Russell Street School (My Impression)
What an interesting glimpse into the school experience of these lucky little Kiwis. I have three nephews who live in New Zealand and went through the school system, so I was particularly interested in this virtual trip.
Like many of you, I was immediately struck by the cheerful looking students deeply engaged in a variety of learning experiences. The administrators, teachers, and parents of RS obviously value authenticity, creativity, and self-expression and go out of their way to instill these traits in the students.
I found the students' blogs quite endearing. Although they probably don't realize it, these students are learning to become comfortable with writing--something that strikes fear into many a grown-up heart. Their posts may be filled with grammatical and spelling errors, but these students are learning at a young age that their words, and those of their friends, are important and worthy of being shared. As a parent, I know that I would so appreciate these peeks into my children's school days both from their own and their teachers' perspectives.
I agree with you that the the students post give the students ownership and sense of belonging. I can tell that the administration, student,s and teachers take great pride in the success that blogging has brought them in their teaching and learning. How did your nephews like the experience?
ReplyDeleteI've seen quite a few comments about grammatical errors and it made me wonder about when it's appropriate or necessary to but something in place that addresses those kinds of issues with students. It would be extremely time consuming to have to proofread the work of all your students, but perhaps a tool like Grammarly would be a good start especially as a Chrome extension in a 1:1 program.
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