The Microsoft® Partners in Learning Innovative Educator Awards

Entry Form

The Microsoft® Partners in Learning Innovative Educator Awards competition is open to all public and private schools across New Zealand. The competition is about recognising great teaching using ICT in the classroom. This is not an award based on how much Microsoft technology you, or the colleague you are nominating, have used; it is about the way that you have used even the simplest technology to motivate and encourage learning with your students.

Your entry must contain evidence of an innovative, ICT-based project in your school that you, or the colleague you are nominating, have worked on over an extended period of time. We understand that you may have used multiple technologies as part of your project, however given that this is a Microsoft award, the materials you provide as evidence should illustrate how you have transformed teaching and learning in your classroom using primarily Microsoft technologies.

How to Enter

1. Finalists and winner(s) must be available to travel on the dates specified by Microsoft, be willing to summarise your project in the form of a poster and in person to a number of judges, and to share your work with other education leaders from around your region in order to be considered for a prize.

2. Please also read through the Judging Rubric and the Terms & Conditions associated with the Awards – available on the same Web page.

3. Complete this entry form (see below). If you are nominating someone else you must complete the fields set out below and include both your details and your nominee’s details. The nominee will be required to complete any fields left uncompleted and must agree to be bound by the Terms & Conditions.

4. Submit your entry form and accompanying evidence where you see the “Submit” button on the web site. Your evidence needs to be at least ONE of the following:

An example of student work that was an outcome of the integration of your project and the chosen technology into a lesson.

An example of how technology has helped you manage daily administrative or classroom management tasks.

One of your lesson plans showing the innovative integration of technology.

5. Please provide your supporting evidence in any of the following accepted file formats:JPEG image (.jpg), Microsoft Excel file (.xls/.xlsx), Microsoft PowerPoint file (.ppt/.pptx), Microsoft Project file (.mpp), Microsoft Word Document (.doc/.docx), Adobe PDF (.pdf), Text file (.txt) and Windows Media File (limit of 4MB on these files) (.wmv/.wma).

6. Please attach your entry form and supporting evidence as one submission in the form of a .zip file. This should not exceed 10MB in size. The larger the file, the slower the upload process will be. Do not close your browser until you receive a confirmation prompt that the submission is successful.

7. If your entry is too large to submit online, then please post us your entry on a USB Flash Drive, CD or DVD, and mail to:

Microsoft Partners in Learning – Innovative Educator AwardsMicrosoft New ZealandPO Box 27345Wellington

Please note that the competition closes at 12:00 midnight on Friday 28th October 2011. Any entries received after this time will not be accepted.

Partners in Learning

For more information on the Partners in Learning initiative (encompassing Partners in Learning Schools, Partners in Learning Teachers and IT Academy programs) please visit - www.partnersinlearningnetwork.com

Please complete all the fields below:

Teacher’s Details

Sector: Public / Private Public Town / City: Christchurch/CanterburyFirst name: TimLast name: MorganEmail: Tim.morgan@ihug.co.nzPosition: Deputy PrincipalSchool Name: Bishopdale PrimarySchool Address: 465 Greers RoadPhone: Please include mobile number if you have one 03 3426 436 or 027 2743674Nominator’s full name (if required):

Nominator’s email address (if required):

Nominator’s phone number (if required):

Please fill out your project description below:

Entry Title: Teaching Innovation in an Innovative Way

Entry Description: Students were required to manage their own learning requirements including when, where and how they would access the required information to complete the task.Students learnt about significant innovations throughout history such as “plastic, the lightbulb and clothing fasteners like Velcro”Students submitted work on line and received feedback from teachers through the messaging tool.Please see the page attached or visit http://innovationpil.wikispaces.com/

Teaching Focus: (e.g. social studies, general, primary, etc)

Social Science and use of LMS folio tasks

Ages Taught: Yr 3-6Duration of Project:

(When/where/how was it run)4 weeks - based at school.Students selected 3 out of 4 workshops to attend. Using these workshops they then completed 3 out 4 folio tasks set online using the Learning Management System and submitting them to the teacher who created the task.In this way teachers learnt how to use the LMS while student learnt how work with folio tasks.

We will be asking the winner(s) to present at nominated events and conferences as a Microsoft Innovative Educator. Funding for teacher release time will be provided by Microsoft if required – in entering this award do you agree to share your project and learnings with others in public forums and conferences?

Do you give Microsoft permission to promote your work on the Microsoft education Web site, as well as use your work and testimonials from you as part of any marketing or media promotions around the Partners in Learning initiative for Innovative Teachers?

Yes

Please answer ALL questions listed below

(Please use no more than 150 words to respond to each of the following questions. Provide specific examples of your project to support your answers. If you wish to provide additional information, please attach an additional word document along with your supporting evidence.)

Question 1: What makes your project and the learning it provides your students innovative?

The use of folio tasks allowed students to decide which room they would go to, on which day and for which task purpose. In doing so students had to consider which teacher, type of lesson and content, which peers and which task best suited their interests and learning style.

This was the first time where the Key Competencies where driving the way we taught and why and how students engaged in learning. The students so completed a self evaluation task based on the key competency rubrics from our school curriculum to determine the next step for them in becoming self regulated learners.

Under my leadership, this method of collaborative teaching and planning forced our teachers to confront the realities of working in a school with a clear vision for it’s use of a Learning Management System (Ultranet).

Question 2: How has the use of technology in this project significantly enhanced your classroom practice?

Question 3: Relate your most powerful story where your use of technology in the classroom has yielded a significant outcome with a student or students.

Question 4: How has the use of technology in your professional life changed and enhanced the way your work with your colleagues?

The most recent significant success I have had using ICT in the classroom have been a result of created a virtual classroom module to guide students through an inquiry process. This has allowed students with low reading and writing ability to engage in meaningful tasks that effect their world.

Please visit www.run2burn.blogspot.com to see an example of this work.

Under my leadership, we have committed to having all of our students use ePortfolios and to changing the way we report and collate data. Our teachers (including myself) are know planning collaboratively using g.docs and store all planning on personal uSpaces provided by Ultranet.

We have also moved to a school wide student centred approach to sharing and celebrating success through the use of media galleries, news centres, blogs and surveys. This has required our classrooms to open their doors to students from across the school.

I am also now a member of online professional communities through www.vln.school.nz . I am excited about the prospects this collaboration might hold.

Since beginning this project I have developed a regular self reflective practice using key competencies and folio tasks.

This project has also been the catalyst for our school to explore reporting to parents as work is added to portfolios rather than in a summative way at a set date.

The school has since introduced a school wide electives programme allowing them to make choices about what hey learnt and with whom. These electives are offered across all age groups and are held together by a strong student awareness of their goals in relation to the key competencies.