Secondary School Connect - English and Literacy

The  second of our Secondary School Connects was held on Thursday 30th July.  We heard three fabulous presentations today,  two teachers who are each using digital technologies to turbo-charge students' learning in English and Literacy in years 9 - 13. Dr Aaron Wilson will also be joining us to talk about T-Shaped literacy at High School.   Watch the video recording of the event here

Willie Yuile 

Gisborne Boys High School: Head of English and Media Studies 

Why use rewindable learning and visible learning? 

Willie Yuile, Head of English and Media Studies at Gisborne Boys High School shared some great tips about how to create effective rewindable learning resources.   Utilising free tools like Loom and Screencastify, Willie highlighted some key elements to consider to ensure your videos are engaging.   He shared some excellent examples that he's created for both his students and for staff PLD.  Willie's very kindly shared his site and resources, you'll find the links in his slide deck.   

Scott Aitken 

Head of English at Hornby High School, Scott Aitken shared some of the findings from his recently completed Masters study.  Personalised and Self Determined Learning that is culturally responsive in a connectivist framework.  His discussion focused around how he designed a personalised, culturally responsive and connectivist close-viewing film unit.  Scott's findings showed there was real value  in terms of student engagement and enhanced student/teacher relationship.   

Dr Aaron Wilson

Dr Aaron Wilson from the Woolf Fisher Research Centre led a great discussion about the power of T-Shaped literacy in high school.    Aaron talked about the importance of encouraging students' to read multiple texts linked by a topic or theme to help increase students' understanding and critical thinking abilities.