• A webcast across the Diocese on Wednesday 18 February from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.  We will broadcast the presentation live through the library
• Professor Heppell will be visiting the Blacktown South Catholic Schools to work with us at St. Michael’s and Nagle the next day. Further details of both events will be coming soon

Of course, the most common question at this point is who is Stephen Heppell?

Rather than try and give a mediocre description, I will instead offer some links to help you explore more of his work and his thinking.

• Stephen Heppell’s website and a bit of a biography
• His YouTube channel. Below is a video from it entitled Schools of the Future:

• Stephen Heppell’s longer Keynote Presentation from the 2008 K12 Online Conference, entitled It Simply Isn’t the 20th Century Any More, Is It?  So Why Would We Teach As Though it Was?

Photo credit: Ewan McIntosh

At St. Michael’s…

We engage each in their own learning by…

• encouraging growth through creative and critical reflection with others
• creating a school environment in which teaching and learning is purposeful, relevant, innovative and collaborative…

We empower with a sense of hope for the future by:

• equipping each child with the skills required to work towards their full potential…
• nurturing resilient learners, who can negotiate change…

St. Michael’s Vision and Mission Statement

If we believe this, then we should not only agree with, but fully embrace what this video (which I found here at The Fischbowl blog) promotes:

Sir Ken Robinson considers the question Are Schools Killing Creativity?

All I can say is… just watch it.

The Conference Board, in 2006, produced Are They Really Ready for Work? Employers’ Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce.  You can still download the report.

I just want to share with you today one part of the 64-page report:

To determine future skill needs, employer respondents were asked to indicate how the importance of the basic knowledge and applied skill areas would change over the next five years…

1. Critical thinking/Problem solving
2. Information Technology application
3. Teamwork/Collaboration
4. Creativity/Innovation
5. Diversity
6. Leadership
7. Oral communications
8. Professionalism/Work ethic
9. Ethics/Social responsibility
10. Written communications

(pp. 48, 49)

How well do you think our classrooms meet this need?

1. Because it was time
2. Because I wanted to broaden the conversation
3. Because technology is just one part of the conversation around 21st Century learning

Why do we need to have a conversation around 21st Century learning

1. Because we live in the 21st Century
2. Because our students are now children of the 21st Century
3. Because last century’s learning “won’t cut it” anymore

Why won’t last century’s learning “cut it” anymore?

1. Because children have changed
2. Because the world has changed
3. Because it is fast becoming disconnected to those children and their world

Well, that’s a very strong statement, and probably not 100% true, but when I do start to hate it is when there is more around than what is really necessary.  When you consider how much paper goes through my pigeon hole in the staff room, the notes that leave the office, and the sheets that come across my desk, it’s a lot of paper.  If I don’t need to have it printed on paper, I’d rather have it some other way.  So there’s my problem.

Then I know there’s a problem many of us have at school.  The photocopier.  It’s a frustrating mechnical animal.  Especially the older machine that seems to have been deliberately engineered to cause trouble after the service contract has expired, what with all its jams and misfeeds.

There’s a simple solution to our problems.  Stop photocopying.

There may be some times when it’s useful or even necessary, but are there ways that are more efficient in terms of cost, time, eco-friendliness and learning benefit?

Holy Family at Luddenham is obviously asking a similar question, so when I saw that somewhere there was thinking what I was secretly thinking here (ok, the office staff would say my thinking was not so secret to them), I thought it might be good to blog about it to get it out of my system.

Just don’t expect me to produce and photocopy a survey for people to complete about the topic.  Yes, I can see the irony.  I might email you if I feel so inclined…

Photo credit: Day in the Life by zebble

This has left me thinking for a while now about the massive amount of data we gather on students. Just some of the information we collect about their schooling includes:

• Work samples and their assessment for portfolios
• Term 1 standardised testing
• DIBELS testing results
• Basic Skills Test results (Years 3 and 5)
• Semester report grades
• Special education-related assessment
• Participation and performance in tests conducted by Educational Assessment Australia (UNSW Competitions)
• Behaviour records
• Referral to student services (counselling, special education, literacy support, etc.)

Our feeder high schools often report back to us with information regarding our former Year 6 students’ performance in the SNAP and ELLA tests. Next year we add to our list the Diocesan-wide assessment in literacy for Kindergarten and Year 1.

So what do we do with all this data? And how well do we use it? We all believe that assessment is integral to the teaching and learning cycle, and we all believe in using assessment data to inform future learning. But how effectively can we access and use the data when it’s spread across several different locations, and some of it is locked away in filing cabinets?

One challenge I’d like to pursue is harnessing the computer-based technologies at our disposal to collate and analyse this data more effectively through a single access point. Hopefully we can draw some support from the CEO for this idea, and make a lot of this data far more useful; rather than us looking at it once in the yearly cycle, then putting it away.

Photo credit: file cabinets

Parramatta Marist High at Westmead is looking to engage its students in project-based learning.  Above is a YouTube video shared by our Executive Director, Greg Whitby, of the conversation he had with PMH staff about their plans.

I’ve chosen to share with this because I believe what the staff say, especially principal Br Patrick Howlett fms, is something that would resonate with most teachers today.  Notice too, how their conversation reflects a similar one we’ve been having about learning – that acquiring/consuming/absorbing content is pointless without the skills to not only do it themselves in the future, but also to do something with it.

There’s no mention of technology, but imagine how they could use technology to help them achieve the results they want to see with the students.