ICT West Coast

Hokitika Visits

Yesterday I visited Kaniere, St Mary’s and Hokitika Primary Schools and Hokitika Kindergarten.

It was very exciting. There are some wonderful things happening, which is so great to see. I feel very privileged that I am apart of this new and exciting adventure we are on. I have asked some of the lead teachers in the schools to share what they have been doing both in the classrooms and for themselves in their ICT training.

I have not been in the primary sector working for just over two years now and I feel humbled by the shift in the commitment I have seen so far in the use of ICT to truly support 21st Century learners, who are in our classrooms today.

At the visits we discussed their strategic plans, and I emphasised to them, and to everyone reading this, that it is important that you look from the bottom up and do not set yourselves up to fail. We need everyone on board to move the school forward.

I have been reading some interesting material, which has been recommended by the Ministry. This material for some of us may be a bit scary, in that we must be seen to be providing access and opportunities to our ’21st Century Learners’ to ensure we are truly catering to their specific needs for today.

I would like you to consider, personally, what your true belief/pedagogy is where the role of ICT plays in your classroom? I would also like you to contemplate, that if you were held accountable in your performance for ensuring you were providing these essential skills and opportunities for your students, what would that mean to you personally and your pedagogy?

Consider what the barriers are, if any are to this; your belief in its place in Teaching and Learning, your own skills, access and time for development or the hardware is frustrating and lets you down?

Have a read, I would love some comments on this one document I have added below.

I know we have achieved a lot of what is mentioned in here already and are well on our way to enhancing the other indicators of a pedagogy that envelops ICT.

ICT Pedagogy Strategy

Tags: pedagogy strategy, Visits

06.Mar.08 Visits Comments (0)

Provisionally Registered Teachers

As you will know from my email that I am trying to get an indication of how many provisionally registered teachers there are in the Primary Sector on the West Coast.

Vicki has organised for the adviser to hold VC sessions in the WestNet schools for secondary provisionally registered teachers and Steve is keen to see if it could work for Primary here on the Coast.

So once again it is up to you guys to support this if you want it to happen, so please email me with the names of your new teachers and I will pass the information on.

Bernie

Tags: provisionally registered teachers, VC

04.Mar.08 News Comments (0)

Boot Camps

A wonderful opportunity has arisen. It has come about from a lot of planning and hard-work over a number of years.

What is being offered is an opportunity for children and adults in the community to attend a boot camp. These will involve a two day workshop on dismantling and rebuilding a computer. Then participants will learn how to install the software required to run the computer. At the end of the camp participants take their computers home to keep.

There will be seven of these camps on the West Coast over the next twelve months however, Wayne Aitken, who is running organising the camps, would like to know if there is enough interest in the rural areas first. These areas are Haast, Hari Hari and Reefton. To make it viable to run he needs sixteen people at each camp.

Please add any comments or questions you have to this post and Wayne will answer them for you.

He is hoping to run them in the rural areas next term. Please think about the most popular time and days for them to happen. Remember it is for adults and children.

Just a wee pointer, he could easily set up all eight camps in our local area, but he would like to offer them to the rural areas first. So it is up to you guys to make it happen if you think your community would benefit from this.

Tags: Boot Camp

01.Mar.08 News Comments (4)