Earlier in 2022 I was in Robert Raynes’ Year 7-8 class in Howick Intermediate (a decile 9 school in Howick, Auckland) when I noticed some very attractive and interesting student texts hanging from the ceiling. I asked Robert (a provisionally registered teacher) what they were about and he introduced me to a picture book called My Shadow is Pink by … Read More
Taylor McGrath is in his third year of teaching and works at Howick Intermediate which is a medium-sized decile 4 school in East Auckland. He is currently working with a diverse group of 30 students from a range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The Love of Writing & Music Taylor loves teaching writing and he loves listening to contemporary music. … Read More
I had the pleasure of working at Raroa Normal Intermediate (in Johnsonville, Wellington) for two days at the end of last term, modelling good practice in classrooms. At the end of my second day, one of the teams (Whai Wahi, led by Ethan Porteous) invited me to an after-school display in the hall that they had put together based on … Read More
I was astounded by the quality of a set of stories written by Year 1-2 students at Merrin School (situated in Christchurch; decile 8; a high proportion of ESOL students) and asked the teacher (Jeanne Coker) how they had been motivated. Jeanne talked enthusiastically about the importance of play-based learning in their school and how she had developed Learning /Ako … Read More