 NZLA Conference, but to start with I will be focusing on introducing the following things:

• Using strategies to support my target readers in building reading stamina.
• Integrating visual art into my writing programme.
• Making a genuine effort to spark excitement in writing by using hook in activities that are authentic, vivid and sensory experiences.
• Being a scribe for children when needed, for a maximum of five minutes.
• Reading more children’s books, myself. This will enable me to not only listen to the children buzz about their books, but to contribute as well.
• Tracking down a copy of ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’, by Drew Daywalt and reading it to my class. 

An example shared by Gay Gilbert, during her workshop - Picture the Writing

Independent Learning Plans 2014

Over the past four weeks I've been using independent learning plans with my year 4 class. I've decided to call them independent learning plans, rather than personalised learning plans because I don't believe quality personalised learning is happening... yet! 

I came back after the Edchatnz Conference buzzing with ideas, but decided independent learning plans have huge potential (even in a single cell class) so have decided to focus on those for now. The first thing we did as a class was have a discussion in our campfire space. We talked about what independent learners do, how the independent learning plans could work in our class, what learning spaces we could choose to learn in (based around caves, campfires, watering holes and sandpit spaces), what activities we do are whole class activities, group activities and independent activities. Children came up and scribbled their ideas onto the whiteboard. 

It wasn't long before the whiteboard was covered in ideas. I loved their initial ideas around what independent learners do: 

* They would know if they needed to sit in a cave space or a watering hole. 

* They are responsible.

* They stay on task. 

* They are organised. 

* They have good time management skills. 

* They be the best that they can be. 

Hopefully their ideas will grow and develop as the year continues. 

One idea that Hobsonville Point Primary School (HPPS) teachers shared that I really liked was having a learning wall. Our class learning wall includes examples of our weekly menu (timetable) and smorgasbord (check list of must do and can do activities), our Adventure Island map for Adventure Learning (based on Google 20% Time), examples of student reflections, step-by-step instructions that the children have put together to share how they plan their day, as well as photos of different learning spaces e.g. caves, campfires and watering holes. The posters also include photo examples of where you can find these learning spaces in our room and what each space is used for. 

Sitting on the table is a plastic container that the children keep their planning/reflection books in. Each week they stick their new menu and smorgasbord into the front of their book. The back of the book is used for daily reflections and their independent activity log. The independent activity log is where they record what they did for their Daily 5 activities e.g. if it was buddy reading they will record who they buddy read with and the book. The activity log is also used for recording what they've used the iPads for e.g. I used Educreations on iPad 20 to show a maths strategy. It ensures they're being accountable and at a quick glance I can see what they've been using that time for, without there having to be a lot of writing in a book. 

Below is an example of what a weekly menu in our class may look like. However; each children's menu will look different. Each menu is made up of whole class activities, group workshops, independent activities and opt in workshops. Opt in workshops is an area I would like to further involve, but for now includes things like the Kidsedchatnz chats on Thursdays and the Traveling Rhino Project. I want to start creating more opt in workshops around maths and literacy as well. This is where it would be great to have another teacher to work alongside. The day is broken into fifteen minute slots in the morning blocks. We trialed half hour slots, but have found the fifteen minute slots work better for us. This doesn't mean that the children have to change their activity every fifteen minutes, but has removed some of the barriers we had as a class with being able to read the time. This is another area we are working on together. 

These two photos below are of children planning their learning before school, by choice!! We use a class Google site so that everything is easily accessible for the children. The Google site is projected onto the whiteboard in the morning, but there are also QR codes around the class. The children are allowed to get the iPads out before school to scan the QR code and start planning before the bell goes. Room 8 know they have to book in their group workshops first and then can choose from their independent activity 'must do' list. Any class workshops are already blocked in.  After that they book any devices they made need during the day e.g. an iPad or laptop. This is all done on our Google site. 

The first half hour of the day is allocated for planning and class notices. Early finishers help someone else who may need a bit of extra support to get completed in time. After planning their learning for a few more weeks I think I will be able to reduce the time needed to plan. We plan day by day for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons is because it's more manageable for my year 4 children. The other is because I only fully plan for the first couple of the days in the week and have the rest skeleton planned. My groupings are quite fluid and so things can easily change. 

Most children write their reflections in their book, but a couple of children also use Audio Boo to record themselves instead. 

