Blog Archives

Using learning from home tools in the face-to-face space

28/5/2020

During COVID-19, teachers were abruptly thrown into the online learning world and many had to quickly upskill both themselves and their students. New technology skills, resources, collaborations and interactions emerged, largely thanks to teachers’ creativity, passion and resilience.

As schools re-commence face-to-face teaching, this is an opportunity to identify and continue to use the digital tools which support engaging learning environments and interactions between you and your students.

This short, easy-to-read guide has some ideas for ways you could continue to use those tools in the face-to-face learning space, including:

- teaching practice
- online presentation and communication
- screen recording
- online learning activities
- collaboration and group work
- virtual tours
- online assessment notification and support
- evidence of learning
- feedback techniques
- virtual statewide staffroom and online meetings.

learning_from_home_tools_in_the_face_to_face_space-final.docx
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A guide to assessment FOR learning in Stages 4 and 5

27/5/2020

As students return to school in Term 2, student assessment continues to be an important tool for identifying student progress, designing your next steps and reporting. This guide addresses the different ways to use assessment FOR learning, with one of the focuses being on how it can be used to inform reporting.

Content:
- What is assessment? (a quick refresher)
- Assessment FOR learning – getting to know your students and planning the next steps
- Ways to use assessment FOR learning
- Planning your journey – the link between assessment FOR and assessment OF learning
- Digital tools
- Advice as students return to school (post COVID-19)
- Reflection

a_guide_to_assessment_for_learning-er-270520.pdf
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New languages K-6 resources

25/5/2020

New learning sequences and student workbooks for Early Stage 1 to Stage 3 are now available on the Learning from home page. These resources are samples that teachers may adapt to their language specific area to meet the needs of their students and local contexts.

Early Stage 1 – my favourite toy
· Learning sequence - my favourite toy Early Stage 1 (DOCX 78KB)
· Student workbook - my favourite toy Early Stage 1 (DOCX 152KB)
Stage 1 – my dream home 2
· Learning sequence – my dream home 2 Stage 1 (DOCX 48KB)
· Student workbook –my dream home 2 Stage 1 (DOCX 1.8MB)
Stage 2 – about me
· Learning sequence – about me Stage 2 (DOCX 73KB)
· Student workbook – about me Stage 2 (DOCX 110KB)
Stage 3 – caring for the environment 2
· Learning sequence – caring for the environment Stage 3 (DOCX 50.7KB)
· Student workbook – caring for the environment Stage 3 (DOCX 484KB)

Back to school – a beautiful read for the weekend

22/5/2020

We have collated your responses to our back to school thread, and we have never seen greater evidence of how amazing you all are, what good hands our students are in, and how totally across every situation you are, even some of the crazy ones thrown at you over the last 2 months.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and thank you for being utterly amazing. It's a heartwarming read.

Latin teacher needed - immediate start

21/5/2020

Where: James Ruse Agricultural High School at Carlingford
Start date: As soon as possible
End date: Friday 3rd July (end Term 2)
Classes: Years 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12
Contact: Frank Federico (Head Teacher) on 98717126

Virtual staff meeting (Monday 25 May) cancelled

20/5/2020

Due to yesterday's announcement that students will be returning full time from Monday 25 May, we are cancelling the virtual staff meeting we had planned for Monday afternoon, 25 May 2020.

We are still planning ongoing support for you – we are currently developing advice on assessment FOR learning, and we're also liaising with Google experts to run a Google version of the session Megan Townes ran for us recently on Microsoft tools. Watch this space for details.

Just like you – we're rolling with the punches and responding to current needs. Please let us know if there's something else you need – we're here to help.

Continuers text types updated on our website

20/5/2020

We're not sure if you'd noticed, but when the DoE's website moved platforms over the January holidays, we discovered the new platform did not allow foreign characters, or even things like apostrophes or long (en) dashes. Instead, it turned all these things into question marks. Very frustrating!!

We have been trying ever since to fix the problem, and we're nearly there! The Continuers text types information has now been added as Word documents - easier to download and use with students! Thank you for your patience during this frustrating period.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/key-learning-areas/languages/s6

Asia Society newsletter

20/5/2020

The Asia Society newsletter has arrived, with information you may find useful.

At-home adventures through Asia
Join adventures through the diverse cultures of Asia via at-home lessons and activities for learners. These adventures assist in building cross-cultural understanding between the East and West, sparking curiosity about Asia and fostering cultural empathy. There are adventures in China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Korea. The adventures can be found on the Asia Society website.

Virtual NCLC 2020
The National Chinese Language Conference (US) will be held online from 24-26 June 2020. The conference is accessible globally and is free for all attendees. Registration instructions and conference details are available on the conference website.

Students are returning to school – what are your plans?

20/5/2020

With yesterday’s announcement that students will return full-time from Monday, things are going to be interesting. What are your plans for Monday and beyond? We’d like to start a thread here, so you can all see what other schools are planning.

We don't want it to be onerous - we just thought it would be a good idea to check in with each other and see what your colleagues are feeling and planning.

Considerations for the thread:

- How are you feeling about students returning full time?
- What are you most looking forward to?
- Do you have any strategies to share about how to manage change?
- Are there new strategies and/or resources that you implemented during learning from home that you will continue with in your teaching and learning programs?
- With Stages 4-5, will you start afresh with a new unit? Or will you continue on with finishing the unit students were working on at home?
- How will you assess where students are up to in their learning?
- Will you consider a stronger focus on assessment FOR learning activities?
- Are your Stage 6 students on track?

You can reply in our virtual statewide staffroom or you can reply by leaving a comment here. If you're receiving this via email, click on the link at the top of this post, and it will take you to our blog, where you can leave a comment.

Staffing update – part 2

19/5/2020

Hot on the heels of yesterday's staffing update, the Languages and Culture team is very excited to learn that Shanelle Ingram will be joining us for 3 years. We're so excited to have such a great team continuing to provide support to language teachers in NSW public schools.