As we are about to venture into level 2 of the COVID-19 response, and with schools and many of these community spaces opening up again, perhaps in our re-imaging we can include those in the GLAM sector in our thinking, and consider how we might make something like a portal that provides a single point of access to these virtual worlds and tours etc a reality that we can include in our curriculum approaches moving forward? Continue reading Educating beyond the classroom

As we prepare to move out of level 4 remote learning will remain how schools operate for the most part. As schools remain closed, and learning is provided remotely, the idea that our kids are missing out on so much of their schooling at present has led to many commentators and researchers beginning to talk in terms of ‘learning loss’ – but is this how we should be thinking?
Continue reading Learning Gain

This post is really a tribute to the thousands of teachers who have simply stood up during the COVID-19 school lockdown period and done what great teachers so often do – innovate to find solutions to the challenges they face. As we have embarked on working with our learners remotely we are hearing a lot about the difficulties being faced by students and their families, and the ways in which schools, the state and their school districts are working to find ways of supporting them – but spare a thought for the teachers too! Like their students these educators are … Continue reading Rising to the challenge

As we contemplate a ‘return to normal’ and the ‘stable state’ that we were used to we need to consider this, “are we therefore saying that we’re prepared to tolerate the continuance of the inequities that are now so exposed in our society? Is this really the ‘normal’ we long to return to? Continue reading Of trees and forests…

As teachers in NZ this week begin connecting with their students remotely the biggest challenge for many will be confronting the assumptions that implicitly shape and inform what they do as teachers. Among the many great stories of the preparatory work being done by educators around the country ahead of this week’s activity, I’ve also heard concerns that reflect the uncertainty in some people’s minds about the perceived limitations of working remotely in this way – which there undoubtedly are – but not always in the ways we might imagine. In a regular, face-to-face classroom situation there is so much … Continue reading Beliefs and assumptions

I had the privilege this morning to participate in a Zoom call with a group of educators from North West Arkansas with whom I’ve been working for the past two and a half years now. In late 2018 this group … Continue reading Transition forward

In the past couple of weeks I’ve read and heard of all sorts of really innovative ways in which educators are responding to the challenge of keeping in touch with their learners through the period of the COVID-19 lockdown. Finding … Continue reading Learning Remotely