Gadget Girls

How do we get teenage girls interested in "techie clubs" and not see them as "geeky clubs"?

In the Primary years I have observed that it is cool to be a "tech wizard" or "tech angel" or have a "genius hour", however, something shifts for teenage girls when they enter Secondary School.  Partly I see girls with diaries more chocker than my own and between sport, dance, drama, future problem solving and other various clubs they simply don't have room to squeeze anything else in.  Lunchtimes are precious social times to chat, hang out and to get a bit of chill out time amid the busyness of the school day.

I understand all this but I can't shake this desire to learn with our digital natives and utilise their expertise across the school in terms of providing leadership opportunities in a field where our students are often leaders. I love finding out what technologies the girls enjoy using and believe that, as teachers, we can harness that knowledge to make learning an engaging and authentic experience.

I have had a couple of different roles over the past two years (Library and e-Learning Centre Manager & Digital Learning Facilitator) that have taken me outside of the traditional classroom environment.  Within these roles I have tried to kick start a number of e-Learning initiatives for our girls such as: techie brekkies, tech angels, genius bar...  I was starting to feel a little despondent as nothing seemed to take off... or not really!  As a PE teacher it was always easy to get numbers for Netball or Tennis... As an English teacher - no problem getting a debating team up and running so where was I going wrong?

I started chatting more to the girls in an informal way and tried to really work out what might swing the techie club from being a geek club (the feedback that I received) to something fun, exciting and a bit cool.  So, I targeted Year 9 and launched "Gadget Girls".  I didn't really have any idea how it would work but I put it out there as a girly group to come and play with gadgety things (here is the flyer that I sent out). 

What's happening now...

We have Gadget Girls every Thursday lunchtime and it's rocking!  Here are a couple of game changers, making Gadget Girls a success over the other flops (or as Ewan McIntosh - @ewanmcintosh would say First Attempts In Learning) 

Keep it light, fun and social. If it's in the lunchtime the girls want to chat and eat. Which brings me to my next point...

Bring food - a box of Favourites was hugely appreciated by my girls.

It's important to have a few cool techie tools to get things kick started so that the girls feel that they are going to get something out of the group.  As we're a GAFE school I started with that and introduced them to a few things that they hadn't been exposed to.  They're loving Google+ and we're playing with the idea of a little monthly Gadget Girls episode - using Live Hangouts on Air.

So, the biggest challenge has been overcome (getting the girls there) then it's important chat to them (or rather listen to them) and find out what they like and let them take reins.  Instagram and photo sharing are top of the list for our girls. We have set up our Instagram account and are about to get going with it.  We also plan to do some cool things with photos and Makey Makeys.  I'm not sure how this will work yet but the girls will problem solve and we might need to skype Tim Carr  from Mindkits (@MindKits) to help us along.  

A few other little extras:

Have music playing 

Set yourself up in a nice environment - we are in our beautiful Library and e-Learning Centre.  It's a fabulous space where the girls like to hang out.

Be visible! I had a couple of girls join because the saw us through the glass windows having fun. One of them said "What's this girly group?  It looks fun, I want to join".

I know it sounds funny but make sure the girls like the name.  Gadget Girls was a goodie for our girls.  After a few get togethers I asked if they liked the name and whether they wanted to change it. I got a thumbs up from all - it's a keeper (thanks to  @juliePeterson for that one).

All in all I am letting the girls steer Gadget Girls in the direction that they want.  It's really easy to tell if I have a suggestion that they don't like... largely by the silence!  So we move swiftly along!

Technology failed us this week and we couldn't get Google hangouts working (not to mention I forgot the Favourites).  I was feeling like it was all a bit of a disaster really but  it was a lovely moment when I heard the girls say as we finished up:

 "I love Gadget Girls"

"Yeah I look forward to Thursday lunchtimes"

"It doesn't matter if it doesn't work, it's fun just finding out about all this stuff"

I'm relieved it's not all about the chocolate!

