🚀 NERDY PHYS-EDER

  • Home
  • About
  • Blogs
    • All blog posts
    • Innovation
    • Professional Development
    • eLearning
    • PE
    • Presentations
    • Visible Thinking
    • Computing
  • Presentations
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Blogs
    • All blog posts
    • Innovation
    • Professional Development
    • eLearning
    • PE
    • Presentations
    • Visible Thinking
    • Computing
  • Presentations
  • Contact

Blog Posts

The Deeper Learning Toolkit

15/7/2020

0 Comments

 
Are you seeking to design deep, rich, impactful learning within the everyday rhythms of your classroom? Are you trying to grow your own teaching practice within your unique context? Do you have a shared language of learning that empowers you and your team to have meaningful discussions?

If so, don't miss this incredible toolkit empower you to learn about the concept, language, and design of deeper learning experiences.

Reflect - Provide a framework for interrogating your own assumptions.
Collaborate - Create a shared language and understanding across your learning community.
Design - Ideate and produce an actionable plan that works in your team’s specific context.
Empower - Translating vision into practice and developing a culture of growth.
deeper_learning_toolkit.pdf
File Size: 6327 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

​You will learn strategies to create learning and teaching with endless possibilities, frameworks for teams to dig deep into the concepts that are most pertinent to them, and personalised, innovative tools to capture rich professional discussions.

Deeper Learning Toolkit
50 cards which forms a rich Professional Learning discussion framework that can be personalised to your learning communities unique context.

Deeper Learning Playbook
20 discussion launchpads that enable you to dig deep into the concepts and facilitate meaningful discussion and forward planning.

Deeper Learning Masterclass
Tailored professional learning that empowers your school community to develop a shared language and a culture of deeper learning.
0 Comments

A Tale of Two Cities - learning at the centre of technology integration

22/9/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
The notion of reflective practice in our education profession is invaluable, but sometimes, we only explore our own little 'bubble' or 'circle of trust' that can lead to a false sense of security. It reminded me of a recent tweet (forgot who it was from, sorry!) which warn us about the danger of professional learning communities on social media becoming 'echo chambers'. 

So I decided to challenge myself and invited Melissa Bray (@Melsybray) from St Peters Girls School in Adelaide to unpack what Learning Management System mean to us, the similarities, the differences in our uses and implementations, and anything in between. The result was a presentation titled 'A Tale of Two Cities - Building Communities of Practice that support Innovation' (presentation slides below). It also meant participants at the presentation only had to listen to me ramble for half the time! :)
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness ….” (It was time for something different.) Come hear a tale of universal priorities, shared practice, similarities, and yet important differences in the way Newington College (Sydney inner-West) and St Peters Girls School (Adelaide) leverage Canvas to improve student success. Separated by geography, both are Canvas power-user schools and attendees will benefit from the intersection of the two narratives. Michael Ha and Melissa Bray will identify the differences in implementation and usage, as well as the similarities of student empowerment and ownership of their own learning through Canvas engagement. Through their years of experience, having walked through the many "springs of hope" and the occasional "winters of despair", this presentation will help any K–12 school writing their own narrative to understand how to deliver student success in their city.
I throughly enjoyed the process and highly encourage each and every one of you to 'go outside of your box' and challenge your thinking with someone from a different tribe. Good Luck.
1 Comment

Project Kaizen - fostering a Culture of Learning

6/8/2017

1 Comment

 
At the start of this year, I was a little taken back by a question from a new staff member, "What do you actually do? What is your role?" 

It is a question often asked at many schools of their ICT / eLearning / Digital Learning / Digital Technologies 'person', whether it be at an integrator, leader, head, or director level. Before we start, one thing for certain: for me, it wasn't about the shiny new gadgets or the latest version of so and so app. So I decided to map out the what, where, how, and when of my work, and where I like to see us heading in fostering a culture of learning.
Picture
With the guiding principals on top, and our reference questions to the right in green, what transpired was a four-year plan that depicts sustainable transformational change. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither should this be. As suggested by John Kotter, successful change management involves creating a climate for change, as well as engaging and empowering each and every individual in the organisation to ensure its ultimate success. 

Sounds fancy so far, doesn't it? But will it work? I mean, we have over 150 teaching staff, and 1200 students that I work with, that's a rather big classroom to differentiate and cater to each individual. How might the professional development of staff and students scale, built around best pedagogical practice, and is consistent across the school? Two ideas I'm hoping to introduce are:
  • New-flix - the Netflix of professional development. Short 4-5 minute videos introducing the hook to a particular topic (whether it be differentiation in the classroom, indigenous studies, game sense model, or and ICT tool to try), couple with resources for further investigation and deep dive into the particular topic of choice.
  • PD Bingo/Matrix - self-directed learning tasks where staff are invited to attempt to complete the bingo board for a small reward. The matrix is backed by a set of learning tasks, extension, and reflective questions built upon our Learning & Teaching framework. (at the time of writing, I'm re-thinking changing the word 'bingo' as I'm getting backlash of it being 'childish')
Without giving everything away, how do YOU plan and foster a culture of learning in your school? I would love to hear from you and connect. Below is an updated version of my Project Kaizen graphic as well as the slide deck of my presentation I gave on this topic at the National FutureSchools conference. 
Picture
1 Comment

Teachers being Students: Learning through Empathy

16/6/2017

1 Comment

 
PDHPE staff took the deep dive and became students again to emphasise with challenges our boys face when completing an assessment task. Tinkering with the implications of their Year 7 Young Consumers unit on teaching, learning and assessment, staff walked away with a set of strategies and teaching activities that could be used in the classroom the following day.

