Latest COI Reports online

Wadestown Kindergarten, Botany Downs Kindergarten and Kidsfirst Kindergartens Bush Street have recently published their Centre of Innovation action research reports. These are available for download from Education Counts. I'm looking forward to reading these comprehensive reports. Watch this space for future reflections and commentary.

Reports can be found here:

A curriculum Whāriki of Multimodal literacies - Wadestown Kindergarten (April 2010).

Inclusion at Botany Downs Kindergarten - Botany Downs Kindergarten (April 2010).

Central character story: Weaving families and their stories into children's learning in early childhood - Kidsfirst Kindergartens Bush Street (April 2010).

Post by Naketa Ikihele

Creativity is Essential to Learning

I never get tired of listening to Ken Robinsons messages in this 20-minute video. Nearly four years on from presenting this at TED, his key points are still very pertinent today. Let me share the points that always resonate with me:

*Children starting school this year (2006) will be retiring in 2065. Nobody has a clue what the world will look like in five years time and we are supposed to be educating them for it.

*Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.

*If you're not prepared to be wrong you will never create anything original. We are educating children out of being creative because we are so concerned with them always getting it right.

The challenge then is to transfer these concepts into 'everyday' teaching practices and ways of working? What are your thoughts? And how do you ensure creativity is given the same status as literacy?

Motivational Posters

Thanks to @achurches for sending this link through Twitter.

Poster Street has a range of great motivational posters for a range of contexts: office, kids, teachers and teens just to name a few.

Here are a few of my favourites:

Powerful photography that will make you cry.

As I was flicking through my blogroll this evening I stopped to read Garr Reynolds latest post on Presentation Zen titled "The storytelling power of photography". I would usually flick through key words before giving a post my full attention, the key words that struck me were 'storytelling' and 'photography'. I am quietly obssessed with digital storytelling and find myself attracted to any text related to the issue and have recently found myself intrigued with photography as well. So, I couldn't look past the title of this particular post. I am so glad I stopped to read this post. Within the message of Garrs post was the most amazing video I have seen for some time. Heart warming and heart wrenching all at the same time. Please take a few minutes to watch the video embedded below, it will move you!

Motivational Posters

Thanks to @achurches for sending this link through Twitter.  Poster Street has a range of great motivational posters for a range of contexts: office, kids, teachers and teens just to name a few.

Here are a few of my favourites:

CORE Education Tours

I had the great pleasure of driving a group of American Educators from STE’s Special Interest Group of Teacher Educators (SIGTE) around Auckland, New Zealand today.

We were privileged to visit both Pt. England School in Glen Innes and Viscount School in Mangere.

Two very different journeys at both of these schools but fabulous efforts all the same. It amazes me how many international educators come to New Zealand (Pt. England School in particular) to hear/see/explore the great things happening when there are schools within driving distance who have yet to hear the wonderful work they are doing.

What touches my heart the most with these schools is the difference they are making for our Maori and Pasifika communities. I have posted my thoughts on Pasifika Education here.

The information presented today was nothing short of amazing. I am inspired to engage in their communities and learn from both their journey's. Check out the CORE Educations Tours Blog here.

MacHeist Bundle - Why Wouldn't you?

If you have an Apple Mac computer head over to MacHeist and grab the free apps they have on offer. Why wouldn't you? Well for one, a couple of the apps I already have and had already paid for. But I'm up for FREE stuff anytime.