20/4: Reflection - The Power of Twitter

Reflection: The Power of Twitter

20th April 2017

Today was a really showed the power of Twitter and how great it can be for networking and professional development.

After waking up this morning I was lying in bed scrolling through Twitter. I came across a post about #ohedchat and that they were having a chat based around partnership. Since I have been putting extra effort into building three-way partnerships I thought what a great chat to try and involve myself in. After figuring out that 9pm EST was 1pm NZST I set a reminder and got on with my day.

My reminder went off (thankfully otherwise it would have slipped my mind!) and I got comfy to start participating in #ohedchat. The chat started and it was cool to see people over in the States introducing themselves. It was obvious that a lot of them must be regulars in the chat but I felt welcomed in as a newbie. I spent the next hour networking, connecting and discussing with others in the same profession just on the other side of the world. 

Key points covered in the chat included:

• why partnerships are important
• why & how students and teachers can and should learn together
• how students can lead their own learning that involves the community
• what factors can harm partnerships and how can they be avoided

What what did I leave the chat with? Not only did I pick up on interesting opinions and ideas surrounding partnerships, I also recognized the importance of community in these partnerships. Although I have increased my partnerships and relationships with students, parents and housemasters I have not really included the wider community. This inclusiveness of the wider community was a strong theme throughout the chat as well as the idea of schools supporting and giving back. I also was able to share small parts of NZ through the chat such as introducing the term of ākonga to others on the other side of the world. 

Overall it was great to be able to participate in a new chat with others that I wouldn't normally get to chat to because of different time zones. I was able to takeaway some tips and widen my connections.

Now that my friends is a snippet of the power of Twitter!

My Storify of the chat can be seen here. 

4/3: PD - University Entrance

PD: University Entrance

4th April 2017

Today's Staff Professional Development session was around University Entrance. The main aim of covering this in our PD session was to make teachers aware of the University Entracne requirements for both pathways and some of the complications or 'fish hooks' that can let students down. As a Teacher Mentor I also thought that it was important to up-skill myself to be able to help my Student Mentees, especially as last year I didn't have any Year 13 Mentees so I didn't really need to worry about it.

So here are some of the key points that I took form today's presentation:

Cambridge

Firstly I found the talk on Cambridge interesting. I still feel like I don't know too much about this pathway. Having only taught NCEA and having taken that pathway myself I feel quite familiar with the University qualifications so most of the information surrounding Cambridge was new to me today. Key points included: 

• UE generally available at the end of year 12
• Minimum of 120 points over 3 subjects with no D grades
• Numeracy = D or higher in IG Maths or Maths passed at AS
• Gained in Level 1 – if gained under IG and then swap to NCEA they loose this
• Literacy = E grade or better in AS English (D or higher for AU)
• Gained in Level 2 – if gained in AS and then swap to NCEA
• Tables for AU entry with CIE - one subject from each side of the table (tables are different for both NCEA & CIE)

NCEA
As mentioned above having gone through the NCEA pathway as a student myself and having to look into Universtiy Entracne this was much more familiar to me. However, there were still 'fish hooks' to look out for. Key points included:

• Numeracy = 10 credits at level 1 or higher
• Literacy = 10 credits (5=reading, 5=writing) through specific Level 2 standards
• AU = 17 English credits at L2/L3
• What standards in your subject can be counted?
• Subject requirements = 42 credits in L3 subjects & 14 in 3 approved
• Minimum of 60 L3 credits (+20 from L2 = 80 credits total)
• Rank score calculated – E = 4, M = 3 & A = 2
• Max of 24 credits per subject from a max of 5 different subjects

Upon the completion of this PD session I feel more comfortable in regards to helping to track my mentees. I feel as though I will be able to question some of their subject choices more in future one-on-one meetings. However I do still realize that I am not an expert in this area and will ensure that my Mentees know that to. I will still encourage them to seek support from our Careers Advisors.

A hand out from today's session can be found here.