The first two reflections are children who have read them straight from their written reflections. Josiah prefers to record himself each day. This prevents the writing being a barrier and enables the focus to stay on reflecting on his learning. 

listen to ‘William's Reflection’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Amia's Reflection’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Josiah's week 6 reflection’ on Audioboo

Personalised Learning #Edchatnz Conference - Part 2

When it came down to choosing what to do in session 2 I was really torn. I had missed the first tour of Hobsonville Point Primary because I was presenting the @Kidsedchatnz workshop with Reid. I would have loved to have gone over to see the school and kids in action, but in the end decided to opt for Amy and Erin's workshop on personalised learning. I loved how they had also brought some of the kids over to share their personal experiences too. 

Here is one of the first images that was shared. I couldn't agree more! I've played around with personalised learning and independent learning plans over the last 18 months, but dropped the independent learning plans when I moved to my new school. Mostly because being in a new school was a big learning curve over the first two terms, but also the school I'm in is what I would class as being a very traditional school. After the #Edchatnz Conference I've decided that it's actually okay to be the lone nut and so am going to give things in my single cell class a bit of a shake up. Yes, I'm a lone nut and try to hack the education system. Why? Because I strongly believe it will benefit my students and support them with becoming independent learners who are able to think both creatively and critically about their learning. Don't get me wrong; I always ensure that I meet school requirements, but am always looking for innovative ways to improve the teaching and learning within my class. 

We were reminded that we are teaching kids, not subjects. I still believe that there are still so many teachers out there that are stuck in the habit of teaching subjects, while failing to ask themselves whether the learning is really meeting the needs of the individual learners? Is the learning personalised? One boy shared how at his old school he always felt bored and wanted to go to sleep. Another child spoke about the olden days and the teacher planning the whole day and everyone doing the same thing. So many teachers are still doing this! 

 At Hobsonville Point Primary learning is personalised by the students. For learning to be personalised it has to be coming from the students, not the teacher. The children start the day by completing a timetable. The children are encouraged to start this before school if they wish, but are still given some time after the bell goes to complete it for the day. The timetables look different at different levels. Here are some examples:

 The children's day is made up of group workshops e.g. guided reading groups, writing and maths groups as well as whole class workshops such as PE. Students also have independent activities to complete, including follow up activities - just like in a normal class. The children first block in their workshops, followed by their independent activities and any negotiated projects. The negotiated projects came across very similar to our Adventure Learning projects in Room 8, that are based on Google's 20% Time. 

Students check off what they've completed during the day and the teacher stamps it to ensure that the students have a balanced day. From memory, younger students planned for one day each morning, while older students completed their timetable for the whole week. When I did independent learning plans I found that doing it day by day worked best for my year 4 class, so that will be my starting point again. 

Hobsonville Point Primary School's planning is all visible both on a wall in their learning environment and on their Google Site. The children can access the Google Site to see what's happening during the week. It also assists them with planning their timetables. 

Up the top you will see I've clicked the tab 'Term 3' and then selected Week 3. The timetable clearly shows which workshops are happening at what time, who is running them, who is attending them, resources needed and whether or not there is a follow up activity. Love the detail and how visible the planning is for both students, other teachers and the students' families. 

After attending the TTLA seminar in Whangarei in Term 2 and listening to a presentation on how Point England School uses Google sites I went away and started having a play with creating one. Here's where mine is at, at the moment. After seeing how Hobsonville Point School uses theirs I've come away with some fresh ideas to further develop our class one. Watch this space :) The reason I created my class Google site was to enable the students in my class to access their learning any time and anywhere. 

Here's a photo of the learning wall at Hobsonville Point Primary School. This is one idea that I'm taking away to implement in my classroom straight away. 

A big thank you to Amy and Erin for sparking my excitement around personalised learning again. Looking forward to blogging my students' progress throughout the rest of the year. 

Quote is one I came across online, but image is my own. 

#Edchatnz Conference

Yesterday I spent the day at the first #Edchatnz Conference in Auckland. It was held at Hobsonville Point Secondary School, which made for an excellent opportunity to have a look around another modern learning environment (MLE). I've been lucky enough to visit a few schools with modern learning environments over the past couple of years - Silverton Primary in Melbourne, Amesbury in Wellington, Elim Christian College, Stonefields and Hingaia Peninsula in Auckland. However; Hobsonville Point Secondary School was the first high school I'd visited with a MLE. Saying I was impressed is an understatement. Not only by the innovative learning spaces, but more so by how the teachers are using the spaces for teaching and learning. That's what is truly inspirational. 

