Catch the Wave

I’ve been travelling around a bit lately.  First came the Nelson ICTPD Conference, then last week I spent 2 days in Palmerston North with 22 school leaders from the eBest ICT Cluster.  Today I was in Tauranga at the Bay of Plenty ICT Clusters home group meeting.   In fact the last six years has been like this for me – lots of meetings, conferences and workshops.  Lots of professional development and learning.  Lots of new ideas and skills.  Change has been constant, necessary and stimulating.  Why do some teachers resist it?   There are times I’ve gone from student (with the Internet as my teacher), to teacher in a matter of days.   Perhaps other ICT Facilitators can relate to this.

ICT Clusters have had an impact on New Zealand education.  They can take a lot (if not all) of the credit for the education renaissance that has has happened during the last six years.  And in true Kiwi style, while we all have a vision and goals, there is no ‘how to ‘, ‘what to’, or ‘when to’ blueprint provided.  And yet we make a real difference – talking to a teacher who hasn’t been in an ICT cluster will prove that.

I’ve been with the eBest ICT Cluster in Whakatane, New Zealand for four months now. Our main cluster goal for 2008 is to develop a thinking programme for each school that reflects the needs of the 21^st century learner. Each term we have a whole day ‘Leaders Think Tank’ and an ‘ICT Lead Teachers Workshop’. This year we are looking at a variety of thinking strategies and ways to implement them in daily classroom practice.

The eBest ICT Cluster website is our sharing and collaborating environment and contributes to our development as a learning community. Here, teachers share their planning and resources and the files reflect the use of Bloom’s Taxonomy, Thinkers keys and Habits of Mind in their teaching practice.
The website URL is www.ebest.co.nz

You don’t need to be a member to use the site and the resources are available for everyone to download free. If you find the resources useful, please add a short post to the eBest Blog. I’d love to hear what you think of the website.