keynotes

Even at the end of a long and inspiring conference, when energy levels are flagging and concentration is wandering, teachers can still pull out all the stops for a bit of fun. Led by Allanah King a group of teachers orchestrated a flash mob at the beginning of the last keynote by Wes Fryer. Mr Fryer himself, was one of those caught up in the conspiracy. As a sign of global collaboration, NZChrissy, an NZ teacher who has recently moved to Bangkok joined in the fun, dancing along via Skype. You can view her participation from afar on her blog. The video of the impromptu dance will be posted on the blog once it comes to hand.

The final keynote was a celebration of the possibilities of ICT in the hands of talented teachers. This transformative technology provides the opportunity for teachers to reach beyond their classroom walls to give their students wide and varied experiences. Wes nicely tied together a number of the experiences of Learning@School that many delegates would have participated in – discussing best practice with one another, enthusiastically brainstorming ways these technologies can be enhanced by these best practices, and the practical excitement of learning how to use something new.

The second keynote for Learning at School was delivered by Pam Hook entitled “teaching & learning: What is happening in the ampersand”.

Pam challenged our thinking with the statement, “How can we have so much compulsory teaching going on, but kids are leaving with so little learning?” We need to be thoughtful about the way we teach the status quo is not good enough. “Thoughtful rather than panic mode” tweets Jo Fothergill

Pam put up a slide comparing the concept of ‘Teacher as facilitator’ versus ‘Teacher as activator’. These two ideas fascinate me, what is the distinction between being a facilitator of learning and an activator of learning? One sounds passive the other active, one sounds very exciting. I have never heard this before. I want to be an activator of learning. What does this actually mean? How are they different? What do they mean to you?

The New Zealand Curriculum is the way of looking carefully at our practice and bringing clarity. The principles are non negotiable. All curriculum should be consistent with the principles. You can explore more of Pam’s thinking on the curriculum at her wiki. This wiki is set up for people to join in and collaborate around thinking on the principles.

An interesting exercise would be to ask teachers in your school, “What do you thinking learning is?”

When asked this question, one teacher remarked, “my students will know that they’re learning when I smile at them”. Pam asks, how helpful is this to students if they want to know where to go next?

Ask your students what learning is? Sometimes they are better at answering this question than we are. We need to help our students look at their strengths and weaknesses whilst learning. Effective learning occurs when both the students and teachers can explain, what they are doing and how well it is going.

Tinado on Twitter asks, “I’m trying to work out the meaning of the title of this keynote, especially the word ampersand – the & symbol? Any thoughts?” We would love to hear from you in the comments.