A TED Talk about how to start a movement was shared with us in the first keynote. I definitely feel like the lone nut a lot of the time. It was so refreshing being surrounded by people who are on the same wave length as you. It was also awesome to be able to meet so many tweeps I've connected with online, face to face for the first time. 

Reid (@ReidHns1) and I ran a hands-on workshop on @Kidsedchatnz during the first session. While we have collaborated online for some time, we had only met an hour prior to presenting together! We had an awesome bunch of enthusiastic teachers to work with, which always makes it so much more enjoyable. A couple of them had joined in a @Kidsedchatnz chat before too. 

We spoke for roughly 15 minutes about what @Kidsedchatnz is, the purpose and benefits for students. Then got straight into the hands-on part. During this time Stephen (@Palmyteacher) moderated a live chat from Palmerston North. This provided an authentic opportunity for student voice and allowed the teachers to actively participate in a chat. We also helped others sign up, learn how to use lists and tweetdeck. We even managed to hatch a couple of eggs! 

Here are some of the tweets from the classes that participated in the @Kidsedchatnz during the conference. So proud of how far they've all come with their tweeting. 

The more I think about being a lone nut, the more I think there must be a lot of other lone nuts out there in Northland schools. With lots of lone nuts you can make peanut butter. As Scotty, our DP tweeted yesterday it's time to 'crack them open'.

And of course no workshop yesterday would have been complete without a grelfie! 

EducampTT

The staff room was packed with enthusiastic teachers, morning tea and coffee cups were out and the smackdown was ready to start. You wouldn't think it was an early Saturday morning. What I love about Educamp is the opportunity to connect with teachers from different schools, share ideas and be inspired by each other. We even had one teacher (@mrs_hyde) join us via GHO (Google Hangout). Here is my reflection of EducampTT and smidgens I will take back to share with my year 4 class. 

The day begins with a smackdown. Teachers had contributed ideas they wish to share to a Google Presentation prior to the day. On the day they then simply get up and share for a couple of minutes. The aim is to spark conversations and topics for the day. You can view the smackdown here - http://goo.gl/XMoRuW   

Here were some of my smackdown favourites: 

• AnneMarie (@mrs_hyde) shared about a coding group that has been started. the purpose of this being to learn how to code as a teacher so we can ensure we are teaching students the right things and are preparing them for future jobs. I will be joining and having a play! www.tynker.com was also suggested as a great starter application.
• Here you will find the literacy progressions in kid speak - http://goo.gl/NspXMu
• Free eBooks online - http://goo.gl/TA9LY6 An awesome resource for Daily 5, that I plan to use with my kids. Shared by Catriona (@catrionapene).
• Catriona also shared that all NZ School Journals are being published online as of 2014. Here is an example of the Junior Journals - http://goo.gl/zE1nFe
• Meraki is a Mobile Device Manager, which works well with Apple's Volume Purchasing Programme. This is something I am going to look into further. Could it make app purchasing on bulk devices more manageable? Meraki was shared by Justine (@digitallearnin) 
• Interested in QR codes? Here's a smorgasbord of ideas! http://qrcodetestblog.blogspot.co.nz/ I also discovered that there's a group on the VLN. 

Me getting up to share about Adventure Learning, Kids Cafe and Kidsedchatnz.

(Check out @kidscafenz and @kidsedchatnz on Twitter if you haven't already) 

From the smackdown breakouts were created. The hardest part is choosing which ones to go to! However; if you can't make it to one you can always go back to the smackdown later where links have been added. Here is a snapshot of the three breakouts I attended. 


Breakout One 

I ran one of the first breakouts. I spoke about personalised learning Adventure Learning. You can check my Adventure Learning blog out here - www.nzadventurelearning.blogspot.co.nz 


Breakout Two 

I've recently been having a play with Minecraft in my classroom to further explore how it can be used as a learning tool and lift student engagement. Monika (@BeLchick1) and Annemarie ran this breakout (Annemarie by GHO). Because I'm quite new to Minecraft it confirmed some thoughts and ideas I already had e.g. there's no need to spawn monsters on Minecraft and starting with teaching the importance of school values in the Minecraft World. It also gave me lots to chew over! Room 8 and I have done quite a lot of work around positive digital citizenship this year so this blends in well. For me, I'm learning with my students and I'm well aware that they have a lot more knowledge about Minecraft than I do. For this reason, alongside how I value student voice we had a class discussion on Friday. We decided that we needed a Minecraft contract that everyone agreed on. I asked the students what they believed we needed to agree on as a class to ensure that Minecraft is both a fun and safe learning tool. This was very much a student driven conversation. There were great debates had around trap doors, T&T and creepers. I was so proud of how mature they were and how they each valued each others opinions. Blog post to follow on this next week. 

