Genius Hour is an enquiry-based learning process. As a student-directed learning model, it is intended to give students the opportunity to explore their own interests while developing their knowledge, skills and understanding. The idea for Genius Hour was originally started by…
The Brainwave unit is a great way to start the academic year, helping children to understand more about how they learn and what things they can do to improve their learning. I have been putting together these lesson plans and…
John Hattie is a Professor of Education from New Zealand and a key proponent of evidence-based teaching. Evidence-based teaching is to teach using only those methods, which have been verified from evidence to be effective. Such evidence is based on…
Around the world many initiatives are followed in education that have not been carefully scrutinised much less held accountable to empirical evidence. This first became clear to me when I began my teacher training many years ago, and I was…
Mindset refers to the assumptions and expectations we have for ourselves and others, which determine our commitment to any given task. Dr Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, coined the terms fixed mindset and growth mindset…
One of the key jobs of our digital leaders last term was to help design and create a makerspace room, which I’m pleased to say is finally available for students and staff to use this term. We have now got…
I have discussed previously about the advantages of using Swivl technology for teachers to film themselves teaching. Having now tried a 360-degree camera in the classroom, I would say this has even more advantages. I recently purchased the Samsung Gear…
At our school we use BrainPOP with our teachers and students. The site has a library of hundreds of videos, which are all searchable by topic. The videos are generally no more than five-minutes long, and using the two main…
In some form or other, education has been around since the beginning of the human species. This is because education, the process of facilitating learning, has always been a necessity. After all, without education, no generation can be adequately fitted…
Over the last several weeks, our digital leaders and I have been working together to plan for and create a makerspace in school. We have already selected a room that will be the makerspace – the current Reading Room. …
