News/Discussion
Poverty Impacts on Learning symposium
At Accent Learning we are very disturbed about the high number of New Zealand children who are vulnerable and at risk. Too often we hear of the barriers created for learning when children are hungry, or tired, or worse.
In an attempt to bring together community leaders, school leaders and other interested parties our Symposium “Poverty Impacts on Learning” will be held on Friday 24th May. Read more and register…
I Cannot Fix You
The sooner authorities stop trying to ‘fix people’s lives’ the better, according to respected educator, Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi. Social agencies too often make matters worse with well-intentioned assistance, because they take the responsibility away from the wider family, she says. Read more…
Have some fun with a diagnostic pseudoword spelling test.
Use this test to find out:
who might be dyslexic
who has trouble writing long vowels correctly
who has trouble with latinate endings. Read more and download test instructions...
Refreshing numeracy skills
Seeing children engaged and enthusiastic about maths is one of the most satisfying outcomes of teachers receiving a ‘refresher’ of their numeracy teaching skills, according to Paremata principal Bryce Coleman. Read more...
Great tool for developing vocabulary
Have you ever searched for successful strategies to help your students develop their vocabulary?
The revised e-asTTle writing rubric provides us with information across a range of written language features, including vocabulary. Read more....
When it comes to PLD every cent has to count
Cherie Arlidge from Redwood School in Tawa, talks about the need to ensure value for money when bringing in external advisers. She says it's not a decision her school takes lightly. "Every cent has to count, and every minute has to count."
But get it right, and someone from outside comes with fresh ideas and a fresh way of looking at things. Read more...
Writing not so boring anymore
Writing has often been seen as boring by school pupils – particularly amongst boys.
Lena Meinders from Newlands Intermediate in Wellington’s northern suburbs says that even with able, clever boys, the attitude was that writing was a tedious chore. “Some of them have said – ‘oh we had to write lots and it didn’t matter how much we did, we had to write more’.”
But Lena says this attitude is now being turned around. Read more...
Teaching Science through literacy
With most of the professional development focus in primary and intermediate teaching going on literacy and numeracy in recent years, other “rich subject areas” have perhaps been a bit neglected, according to Accent Learning’s Helen Jackman.
The tools available to teachers to teach subjects like science, social studies and the arts are not as well developed as those for literacy and numeracy. “Literacy and numeracy have had a tremendous amount of professional development, but the other learning areas haven’t,” she says. Read more...
Workshops let schools make the most of a valuable new writing assessment tool
Teachers are enthusiastic about the newly revised literacy assessment tool, but getting a proper understanding of how to use it through in-school workshops is critical, according to Hutt Central's Martyn Dowman. read more
Manipulating the results
Most of us have access to Microsoft's Excel package, but we barely scratch the surface of it's poweful capabilities for manipulating data. Accent Learning's Jessica Craig has been showing how to get the most out of it. read more
Getting beyond the numbers
With the push to data-driven, evidence-based decision making in schools, it’s important not to lose the people with the metrics. Achievement data is only one measure of performance. read more.