NZC+Online+Updates

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 * Christina Ward emails regular updates for NZC Online. I encourage you to subscribe to these, but I'll put the content of the emails up here for a while.**

NZC Online update - June 2011
Each month we bring you an email update with information, links, strategies, and schools stories on New Zealand Curriculum Online, Key Competencies Online and the Secondary Portal.

Jane Nicholls is conducting Masters research into the use of digital stories on NZC Online. Please take the time to visit this brief survey and provide your thoughts.

School stories

We have three different story packages for you this month. The first is from Sylvia Park School in Auckland, the second from Stonefields School also in Auckland, and the third is a curriculum conversation recorded at the Learning@School conference.

Sylvia Park School's inquiry planning team supports all teachers to develop authentic engaging learning for their students:

Our inquiry framework Using language, symbols, and texts to explore art and identity Effective pedagogy for our Māori and Pasifika students Stonefields School opened its doors to students this year. With this new start came the opportunity to try new approaches to curriculum design:

Thinking big: Principles to guide vision and curriculum Learning and teaching in learning hubs Early learning conversations In this curriculum conversation Gay Gilbert and Lynette Townsend discuss how they have used 'the mantle of the expert' as a different approach to inquiry learning:

Mantle of the expert

New resources

Te wiki o te reo Māori The 4th to 10th of July 2011 is Te wiki o te reo Māori. With the help of Tamara Bell, Te Manawa Pou Facilitator, we provide this list of resources.

NZC Update 9 - Effective learning pathways This Update is designed to help secondary schools review their curriculum to ensure that all students experience effective pathways throughout their learning.

NZC Update 10 - Engaging with families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds This Update focuses on partnerships between schools and diverse families and communities. It builds on Update 1 (September 2010), which focused on engaging with whānau and Māori communities.

New in the resource bank

Science education for the 21st Century A strong and forward-looking science education system in the school years is a necessary prerequisite for New Zealand’s future success in an increasingly knowledge-based world.

Interactive Boundary Maps Statistics NZ have created this resource for geography teachers; in particular those teaching Level 6. It contains suggested activities that are to be completed with the use of the interactive boundary tool.

EPortfolios – guidelines for beginners The guidelines provide sufficient understanding to enable consideration of the place of ePortfolios in your school’s ongoing educational strategy.

Using teaching as inquiry to guide to e-learning action plans In this EDtalk, Claire Amos talks about using a 'teaching as inquiry' cycle to inform the eLearning action plans that will be implemented by professional learning groups in each of the school's curriculum areas.

Secondary

Standards alignment update Level 2 draft standards and draft assessment resources for new or significantly changed internal standards, and sample assessment resources for external standards, have now been issued. These are watermarked 'Drafts for school planning purposes' – access the updated materials at NCEA on TKI.

What's happening in the job market? Learn more about the labour market and trends of work in New Zealand, including information on living and working in the regions.

Key Competencies Online

Blogging at Tahunanui School At Tahunanui School, Nelson, blogging is seen as a pathway to the development of the key competencies.

A Wonder Room – every school should have one The Nottingham University Samworth academy houses a space filled with curiosities and puzzles that fuel students' imaginations.

Good Education: How do we prepare kids for jobs we can’t imagine yet? The growing consensus is that we need to shift schools toward fostering creativity and conceptual thinking abilities, and a new project called Imagination: Creating the Future of Education and Work wants to help educators figure out how to do it.

NetSafe: What is digital citizenship? Drawing from the key competencies in the NZC and in consultation with New Zealand teachers, NetSafe has produced this definition of a New Zealand digital citizen.

Middle schooling

EDtalks: How to make inquiry happen in a school In this EDtalk, Lyn Ross draws on her experiences as ICT facilitator for four ICTPD clusters to describe strategies and factors that can help ensure inquiry really does happen in a school. These include the role of school leaders, the need for ongoing support, and tips for teachers.

Asia:NZ Online: Japan Rugby World Cup Encourage students to learn about Japanese culture by following the fortunes of Japan, the only Asian team to qualify for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Use this resource with level 3 and 4 students to enrich their learning about Japan through a teacher directed or guided inquiry.

Restorative justice programme Bream Bay College is a coeducational year 7–13 school in Northland. As a result of school-wide interventions based around restorative practices, the college has gone from achieving below national averages to achieving at levels well above in national examinations.

ePortfolios at Tauranga Intermediate Karen Mills shares how Tauranga Intermediate has gone about the process of moving from paper-based portfolios to the use of ePortfolios.

NZCER 2010 Primary and Intermediate Schools National Survey This survey was conducted in schools (July 2010) in a random sample of 350 schools, and includes the views of principals, teachers, boards of trustees, and parents on a range of issues. This report provides a snapshot of the overall patterns.

Jane Nicholls is conducting Masters research into the use of digital stories on NZC Online. Please take the time to visit this brief survey and provide your thoughts.