   

Year 6 Exhibition= Amazing Learning!

From Greg Pearce, PYP Co-ordinator and Y5/6 Team Leader, Selwyn House School

So our Selwyn House Year 6 Exhibition is finished for another year. And just as in previous years, I am excited, motivated, a little tired and relieved, but mostly seriously impressed by the skills, attitudes and knowledge displayed by our girls throughout this term-long inquiry.

What is an Exhibition? As a PYP School (Primary Years Programme) of the IB (International Baccalaureate), Selwyn House commits to undertaking an Exhibition in the final year of our girls’ primary school learning journey.

“The exhibition represents a significant event in the life of a PYP school and student, synthesizing the essential elements of the PYP, and sharing them with the whole school community. It is an opportunity for students to exhibit the attributes of the learner profile that have been developing throughout their engagement with the PYP.”

“Students are required to engage in a collaborative, transdisciplinary inquiry process that involves them in identifying, investigating and offering solutions to real-life issues or problems.”

                                                Primary Years Programme Exhibition Guidelines 2007

             

From these guidelines, a couple of things jump out that drive this process, contributing much to its success…

-       collaborative – our girls must work in groups – not matter how much some of them may want to ditch their colleagues and ‘go it alone’ part way through the process! The development of social skills, the ability to collaborate, listen to others, draw ideas together and find consensus within your group – skills that will hopefully remain with the girls long after this process is over.

-       transdisciplinary (you won’t find that word in a dictionary anywhere!) – the Exhibition must encompass different subject areas or disciplines – this year for us ranging from Literacy and Numeracy in all their many forms, to the Arts, Science, Technology and Health.

-       inquiry – identifying, investigating and offering solutions. At Selwyn House we use Kathy Short’s Inquiry Cycle as a means of structuring our inquiries.

The 2014 Exhibition this year linked back to the central idea, “Creating and responding to the Arts develops understanding of ourselves and others.” Our girls built on the concept of “Artists in Residence” and decided that they were aiming for some kind of presentation at the end of the process where the community could come in and watch them working as artists in their chosen field, talk to them about what they had learned, watch some demonstrations and even take part on some art-making themselves.

And so the term began. From some well chosen video clips to get the girls thinking about how people express themselves, to a whiteboard covered in all the different art forms we could find in one afternoon of mad and frantic you tube searching, the girls narrowed their focus, finding other girls whose interests they could connect with. Result - 6 groups with 6 different pathways – photography, interior design, cake decorating, special effects, wearable arts, puppetry – and a September 10^th deadline.

Cue 6 awesome weeks of researching – ‘how do we know whether what someone is saying on the internet is true? – finding different perspectives, locating experts from the local community. The growing realisation from myself and our Library teacher that for most of these girls, this was the first time they had had to call someone on the phone that wasn’t their family. The girls taking responsibility for organising their trips, with parent transport, permission slips and EOTC forms in duplicate! Sorting and categorising the information gathered, looking for similarities and differences, trends and outliers, all the time learning a lot about the skills necessary to function in a group.

Finally, the sharing with our school community. Thinking about how to organise the space, how to get the audience involved and how to cope with the stress of the laminator/sewing machines/hot glue guns breaking down at the eleventh hour! Practise sessions with our speech and drama teacher focusing on communicating our learning effectively, and reflections on what the girls had learned about themselves as learners because of this process..

Some of my favourite quotes:

Never ever in your life put Latex Rubber on your neck, it hurts to pull it off.

I found that I am a better speaker than I thought I was and now I am looking forward to speaking to all the parents and also found that I’m more of a leader than I was at my old school.

I find it hard to work when we are just cruising. I like having a little bit of pressure, but not too much. That keeps me motivated.

I found out that my group skills are quite good and that I am very flexible and that if I have a little bit of pressure I will work to the best I can be.

An epic term – and for me, a reminder of the power of true student led inquiry. Roll on Exhibition 2015!

