21C Learning

Is it really different, are teachers teaching children in a different way than in 1999?

There is a challenge for us if we really believe in the Vision, Principles and Values of the New Zealand Curriculum, if we really want to develop the life long learning capacities and competencies in children.

I believe the proof is in the curriculum that each school develops and then in the learning experience for our children.

What a fantastic opportunity we have in 2010 to fully implement the New Zealand Curriculum.

Parent Consultation Night

We had a fantastic night this week with 65 parents meeting at school to discuss National Standards, writing and our new property developments. What a great night. The feedback was such that we will run another session later this term. We will video the next one so we can share it on the school website.

What was fantastic was seeing and hearing parents getting excited about how to meaningfully help their children to become better writers. A few days later at school children were talking about the neat things parents were doing with them with writing.

If we can get the message to parents (and teachers!) that great writers do more then just print neatly and spell well there is real hope of seeing our children empowered to write and wanting to write. Great writers record their ideas first- then when they are reading to publish/ share their writing they worry about neatness, punctuation and grammar.

Many thanks to the staff who presented, the parents who attended and the PTA for serving the cheese and wine!