And what do we do about Writing, or Why Blog?

 There's loads of controversy at the moment about the best way to teach Reading and Maths, -funny that no one is talking or fighting about Writing!

Manaiakalani has reached a juncture where the current Blogging Platform does not seem to be best fit for purpose. We've had enormous success with the improvement of Writing. 

I was asked to issue a provocation or motivation to the team of expert teachers who have been brought in from around the country to begin designing a bespoke Blogging type platform. 

The first question to ask must be "why blog"? The next question must be, "if we should, then what does it need to do"?

I'll leave you to make your own mind up, but here's my shot at motivating the teachers who have come to Auckland to begin discussing the design.

Doing the Basics Brilliantly

 The title here was given us by our Minister of Education, Minister Stanford. In this post I explore what means to do this for our tauira, our community and our people.

We must not lose sight of our heritage, our history, we must not ignore the things we are good and gifted at, and we must do the basics brilliantly.  What does this mean for Pt England, our people and our community? What does it mean for Manaiakalani?

Here are some thoughts on the subject. The challenge is enormous, but when did we ever let that put us off!

Retooling School AGAIN!

Everyone's talking about AI. Should we? Shouldn't we?

I'm going to pose the question: What happens to our kids if we don't?

This is where our own local history is SO important. Our beautiful children must not be the next generation of people who all lose their jobs because of the next new technology!

The following is my reminder to our staff of our history and the wero we must pick up to equip our young people to become capital building citizens who are bale to remain employed.

 

Inquiry in a time of Controversy

 Once again, it's my privilege to provoke the CoL Teachers into thinking deeply about their Inquiry, the state of education, the condition of their classroom and their learners.

The politics around education are fascinating at this time and there is concern expressed by many that "education is a political football". What I wish to stress, is that if we continue to follow evidence based Inquiry that informs Teacher Practice, we are safe from that concern.

We will honour crown priorities and we'll do it without chucking the baby out with the bath water.

Chuck it in the Bin!

 OK, this one's not a music video, but I really like the way the 2024 Prefects made this contribution to the Pt England Way, values set, that gets brought weekly to the school by it's student leaders.

See what you think?!

Beginning the Inquiry for 2024

 I elected not to begin the 2024 narrative with my usual intro to the year, but to follow on from where we left off, with the subject of Inquiry, my own, the school's and the teachers.

This was the "story starter" for Pt England Staff to get their Inquiries underway for 2024. Those who know me, will be able to tell that what you see and hear here, is very much the "long story short"! I bet my staff wished they got away from it this quickly!