A Story of Agency, Music, Collaboration and Love

A STORY of AGENCY, MUSIC, COLLABORATION and LOVE.

From Ginnie Thorner, Performing Arts Teacher, St Andrews College

From:  Student

To:      Teacher

Subject:  Random Idea

Question:  May I write a musical for the year 9/10 students for 2014? 

From: Teacher

To: Student

Subject: Random idea

Reply:  Go for it. 

Above is a true story. This was the beginning of a story of agency, of music, of collaboration and of love. It is the story of what happens when students have the space and permission to act on their initiative and create something meaningful in their world. This is the power of agency in education. 

Let me introduce you to Isaac - a talented year 13 student who had an idea to create something meaningful, both to him, and to our performance and school communities. Isaac has a passion for composition and has written a full length book musical, scored and arranged for a fourteen piece orchestra. This is a huge achievement for anyone - let alone someone who is still in high school. This is a story of music that has been written not as an exercise to pass NCEA or an exam, but as a meaningful creative work.

Agency does not mean a student has an idea and then goes it alone. Great ideas from anyone need support to come to fruition. We should not underestimate how hard it is to open your creative projects to hard critique. This is essential to the creative process.

I admire Isaac’s bravery and tenacity for gathering a team together to collaborate with. 

The teacher in the email conversation above is St Andrew’s College HOD Music, Duncan Ferguson. He is an extraordinary teacher who actively supports students in many musical endeavors. Duncan worked with Isaac providing mentoring in composition, arranging and recording. He then arranged other professional connections so that Isaac might develop his music further.

Isaac absorbed all feedback. He held his own creative line when he needed to, but had the maturity and the creative understanding to know when to weave in something new or when to let something go.

Isaac invited me to help out with the story. With my background in devised theatre that honours student voice, I was excited by the project. He gathered a group of students he thought might help and together we used one of my devising processes to create the story and characters to support the music that Isaac was writing. This is a risky business as collaboration means a great deal of negotiating. Creativity requires the power of collaboration. The group of writers met every week for a term and as long as I remembered to feed them, we created for hours! The group approached the critique and decision debates with maturity. Sometimes we abandoned a great idea, sometimes a moment of brilliance would come from our laughter and essentially “playing.” 

The Role of the Teacher in Agency

As teachers, supporting this project meant extra hours - many extra hours. But this is teaching isn’t it? Supporting the success of another person who is creating something meaningful. Because of this - it doesn’t feel like work. It’s in the ‘zone’ or ‘flow’ … but more than that, I think it is the most important reason we teach – to help someone else realise their strengths. This is the love of teaching. The love of learning. The love of collaborating on something important. Something well beyond National Standards, NCEA or passing exams. Creating meaning and beauty in our world is what makes us human. 

For me, spent hours were spent writing up and editing a script, meeting the creative team to design the on-stage aspects of the show. Duncan spent hours editing and printing musical scores, meeting to discuss musical ideas, rehearsing the orchestra and cast and then creating a professional recording. These are the sorts of teacher hours that illustrate a ‘love’ of the work. I’m sure those of you reading this have stories like this – going the extra mile because you believe in the students.

This doesn’t feel like work.

This is creative.

This is a meaningful project.

This is teaching.

What did I learn? 

Regardless of working in devised theatre for *mumble*  twenty-something years I still learned new things from this project.  In fact, I learned and re-learned a lot. Sometimes I had to step back, be quiet (hard for me), or put something on hold, I had to give space to the students but still know when to push them and be a bit more demanding. I didn’t always get that right – but that is the nature of teaching. That is what it means to develop our craft as educators.  

This project reminded me that this is the learning to focus on – the learning that feels like happiness and joy, not hard slog.  As soon as teaching feels like a chore, I think that means the learning I am working in isn’t genuine or passion-based for anyone. I think that agency and collaboration reminds us of the love of teaching. That is the ‘music’ of teaching that inspires me.

