My little space in the world

The mentors have taken the idea of contacting authors and run with it. As a result they are taking more care to add detail and thought to their posts. In the last week Aidan has made contact with Kate de Goldi’s agent, Lucy has e-mailed Tania Roxborogh, Tyler has e-mailed Joanne Harris and others are waiting in the wings to make contact with Vince Ford. It would be great for them to make a post on the kid’s reviews and to get author’s perspectives of their writing. We wait in anticipation . . .

BubbleShare: Share photos – Easy Photo Sharing

We are well and truly on our way! The mentors are doing a great job of working with the buddies -the only thing is that we have come to a standstill – our blog has used up our quota of 20MB!!!! I am in the process of upgrading our blog which gave everyone the opportunity today to get everything ready to upload in our next session next week.

Comments are coming in thick and fast. I have two extra ‘mentors’ who aren’t assigned to a buddy. I have been using them as technical assistants if the mentors aren’t clear on anything ‘techie’ wise. I am also now intending on using them to give feedback to the comments that we have received, as some of the comments are written in this regard. The students are buzzing and the ‘reluctant’ readers are tuned in the entire time in the classroom. Not once have I had any difficulty with management or ensuring someone is staying on task.

In a quick ’round the table’ summary at the end of today’s session, I asked the ‘buddies’ to share what they had learnt so far. All were able to state something, along with an enjoyment factor. This is how learning should be for all students!

While we didn’t meet as a group of ‘Bloggers’ today it has been exciting to have had a raft of nine comments roll into the blog. THANKS ROOM 13! The comments that have been posted are from students who have read some of the books and are agreeing with the comments eg:
At this link
“I really enjoyed this book. The tension and action was great and the characters were developed well. Some of it was a bit cofusing but after a while I began to realise what was going on and I found it a really good book to read.
I agree with Aidan that it is a book you wouldn’t want to put down and you should really read it.”

or from students who have been enticed into reading the book by the review - at this link
Hey! Love your book review! It sounds like an awesome book and (I) want to read it! Good Job!!!!

I look forward to sharing these with the Bloggers tomorrow and seeing their reactions to these comments. If you are reading this post – I welcome you to enter the school reading blog and make a comment too!

Two books I am enjoying picking up are ‘It’s About Learning (and it’s about Time)’ by Stoll, Fink and Earl -  focussing on Learning and the effectiveness of teaching as the important aspects of a school.  Sensible really isn’t it? – however how often as teachers do we hear/see ourselves and others focussed on the ‘what’ because it is a curriculum necessity, rather than the learner as the centre of the planning.  I believe that we are moving more towards learner centred in many curriculum areas, however ‘traditional’ approaches can still tend to come to the fore.  What I saw of the new Curriculum document in Queenstown last week, is that the new document will have more to guide us as communities of learners, and give us more opportunities for authentic tasks.

The other book is Kath Murdoch’s ‘Classroom Connections’.  In this book Kath outlines a huge variety of activities that can be implemented at each stage of the Inquiry process.  A wee gem really, in that it can give you a fresh approach in a new stage of your inquiry teaching and focus.  Great to add variety to your personal teaching.