Sunday, February 9, 2014

Mike Scaddan Magic

What an amazing day of fun and learning!  Mike took us on a journey from putting ourselves into the shoes of our students through to considering what latest brain research means for us as teachers.  We were given so many ideas to help make learning 'stick'.

An amazing final session saw mike and the team form some ideas of merging our work on the Stanley Avenue Learner with students maturation/social needs and a learning to learn curriculum.  

Mikes assistance sees us moving ever closer to a truly student centred school.


What is an mle?

With the refurbishment of rooms seven and eight complete it is a good time to reflect whether any of our learning on MLEs has been worthwhile!

One of the major foci for the refurbishment was to 'break down the walls' between the rooms both for practical senses (shared toilets!) and learning.  I think the build has been a tremendous success.  A huge fox us over the last few years has been giving opportunities for our students to practice the skills required to be an effective team player.  Now there is a 'hub' are where group activities can take place, with (and without) direct teacher supervision.  This provides amazing opportunities for collaboration for teachers and students.  

It has been very interesting to see the large covered deck area being so popular during class time and during breaks.  Teachers have commented on how great it is to have an area where students can take themselves to complete a task independently.  This is reinforced by our teacher only day with Mike Scaddan.