Today's session really firmed up my beliefs that Minecraft has huge potential to create authentic learning opportunities and has a place in our classroom. You simply just need the ability to see Minecraft as a tool to support learning, instead of only a sandpit box game. 

Here are some examples of how it has been used in classrooms, that were shared today at Educamp:

• One class visited the Napier aquarium and then built a virtual tour the aquarium in Minecraft. 
• Another class had read the book 'City of Ember' and then built the underground city. 
• Perfect for teaching Geometry - 3D shapes, rotation, maps, directions, building to scale and creating Algebra patterns.
• Another example was of a child who had built a castle, but inside the castle was a library and in the library were books that he had written himself. 
• Fantastic for follow up reading activities. 
• Inquiry sharing items. 
• Endless examples on YouTube - need to check these out! 

Here's a link to a Minecraft group on the VLN - http://goo.gl/hw4Cjd A Minecraft camp is also taking place on 20th September in Rotorua. More info to follow. 

Breakout Three

The third breakout I attended was an iPad app fest. Here were some of my favourite apps:

       Tell about this 

      Write about this

    Tellagami (thinking for buzz about books, with QR code links)

     Ollie's handwriting

        Penultimate

        Imagistory

So where to next? 

There is so much to take away from Educamp, but I think the best thing to do is to decide on three things max that you're going to further explore. For me those three things will be the use of Minecraft in my classroom, the iPad apps and to join the coding group and begin having a play in my own time. 



A big thank you to Tania and Catriona for helping to organise another awesome Educamp and for St Francis Xavier School for letting us use their school as a venue again. Ben, you were missed but I took one for the team and ate your share of lollies :) 


Next up for PD is Te Tai Tokerau Connect - http://bit.ly/TTT14Whg (26th August at Forum North) and the #Edchatnz Conference next Friday (8th August) in Auckland. Looking forward to meeting up F2F (face to face) with some awesome tweeps (teachers that tweet) and sharing Kidsedchatnz with everyone.

Auckland Road Trip

Teachers buzzing with enthusiasm, exploring modern learning environments, seeing personalised learning and ICT effectively integrated into every day learning experiences, chatting to students about their learning, professional conversations en route to Auckland or caramel, cookie slice for afternoon tea? It's hard to pick only one highlight from our Auckland road trip to Elim Christian College and Hingaia Peninsula School!  

The purpose of our visit was to look at modern learning environments and ICT. It was an early start, leaving Kamo Primary at 6.30 am - still in darkness. I think most of us were at least half awake by the time we reached Wellsford. Our first stop was Elim Christian College, followed by Hingaia Peninsula School. 

Elim Christian College is a relatively new school, with the junior campus opening in 2012. The senior campus is a couple of minutes drive down the road. We couldn't have asked for better hospitality from Shaun. Not only did he take time out of his day to talk to us about his school and show us through their modern learning environments, but he also ended up taking us across to Hingaia Peninsula School when our mini van failed to start. 

The junior campus caters for students from new entrants to year 6. Sliding glass doors separate classrooms, allowing for open spaces as well as having the luxury of being able to close a space off when needed. Blended learning (paper and paperless/ICT) takes place across all MLE (modern learning environments). Children work collaboratively together, sprawled out across the floor, sitting at tables or on ottomans. Some children were using iPad minis, others wrote on paper and some children were actively participating in a group session with the teacher. 

Shaun also spoke about the difference between BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and bring a specific device, in their case an iPad. I thought his discussion on the benefits and the simplicity of sticking to one device had merit. It also links in well with the SAMR Model. As Shaun said, "you can't use new technology the way you used the old technology. The pedagogy needs to change."

After morning tea we popped down to visit their senior campus. The senior campus was a traditional school that has slowly evolved into a more modern learning environment. It's refreshing to see how a traditional school started their journey, as it can often be disheartening seeing modern learning environments when you know you don't have a brand new school to go back to. 

What I've learnt over the past year is that the key isn't the fancy furniture, but the change in pedagogy. Elim Christian College have worked hard to ensure that their staff compliment each other and can collaborate effectively. Learning is personalised by students and I couldn't have agreed with Shaun more when he said, 'if you're a passenger you don't remember the journey as much as the driver.' 

