2013 sees the start of a new role at Gleneagles. I am responsible for leading the school through a range of process and avenues, to learn more about what great teaching looks like and how we can all, both individually and in teams, continue to more adequately meet the needs of our students and help them reach their goals.
2012 - Ultranet Coach & Teacher Librarian
A Leading Teacher position at Gleneagles Secondary College. This role was partly funded by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the school. Despite very a very promising start the introduction of work bans by the Australian Education Union in their pay negotiations with the state government had a significant negative impact on the widespread usage of the Ultranet at our school. An enthusiastic band of teachers continue to make excellent use of the outstanding opportunities offered by the Ultranet but the length of the work bans has meant that this is a small majority
Ultranet Coach 2008 - 2011
Ultranet Coach Team Leader - Outer Sub Region with Southern Metropolitan Region of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development - Victoria. My team of 5 coaches was responsible for the training of lead users in the 105 schools in our sub region, and coaching them through the rollout and implementation phase of the Ultranet. The Ultranet is a state wide Online Learning Management System that connects all school sin the state, it involves learning and teaching web 2.0 tools, reporting to parents and access to department provided interactive and electronic teaching resources.
School Development Officer 2007
I was responsible for overseeing the Student Learning portfolio across the region. This involved organising and running networks across the region for curriculum coordinators, mathematics coordinators and english coordinators. I instigated, planned, and organised a range of Professsional Learning programs and opportunities. I managed the regions Australian Government Quality Teaching Program. This involved selecting a panel to apportion over $100,000 in professional learning grants.
Berwick Cluster Educator 2006 - 2007
As cluster educator I was responsible for supporting the six schools in my cluster with the implementation of VELS and PoLT. The cluster's original project - the development of a website to increase the communication and collaboration between the schools and to aid in the transition from primary to secondary school - continued to be a focus as well.
Beaconsfield Upper Primary School 1999 - 2005
ICT teacher and school librarian - 2000 - 2005 During this time I I taught information and library skills across all year levels. I was ICT coordinator, reporting cordinator, member of the consultative committee and professional development coordinator. I was a keen participant in the RACV energy breakthrough program Physical Education Teacher 1999 Backwards sports day, a range of visiting experts and success at many sporting events were some of the features of my year.
EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
Thinking Communities with Backward Design
My educational philosphy is based upon the work of a wide range of educationalists. The Israeli researchers Yoram Harpaz and Adam Lefstein very succinctly pull together a range of threads to do with authentic learning, deep thinking, co-operative and social learning within a constructivist framework. Their work entitled "Communities of Thinking" goes beyond the concept of thinking as discrete skills or predispositions to a more global approach that encompasses all levels and types of thinking as a community of learners work together to solve real problems. Apple education have followed a similar vein with the ideas behind their program (& website) Challenge Based Learning.
Intertwined or overlaid with this approach I value the work of Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggams in their book "Understanding by Design" where they espouse an approach to curriculum planning and design that they term "Backwards Design". In this approach the planner identifies the understandings they wish the learners/participants to develop. They then clarify what would provide evidence that students had gained this understanding and only then move forward to develop learning activities that will assist them to find the knowledge and information they need to create the final "demonstration product"
Harvard's 'Teaching for Understanding' adds an even further refinement. They term the activities you ask the student to do as 'demonstrations of understanding' thus framing each in terms of providing opportunities to uncover the students' growing and changing understandings as a unit develops. In this way all student work is seen as ongoing assessment helping the teacher to uncover mis-conceptions and needs for further research, thinking or discussion.