These activities included:
  • Pre-flection vlogging
  • Examining Assessment protocol
  • Two Stars & a Wish
  • Empathy Mapping
  • See Think Wonder
  • 5 Whys

​More details about the workshop, as well as all the resources used, can be found in this website.

Other workshops in this series include:
  • Science: Peeling The Onion - ​Empowering Teachers through Curriculum Development
  • Languages: Making Learning Visible - ​Language teachers playing Masterchef
1 Comment

Making Learning Visible - ​Language teachers playing Masterchef

10/6/2017

2 Comments

 
“How might we leverage technologies to make learning visible?” That’s the big question our Languages Department tried to unpack during their half-day curriculum workshop with me. Not only did teachers discover the difference between ‘doing a project’ and Project Based Learning by designing cupcakes and being Masterchefs, they also trialled a variety of Digital Learning tools which will allow students to showcase their knowledge & understanding during Poetry Night in Term 3.

Activities included:
  • Pre-flection - vlogging exercise
  • Feedback protocol
  • Cupcake design
  • Gallery Walks

More details about the workshop, as well as protocols used can be found in this website.

Other workshops in this series include:
  • PDHPE: Teachers being Students - Learning through Empathy
  • Science: Peeling The Onion - ​Empowering Teachers through Curriculum Development​
2 Comments

Peeling The Onion - ​Empowering Teachers through Curriculum Development

22/5/2017

1 Comment

 
​
Brenda (Science teacher) had a dilemma: “is there sufficient scaffolding in our current project design to ensure all students are successful at some level? What are we missing that would make this a stronger experience for all students? What do we need to strengthen or add onto the Science of Separation unit?" The Science department investigated and unpacked these dilemmas in a half day workshop recently led by me. And together with the Library team, supported her through using structured protocols to introduce a researched focused ICT task that is authentic, challenging, and engaging.

Activities used during the workshop included:
  • Pre-flection
  • Peeling the Onion: Defining a Problem Protocol
  • Tuning Protocol: Examining Adult Work
  • Fish Bones
  • Chalk Talk

This website was our home-base and contains all the protocols and activities from the day.

Other workshops in this series include:
  • PDHPE: Teachers being Students - Learning through Empathy
  • Languages: Making Learning Visible - ​Language teachers playing Masterchef
1 Comment

The Lab

6/10/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Updated - 13/9/17
Below is a presentation I gave recently, titled 'Apollo 13', reflecting on the subject so far this year. 
What is The Lab?
It is a new elective for Year 9 & 10 students at my school, being introduced next year, that I've been fortunate to be a part of. The idea of moving away from traditional schooling and having a subject that foster creative and critical thinking that's based on real life context is extremely exciting. 

The Lab: Creativity in Practice
We often talk about the box (by the way why is there a box? Why is it not a tube? Why isn’t it a hat?)
We talk about thinking outside the box, thinking creatively, in finding new ways of doing things, in lots of areas of life, technology, sport and business.
The Lab is the course where we look at creativity in all of its forms and puts you at the centre of that. It cuts across and incorporates traditional subjects and looks at what it means to be outside the square. It will teach you and ask you to think about the ways we can approach problems and will ask you to create, solve, build, manufacture and experiment, to be creative in new and different ways.
It will teach and ask students to apply creative problem solving skills to a range of problems, and teach students how to identify the problems around us that need to be solved.
Areas of Study
  • The Nature of Creativity and Design Thinking
  • Examination of case studies and contemporary, creative problem solutions
  • The application of technology to solve problems
  • Using Maker principles in creative ways
  • Managing a creative project over time
  • Working with industry experts from outside the school
Forms of Assessment
  • Presentations of creative projects
  • Reflection & self-documentation of learning
  • Peer-reviews
  • Pitching ideas to industry experts
Links to the Formal Curriculum
  • Critical thinking
  • Communication
  • Pretty much any subject that you will do in Year 11 and 12

http://insites.newington.nsw.edu.au/academicguide-year9-10/subject-choices/subjects/
0 Comments

eLearning Review - lessons learnt (Part 1)

10/9/2016

0 Comments

 
Last year, I was task with investigating how ICT is impacting our school and explore ways to move forward and improve. I'm hoping over the next few posts, I can reflect on the overall process and what I've learnt from this experiences. I would love to hear your feedback also :)

​As we move towards 2020, we will continue to be challenged by the fast pace of technology adoption in an increasingly interconnected and complex world. The rapidly changing technological world in which our children are growing up in is a vastly more complex one than previous generations. Information on any given topic is now freely available. Our ability to visually communicate with people, anywhere and anytime, is available at our finger tips. 

