Claire Amos

Awesome classroom makerspace from http://bpcsteam.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/introducing-our-bpc-makerspace.html What is a Makerspace? Makerspace describe a makerspace as  community centres with tools. Makerspaces combine manufacturing equipment, community, and education for the purposes of enabling community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone. These spaces can take the form of loosely-organized individuals sharing space and tools, for-profit companies, non-profit corporations, organizations affiliated with or hosted within schools, universities or libraries, and more. All are united in the purpose of providing access to equipment, community, and education, and all are unique in exactly how they are arranged to fit the purposes of the community they serve. Makerspaces represent the democratization of design, engineering, fabrication and education. They are...

Source: http://dschool.stanford.edu/dgift/ What is Design Thinking? “Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” —Tim Brown, president and CEO Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges. Design thinking is a deeply human process that taps into abilities we all have but get overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. It relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that are emotionally meaningful as wel...

Are you a coder, web or game developer? If so, we need you. HPSS Code Academy is seeking industry professionals that might be keen to 'adopt' a coding student. Don't worry, there is no feeding or watering involved! What are we looking for? Basically we are seeking professionals who are willing to invest just a little time and effort in nurturing a young coder. This might range from a bit of encouragement via Twitter through to offering opportunities for a little work experience...even if it is just via Skype or a Google Hangout.  All the students are in Year 9 (13-14 yrs old) and are either beginners or recreational game/web developers. They are all super excited at the prospect of meeting 'real coders' and we are assuring they get the time and support at school to pursue their passion for coding. Can you help? Or know someone who can? You needn't be NZ based, as we don't expect mentoring to take place f2f. If this sounds like you...

This week we look at how we can get to know our learners better so as to ensure we are 'hacking with purpose! Remember to share your thoughts here on Twitter using the hashtags #hackyrclass #knowyrlearner #hackchat

With all this talk about having growth mindset about change and hacking the classroom and curriculum it is important that we are actually 'hacking with purpose' . We need to ensure that we are innovating to improve the learning experience and not simply innovating for innovation sake. In order to do know we are doing that,  there is something we do very well - know thy learner! And I mean really KNOW THEM. Sit back right now and consider a class you teach. Reel through your class list. Do you know their PAT/AsTTle levels (irregardless if you teach them English and/or Math), their ancestry, their culture, their interests, their pass times, their learning style, favourite book, musician, 1D member? If not, why not? Can we truly personalise learning without truly knowing the learner? So what should we know about each and every learner? Well here are few suggestions to get you started: What do we know about each student's: prior learning ethnicity/culture (Ko wai?...

Claire Amos: Realising the Future of New Zealand Education from Festival of Education on Vimeo . Here's is the video of the presentation that prompted both this blog post and the Hack Your Classroom Project. 

Oral Submission to Education and Science Select Committee  Education Amendment Bill (No 2) Areas I would like to highlight are: lack of teacher representation lack of a democratic process expanded functions of the Educational Council of Aotearoa New Zealand changing the Code of Ethics to Code of Conduct expansion of the Limited Authority to Teach Lack of Teacher Representation The lack of teacher representation (Section 380 and Schedule 22) is a major issue. The complete absence of elected teacher positions marks an absolute departure from democratic process. I believe this undermines teachers as professionals and suggests that teacher voice is not valued in decision making related to EDUCANZ. Look if you will to the Medical Council of New Zealand: Medical Council of New Zealand We are governed by a 12-member council appointed by the Minister of Health. The Council comprises: four doctors elected by the profession four doctors appointed by the Minister of Hea...

Week One: Developing a growth (and hacker) mindset This week we will aim to explore the idea of developing a 'growth mindset' and how it can help to support teachers becoming more innovative and moving towards 'adaptive expertise'. Below is an explanation of the concept of 'mindset' from mindesetonline.com. What is Mindset? Every so often a truly groundbreaking idea comes along. This is one. Mindset explains: Why brains and talent don’t bring success How they can stand in the way of it Why praising brains and talent doesn’t foster self-esteem and accomplishment, but jeopardizes them How teaching a simple idea about the brain raises grades and productivity What all great CEOs, parents, teachers, athletes know Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck in decades of research on achievement and success—a simple idea that makes all the difference. In a fixed mindset, people believe their ba...

Bring it on! Hack your classroom is go! The plan is cover a range of topics over the next nine weeks. Here is a tentative timeline. NB. I am very keen to include guest posts or share your blogs as well - just email your post or link at claire@hobsonvillepoint.school.nz Week One: Developing a growth mindset Developing a growth mindset Turning a growth mindset into a hacker one Week Two: Putting learners at the centre...hacker style Getting to know your learners - hacker style Week Three: Intro to Design Thinking Bringing design thinking into the classroom (I don't pretend to be an expert...you can learn with me) Evolving design thinking - from Standford, Nueva to HPSS via the NZC Week Four: Intro to Maker Culture Making every classroom a maker space Week Five: From e-learning to blended learning to deep learning Ideas for blending leaning without 1:1 devices (or even wifi) Week Six: Hacking teaching to meet the needs of diverse learners Intro to ...

Senior Leadership Team Maurie  http://principalpossum. blogspot.co.nz/ Claire  http://www. teachingandelearning.com/ Lea  http://lea72.blogspot.co. nz/ Specialised Learning Leaders Steve  http://stevemouldey. wordpress.com/ Jill  http://jillmacdonald. wordpress.com/ Kylee  http://kyleenewbold. blogspot.co.nz/ Learning Team Leaders Megan  http://mrsmeganpeterson. wordpress.com/ Yasmin  http:// yasminjaynekelly.wordpress. com/ Sally  http://sallyhart72. wordpress.com/ Project Learning Team Sarah:  http://hpssbigprojects.blogspot.co.nz / Pete http://petemcgh.blogspot.co.nz/ Liz  http:// lizmchughvisualdiary.blogspot. co.nz/ Professional Learning Team Ros  http://rosmaceachern. blogspot.co.nz/ Georgi  http://georgids. wordpress.com/ Danielle  http:// missdtheteacher.blogspot.co. nz/