ULearn14 Breakout 4 - Real Learning

Lane Clark stated near the beginning how important it is to process what we hear / learn in the session.  This is so true. Last year I attended her workshop about how the brain worked but never properly processed the information. This year I pledge to make the time to properly take from the session and to apply what works for me.

Like Lane I am passionate about the fact that children entering school are active citizens who can make a difference in their and others lives. The NZ Curriculum is based on this premise. Year one and two children do not have to be 'babied'.

Our model of inquiry at school is constantly being refined and there were some points today that I need to revisit.

• How relevant is what we are teaching? Yes we are providing tasters on the topic then getting questions from the children before we plan. But we set the topic. As we head into planning for 2015 this needs to be looked at.
• I need to make the steps in the inquiry process more explicit and in child friendly speak / icons.
• Celebration has been very muted. Time to shout from the roof tops!
• The presentation / share aspects of the inquiry needs to be made more powerful. 
• As we revisit how we plan, examine the 9 steps Lane advocates and see how effective it is for us.

This was a useful and again a timely choice of workshop. It gave pointers for the journey I/we at school are on.