Microsoft Innovative
Teachers Awards 2007
Andrew Lord
Supporting Documentation
Examples of Innovative Practice
Yr One / Yr Two
Local Heritage
project
Now you are at
Spence
A multiliteracies project involving children in researching
and presenting information about important places in the
local area. See more…
The Hobyahs – an
Opera
An opera written and recorded by children in the class for
end of year performance. See more…
Anti Bullying
Videos
A set of videos written and performed by children in the
class as a strategy to raise awareness of bullying in the
school yard. See more…
A CD-ROM providing information and resources for parents
of Spence Children. See more...
Anti-bullying videos
• Children related their own experiences of bullying in the
yard. These experiences were used to write stories about
bullying.
• The children's stories were used as the basis for a series
of videos about bullying.
• The videos were used to generate class discussion and
as a basis for staff T & D.
• The videos were made available to other classes for their
own programme.
• See samples here
Anti-bullying video samples
•Two examples of the anti-bullying videos created with the
children (compressed from original videos)
•In the first a girl has her ball stolen by bullies. When she tries
to get it back the bullies complain about her to the duty teacher
and the little girl gets into trouble
•In the second two boys are playing in the sandpit. A bully
demands their toys. When they say “Stop it – we don’t like it.”
he ignores them and continues his bullying. The two boys run
away and the bully is left with the toys.
•In both stories the children’s stories showed a realistic view of
school yard bullying and generated much discussion about
possible strategies and ways of stopping bullying.
The Hobyahs – an Opera
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With the class I wrote an opera based on an old English folk tale.
We researched various forms of the story using the internet and the library before
writing our own version using the bits we liked best.
Using ideas from the children I wrote a libretto for the opera
Using various composition and recording softwares I wrote the music, arranged it and
mixed it with recordings of the children singing. All this was done with a normal
classroom computer.
Midi files and texts were placed on line so children could rehearse their parts at home
We staged the opera and rehearsed it, performing it for the entire school, the local
kindergarten and other Junior Primary classes from the other schools on the campus
as well as a gala evening performance for parents and invited guests.
All children received a CD of the opera Soundtrack as a memento of the performance.
Hear extracts from the Opera recording here…
The Hobyahs – audio extracts from
the Opera recording
Evening prayer
The little girl settles down for bed. But before she
does she says her prayers, not knowing that the
Hobyahs are nearby and ready to strike.
You look juicy
Having captured the little girl the Hobyah King
prepares to eat the old man and the old woman
Hobyah prayer
After all the excitement the Hobyahs settle down
to bed. But before they do they say their prayers
Chorale
The Hobyahs have been defeated and the little girl
rescued. There is general rejoicing
Year One / Year Two Heritage
project.
• Children identified six places of significance in
the local area.
• Using a variety of digital resources they
researched the history and significance of these
places and prepared e-texts of their findings
• See examples of the children’s work here…
Heritage project work samples
The class researched the local history and built heritage of Aberfoyle
Park. This resulted in a CD-ROM which was placed in the Council
Library’s Local History Resource room.
Children chose six places of significance in the local area. They visited
the sites, documented them photographically, used internet research,
spoke to local historians and accessed Local Government records in
order to discover information about the history of the six sites.
The video samples given here (both heavily compressed from the
originals) was made by the children. The first shows our school campus
as it was in 1982 (the year it opened) and as it is now. The second
shows the oldest home in Aberfoyle park (the homestead built by the
original settler) as it has changed through the years
Parent Resource CD-ROM
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As a part of the Spence Early Years Literacy programme I prepared a CD of
resources for parents.
This followed on from an earlier CD I had prepared entitled “Starting School
at Spence”
“Now you are at Spence” is a parent resource CD-ROM containing school
policies, parenting information, reading resources, software, texts of
children’s novels for shared reading, holiday ideas, community information
and web links.
At Spence we believe that children’s literacy is enhanced when they share
rich and interesting experiences with adults. The CD has been distributed to
all families of Reception to Year Three children in the school to support
parents and give them information and materials to allow them to provide
their children with a greater range of these experiences.
See a sample here
Now You Are at Spence
Find out about the Literacy Programme at Spence
Find out about helping with your child’s Literacy
Print some useful resources
Get free books to read to your child
Read some parenting guides
Load free software onto your computer
Get some ideas for Holiday activities
Visit some useful websites
Install an open source PDF reader onto your Computer
A presentation of Spence Primary School
Aberfoyle Park Campus
Ph: 8270 4222
Useful Resources
A reading diary
The Homework Game
Card Games for Children
Some School values
Eight steps to a happy student
Six ways of looking at a problem