Day 3, MYP Humanities (Individuals and Societies) Workshop

Posted on July 2, 2014 by admin

The last day of the workshop. The group has gelled together well and we now all know where to get the best coffee and how to find our way around. I get so much value out of speaking to other teachers, find out what they do and how they do it.

In this session we had some very useful conversations about different ways of reporting. We compared different reporting software and ways of writing reports.

In the morning Danielle Veilleux came along, she is the IB MYP curriculum and assessment manager for arts, individuals and societies and MYP Projects.

We looked at a sample of student work, marked it and then standardised our results. I must say the Teacher Support Material is very useful. You can find it on the OCC, under “general comments”.

MYP projects & service

Community project is optional, but compulsory if you stop in MYP 4.
Community project is very useful to feed into the MYP Personal Project though.

Continue reading “Day 3, MYP Humanities (Individuals and Societies) Workshop”

Day 2, MYP Humanities (Individuals and Societies) Workshop

Posted on July 1, 2014 by admin

Change management

The day started with a key note address by Robert Harrison, Curriculum Manager for Continuum Development. He addressed challenges and opportunities for change management in schools; very timely since the MYP represents a huge change in everything we do at our school. Continue reading “Day 2, MYP Humanities (Individuals and Societies) Workshop”

Day 1, MYP Humanities (Individuals and Societies) Workshop

Posted on June 30, 2014 by admin

It’s a cold Melbourne morning, about 400 people have come to Mt Scopus for a series of 3-day MYP workshops. The room for the Individuals and Societies workshop is very full, mainly Australian teachers with a few teachers from the wider Asia Pacific. I’ll be tweeting and blogging as I go, it’s how I take notes and think.

As is usual, we start off with some ice breakers, and it’s not long before the yellow post-it notes and the butcher’s paper appears on our table.

We’re looking at the evolution of the different models. I think it’s becoming very multi-layered; dimensions within dimensions, is it too much?

Continue reading “Day 1, MYP Humanities (Individuals and Societies) Workshop”

Critical Thinking (Coursera #1)

Posted on January 27, 2014 by admin

I am enrolled in the Coursera Course “Critical Thinking in Global Challenges” by Professor Mayank Dutia, Dr. Celine Caquineau from Edinburgh University. It is good to see how a MOOC is run and the course contains great videos and some very stimulating reading materials. I can already see how I can apply these skills to improve my students’ essay writing skills. Critical thinking means to gather and assess information in a logical, balanced and reflective way to reach conclusions justified by reasoned arguments based on the available evidence…. That to me sounds exactly like what a good IB History Essay should be like.

I hope to write some more posts about what I am learning. Here is the first one:

Essential Concepts in Critical Thinking

Fact: something which can be demonstrated to be true
Assertion: something that is held to be true, but which has not been, or cannot be, actually demonstrated to be true
An argument: a series of logical statements, leading to a fair conclusion, with reasons offered to support the conclusion.
A valid argument: is based on one or more premises (starting points), which may be facts, observations, or assumptions.
Premise: a previous statement or proposition from which another is inferred or follows as a conclusion. Continue reading “Critical Thinking (Coursera #1)”

HTAV Conference, Keynote speech: Richard Broome on Aboriginal History

Posted on July 26, 2013 by admin

Richard Broome, keynote speaker

Below are my notes taken during Richard Broome’s keynote. I picked up some interesting things, it was interesting to learn about the “history of Aboriginal history”. He referred to Guns, Germs and Steel, which is always good. I must say that Richard Broome’s style of delivery was a tad old-school, a long stream of interesting but rapidly delivered information; typical history professor! I think ‘learned’ people like this need to transfer their considerable knowledge in a more lively, engaging manner, this is taking me back to my uni days!

Notes: Continue reading “HTAV Conference, Keynote speech: Richard Broome on Aboriginal History”

#Histedchat 08/05/13: Teaching 20th Century Wars

Posted on May 8, 2013 by admin

Hi all, thanks again for the great conversation. I tried to make a Storify but it again did not work for me, so I just pasted all the tweets from http://tweetchat.com/room/histedchat# below. It’s probably easier to read this way anyway. Look forward to our next chat!

vanweringh Anyone can moderate a #histedchat, pick a topic or set up a poll. Post the archive on our wiki: http://t.co/4LwlQw5Zww -9:31 PM May 8th, 2013

HistoryNeedsYou RT @CatherineRHart: @HistoryNeedsYou in Aus – borrow a memorial box – gr8 artifacts http://t.co/nLJnDvphr8 #histedchat -9:31 PM May 8th, 2013

bilbolewis @vanweringh @CatherineRHart and everyone – Thanks for tonight’s #histedchat. Now need to finish dishes & school lunches! -9:31 PM May 8th, 2013

historyboy77 RT @vanweringh: Here are all my Diigo links on WW2: http://t.co/HItLDzF4XI and WW1: http://t.co/xUju2oRovz #histedchat -9:30 PM May 8th, 2013
Continue reading “#Histedchat 08/05/13: Teaching 20th Century Wars”

#Histedchat: Critical Thinking

Posted on February 7, 2013 by admin

Below are all the tweets in the 06/02/13 chat.

Edmodo code: 73gc5n Please join and share your links and resources there

sallyluane Thanks for the #histedchat chat. -9:35 PM Feb 6th, 2013

MattJJSchultz RT @BakEsteR1984: #histedchat What a buzz, I love being a part of this community. So many amazing ideas. Thanks again everyone, awesome chat tonight. -9:34 PM Feb 6th, 2013

MattJJSchultz @BakEsteR1984 Could’t agree more. #HistEdChat moves @ lightning speed, with some many brilliant ideas from quality history educators. -9:34 PM Feb 6th, 2013

BartramGiles #histedchat yes thanks everyone, always a privilege to hear what this community thinks -9:34 PM Feb 6th, 2013

vanweringh #histedchat You are all clearly critical thinkers! Gotta go now, Attend to my family and myself. Thanks again for the stimulating discussion -9:34 PM Feb 6th, 2013 Continue reading “#Histedchat: Critical Thinking”

#Histedchat: Critical Thinking in the History Classroom

Posted on February 6, 2013 by admin

Tonight’s #Histedchat is about Critical Thinking in the History Classroom.

Edmodo code: 73gc5n Please join and share your links and resources there.

Three questions to guide our discussion:

How do you define CT?
How do you foster CT in your classroom? (share resources, tips, links?)
Are essays the only way to assess CT in the History classroom?

This site: http://www.criticalthinking.org/ contains amazing resources, articles and ideas.

Excellent introduction to critical thinking in History by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Library‐Archives Division, 2005. Click here for original PDF. Continue reading “#Histedchat: Critical Thinking in the History Classroom”

Making change happen, workshop with Michael Fullan.

Posted on November 30, 2012 by admin

Today I attended a full day workshop with Michael Fullan, expert on Change Leadership in education. We were provided with an informative booklet full of articles and ideas. There was in fact so much information that I reached saturation point at the end of the day. Below are some of my thoughts and pick-ups.

What works (in Change Leadership):

Focus
Capacity building
Consistency of practice
Learning from each other
Leadership that obsesses with points 1 – 4.

Teaching like a pro means:

Continuously inquiring into and improving one’s own teaching.
Planning teaching, improving teaching and often doing teaching as part of a high performing team. Continue reading “Making change happen, workshop with Michael Fullan.”

A little Storify of #MYP Humanities workshop tweets

Posted on September 26, 2012 by admin

ThinkEdu Blog

Thinking, Learning, Teaching by @vanweringh

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