Recommended texts,novels, blogs, videos, articles & more
Renee Cornelius asked CORE staff to provide some of their favourites for your viewing enjoyment over the Christmas holiday period. Here’s the list, divided into categories for your convenience.
Something for everyone
Derek Wenmoth — Director e-Learning
Beyond Prototypes — The Beyond Prototypes report provides an in-depth examination of the processes of innovation in technology-enhanced learning (TEL).
Swimming out of our depth? — Excellent and challenging read that provides some penetrating questions around leadership and professional development with three NZ school case studies.
Karen Melhuish Spencer — e-Learning Consultant
Learning Futures: Education, Technology and Social Change — Drawing on ten years of research into educational innovation and socio-technical change, working with educators, researchers, digital industries, students and policy-makers, this book questions taken-for-granted assumptions about the future of education.
Explore the video stores in Enabling e-Learning's Media Gallery.
Explore Māori Maps (in English or Te Reo) and connect with the ancestral marae of Aotearoa.
Tania Coutts — Blended e-Learning/Early Years Facilitator
iLearn Research and iLearn Research Report —These are great holiday reads on research around iPads in various settings.
EdventureGirl — A very cool website, and definitely a good one for holiday exploring and reading.
Allanah King — Facilitator—Blended e-Learning
eLearnings- Implementing National strategy ICT in Education — read it as an ePub on your Kindle! CORE's own book if you haven't read it already in the hardcopy version.
Ki te Aotūroa—Improving Inservice Teacher Educator Learning & Practice — You can download or order the hardcopy from Down the Back of the Chair for free — mine turned up almost overnight.
Michael Lintott — Digital Media Camera Operator/Editor
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (presciently written in the 1995) features so many themes that I see in my work for CORE: one-to-one devices, the importance of universal access to technology, homogenisation of education, 3D printing and Thinking in 3D, and a few more. It's a pretty hard Sci-fi novel and is about 600 (very dense) pages, but I enjoyed it and I recommend it to anyone wanting to read fiction with a very CORE edge to it. (Adults only.)
Primary/Intermediate
Anne Kenneally — Blended e-Learning Facilitator
Daily 5 and The CAFE Book by Gail Boushey — two inspirational books that have the power to support transformation in your literacy programme. I used both last year and was overwhelmed by the shifts in reading right across the class.
The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller — Both of these books are becoming increasingly read and recommended across NZ. We have recently initiated a presentation as a base for a book-chat around The Book Whisperer and will move onto Reading in the Wild soon. Please join us and share your reading journey!
Chris McLean — Online Facilitator
This sabbatical report by Paul Irving, Principal of Riccarton School, which has just been added to Educational Leaders is well-researched, well-written, and a really worthwhile read. Useful for Primary and Pasifika sectors.
Secondary
Te Mako Orzecki — TKI Channel Support Services, Content Editor
There are some great Te Kete Ipurangi sites for Māori-medium/secondary sectors.
Karawhiua — Great Māori-medium resource. Looks at four topics: Kapahaka, Waka Ama, Matariki, and Manu Korero.
Kei te mōhio anō koe? — A Science-based website with a Māori/English toogle.
Kia Mau — Also has a Māori/English toogle. This site has a Social Sciences/Arts focus, and comes with teachers' notes.
Māori
Janelle Riki — Facilitator
Creating culturally-safe schools for Māori Students — One of my favourites! From the Australian Journal of Indigenous Education.
Tamara Bell — National Facilitator
This blog is awesome. I am an avid follower, as are many of the CORE Māori whānau members and I have learned a lot from reading it. Full of Te Reo lessons, with a strong focus on grammar, but also a lot of simple tips, examples, and humour.
Beth Dixon — Regional Facilitator
This resource really encourages the learning of Te Reo. The explanations are contextual so the learner can see how each phrase or colloquialism can be used in specific situations. I also receive emails now too, which is fantastic!
We both recommend upokopakaru.
Pasifika
Manu Faaea-Semeatu — National Pasifika Facilitator
The Coconet TV is a virtual village that connects Pasifika people in an online community space. Check out video clips of Pasifika artists' short films, information about each of the Pasifika cultures, songs and dances of Pasifika cultures. Highlights includes some hilarious fashion and lifestyle tips with a Pasifika twist.
Inspired by the artform of spoken word poetry, this digital story highlights the collective voices of secondary school Pasifika students and their learning experiences connected to teachers' perceptions of them. A powerful example of student voice.
Anae (2010) Anae is the one-stop shop to read about how Pasifika methdologies have been articulated in the research of Pasifika Education. Identity is explored and the concept of Teu Le Va explains how Pasifika researchers work collectively in relationship spaces.
Celebrating Gifted Indigenous Roots: Gifted and Talented Pacific Island (Pasifika) Students, Faaea-Semeatu (2011). Rather than focusing on a deficit model of Pasifika underachievement, Faaea-Semeatu (2011) explores a culturally affirmative model through the concepts of Pasifika giftedness. The cultural identifiers are notions that are inherent in Pasifika families and communities and schools may not necessarily see the strengths of their Pasifika learners in the classroom, because Pasifika giftedness is more readily seen at home and in Pasifika communities.
Early Childhood
Ann Hatherly — National Facilitator, and the Early Years Team
Key competencies, assessment and learning stories— This DVD has just been released by NZCER. It looks at the way Learning Stories are being used in schools to assess Key Competencies. For ECE teachers it will provide a fresh take on Learning Stories and narrative assessment. Highly recommended.
Samskaara Academy — A Facebook page I love to 'like'. Samskaara Academy is an eco-friendly early childhood centre and school in Coimbatore, South India, which prioritises holistic and authentic learning. Their Facebook page profiles their approach well through photos and small descriptions.
National Quality Standard PLP's notes— If you know the Australian early childhood academic and consultant Anne Stonehouse's work you are bound to enjoy this. Anne writes a short provocative piece each Friday called 'What do you think?'. A quick read about everyday issues for busy teachers, which really make you think!
Whakawhetu — Sometimes our best support for the future of education comes from looking to the past. This report helps us do precisely that. It provides a well-researched and rich picture of traditional Māori child rearing practices with lots of pointers on how we might better cater for Māori children in educational settings today.
Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley — If you haven't seen this video yet I suggest you put your feet up with a glass of whatever pleases you and reflect on what Ken suggests needs to change in early childhood education in Aotearoa/New Zealand starting 2014.