Stop, Look & Listen!

 This time we wrote the lyrics together and because the Prefects suggested they had rather a lot on, they asked me just to "record it old school" so they could then get on and make the video. Cheeky eh!

What I found interesting is that the Shure Podcasting mic I'd bought for Zac Moran to use with his class podcast, Korero Pt England, was simply magic for a "down & dirty" but straight forward, quick and clean recording. I didn't plug guitar or mic into the midi interface, just played straight unplugged into my laptop through this single mic.

Enough audio information, enjoy our rangatahi's video!

Writing Moderation

 Funny! this is one of the real keys to our success in Writing and I've never written about it or talked about it in this context.

Each year we moderate writing across our cluster and the Manaiakalani R & D team then help this to ahppen across the 120 school Manaiakalani Network.

After moderating at cluster level, we com back and do this each in our own schools, with each teacher bringing 5 writing samples to the table, (preferably the "cuspy" ones) and then the whole staff moderate across all the levels.

This is a thoroughly valuable and quite fascinating exercise.

I can highly recommend it.

The narrated presentation below is the slide deck we use across the Manaiakalani Network and accreditation goes to Georgie, Naomi, Kiri and Janet for developing this over time along with our expert teachers.

Stop, Think & Do

 Each year I publish at least one of the music videos created by our Prefects to present to the school to teach or reinforce one of our values statements that contribute to "the Fa'a Pt England", The Pt England Way.

As always we co-wrote the lyrics, but this time used AI to create the melody. The Prefects, of course, shot and edited the whole thing.

See what you think!

Doing it all brilliantly with JOY in 2025!

 Here we are, kicking off the year again!

Happy New Year Everyone!

The crown priorities are really clear and we're committed to delivering on them to the very best of our ability. We will not waste time on controversy which does not lead to being calm and joyful, but will focus on being as up to date as possible with new mandated initiatives, as well as doing our best at what we know delivers best for our tauira.

I want us to focus on Joy and Creativity as being not some ephemeral feelings that are "nice to have" but solid values and practices that are essential for our children to do well.

So... here are our focii for 2025

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.