**May 2011**
Each month we bring you an email update with information, links, strategies, and schools stories on [|New Zealand Curriculum Online], [|Key Competencies Online] and the [|Secondary Portal].
 * NZC Online update -**

The NZC Online team interviewed educators at Learning@School 2011 in Rotorua about the curriculum based workshops they were presenting at conference. [|Willowbank curriculum map]
 * School stories**

Jane Danielson and Julie Cowan explain how they used a map analogy to guide their curriculum development, because on a map you can go to different places, get to different points, take detours, and take different ways of travelling.

[|NZC Update 8]
 * New resources**

This Update focuses on findings from the recent evaluation of the Network Learning Communities (NLC) initiative. [|Network learning communities case studies]
 * Research reports**

These ten case studies outline how school leaders have made connections and learned together to shape their school curricula. [|Curriculum research reports]

On this page you will find links out to the various research reports that support the New Zealand Curriculum, all in one handy place. [|Rosemary Hipkins - The shape of curriculum change]
 * Keynotes and presentations**

Rosemary Hipkins presented this session at the CORE Breakfast seminar in Dunedin, March 2011, which sketched the overall shape of curriculum change in CIES schools. A PowerPoint, used during the session, and link to the full //Curriculum Implementation Exploratory Studies 2// report is included, as well as a discussion paper covering the key findings from the CIES project – //The Shape of Curriculum Change summary//. //The arts:// [|Ahi Kaa]
 * New in the resource bank**

Ngāti Porou students are showing their talent and ICT skills with ‘Ahi Kaa – Through our Eyes’ – a photography exhibition by Ngāti Porou East Coast.Published 16th May 2011 //Science//: [|Learning science in context]

Continuing an approach used in years 9 and 10, Year 11 students at Mt Maunganui College with the support of teachers decide what they will learn. ‘Tomorrow’s scientists choose what they will study today.’ //Mathematics//: [|I][|nteractive probability and statistical investigation games]

This set of 28 games are categorised into curriculum levels to help identify which games are most appropriate for students. Statistics NZ have had great feedback already from teachers already about how it is great to have an interactive, fun resource for teaching maths.

[|Once Upon a School]
 * Middle schooling**

Once Upon a School is a site designed to collect [|stories] of how individuals engage with their local schools. This is a global project, inviting people to [| share] their own stories of how 'private' individuals connect with 'public' schools. [|EDtalks: Using teaching as inquiry to guide an eLearning action plan]

Claire Amos is Director of eLearning at Epsom Girls' Grammar. Claire talks about how the school is using a 'teaching as inquiry' cycle to inform the eLearning action plans that will be implemented by professional learning groups in each of the school's curriculum areas. [|Youth Mentoring Network - He Ara Tika]

He Ara Tika is a programme that mentors Māori students, and is run by the Youth Mentoring Trust. A Gisborne secondary school has picked up this programme and, instead of using it to focus on Māori students, they have used it to give all students from year 10 upwards a teacher mentor. These mentors become the first port of call for parents, and follow the students right through their schooling. [|Snapshot: NZAIMS Games]

The NZCT AIMS GAMES is a strategic partnership between Sport Bay of Plenty, the four Western Bay Intermediate Schools, and the Tauranga City Council. The sporting championships give year 7 and 8 students a unique opportunity to compete against the best of their age in New Zealand, across fifteen different sports.

[|Snapshot: CamEast TV at Cambridge East School]
 * Key Competencies Online**

Students at Cambridge East School have set up their own successful TV show, CamEast TV. The school embarked on the project as part of their ICTPD contract, and have taken delight in watching their students succeed and grow as they learn. Along the way they discovered it was an ideal context through which to develop the key competencies. [|Discussion tool: Gathering feedback]

Feedback from students is an important means of thinking about how key competencies are developed in teaching and learning. In this discussion tool, three suggestions for gathering feedback are outlined - ratings, postbox sentence starters, and photo prompts. Using these kinds of approaches to gather feedback, teachers will be able to consider students' perceptions of teaching and learning in their programmes. [|Blogging and the key competencies]

In this example, ICT PD facilitator Tessa Gray has collated thoughts from the ICT PD project about the ways in which the key competencies can align with e-learning practices online.

[|New Zealand Curriculum Reading and Writing National Standards wall charts]
 * National Standards**

Classroom wall charts were sent recently to every teacher of students in years 1–8 (distributed to schools 9 May 2011). They summarise //The New Zealand Curriculum// Reading and Writing Standards for Years 1–8 and The Literacy Learning Progressions. [|New //Question and Answer//]

A question regarding the wording in the new reading and writing wall charts is answered.

[|Secondary Education Gazette stories]
 * Secondary**

These articles have a secondary focus and are published in the //New Zealand Education Gazette//. Each link will take you through to the story on the Education Gazette website. [|Secondary Literacy Website]

The new secondary literacy website has been launched on Literacy Online. It provides literacy in the learning area; leading literacy in your school; professional readings; links to Literacy Progressions, NZC, ELLP; NCEA and literacy; and much more. [|Understanding NCEA: A relatively short and very useful guide for secondary school students and their parents]

New from NZCER, this book explains the NCEA system in plain language and includes stories drawn from the real-life experiences of students who have followed different NCEA pathways.