Russell Street School=AWESOME

WOW…I am blown away by the Russell Street School in Palmerson North, New Zealand. The standout feature of this school is the system wide adoption, buy-in, and implementation of blogging as a learning tool. It isn’t one or two teachers focusing on using the tool, but rather the entire system consistently using it in an impressive manner.

One of the awesome things about their implementation is that the teachers definitely have a higher level of technical capabilities as a whole than what I regularly see in the United States. This must come from one of their belief system’s stating, “We believe in providing intensive, well funded whole school professional development (or professional learning) programs." They also host Apple Bus Tours that introduce their entire school community to a variety of technologies.

I also like the variety of ways teachers integrate blogs in their classrooms. This shows me there is a certain level of freedom for teachers to use blogs in a way they see as beneficial. Enough freedom in fact that teachers are allowed to choose the blogging platform they are most comfortable with. This is important because it allows the teachers to buy into the use of the tool, and be able to be creative in the integration with their students.

Blog uses I noticed while visiting the site:

· Reflection

· Creative writing

· Discussion

· Home work postings

· Reporting on local and world wide current events

· Multimedia production

· Postings on best practices in education

· Communication tool with parents

· Student showcase

Wrapping up the post, the Street Talk Blog is amazing! Street Talk is a, “Show made by R9 which is a Year 6 class at Russell Street School in Palmerston North. The show is produced every 2 weeks and is based around what is happening at Russell Street School.” The production qualities of the episodes rival anything I have ever seen from students of this age. Their storyboarding, script writing, presentations, editing, music selection, and basically anything that goes into these posts is very well done. This is an impressive reflection on all stakeholders with this school. I look forward to following Russell Street's posts in the future, and use it as an example of what our students are capable of.