Making+A+Difference

What would a difference look like

 * 1) In staff rooms?
 * 2) In teacher planning?
 * 3) In student engagement?
 * 4) In student learning?
 * 5) In student achievement?

Use de Bono's Hats and Ryan's Thinkers Keys to look critically at your current cluster programme results to find the areas that make a difference and those that fall short of the mark.
De Bono White - what are the changes? - facts about growth or otherwise Yellow - the good things happening - e.g. teachers now using ICT more in their planning and class programmes Black - the areas where there is little growth e.g. pockets of change within schools rather than in every classroom, or higher use but no more focus or learning quality Red - how do I feel about the progress we are making in our school / cluster? Blue - what do I think about the quality / diversity of thinking in classrooms? What resources do we use to extend student's thinking about their thinking? Green - what more do I want to create in our cluster / school programme? De Bono’s Thinking Hats Links http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm http://www.edwarddebono.com/

Ryan's Thinkers Keys http://www.kurwongbss.qld.edu.au/thinking/Think%20Keys/keys.htm A good starter would be the "What if . . .?" key.

If our cluster programme is effective we will see

 * Development area || List the changes that you will expect to see as your programme succeeds ||
 * Staff confidence and skill || * Laptops in regular use in staff meetings, classrooms and at home for planning
 * Teachers will be celebrating achievements
 * Much more teacher talk about teaching and learning - things they have tried - successes and pitfallls - away from the deficit model - now seeing possibilities
 * More depth to teacher discussion
 * More collaboration and learning together
 * Teachers modelling their learning to others
 * Team planning - explicit
 * Shared resources
 * Shared understanding of effective practice
 * Take more initiative re learning and in accessing other material
 * Email and other online messaging used more for communication, admin messages, submitting work samples etc
 * e-information shared more across the school and between schools - more global operators
 * The emphasis changes - more creative and purposeful in use of ICT
 * Changing teacher practice - they need to want to change and see the reason why they need to
 * Sharing and discussion embed the ideas and foster longevity
 * Have the hardware and infrastrucutre to support what they want to do
 * Experienced staff will be contributing their expertise in learning and younger staff will contribute their knowledge of the technologies so that we get enhanced learning
 * Whole school change - not just left to chance - demanded and appraised ||
 * Teacher planning || * Specific learning intentions targeted in all curriculum areas, ICT decisions made on what will enhance learning, and success criteria listed
 * More personalised teaching and learning planned for
 * Resource sharing within and between departments and available electronically
 * More collaborative planning
 * Access best practice and seeking to improve delivery
 * Video conferencing used for meetings and "gatherings" to share and discuss pedagogy, accessing expertise beyond the school
 * NCEA moderation more "connected"
 * Links between schools, accessing other course options through virtual network options in secondary
 * More forward planning
 * Planning transparent and explicitly accessible for students, and students becoming involved in the planning process
 * Negotiated internal assessment tasks for NCEA
 * Use of wikis etc for staff meetings and collaboration - building new knowledge together - all contributors. ||
 * Student engagement || * Students keen to learn and knowing how to proceed
 * Greater motivation and engagement in learning
 * Asking relevant questions
 * Variety of low order and high order questions and related thinking
 * More discussion, sharing, debating
 * Increased curiosity
 * On task behaviour
 * Variety and randomness feature in learning ||
 * Student learning || * Students will be reflecting on their progress and able to articulate next steps
 * Student inquiry will have real rigor with students focused, digging deep, creating new ideas and information and able to make a difference to their thinking and their world
 * Students will access information online and be critical about its relevance and accuracy
 * Students will present material in a variety of ways - digital (e.g. ppt), online (wikis and blogs etc).
 * Capitalise on student knowledge and online skills to develop **deep learning** rather than just for superficial social function
 * Setting goals and success criteria
 * Problem solving
 * Reflection
 * Meta cognitive skills developed and used
 * Transfer skills and knowledge to new learning
 * Take action
 * Able to articulate what learning is taking place and the purpose
 * Acquired knowledge
 * Acquiring new skills and processes e.g. information processing skills
 * Authenticity of topic ||
 * Student achievement || * Digital portfolios will accumulate work samples that show increased skill and understanding
 * ICTs used for demonstration of understanding - mind maps, flow diagrams, drawings (2D & 3D)
 * Success in meeting criteria
 * Seeing connectedness and links between & within concepts
 * More digital e.g. web 2.0, online environment, video etc as ways of presenting their thinking and achievements
 * Confident students
 * Across all ELAs
 * Students demonstrate their understanding rather than just the bare repeated facts ||

How will will we gather evidence and show change in our milestone reporting?

 * We will need teachers to target change and provide samples of the changes they are seeing, therefore we need to set up places where this evidence will be presented - wikis, digital portfolios, google docs etc
 * Use e.g. Powerpoint / Keynote or other presentation software to capture the beginning knowledge, inputs and outcomes. e.g. initial brainstorm about what we know, our questions, input into developing richer questions summarised by students, new questions, ways that new ideas are gained (interviews, research, visits or visitors) etc. de Bono style reflection on my learning. Capture the journey as well as the product.