Term 4 PLG - Breens Intermediate

The Term 4 PLG was held on November 4th at Breens Intermediate School in Casebrook. A huge thank you to Brian Price and his team of teachers for hosting us.

Staff from Breens have been on a exciting journey over the last several years. Their school's values underpin their teaching and learning programmes, appraisal systems and are key drivers in the culture of the school.

They have modified their 1970's school buildings to provide transparency, deprivatised practice and to support their collaborative learning environments.

Participants in the PLG had the opportunity to hear Brian speak about the school's pedagogical development over the last six years. They then visited the three main learning pods, where staff shared their innovations, challenges and successes.

Coffee to begin!

Brian and Nicky start the afternoon.

Classroom Tours

Teacher Think Tank

Checking out the Collaborative Learning Environments

Term 4 MLE PLD @ Breens Intermediate School

Welcome to our second Canterbury PLG MLE gathering! 

This term our PLG is on Monday 4th November at 4:00pm. 

We will be visiting Breens Intermediate School (85 Breens Road) where Principal Brian Price and his team will share with us the exciting learning using MLE principles that is happening in their school. Coffee will be available onsite to purchase from 3:30.

Breens is not a new school. They are using existing, older buildings in innovative ways to provide great teaching and learning spaces for their students and staff. During this PLG there will be an opportunity to hear about the innovative teaching and learning that is happening at Breens, and changes made to how they are using their spaces to incorporate MLE principles. We will also have a tour of the school and learn how teachers are working collaboratively to teach in their learning environments to best meet the needs of their students. 

Please click on the register tab above so that we can best set up the spaces to accommodate our visitors.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Hacking your classroom

At our PLG meeting last week there was lots of conversation about how we can make changes to existing spaces to make them more open, collaborative and focused around 21C teaching.

Check out this link to find out some really practical steps to follow to 'hack' your classroom... get your kids involved, plan together, take risks and be creative!

Inaugural PLG Meeting

Thanks to everyone who made it to our first PLG meeting. We had a great turn out, especially after the weather of the day before. It was a great opportunity to make contacts and talk to others on the MLE and collaborative teaching journey.

The meeting began with a chance to hear from Clearview Primary presenters. We discussed our journey so far, the vision underpinning our design and our teaching philosophy. We were also able to share practical ideas for developing collaborative classrooms. 

Chris Bradbeer from Stonefields School in Auckland shared about the North Island's PLG, their experiences so far and how their support network is developing.

At the end of the evening we spent valuable time discussing in groups our wonderings, challenges and opportunities for when working in collaboration with others, and thinking about how we can move forward as a group to best meet these needs. We are looking forward to our term four PLG - watch this space for more information!

Based on feedback from the discussion groups, future topics will include:
Developing MLE spaces in traditional schools.
Professional Development Options.
Assessment reporting and tracking.

Clearview Learning Environments

Today I went for a walk around Clearview to capture a mixture of the learning environments we have, what children are doing in them and the furniture children are choosing to use. It is interesting when we walk around to see the opportunities children have to think about where is the best space for them to work, how they might use the space and who they need in the space with them. Our children are becoming a lot more able to make and articulate these decisions. 

We look forward to sharing our learning environments with you at our first MLE PLG meeting next month.

                 

Invitation to join us...

Hi there,

As education in New Zealand and Canterbury continues to evolve and more schools are working in Modern Learning Environments, Open Spaces or using Collaborative Teaching methods we would like to develop a Professional Learning Group as a place for teachers to get together and talk about teaching, learning and collaboration. 

Our first gathering will be at Clearview Primary (20 Broadlands Drive, Rolleston) on Thursday 12^th September at 4:30pm. 

There will be an opportunity to have a tour of the school, talk about the vision and design thinking behind the new space, as well as to learn how teachers are working collaboratively to teach in their learning environments. There will also be an opportunity to share what is happening at your school, discuss how we are adapting programmes and assessment methods to enhance teaching and learning. Chris Bradbeer, Associate Principal from Stonefields School in Auckland will also be joining us to discuss Open Learning Spaces and share the experiences that he and other local schools have had setting up a PLG up there.

Where are we heading?

We hope this will be the first of regular PLG sessions hosted in a variety of spaces around Canterbury. The idea is that our PLG will be a place for teachers to talk to teachers about learning, teaching and collaboration in modern learning environments. With many schools investigating open learning spaces, what are the opportunities and challenges that they present? What can we learn from each other about as we seek to maximise the benefits of these new spaces? The PLG provides a great opportunity to talk with other teachers and leaders who are either already in open learning spaces, are about to embark on new buildings or conversions, or simply those who share an interest. 

How do I get involved?

Visit our blog, see what we are all about and register for the first meeting. It’s free to come along, but registration allows us to cater for our attending guests. http://canterburyplgmle.blogspot.co.nz/p/register.html 

If you know anyone who may also be interested in getting involved in the group, please pass the details on. All are welcome.

We look forward to meeting with you,

The Clearview Primary team