End of the Road for 2014

Three heads were better than one  for Charlotte, Annabelle and Edward when it comes to trying to solve one of the ISC's puzzles. A  puzzle left on our circulation desk this week caused much interest.

This will be the last post for 2014. This year there have been  seventy four posts  and I hope that you have found many of them  worthwhile resources for your  own professional learning. There are now four years' of archived posts that can be accessed from the right hand side of this blog. You can also do a search for topics by using the search box which is on the top  left hand  side.
I wish everyone a very happy, restful and safe  Christmas break and I look forward to resume blogging in 2015.

Top Learning Tools For 2014

Each year,  Jane Hart releases her "Top Tools For Learning" List.This is her 8th Annual learning Tools Survey compiled from votes of over 1000 learning professionals in workplace learning and education from 61 countries. The top tool for the 6th year running is Twitter with YouTube and Google Docs following close behind.

Free online tools and social networks dominate the list for independent personal learning and building professional learning networks (PLN)

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2014 from Jane Hart

Good Reading Magazine

This is a reminder to all members of our school community that  they can access  24/7, the online version of the Australian Good Reading magazine via the  front page of the ISC's Virtual Library space.
 The December issue has a compilation of their 34 books that earned 5 star reviews and it also checks out what is likely to be "big" in 2015. Their feature article "Readable English" is also worth checking out as it is about  a new program that could revolutionise reading.
Click on the link to go to the ISC Virtual Library space. ISC Virtual Library

SeeMe:Tackling Body Image Issues

Body image is an important issue for our society and the  Queen Victoria Womens' Centre has recently  developed a fantastic online  resource  called SeeMe. It is designed to empower young people in relation to body imagery in the media. Although it is aimed primarily at  Year 8 English classes  it could easily be used in  PD activities or other levels as well.. It contains five modules that include:

• body image
• fashion and cosmetics
• gender stereotyping
• healthy lifestyle choices
• ethics in advertising

The modules include quizzes, image analysis and opportunities for discussion and creativity.

Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to our  2014 Year 7 and 8 students who have completed their 2014 Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge having read well over 3,000 over two year levels. They received their certificates in  Week 7 acknowledging  that they have read over fifteen books.

Josh Strauss in 8D  took out the prize for having the read the most books overall – 124 books.  Josh also helped his class to victory with 8D taking out the prize for reading the most as a class – 586 books. This will be the second year this class of exemplary readers shall take out this prize. Congratulations, 8D.

Once again convenor, Joy Reid, has done a fabulous job keeping this six month program alive and she plays a key role in promoting a reading culture at our Garnsey campus. Many of our students have read voraciously during this challenge and the twelve students who read over fifty books
celebrated their achievements at a Chinese Luncheon held at the Gippsland Dragon on the 20th November.