Come and see our story of Agency, Music, Collaboration and Love

This musical is a must-see. I am so proud of the students’ achievements that I suggest that if you are in Christchurch you spend 2 hours with us and see this extraordinary work. Tickets can be bought here:  http://goo.gl/yVVgys

3 Reasons to allow your students to plan the Unit of Inquiry

3 Reasons to allow your students to plan the Unit of Inquiry
From Dr Lyn Bird, Principal, Selwyn House 

Teachers spend many hours planning units of inquiry in order to help their students learn new knowledge and to develop new skills and attitudes. Some teachers collaboratively develop the unit before ascertaining student prior knowledge. Some teachers develop a skeleton unit plan and finish the rest of the unit plan informed by student prior knowledge, questions and interests. A few teachers carry out a true form of democratic inquiry and co-construct the unit with their students.

What is your practice? Does your unit planning start from what the students know and build from there? Do your students have a clear and strong voice in planning the activities, visits and action to be taken in the unit? Or do you ‘do’ the inquiry unit as planned with little revision to suit the learners?

Fraser (2000, p.35) comments:

…teachers are in fact planning the units in advance, and consulting with the students only on a few minor details. The core elements, activities and direction of the units, as decided by the teacher, remain unchanged.

1. We know the power of incorporating student voice at all levels of learning.
2. We know gathering prior knowledge is a very important first step.
3. We know student choice is a powerful engagement tool. 

So, prior knowledge step number one is:

1.            Start with what they know.

I have worked with groups of students for many years facilitating the planning of units of inquiry using the same steps and approach as teachers use. Teachers are astonished when they receive the planning and often choose to use the plan with minor modifications. Why? Because the planning is authentic, starts from “what the students know” and engagement is instant.

2.             Students know how they like to learn best.

Students have the capability to design the learning activities and are very aware which skills they need to develop. Senior students have had many years of learning through exposure to many different types of inquiry learning activities and they know best which ones engage and suit the learning need. Planning assessment activities and an understanding of the learning journey leads to self-direction and metacognition.

3.             Students feel empowered when they carry out the planning and engagement is assured.

Students I have worked with feel proud that they have developed the unit and are very excited to begin learning. Incorporating student voice and choice to such a degree encourages student agency and ownership of their learning.

The following link is a unit of inquiry planned entirely by a group of Year 8 girls at Selwyn House.

I am sure they would love you to trial the unit.

Makerspaces- for all those who like making

Makerspaces – for all of those who like making

By Jill Pears, Associate Principal, Years 7 and 8, Linwood College 

 I believe pretty much all children had fun learning when they were little – before the constraints of formal education – when they could make things, things that were dreamed up only in their heads, out of stuff – nobody else’s vision but their own and using bits and pieces that adults readily consigned to the junk heap. It is this mindset that is celebrated as part of the Maker movement, supported by Makerspaces popping up around the world – and in the oddest of places – libraries!! No longer are libraries only spaces for those who like to read quietly in the corner.

Robotics- a stunning addition to the
Makerspace if the budget allows

Makerspaces are an essential part of the Maker movement - a subculture that has sprung up, arguably as a way to balance our increasing digital world. The Maker culture itself combines traditional D.I.Y., an essential part of New Zealand culture, with the added possibilities made available through technological advances such as 3D printing, Robotics, CNC tools and electronic developments such as eTextiles. There is no doubt that hands-on learning, or learning by doing, is essential for children to develop their understandings about how the world around them works as well as for developing their creativity and problem-solving skills.

 Makerspaces have over the past few years begun to spring up in schools and libraries, at first in the United States but now this is spreading across the world and Makerspaces are appearing in New Zealand schools, libraries and communities as spaces where there are a range of tools, equipment and materials available to users so people can, driven by their own interests, create, innovate and collaborate on projects they are passionate about.

