KNOWING OUR LEARNERS

• Whakanuia Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2009:Celebrate Māori Language week - 27 July 2009 (Years 1-13)
  • Ed Gazette article: A culture of change
  • Te Tere Auraki - Māori student success in English medium : Explore the new redesigned Te Tere Auraki website. Te Tere Auraki is a professional development strategy focusing on supporting schools to improve Māori students’ success in English-medium schools.
  • Ngata dictionary : this online tool will help you check words or try them out.

NZATE Conference, 8-10 July 2009

Follow the notices on the Conference forum thread.

All people who have registered for the Conference and paid their fees can now select their workshops. However if you have not yet decided about conference log-on to www.inspirationinc.org.nz and view the programme menu. It is fantastic. 50 workshops covering junior and senior teaching, poetry, creative writing, curriculum developments, moderation of Oral language, Teaching for Sheila Winn Shakespeare, critical literacy for scholarship English, a range of different film workshops from road movies to foreign language films, HOD leadership, fiction for teenagers etc...

Plus Bill Manhire, Apirana Taylor, Sima Urale, Professor Andy Goodwyn (UK), Dr Rose Hipkins (NZCER), and NZATE Leanne Webb, Mike Fowler and Sean Hawthorne as key-note presenters. Don’t delay. Registrations received after July 1st pay a late fee. We are accepting enrolments for one-day sessions due to the squeeze on PD budgets in some schools. All social events are included in your fee.

The Conference committee has worked hard to ensure we host an inspiring and educational few days. Whilst enrolments are steady we would love to see many more of you here in Cambridge. Plenty of comfy, clean, cheap accommodation is still available at St Peter’s for $198.00 plus GST. This will cover all 3 days.

WHAT DO OUR LEARNERS NEED?

NEW ZEALAND CURRICULUM

NEW! Key Competencies site: profiled this week in the Ed Gazette , this new site aims to support schools as we work to use the competencies to drive our whole school planning.

• How are schools approaching the Key Competencies? : blog post from Jane Nicholls that highlights the importance of the shared school community.

• NZ Curriculum Online website can be accessed here, and you can sign up for monthly emailed updates on new additions to the site: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz

• NZ Curriculum Resources to support English: have a look at the dedicated NZC page on the wiki, developed by Claire Amos.

• Secondary Futures closes : the future may not yet have arrived, but Secondary Futures has come to a close. Established five years ago to stimulate discussion about how education would be shaped this century, it was driven by the questions: "What do we want education to look like in twenty years time?", "What do we have to do to make sure all our students have a chance to succeed?" While we may not have the answers, we can still consider these questions using their stimulating resources now archived on their site. (Years 1-13)

NCEA

• NCEA Standards Curriculum alignment: Two days left...Feedback is required by 3 July 2009. For full information, go to NCEA on tki. Related Ed Gazette article on the consultation.

• NEW! Trial the new standards: Secondary schools are being asked if they would like to gain an early understanding of draft internally assessed NCEA standards by trialling assessment resources in September 2009 and/or Term 1 and 2 in 2010. For further information, contact Tania Cotter at Learning Media: tania.cotter@learningmedia.co.nz

• NZQA Markers: Advertisements for Markers for NCEA levels 1-3 and Scholarship will be placed in the Education Gazette on Tuesday 16 June and Monday 13 July. All applications should be made online at from Monday 15 June.

• Communications Standards: if you use these standards, please note that they have been reviewed. For further information on their current status, refer to the review document.

• NZQA and English: all the NCEA resources, gathered on one handy page. http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/resources/english/index.html

WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO?

• Web2ThatWorks : This is a wiki that seeks to bridge the gap between effective classroom practice and knowledge of ICTs (Years 1-13).

• 17 Interesting ways to use Voicethread : have a look at this quick tips tutorial. Voice thread is a multimedia tool that allows students to collaborate, adding commentary to images (Years 1-13).

• Reading for Life Reading for Life report :Find out about the results of this UK initiative, aimed at creating a framework for work that would change the national reading culture - no mean feat.

• Free Flash educational games : Alphabet Jungle and Spiderman 2 are just two of the free online games designed to support learners of literacy (Year 7-8).

• Digital storytelling: have a look at this post on the 'Making Teachers Nerdy' blog which explores ways of enhancing storytelling and understanding of narrative through the use of digital tools (Years 1-13).

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF OUR TEACHING AND LEARNING?

• Dylan Wiliam's Learning about learning videos: In these short clips, Dylan Wiliams (co-author of 'Inside the Black Box ') discusses formative assessment.

• Tracking plagiarism: try this free online tool as one way to reassure yourselves that text submitted for assessment is original.

OUR BOOK NEWS

• Do you use Google Books? Now you can share, search, browse more easily so you can interact with the texts. Thanks to Fiona Grant for this tip.

