This is the Wellington Loop VLN reflection for Milestone 4. The reflection focuses on two of our programme goals - building teacher capability in facilitating authentic community projects as the basis for powerful learning and building a community of confident, connected and reflective practitioners who willingly share their inquiries and reflections with an audience beyond the Wellington Loop Trust cluster. It includes comments from the teachers involved.

1. Wellington
Loop
www.wellingtonloop.net.nz

2. About our cluster
Second year of cluster
Regional cluster
Context: Lead teachers, Loop
trustees/principals, attendees of
conference/professional development.

3. What is the Wellington Loop?

4. Programme outcome 5:
To build teacher capability in facilitating authentic
community projects as the basis for powerful learning
Two projects
War Memorial project with Ministry of Culture and Heritage
WGC Tech Angels liaison with Thorndon School‟s Geeks on
Feet

5. Research framework
Sylvia Martinez, GenYES work

6. War Memorial project

7. Stephen (Teacher involved
with MCH project)
The war memorial project has been an authentic
example of learning beyond the classroom. It
has been an excellent way for students and teachers
from a number of schools to make contact with each
other. People such as Gregor Fountain and Steve
Watters have given valuable guidance and insightful
perspectives. The girls have gained a lot through their
connection with the National War Memorial and the
National Archives. They have been largely self-
directed in filming and researching; I have been
impressed with the level of ownership they have
developed for the project.

8. Angels meet Geeks

9. Interview
Student reflection (Kimberley)
On Thursday the 29th of September, Mr McClymont and I – as representatives of Tech Angels,
were invited to a meeting at Thorndon School. Like Wellington Girls‟ College, Thorndon
School is part of the Wellington Loop, a “learning community of schools connected by a high
speed fibre optic cable”.
Thorndon School, has its own ICT group called „Geeks on Feet‟ which is a group of 10
students, aged from 7-12 who help support ICT in their school. The purpose of the meeting
was to inspire the students and get them thinking about what they could do in their school to
enhance what they currently do and possibly incorporate some of the ideas we shared with
them, such as running competitions and fun activities during group sessions.
The Geeks on Feet had a prepared list of questions for us. These included things such as -
What my role was as a Tech Angel? What kind of fun things we do? What keyboard shortcut
commands and applications we enjoyed using, to how many computers we had in our
school?...
For me personally- this visit allowed me to see how there is a much bigger focus on the
use of technology at primary schools nowadays and in particular the use of computers
in learning. This is a big change from when I was at primary school just 7 years ago, when
computers were hardly used to assist with learning.
I was really impressed by how keen and tech savvy the students at Thorndon School were
and their desire to learn from what we had to offer.
I think the meeting was a brilliant idea and believe other schools and those within the
Wellington Loop could also benefit from sharing their knowledge and ideas in this ever-
changing technological world.

10. Angels and
Geeks

11. Programme outcome 6:
To build a community of confident, connected and reflective
practitioners who willingly share their inquiries and reflections
with an audience beyond the Wellington Loop Trust cluster.
Activities/projects
Attendance at conferences (L@S, U-Learn)
Presenting at conference (L@S)

12. Research framework
 Leadership building with Geoff Childs
 Distributed leadership
 http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leading-
change/Strategic-leadership/Building-leadership-capacity
 http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUS
EQuarterlyMagazineVolum/GrowingtheNextGenerationofL
ead/163103
 http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/leadership/leadership0
02a.html
 http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/exploringPractic
e/Characteristicsofeffectivepractices/DistributedLeadershi
p.aspx
 SEE folder of pdfs too.

13. ATTENDING
CONFERENCES

14. Kate (Secondary school)
The aspects that I find valuable about going to conference are
-the teaching colleagues one meets and has informal discussions with about issues that we
both have in common. In my role as Specialist Classroom teacher I take especial note of
the ways the presenters present to motivate and inform the participants, and try to
transfer these skills to my own presentations.
-the sharing of resources
-seeing what's new in the world of teaching in the Trade Hall
I have felt inspired to use various presentation tools eg Prezi, Twitter for keeping and
using Google docs for collating surveys for staff and students, also using Google docs for
getting students to complete and submit homework. 2012 is the start of a new year. I feel
way more comfortable using our school's chosen LMS system KnowledgeNet. Over the
past two years my IT knowledge and improved exponentially and I now feel comfortable
tackling any kind of task.

15. Philippa
This was my first time at U-Learn and I found it really inspiring!
Having been weighed down by the implementation of the
new Level 1 standards this year, it was extremely refreshing to
take a step back and look at the big picture - what
are we actually trying to teach our students, and how can we
best give them opportunities to grow in the ways we intend?
Two speakers inspired me hugely and have helped me regain
my enthusiasm and energy for teaching. I am looking forward
to planning a little differently for next year, with greater
confidence in what I personally have to offer my students
and greater confidence to trial new
technologies and ideas. It was also valuable to
meet with other teachers from around the country
and discuss ideas and issues. I think everyone should
experience U-Learn!

16. Collaboration and
preparation for presenting at
Learning @ Schools

17. Tash (Primary teacher)
Working with other schools has helped widen my knowledge about
different systems, ICT tools, and teaching and learning that happens in other
schools. It‟s been great to build relationships with teachers in
other schools, that are now becoming learning communities with my
students involved. For example, when the Thorndon School Geeks on Feet worked
with the Tech Angels from WGC.
Being involved in the Loop, and through networking by having the opportunities to
go to conferences, has introduced me to the VLN. My students benefit
from the resources, conversations and ideas that I’m
exposed to in the VLN. More directly, my students are starting to
learn online through VLN opportunities, and I am also upskilling as I teach
Japanese online. A group of students learnt astronomy online. They were really
engaged with the topic, but also engaged through the medium
of learning online. They developed knowledge about astronomy, but
more importantly, the competencies they were using through this style of
learning, developed greatly. They had to manage themselves, be organised,
communicate well, co-operate with tools and responsibilities and problem solve.

18. Ben (Secondary teacher)
I have found working with Tash and Richard very
rewarding and informative. It has been great to see
how other people are using
technology and to have a chance to sit down
and compare techniques. Having the chance to see
their classes in action has helped me feel like
we are all in it together as teachers,
rather than being different schools just swapping
resources.
It has made me more confident that the
direction we are going with ICT and netbooks is the
right way to go for our students.