Share to Learn: Empowerment through Connections

Our Secondary Connect this time illustrated how two teachers are accelerating learning with their students' NCEA assessments. From two very different subject disciplines, Rowena Clemence the Head of Art at Hornby High School and Ruth Hills, the Head of PE and Health at Bay of Islands College, these teachers spoke about how they incorporated regular blogging with their students as part of their classroom practice.

Rowena explained how regular blogging is enabling her students' to model concepts that they're exploring with their own artwork. Students are encouraged to use their blog as an online art gallery and this provides the ideal platform for direct feedback from teachers and their peers. Utilising, the positive, thoughtful, helpful blog comment framework, students are learning to give purposeful critique which helps them develop their own critical perspective.

Our second speaker was Ruth Hills, the Head of PE and Health at Bay of Islands College. Ruth uses a class blog rather than individual student blogs with her Year 11 students. Ruth talked about how bringing her class culture of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga to the online environment is positively impacting students' writing and preparing them for their NCEA written assessments.

Recordings and the presenters slide decks are below.