Touching Base

At our Syndicate meeting in Week Three, after nine days of school, teachers were asked to reflect on the vision we developed at our planning days in Term Four. Teachers identified the following strengths at this early stage:

• The teachers and children are developing positive relationships.
• The children have been making decisions about their learning spaces - Linked to 'The Block Classroom'.
• In some classes the children are beginning to make decisions about their own learning.
• Some classes are beginning to utilise Google docs for learning.

To develop our vision and support our changes in pedagogy we will need to engage in significant professional learning about future focussed learning and teaching. There are schools we can visit, websites and blogs we can follow and articles that we can read. Teachers were asked to read the ‘Future-Oriented Learning and Teaching' Curriculum Update. This update discusses key themes that will underpin future-oriented learning for young New Zealanders. (Ministry of Education, 2012)