Mystery Bus Tour- Literacy sharing.

Last night I had the privilege of joining 100 other Whangarei teachers on a Mystery Bus Tour, organised by the local literacy association.

We toured 3 local schools, 2 primary and an intermediate and had a chance to talk to staff and look through the classrooms, libraries and staffrooms.

What an amazing chance to see what is happening in our neighbouring schools, an opportunity most of us don’t get very often as we get caught up in the busy-ness of our own school day.

The highlights for me were the amazing literacy rich classroom environments displayed in all schools, the adventure learning and self-managed timetables being explored by Simone Gentil at Morningside, and her classroom culture built around the bucket filling concept. 

I also loved the modern learning spaces explained so clearly by Adam at Morningside.

Whangarei Intermediate’s literacy lead teacher Karen Hinge shared her reflective blog and Tracey Allison at St. Francis Xavier’s classroom and blog show how effectively e-learning can enrich a classroom literacy programme.

Such a huge amount of learning is gained when a large group of teachers meet to share, discuss and learn from each other. I can’t wait for the next opportunity to visit new schools and share ideas with other teachers.

How about contacting your local literacy association to see if they already hold or will organise a similar event in your teaching community? 

On a smaller scale - spend a lunchtime at a neighbouring school.

Take one of your staff or team meetings to a neighbouring school and factor in some exploring time.

Run a shared staff meeting with another school(s) and then plan to do this every term with a different school - remember to factor in exploring and sharing time.

 - cross-posted from my update on the ICT in English list serve.