Ministry of Done

You always knew as a teacher you were a bit of a catch. And here’s some more proof from the Guardian to remind your love ones why you are so fabulous – Fancy learning a thing or two about love? 19 reasons to date a teacher

Only 19 reasons?!??!?

We’ve thought of a few more -

We have high immunity to bugs and ills thanks to our students.

We are really good at only going to the toilet at set times during the day.

We can plan a days worth of “fun” activities – think camp styles.

We all know there are many more reasons to date a teacher so please tell us your ideas by commenting on here or tweet us so we can collate our own list of reasons to love teachers.

Rita Pierson’s TED talk is one of my favourites. We know the importance of relationships and human connections with our students but I love her passion for her students and their learning. I wish she could have been my teacher because Rita is my kind of superhero. Sadly Rita passed away in June 2013.

My take away from Rita’s TED talk is “Leave a legacy of relationships”. What’s yours?

There are many daily photo challenges out there on the world wide web, from Instagram hashtags, such as, #fmsphotoaday which gives you a daily theme and the Guardian weekly photo challenge. I personally love seeing how people use the same prompt to come up with such varied photos.

It got me thinking about how I could use the photo challenge in my classroom to improve the quality of photos taken by students and also encourage creativity. Students can come up with the theme for the day or week. The theme could relate to classroom learning, things that were happening in the school community, nature or vocabulary extension. With the added bonus that sharing and reflecting on the photos taken would nail Communicating and Interpreting achievement objectives in the The Arts curriculum. You could publish them on your class blog using a slideshow web 2, such as, Photopeach which allows every student’s photo to be displayed and shared with their family.

I also love the idea that you would be creating students who could take quality images of their experiences. It would hopefully put an end to blurry photos of school trips.

If you decide to give the photo challenge idea a go with your class we would love to see their images so please let us know.

Photo credit- Anna Gerritsen. You’ll be amazed to know the theme for that photo was…..flower! Amazing eh?

For many of you it’s the end of your first week of teaching for 2015. Congratulations!

I’m not sure of the selection process for your teaching degree but mine wasn’t quite like this.  As Gerard Butler says “Teaching is a calling”.

Seafood New Zealand has produced a set of 20 Teacher Guides, 10 Student Guides and 10 Fact Sheets that teach science through the lens of seafood.

A combination of educational resources designed to support the teaching of science via the lens of the New Zealand Seafood Industry.  The 5 Fact Sheets included in this collection have been produced in Te Reo Maori to support learning opportunities in bilingual classrooms and kura kaupapa.

Find the full collection of resources here at iTunesU.

Sometimes I get disappointed when I see people trot out the same old assignment year after year.  The old – plan a trip/holiday and work out how much money you would need – is one of the worst.  Why use that same old humbug when there are a million ways to re-invent what is essentially a great kernel of an idea? 5 ways I’d re-invent the “plan a trip” class activity?

Use historypin to create a mapped tour of each location you intend to visit.

Make contact with a school classroom for each stop on your holiday and have them create the itinerary.

Create an itinerary for a journey from a movie you have seen – real or imagined.

Find a person on twitter for each place on your holiday and create a group of twitter advisors for your journey.

Use this amazing Wanderlust Interactive Map as a hook to investigate the theme of journeying.

The Wanderlust Map is awesome – compare and contrast basic source material (and the journey of course) from the great journeys of history – everything from Amelia Earhart to Captain Cook and Moby Dick to the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Understanding numeracy and literacy through the Little Shop Minis programme.

Geothermal Energy for Year 5-9

Senior athletics in full swing! #Maungatautari #Maungakawa #Pirongia #Kakepuku pic.twitter.com/Uanwz6IKs4