Secondary Connect - 

Blogging at high school 

If you've ever wondered how blogging might turbocharge Learn, Create, Share in the secondary school context you need to see the amazing work being done by teachers at Hornby High School.     These teachers show how students are making deeper connections with their learning and engaging with reflective discussions via their blog posts.  A positive outcome for teachers has been a reduction in teacher workload and a rich log of students work which provides robust evidence towards achievement standards and moderation.  

Ian Rees

Hornby High: Engineering & Manufacturing / Maths

Sharing the love - Managing whole class blog posts and comments 

Ian Rees teaches Engineering, Manufacturing  and Maths at Hornby High School.   Ian's approach to students' blogging has been, "if it's useful to them then we can capture and showcase their work to a bigger community."   In this presentation, Ian explains how through regular blogging, students are learning from one another and providing feedback on each other's designs.  This helps to inform an iterative process and provides documented evidence for NCEA achievement standards.    

Rowena Clemence 

Hornby High: Head of Art /E-Learning leader/Year 12 Dean

“Always start with WHY"

Rowena Clemence, Head of Arts at Hornby High School believes Learn, Create, Share should be part of our everyday teaching practice as well as being emulated by our learners.  It is a visible and audible part of her practice everyday.    She shares with us the trials and successes of getting students to blog along with the reasons why regular blogging is so valuable.   Rowena has found it encourages students to verbalise their thoughts and make connections to what they are learning.  It is also a quick, easy way to moderate NCEA internals while providing a running record of their learning. 

Connect with Rowena via her professional blog 

Sarah Handley

Hornby High: English/Classics Teacher, Yr 10 Dean

“The Benefits of Individual Bogging "

Sarah has discovered many positives with students blogging.  It has  reduced her workload, has allowed for curricular connections and helps with tracking students' work over a long period of time.   Another advantage is that it encourages active reflection from students prompting them to think more deeply.   Sarah has 3 guiding questions for students' blog posts; 

1. What am I learning? 

2. How does this work show what I am learning?

3. What am I wondering?