Professional Portal for Donna Rudduck

What? Jo asked if I would like to be the Year 5 Technology representative and I decided that this would be great professional development for me. This means that if anyone has a technology question they can come to me and I can try and help them before they need to go to the ICT Dept. I can also share any ICT learning that I am involved in. So What? Because I accepted this role I was offered the opportunity to attend the EdTech Summit 2018 in Auckland in the holidays. I was nervous about this as I didn't think my ICT knowledge was sufficient going into the summit.  However this was a wonderful learning opportunity that presented our group with many professional questions/concerns/development. Many of the group discussions and new learnings created conflict within myself. It made me challenge my pedagogical beliefs and ask questions about the direction our school is heading. These professional conversations within our own team were invaluable and it was great to share ide...

What? After camp we did some PLD on writing within Southwell school. Thinking critically about our practice in the classroom and the effect this has on our students. So What? Key messages on pages 8 and 9 of Effective Literacy Practice 1-4 Teachers matter - and what they do matters Teaching practice can be described as truly effective only when it has a positive and measurable impact on student achievement Students may take many different pathways on their literacy learning we as teachers should have appropriate tools for different students. The quality of our teaching is imperative to achieve results in the classroom. Your teaching practice matters Evidence based teaching practice can make a major difference.   What happens in classrooms through quality teaching and through the quality of the learning environment generated by the teacher and students is key Goal directed literacy instruction. Evidence based. Progra...

What? Term 1 has been challenging. I enjoyed camp again, this is such a great opportunity to get to know your students outside the classroom and they love to see you in another environment as well. They realise you are a real person.  We used our learning at camp to create our Year 5 production. This was quite different this year having new staff helping to develop this. It was also a really quick turn around with 2 short weeks as well. This meant the students had to work really hard in a short time to get the show to performance level. But once again the kids pulled it together and produced a wonderful reflection of their learning. My class did some ANZAC writing using the School Kit box of artifacts. This was such a great opportunity and the class really enjoyed researching real NZ soldiers and linking that information with videos and other data we gathered to write some wonderful poetry. I was so proud of what they produced, once again in a short space of time. I have shar...