 The Maker movement believes in learning by doing or learning by making. Arguably this is even
more important as our world becomes increasingly digital and many children could be living lives devoid of hands on exploration and creation. Yet, the digital world is an essential part of Makerspaces due to the increasing range of possibilities enabled through digital tools CNC routers and 3D printing.

 Within the school environment Makerspaces are places where students are busy, actively engaged in what they are doing, maybe working on more than one project at the same time, or setting their project aside for a while to collaborate with someone else, experimenting, taking things apart and putting them together again and learning through exploring, making and learning.

In the same space, teachers work alongside the students. The authoritarian role that most teachers have already relinquished has no place in a Makerspace. Yet, for many teachers, while they would love the have this type of environment in which to work with their students the beginning of how to set it up seems very daunting.

 The advice I would give to those of us who are likely to see all the pitfalls of a new adventure is to start small. When you consider that the Maker movement and along with it the Makerspace is a state of mind or a philosophy you realise that this can happen in the smallest of spaces and with the smallest of budgets. Remember that the emphasis is on creativity and as such there is no reason why the corner of a classroom, or an alcove in the library cannot be converted into a Makerspace area.

Learning the skills of soldering

While I am fortunate to have a space that is dedicated to being a Makerspace this area is not exactly how I want it yet (and probably never will be considering I would love a space where there is a home for all the different categories of bits and pieces and students all put things away in the correct space) but what is more important than that, is how the space is used and whether or not there is true student ownership of the projects that are being created in the space.

There is no doubt that a Makerspace evolves over time through the shared ownership of all the people who make, tinker and create in there. This, I believe is the benefit of starting small. The space develops, over many iterations, into a space that works for all who inhabit it. Being a school that has been impacted by the school closures and mergers that are prevalent in Christchurch, while there was a dedicated space I quickly began to realise that the actual space was one of the least important factors.

With students coming from a variety of schools, and school closures no doubt having a large impact on their sense of belonging, the process of developing the shared culture that is present in schools that have not been through closures and mergers required a greater focus than the development of the space. Yet, while I am eternally grateful for having the available space, I was strongly reminded that school and education is not about the space it is about the learners (students and teachers) who inhabit it.

 So, once you have your space for the Makerspace, your next question is what do you put in it (aside from the people that is)? Again, I would like to recommend that in the early stages you don’t need a wide range of expensive materials. It is fully acceptable to start with basic materials – cardboard, scissors, pipe cleaners wooden sticks, glue, felt and fabric, wools, duct tape, clay, play doh, ‘junk’ for taking apart or recycling and a range of Lego for building. Also important are some sort of containers for students to keep their inventions in. Developing the ‘tidy’ habits from an early stage will make the life of the teacher so much easier, and students won’t lose or have someone else take apart their precious creations.

 In these early stages it is vital to remember that it is not what the students make, it is the process of how they make it that is important. Ideally students will be (even though they may be unaware of it) using an iterative design process where they keep on refining their inventions until they are happy with them. The role of the teacher in this is to work alongside students modelling this approach and use questioning to ensure a cyclic process rather than a linear one. Develop a culture of experimentation where creativity, tinkering, design thinking, and multiple iterations are celebrated rather than having something that succeeds perfectly the first time round. This does not mean there is not a place for specific teaching in a Makerspace. As the space develops and tools are purchased that need to be used in a specific way direct teaching sessions will be required. In these sessions, students can be taught how to use the tools, and when and why they would choose to use this tool. These lessons are not necessarily a time for creating; rather they are skills sessions to help students develop the skills necessary to enable them to become effective makers and creators. Without having the basic skills to use the available tools students can quickly become frustrated and lose confidence in their own ability to make and create. Being able to use a small range of tools, such as soldering irons, drill, a scroll saw or a sewing machine will greatly broaden the scope of students’ creations. Through TKI/Technology Online there is detailed advice and information about how to manage safety within technology education. This can help support many of the decisions with regard to the tools one should have available to students in a Makerspace.

