Corstorphine School Learning Journey

8/14/2019 Corstorphine School Learning Journey

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Corstorphine School

2007-2009

Our Learning Journey



Our Journey

The ICT PD has made

definite changes to theway we plan and teach,

even though the way hasbeen quite rocky!



New Curriculum

At the start we were not using the revisedcurriculum for any of our teaching. Through PD wehave explored the front end of the document.

We have explored our own valuesLooked at what the principles look like in action,started to develop the key competencies and whatthey mean for us and how the inquiry approach fits

with it.Our next step is to plan from the essencestatements and then find achievement objectivesthat meet our needs.



Inquiry

At the start of our journey we were planning and teaching topics inthe old style of 3 weeks for this and 3 weeks for that usingachievement objectives as the main driver.

In the first year of the contract we were introduced to the inquiryapproach, and explored implementing it in the classroom.

Kath Murdoch’s workshop in year 2 helped to clarify our ideas and

approach we were taking. We use her model.We have tried to make the learning as authentic and relevant aspossible by using events that are happening in the local and wider community as the basis for an inquiry unit. Our latest one was“What does the Marae mean to me?”

We now look at the big question and decide the inquiry skills thechildren will need and then incorporate them into our planning.

We want to develop our own inquiry model and to look for ways tokeep the learning authentic.





Thinking/Learning

At the start of the project only some of the teachers wereusing thinking tools, mainly De Bono's 6 Hats.

As the project went on we began to broaden our knowledgeof other thinking tools, such as Thinker’s Keys, Bloom’s

Taxonomy and ways to use them. We looked at how toincorporate them into the planning of inquiry topics.

We want to continue to develop a thinking toolbox for students. The toolbox would contain graduated tools to useat different year levels.

We would like students to develop to the stage where they

can decide for themselves which thinking tool is mostappropriate for a given use.



ICT

We have expanded the teachers repertoire of ICT skillsthroughout the project.

We have introduced a school management system(Schoolmaster).

We have developed a school wikispace as our main schoolwebsite.

We have used computers as well as digital camera andvideo.

We have used video as a reflective tool for children duringour Marae visit this year and school camp.

Students have had experience with a variety of softwarethrough kidz@conference and the cluster IT day for kids.

We continue to explore and build ICT skills for both teachersand students at Corstorphine School!





Where to next?

There have been a number of challenges facingour small school in terms of professionaldevelopment.

Staff changes being one of them.The challenge for the future is to embed our practice so that staff changes do not impact onhow we do things or result in a loss of expertise

that we cannot replace.We need to make use of the cluster to help usalong the way, collaborating with others to help usachieve our vision for our school

Documents

Corstorphine School Learning Journey