Over the past couple of years I've visited five schools with modern learning environments. Something I've noticed is that each of them has the ability to have smaller spaces within spaces. Whether it's small rooms with glass doors like the photo above or large glass sliding doors between rooms like we saw at the junior campus. Some of the benefits of doing this, that teachers have shared with me include: having a space where children are able to make more noise if needed e.g. when using iMovie or doing music, a place for a quiet space or a room to withdraw a small group to. While we were at the senior campus one of the groups using a smaller space was their target maths group. The group number was kept small and the same teacher worked with that group each day. Another benefit of having more than one teacher to a learning space. Something else I noted was the use of Swiss balls in one of the learning spaces. Great idea and won't break the classroom budget!

At lunch time we moved on to visit Hingaia Peninsula School. Because it was lunch time we didn't observe any students in the learning spaces, but were able to walk through and have a good look at how they had created their MLE. Here are a few snapshots. 

Beautiful courtyard, with painted bird boxes attached to each post. The children also have access to a large grass area. 

Modern stools and benches in an open side room, off the main learning area.

Another open, side room off to the side of a learning hub. 

Whiteboard paint seemed to be a popular choice at both schools we visited. Endless possibilities! 

 Stools that move around (wobble) as you sit on them. Awesome idea for kids (and teachers) who struggle to sit still. I could use one of these! 

The main learning space. The rooms above branch off to the side of this main hub. All open/visible though.

Had to take a quick snapshot of this character. He lives in the school office.

Overall an amazing day out of the classroom, with an enthusiastic and inspirational bunch of teachers from Kamo Primary, Kamo Intermediate and Tania from Core Education. Great professional discussions over lunch at the waterfront and on the way home. 

Here are a couple of gems from our discussions...

Voice QR codes 

Challenge based learning 

So what am I going to take away from this road trip as a teacher who works in a single cell classroom?

* To continue to allow the children to design their own learning environment. I've said it before and I'll say it again - you don't need modern furniture to have a modern learning environment. 

Our current learning environment designed by the children and based around the concept of caves, campfires, watering holes and a sandpit.

* To continue to work towards making learning more personalised. 

* Play around with mixed ability groups. 

* Discuss with syndicate how we can work more collaboratively. 

* Incorporate challenge based learning into strand maths and Adventure Learning.  

* To further explore the use of QR codes within the classroom e.g. voice QR codes, using them for feedback in books, around the classroom, QR code wall with the children's photos and QR codes linking to their label on our class blog. 

* Continue to dream big! 

A big thank you to Ben Soole and Tania Coutts for organising such a worthwhile experience. 

Reaching Out Through Literacy

Yesterday I presented a workshop at a conference (TTLA) for the first time. This is something that I never thought I would do in a million years. I'm a lot better at sharing my ideas via blogging, than presenting. However; I'm always telling my students to take risks with their learning so when I was asked to present I decided it was time to move outside my comfort zone and give it a go. 

Both Marcus Akuhata-Brown and Dorothy & Russell Burt were amazing keynote speakers. If you ever get the opportunity to watch either present make sure you go. Marcus spoke about the glass lids of low expectations as well as sharing his own personal story. It was the second time I had seen Marcus speak, but once again I left the keynote teary eyed. As Marcus shared, we all need to remember Gandhi's words - 'be the change you want to see in the world'.

I presented in the first workshop session, but attended Russell Burt's workshop about organising learning and teaching in a digital environment, in workshop two. I got a lot out of the workshop, as he shared some very practical ideas. He also talked about how learning needs to be visible - for everyone! They use Google sites for most of the organisational aspects in their school. This is something. As Russell said, 'kids want to be able to get their stuff and get it quickly, just like we do'. I plan to further explore Google sites and see how I can best use them within my own classroom.

Dorothy and Russell wrapped up the day by sharing Point England School and Manaiakalani cluster's journey on how they've 'ReTooled' school to make it more engaging, empowering and successful for everyone involved. What they've done from the grassroots up is inspirational. You can view their website here if you're interested in finding out more - http://www.ptengland.school.nz/ 

I feel so privileged to be able to say that I presented at the same conference as these amazing presenters yesterday and to be part of the TTLA committee. So where to next? Two bus trips to visit schools in Auckland (including Point England) later this term, a presentation at the TFT (Teachers for Teachers) AGM, organising Educamp for Tai Tokerau and beginning initial planning for the 2016 NZ Literacy Association Conference that we're hosting in Northland. Lots to think about, but lots to be excited about too. 

Here's a storify of the day put together by +Catriona Pene