 Even though the philosophy of a Makerspace is for people to create out of their own imaginations I

Using instructions from howtoons.com to begin
developing ideas for mini marshmallow guns

believe there is also a place for instruction sheets. These can be available to students, but, rather than having to be slavishly followed, can be used both as a way to help students develop confidence in using the materials and as a way to help students begin to adapt and develop their own ideas. Here teachers can play a role in disrupting the following of instructions by encouraging students to explore how they could do things a different way, or how they could alter the final product slightly. A natural disruption for students who like to follow instructions, or who may lack the confidence to believe in their own ideas, is to make sure you don’t have all the materials necessary. Having slightly different materials will force the students to be creative, and use their own ideas to help them invent and create.

 For teachers, as new ideas arise there is always that feeling of pressure of how this can be fitted into an already crowded curriculum. We are fortunate in New Zealand that our curriculum is flexible enough so that Makerspace ideas can be included across the curriculum. Give students hands on opportunities to demonstrate their learning and create things that show their understanding. And, if possible, have the Makerspace area open at lunchtime so it is available to students at non-timetabled times. Create a new lunch-time duty responsibility if necessary so the Makerspace is available to as many students as possible, across a wide range of times. There is nothing like the pride on a student’s face when they have created something out of their own ideas. This is true engagement. I have seen students walk around for days, they might forget their books their pencil case or their lunch, but they will still proudly be carrying something they have made through their own endeavours in the Makerspace.

'Invent to Learn' is regarded by many as the definitive
guide to starting a Makerspace

 And, as a postscript, there is a wide range of resources available to get you started on your very own Makerspace.

Try the Makerspace Playbook as a starter
http://makered.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Makerspace-Playbook-Feb-2013.pdf or explore the many posts about Makerspaces on sites such as Edutopia http://www.edutopia.org or simply google the word Makerspace and you will find a wealth of shared knowledge to help you get started.

Choose to be More at Clarkville

What’s it taken to CHOOSE TO BE MORE at Clarkville?

From Pene Abbie, Principal, Clarkville School

We are a small, semi-rural school on the outskirts of Christchurch, people used to say they wanted to send their children to our place because of this – being small and rural!

It seemed that these two traits immediately determined a culture of great learning.

Those of us on the inside knew it took more than this and we have spent the last seven years “reshaping our learning culture.”

So what does this mean – and why, if our learners are doing pretty well, would we want to do anything differently?

The process of reshaping the learning at Clarkville has required deep scrutiny of all we believe about great learning and all we know about great teaching. It has required us to consider our world and the world of our children and look beyond what we already know and into what we have no clue about.

The result of this thinking and dissecting and inquiring has been to firmly place the learner at the centre of all we do, be and understand.

What we know is it is no longer enough to fill up a child’s day with learning activities or fill up a child’s head with knowledge- school is no longer the bastion of learning so instead, what we must provide is experience based in relationship, authenticity, choice and high expectation.  A day full of richness that causes engagement and motivation and results in achievement!

So what do we believe?

WE ARE PREPARING OUR LEARNERS FOR THE FUTURE

We will be people who know what to do when we don’t know what to do

This means we will provide learning experiences that

•       encourage and inspire creativity

•       demand collaboration and connection

•       enable personal academic success

•       help us to be adaptable self managers

•       challenge our thinking and make us wonder

•       require us to problem solve and take risks

•       promote effective global and digital citizenship

THERE ARE NO LIMITS TO LEARNING POSSIBILITIES

We recognise and seek the learning opportunities in every experience

This means we will experience learning that is

•       anywhere and anytime

•       lead by anyone

•       personalised and authentic

EFFECTIVE LEARNING IS INFLUENCED BY ENVIRONMENT

To meet our needs we develop and use learning spaces in innovative and creative ways.

