Tag learning

The Choice Classroom

Choice. Urban slang; originally spoken in New Zealand, is used as a pun at the way New Zealanders speak. Used as description of something you think is good. Synonyms: radical, wicked, awesome, brilliant, best-thing-ever. It describes a classroom that I…

Assessment Assessment Assessment

In the current education climate, teachers are finding themselves with the responsibility of making OTJ’s (Overall Teacher Judgements) to report to parents about their child’s academic achievements, but the requirement to have evidence for these judgements. These are rarely school…

Te Reo Māori for Teachers

Over the years I have been wanting to learn Te Reo Māori. It is a beautiful sounding language and is an important asset to any New Zealander in understanding Māori culture. It is of particular importance to every New Zealand teacher,…

Educated Statistics

Those that know me, know I hate Maths, but love Statistics. Maybe it’s the graphs and the figures; but mostly it’s the story they tell without having to say anything. Interpreting the statistics isn’t rocket science, and generally they can…

L.I.Y. – Focusing Students

“We want W.A.L.T that is less Disney”. A brilliant quote from Lester Flockton. In my classroom, I have developed a new way of presenting the “WALT”. W.A.L.T stands for “We Are Learning To” which is how the Learning Intention (or…

Where are the kids learning?

I was told not so long ago, that kids only spend 13% of their time at school. It was in relation to say that kids actually don’t do a lot of their learning at school. Kids will learn through all…