# 16 Weekly Update 2020

Rāmere, te 19 o Pipiri, 2020

Matariki – The meaning of the name

With Matariki coming up, some of us may be wondering what the word Matariki means.

According to the legend, Tāwhirimātea the god of wind/storms/weather was so upset and angry at the separation of his parents by his brothers that he tore out his eyes, crushed them into pieces and threw them into the heavens. These fragments are the 9 stars/whetū of Matariki.

Hence the name: Matariki, Mata meaning eyes and riki meaning Ariki lord or god.

The Powerful Effects of Drawing on Learning

Do you have students who are strong visual learners? The science is clear: Drawing beats out reading and writing to help students remember concepts. Follow the link to a short video from Eutopia here.

This year the Enabling e-Learning team has a series of fit-for-purpose digital packages that enable you to quickly access ideas and resources to teach with, through and about Digital Technologies. This teaching resource also links to the Literacy Progression Framework, e-learning planning framework, snapshots for learning, as well as making connections to bigger picture ideas. Follow the link to Writing and e-learning TKI

Writing moderation

We held our termly moderation meeting on 18th June at our leaders meeting at Orewa College. Our writing focus team looked at aspects 2, 3, and 7 of the L.P.F. It is important to note that we use the LPF as a common rubric which spans curriculum levels one through to five, but this is simply a tool. The goal of moderation remains arriving at a consistent and agreed curriculum level. Our initial results show a real improvement in our alignment with our assessment in writing. Post moderation discussion of results is proving to be instrumental in helping us to arrive at shared understandings, with informed agreement across our Kāhui Ako schools. A link to the full set of results will be shared in next week’s update.

CORE Ten Trends in Education

Link here: CORE Ten Trends

This year, the team took a retrospective look at the trends over the last 15 years and reflected on the impact that they have had on education in Aotearoa. Across the themes of structural, process, economic, cultural and technology, we explore why the theme is important, summarise patterns and trends seen, share examples of impact and consider what we might see in the future. Each theme concludes with questions to guide your thinking and discussion within your setting.

Play Based Learning Part 2

Virtual Conference

This virtual conference acknowledges and celebrates that great teaching includes academic content areas and so much more. If we want to teach the whole-child, we need to start with PD for the whole teacher. July 27 – 31, 2020 Link here

Do you ever feel redundant in your classroom?

If you’ve been involved in project based learning, or problem based learning, or any student led inquiry, you will know the feeling I mean. You’re in the class, but feel surplus to needs. Students have the guidelines; they have the learning goals; they have the tools to get them there. And this may not include you for the majority of the time. Fear sets in. Are they learning anything? Are they actually absorbing any of the skills required to level up? Or, is it best to stop the whole class to teach them the required skills, just in case, knowing that this is required by only a small portion of the class. I have got two simple ways to get around this fear and unnecessary stress.” Full Link here to find out more.

Te Herenga Waka o Orewa Marae Pōhiri

A reminder of the following dates:

New Teacher Pōhiri: Thursday/Rāpare 6 August/Hereturikōkā at 3:45 pm

In-School Leader Pōhiri: Thursday/Rāpare 13 August/Hereturikōkā at 3:45 pm

Kāhui Ako ki Orewa