Claire Amos

Click here to view the clip about HPSS on Seven Sharp Click here to read HPSS and Seven Sharp - The School Behind the Soundbite This post is an update on the original A Beginner's Guide to Hobsonville Point Secondary School . The updated version includes some changes made to our time table as a result of a Term 3 curriculum review. It is our hope that this post will need to be updated regularly as we plan for the timetable to evolve regularly to ensure we are always responsive an meeting the needs of our current cohort. So what is HPSS all about and how are we hoping to evolve existing models of secondary education? HPSS is a co-educational state school located in Hobsonville Point, Auckland. We are a MLE (modern learning environment) which means we are a large open plan school, typified by open flexible learning spaces, break out rooms and specialised learning spaces. The furniture is varied, including high bar leaners, mid-level desks, tables, low tables and bean ba...

Google Teacher Academy, Sydney 2014 Last week I was lucky enough to attend the Google Teacher Academy in Sydney, completing two days of workshops run by the NoTosh team and a group of fabulous GTA mentors. It was a jammed packed two days where delegates were taken through the design thinking process so as to realise our ' Moonshot Thinking ' and make a plan for changing up education and us all to take our aspirations for education and multiply them by 10. My Moonshot So what did we do? The first day was mainly about taking us through the design thinking (see NoTosh explanation of design thinking here ) phases of immersion and synthesis , so as to explore and define our 'Moonshot thinking' - this was basically an issue or opportunity we saw for implementing change in education. We used strategies such as hexagonal thinking to connect/arrange our thinking about our issues and ideas before we then tried to capture our moonshot plan within a writing frame....

Tuesday morning this week I am lucky enough to be flying away to Sydney to join 49 other educators at the Google Teacher Academy. Below is the video I submitted as part of my application to be considered as one of the GTA Ambassadors for Change. So why did I apply for the academy? Whilst I am actually an advocate for educators to be as device and brand agnostic as possible, I have to admit, I do really like Google Apps for Educators. The reason GAFE appeals is simple. GAFE is a suite of tools that supports the pedagogical approach I value - co-constructed, sharing, transparent and supports student agency. The other reason I applied was the company who was taking over the GTA. This GTA is the first academy to be run by NoTosh  an international education consultancy "which challenges the status quo in schools, public services and creative companies. We work together with clients to improve the way people learn, the results of the organisation and the spaces in which...

On Thursday I was lucky enough to be invited to give the opening address at the Australasian Curriculum, Assessment and Qualification Authorities (ACACA) Conference who as their website states  is the national body for the chief executives of the statutory bodies in the Australian states and territories and in New Zealand, responsible for certificates of senior secondary education.  ACACA provides a (Australasian) national means for monitoring and enhancing developments in senior secondary curriculum and certification.  My message was a variation on what I often get invited to speak about - my journey from English teacher to e-learning learning and the lessons I have learned about leading change from my time at Epsom Girls Grammar School and the work I am involved in with the team at Hobsonville Point Secondary School rounded off with a few challenges and reminders as to why we all must be invested in changing education and ideas about how we might start making that...

Over the next wee while I am keen to explore a number "future-focused education" topics. The aim of #hackyrschool is to expand on some of the topics touched in #hackyrclass plus a whole lot more. Rather than follow a linear structure or feeling we need to rush breathlessly through a topic at a time, the idea is that we can discuss, dive deep, explore, challenge, pause and ponder a range of topics over time. This may involve a Twitter chat using the hash tags, a response via your blog, video or podcast or simply sharing resources and comments via a Google Community. The discussion is aimed all educators and anyone else interested in the future of education in NZ and beyond. You might be thinking about how you could lead change in your classroom, or more strategically in your school, you may even someone who would simply like to see change in education for your children or your future employees and our future leaders.

You can join my campaign page here to keep updated First up, why am I standing for the New Zealand Teachers Council? My reasons are two-fold.  The first being that I believe I would be a great addition to the New Zealand Teachers Council. I am passionate and well informed about educational issues and am constantly seeking ways that I can both support and challenge NZ educators to be future-focused, sharing and reflective as well as being recognised by the wider community as the hardworking professionals that they are. I believe New Zealand educators desire to be both supported through ongoing professional learning and rigorous appraisal systems and challenged to be adaptive experts who are expected (and supported) to evolve their practice constantly to ensure they are meeting the needs of all of their learners. I believe that if I were to be elected to the NZTC I will be a positive and passionate voice for secondary educators.

Click here to view the clip Dealing with media is an interesting exercise, simply because you don't know how they are going to portray you. After four hours of filming in the school it was hard to grasp which direction they might take it - would it be blindly celebratory (unlikely) or would it be all about perpetuating the myth that 'we are going to hell in a handbasket' due to the use of technology in schools (more likely). Luckily it was neither, it was (I thought) a balanced piece that began as many of our colleagues and community do, questioning whether the direction we are going is a wise idea and ending with the conviction that it was indeed a necessary change for the better...even if that message was undone a little by Mike Hosking's final throw away lines. But lets be honest, that was to be expected.