The new Australian Curriculum has developed a specific emphasis on ICT in education. The curriculum places an emphasis upon building innovative capabilities of students within and across discipline boundaries by providing opportunities for all students to become competent, productive, creative and ethical users of ICT. As a ‘general capability’ within the Australian Curriculum, ICT skills are expected to be embedded seamlessly across the disciplines of the entire curriculum (ACARA, 2015).
​
This review aims to investigate how ICT is impacting teaching and learning at Newington College, and in particular, how it is facilitating the College’s Learning Framework. Through a range of surveys and interviews, it is found that although technology use is well embedded across the curriculum with learning and teaching at the heart of integration, more facilitation is required to improve the pedagogical use of devices in improving workflow and outcomes.
Picture
Newington College Learning & Teaching Framework
​The five areas the review will focus on are teaching and learning, leadership, evidence of success, professional learning, and learning environment. A range of data will be collected including surveys, one-on-one interviews, small group discussions, and classroom observations. It is hoped that all stakeholders will be involved in the process: students, teachers, general staff, and parents. It is anticipated the review will be completed mid-Term 4 this year. Some of the essential questions around this review include:
  • Where are we at?
  • How well is technology being used for teaching and learning?
  • Is the BYOD and iPad program working?
  • How well is Canvas being used?
  • Where to next?
A visual representation of my thoughts and research are compiled within this poster:
Picture
0 Comments

#PubPD - Redefining Professional Learning

18/8/2016

0 Comments

 
At a recent #PubPD organised by Craig Kemp, I again explore the notion of giving teachers more autonomy and explain simple ways to redefine teachers' professional learning, these can include:
  • Mini TeachMeets
  • Action research groups
  • Unconferences
  • Techie Breakies
  • Students led PL
  • Graffiti Walls
  • Learning Walks
  • and much more...

I'm keen to hear ways you've seen schools changing the ways professional development are ran.
​
0 Comments

A lesson in Innovation

1/8/2016

0 Comments

 
What does it mean to be an educator in the 21st century? What part does technology play in the orchestra that is education? As learning, mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) theorist, Seymour Papert notes, "nothing could be more absurd than an experiment in which computers are placed in a classroom where nothing else is changed". This is a presentation I gave recently which discuss the pitfalls of being innovative in education as well as exploring the journey of discovery through passion, fear, and failure. 
​
0 Comments

Fostering Sustainability - Challenge Based Learning project

27/6/2016

1 Comment

 
Aim: For a group of students to identify an issue about sustainability within the school/local environment and respond by developing a plan for action. (Newington Learning Framework)

​Challenge Based Learning:
Is an engaging multidisciplinary approach to teaching and learning that encourages learners to leverage the technology they use in their daily lives to solve real-world problems. Challenge Based Learning is collaborative and hands-on, asking students to work with peers, teachers, and experts in their communities and around the world to ask good questions, develop deeper subject area knowledge, accept and solve challenges, take action and share their experience

You can find out more about the project via:
https://sites.google.com/newington.nsw.edu.au/cbl2016/

1 Comment

Nurturing Dispositions via Genius Hour

8/5/2016

0 Comments

 
What does it mean to teach in a way that achieves strong academics while fostering dispositions (like persistence or curiosity) that students need for long-term success?

​"We must let go of having learners acquire our meanings and have faith in the processes of individuals' construction of their own and shared meanings through individual activity and social interactions." (Costa & Kallick, 2014)

"When students are sufficiently challenged, they give meaning to the work, produce new knowledge, and draw on the thinking dispositions" (Costa & Kallick, 2014)

0 Comments

#Hacking Staff Professional Learning

30/4/2016

0 Comments

 
Below is a hands-on workshop I ran at the TeachTechPlay Conference exploring the idea around:

"How might we facilitate meaningful and engaging professional learning"
You can learn more about the SQUID activity here:
http://gamestorming.com/games-for-problem-solving/squid/

You can learn more about empathy maps here:
https://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/themes/dschool/method-cards/empathy-map.pdf

http://www.copyblogger.com/empathy-maps/
0 Comments

Drones in Education - 3 years on....

17/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Whilst it's still a relatively niche technology to integrate in an educational context, I have been exploring the role of drones in teaching and learning for the past 3 years. Below is a presentation I gave at the National FutureSchools Conference to discuss my successes, failures, and anything in between...
0 Comments

ACTivate 2015 - HPE Conference

19/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Over the September holidays, I was lucky enough to be a featured speaker at the PEAK Phys Ed ACTivate Conference. It was held at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra with educators from around Australia attending.

A special thanks to Andy Hair (@MrHairPhysEd) & Aaron Gardiner (@azzalanche), who dropped into my 3rd Session for the day via Google Hangout to share with participants what it means to be a connected life-long learner. Below are the slides to my presentations, I've added a few extra videos to hopefully explain some of the slides:
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Tweets by MichaelHaEDU

    Categories

    All
    Computing
    ELearning
    Innovation
    PE
    Presentations
    Professional Learning
    Visible Thinking

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.