• Library Week - 10 - 16th August: A week long celebration of libraries and librarianship.

• Banquo's Son in the US: One of our own, Tania Roxborogh, has been snapped up by New York publishers, Writers House, LLC for Banquo's Son. Check out the blog-of-the-book for insights into the writer's mind (procrastinations and all! ;-) and to follow the progress of the novel abroad. Getzler (literary agent) said, "I am thrilled to be representing Banquo's Son and its sequels. I believe Roxborogh's characters are complex; the emotions are real; the friendships, love affairs and heartbreaks transcend the 11th Century exactly as they should. It is absolutely clear to me that this is a book, and a series, with the potential to break through into the zeitgeist."
  He continued, "I knew I had a real winner in Banquo's Son when I walked into our office to find one of our young interns, a girl just out of high school, sitting on a chair with tears streaming down her cheeks, rocking back and forth and saying, over and over, 'Why didn't he just DUCK?'"
  Well done, Tania.

Roxborogh Reviews

Tania Roxborogh shares her thoughts about recently published literature for young (and old) alike. Reviews first published in the Otago Daily Times.

Cathy’s Book by Sean Stewart and Jordan Wiseman (Bloomsbury): What a fantastic idea! Take reading then mix it with the cyber world (i.e. txt messaging, cell phones, email) – a real interactive treat and you can expect to waste happy hours combing for added clues to understanding this thriller. Cathy’s boyfriend has just dumped her. Not anything special except she’s suspicious and, like any 17 year old girl with a bit of gumption, she goes looking for the ‘why’ because she just knows he loves her. What she finds leads her down a mysterious path of intrigue, Asian cultural history and us on a whole lot of fun (enhanced by accessing the website, which allows us to get into the voice messages of some of the key players.) Some of the essential clues are contained in the book in the form of a plastic envelope. A fun, quirky gift for the cyber reader of the house.

Just In Case by Meg Rosoff (Penguin): Meg Rosoff’s second novel (Just In Case) is destined to be as well-received as her first (How I Live Now). 15 year old David realises Fate is out to get him (he’s right about that) and believes the only way to survive is to change his identity and name (to Justin). This is what Fate says in Chapter 5:

"Poor feckless little David, holding fast to his stunted little life. It could almost be amusing.
Almost.
You. Come closer. Let me whisper in your ear.
Your friend, your character, your David is a fool. A chump. A little white mouse with a pink twitching nose.
I have my paw on his tail. Watch what happens when I lift it.
See? Let him have his little scamper. I’m not hungry just now.
A little later, perhaps.
You’ll know."

I won’t tell you whether David/Justin is successful in his attempt to foil Fate because that would spoil the dramatics. Justin befriends a boy in his class and imaginary dog which his friend can see as well and an older girl who photographs him as her ‘doomed youth’ art project. Disasters abound around him. This is a funny, quirky, thought-provoking, sometimes hilarious (in a black-humour type of way) novel and definitely a book to get the reader in your family.

FOR OUR WRITERS

• Get in quick!!: The New Zealand Post National Schools Writing Festival - August 29-30:
  • During the weekend of August 29-30 this year, some of New Zealand's top writers and creative writing teachers will lead small group writing workshops and seminars for young poets, fiction and scriptwriters. The New Zealand Post National Schools Writing Festival is run by the International Institute of Modern Letters (home of Bill Manhire's famous creative writing programme) at Victoria University. The festival is free to attend and open to all Year 12 and 13 students studying in New Zealand.
  • Participating writers include MA programme leaders Damien Wilkins and Chris Price, novelists Kate De Goldi and Brigid Lowry, scriptwriters David Geary and Dave Armstrong, and poet, James Brown. Bill Manhire, Director of the IIML, will chair a three hour session for teachers of creative writing to discuss challenges, strategies and successes. He asks that teachers come with ideas to share.
  • There will be a charge of $20 to cover morning tea and administration costs for this session. Applications for the festival have been extended to July 3.

• Montana New Zealand Book Awards: The annual celebration of writing. View the finalists and vote for the Readers' Choice.
• Montana Poetry Day - July 24 2009 : this is a national celebration of all things poetic and increasingly offers activities for community involvement. This year, as well as showcasing the poets who have been shortlisted for the NZ Post Montana Poetry Award, there are events being held in the main centres as well as poetry slams, poetry marathons and poetry puddings..!
  

• Elsie Locke Writing Prize 2009 Winner : Learning Media Limited and the Elsie Locke Memorial Trust proudly announce the first winner of this new prize for original writing by Year 7-8 students. It is Cileme Aroha Venkateswar from Ross Intermediate, Palmerston North. Cileme's story 'War Games' will be published later this year in School Journal Part 4, No.3 2009. Thanks to the more than a thousand students from all over New Zealand who entered and the teachers and parents who encouraged them.