This means our learning environments

•       promote collaboration, sharing together and working independently

•       allow for flexibility and choice,

•       are defined by all of us

•       exist within and beyond the school boundaries

•       develop a legacy for the future

WE ALL BELONG HERE

Our sense of belonging and ownership comes from having strong learning-centred relationships

This means as a community we will

•       Know you and value what is important to you

•       Build, enhance and restore relationships

•       Communicate effectively and openly

•       Expect to work together successfully (no matter our age, position or ability)

Nice rhetoric you may say but what might that look like? What evidence do we have?

We regularly host visitors interested in our learning culture. Our MINT think tank students act as tour guides for these visitors. The tour begins in our junior team where our five and six year olds start the day ( at whatever time they get to school) with ChILL in the morning. This is a self-regulated, inquiry learning based discovery time. Children make choices, justify these choices, engage in activity supported by teachers, parents or peers and then reflect on what is new or refreshed for them today. They don’t wait for learning to happen! There is no bell, no gathering of groups for explanation and instruction, no waiting for all learners to be present or organised, learning is just happening.

The Tour would then proceed through our other three learning teams where you would see groups

of 40-60 students with 2-4 staff co-teaching across traditional single cell learning spaces. The learning that is happening is deeply embedded in the key competencies, strongly self-regulated and personalised according to individual needs.

Teaching comprises running workshops, which children choose to participate in – if that sounds a bit free range what needs to be understood is the depth of expectation on the learner to be accountable for their progress and achievement.

You will see children managing their learning virtually and in real time. You will see learners moving, collaborating, and choosing a space that best suits their learning needs.

At times you will see vertical groupings, teachers teaching all learners across the school, whole school inquiry contexts and shared rich language learning experiences within and beyond the confines of the school.

You will not see Modern Learning Environments- although two team spaces have now been renovated to allow flexibility and collaboration. But you will see contemporary teaching and learning practice.

But  most importantly is what you will hear – particularly from our learners. The following quotes have been taken from feedback and reflections given by visitors at our place in the last 12 months.

“Student voice is powerful at Clarkville. Students are involved in the planning process, as part of a team made up of students from years 4-8. They will even attend BOT meetings as necessary. Younger students often get to contribute their ideas as well”

“Students are very aware of their achievement. They have learning pathway folders that contain their goal sheets and reflections, peer feedback, learning maps and learning stories. A Year 8 student explained to me that he knew how to read his Asttle data in order to know his next learning steps in Maths. Students opt into workshop style learning as necessary. Teachers are not necessarily teaching groups of students, they are teaching based on the student's next learning steps” ( MLE PLG Blog post)

“The children were our tour guides as we moved through the “Discover”, “Explore” and “Aspire” groupings, where the involvement and ownership of the self-directed, guided inquiry program was truly stunning. Without exception the children I spoke with clearly expressed what they were doing and learning, and where it connected with the whole plan for the day, week or even the year.  How the children could readily talk about their learning with enthusiasm, wonder and a strong sense of purpose was the most impressive aspect of the whole experience. They loved talking about what they were learning! It was more than just the normal question answer thing, it was an interesting conversation.” ( Masters students – Transforming Education in Christchurch Masters paper University of Canterbury)

“These articulate confident, patient students answer our questions, show us their work, discuss their learning goals and keep us to time. Impressive young leaders! We glean information about their current Inquiry, the positives of modern learning for them and their views on book storage, BYOD and beanbags!” ( Hereora Cluster Newsletter)

We are passionate about how we work at Clarkville, we love the engagement and motivation the learning experiences engender in our young people. We are aspirational and focused on “CHOOSING TO BE MORE” BUT we are not “the way”; we are “our way” and although we are described as an MLE using MLP there are two things that are very apparent.

-        This has been a six year cultural transformation not an overnight airplane flight to a new destination or new building.

-        and the more I hear about MLE and MLP the more I think this is really about great teaching, great learning experiences , strong learning based relationships and recognising and valuing the influences our learners have beyond the world of school. We have a responsibility to be engaging, authentic, connected and inspiring and that is a much more complex job than it was last century. If you make the investment – its worth it.