Most Innovative Term of My Career

This Term Four of 2015 has been very interesting and busy at my campus.  Everything we do in term four is out of routine and a one off event.  Here is a summary of all the exciting yet exhausting things we have got up too.


Zombie Unit - Integrated Inquiry
We break down the silos of subjects for these weeks and work in team of about 3-4 teachers to deliver an integrated inquiry covering all the key learning outcomes and skills.  It provides the flexibility to do some cool things and the collaborative element I found hugely beneficial.

Minecraft for Citizenship
This was a personal project of mine.  I am planning on using minecraft next year as a community simulator for social studies.  I hope it will be a space where students will enjoy playing and interacting with while have the chance to practice citizenship skills.

Legacy Projects
We do several projects over the year. This is the final culmination of all their learning about completing a project, managing themselves and their own learning, and independently driving their own learning.  This project is about learning a postive Legacy at the campus.  They have one week to complete their project and present their learning.

Journey Back
The big finale of the year.  This is a 5 day expedition from the Rural Campus back to the middle of Auckland and onto the Senior Campus where they will continue the students will continue their education next year.  They tramp, cycle, camp, and catch a ferry on the Journey.  The whole expedition is an extended reflection about what they have achieved and learned so far, who they are now, and what is coming in the future.  It is a great transitional and symbolic Journey.
Big shout out to all the awesome teachers and staff I work with to make all these exciting yet tiring events happen.  Also to the managment for having the faith and belief that things can be done differently and well. 

The Journey Back

We have just finished our first Journey Back.  In nutshell it is a 5 day expedition from the Dilworth Rural Campus at the southern end of the Hunuas to the Dilworth Senior Campus in the Middle of Auckland.
We did this as a transition Journey for our 92 Year Nine students that have been at the Rural Campus for the whole year and they will be continuing their lives and education next year at the Senior Campus.