GizzyBytes 2.0

An opportunity to connect

This event was inspired by a conversation with a teacher who found that sometime the best take-aways from PL opportunities is the connections made and ideas discussed with other attendees. So with that purpose in mind... this adventure set off with an open agenda of creating an opportunity to connect educators and enable opportunities to collaborate with local educators. Simple idea with an effective outcome.

Feedback from teachers and people who attended was very positive and those who were able to make it there utilised the opportunity to connect with others, ask questions, challenge assumptions and to create further opportunities to get together with each other. We have lots of educators who are interested in connecting with each other in Tairāwhiti!

Making connections across schools 

There were many teachers from schools across our cluster wanting to connect. Below is the table showing those who signed up and endeavoured to make it to the experience.

Coffee, food and an epic venue

Gisborne Boys High Catering teacher, Josef Reiter and his helper William, a student at Boys High served great coffee and hot chocolate as well as putting on a fabulous spread for teachers. A wonderful effort as the boys who created the spread back at school needed to be convinced to make the food that they would not be around to eat!

Teachers won and got to enjoy the food. Great for busy teachers who haven't managed lunch. The Waikanae SLS club was a wonderful venue, even on a cloudy day. Please contact Clara if you are looking for an awesome space that includes wifi, catering facilities and an epic view! Contact the club now :)

Thanks to Connext Trust for sponsoring the food and venue.

Google Innovators

Newly minted Google Innovators shared their pitches of the projects they are working on. Two passionate local teachers, Rachel Duckworth and Amie Williams showed us what they are planning to support our Tairāwhiti learners and beyond.

 

Middle of the Outreach Programme

We have reached the middle of The Manaiakalani Outreach Programme (TMOP) in that we are a year and a half in.

One of our 'pockets of promise', something that is working well so far...

Learners are blogging 

Sharing learning for an authentic audience is one of our goals.

Learners are sharing learning via the blogs. Not necessarily their best but the everyday; learning that shows progress over time. The learning might be small steps or large. The blog allows that anyone can view and comment on the learning.

Blogs are the way learners practice being cybersmart. Cybermart is about knowing how to behave online and what to expect. The blogs are owned by the school and the class teacher has oversight of them.






Our aim is that whānau and others will engage with the learning and help learners to take the next step. This is something we continue to work on.

Twitter Feed

https://twitter.com/Learnerslcs

Our twitter feed shows what learners are sharing on their blogs. 

Collecting these blog posts together via the twitter feed allows the facilitators, school leaders and teachers to use the blog posts as examples of what is working well, enables us to see who is posting regularly and who is creating quality blog posts in real time.

 The twitter feed also allows other learners to see what is happening across the cluster and gives a window onto what is happening in other classes at the same level. Learners always find this fascinating and they often find someone they know at another school. Connections are made and learning is happening as they critique others writing or maths. 

 Learners are empowered to have a voice and to do the best they can as others are looking.

Our next steps are to focus on quality blog commenting with a 'Positive, Thoughtful, and Helpful' lens.