This week has been the fastest of the sabbatical time and I wanted it to be the slowest as I am at home and I want to do some work on te section, do some school planning, do some IT development (Check out my wiki), put my feet up and listen to music and cook meals.
Tuesday was quite a slow day (first day at home). Leigh went to Gisborne for library PD (on blogs and wikis) and I mooched around at home mainly trying to save some grasses and trees I planted before I left which look as if they've been attacked by hares. However, started the day with a 40 minute run to prepare for the Motu. When Leigh returned I had prepared a nice Singapre style chicken dish.
She shared her learnings about wikis and I spent the next few hours that evening creating my wiki for staff to use to help them with Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. It is continually being updated so check it out on the link on the right and make comments.
The next day Leigh and I travelled to Taupo to watch Lucy and her soccer team at tournament. The standard is very high but they are playing well. Awesome to see her again. Head Girl, Alicia, filled me in on some stuff around the school Ball which Robyn dealt with very well. That night Leigh cooked up an Italian style pasta meal.
Thursday was a bit more productive. After Leigh went to work I went for another 40 minute run and then mowed the lawns. After that I worked on my wiki further.
Have been having some productive thoughts about redesigning the learning spaces in our school and have started to sketch these out a bit. As long as money is no object I reckon we can do quite a bit with the buildings that we have got. More on this later. I am thinking of developing a wiki with my thinkings about developments for the school, including organizational structures, curriculum and buildings. It could be a good way to let people know what I am thinking and get feedback. I prepared a spicy beef and Hokkein Noodles dish for dinner!
Today I went into school for morning tea and to hand out gifts. It was great to be there. The school is going very well and everyone has spoken highly of the work done by Robyn as acting principal with the support of Lea. The Deans, as expected, have been outstanding.
It was great to sit with Robyn and hear about the issues she has dealt with. Many of them have been complex and serious and she has handled them expertly.
I am really excited about the next few years. If we can deal with the sustainability issues for the Senior Management Team then I think we can achieve a lot. Leadership is certainly strengthened across the school and we seem to be placed to move the school along to take advantage of the new curriculum with the support of Web 2.0 tools and a willingness to be open to new ways of doing things.
I brought home a big box of reading stuff to catch up that Robyn saved for me. So far most of it has been straight forward and will be dealt with by the end of next week.
She has made some staffing decisions and has some good ideas on some staffing issues for next year.
I have to now confirm all of the details for the visit in just over 1 week to Brisbane by myself and four staff.
No comments:
Post a Comment