Anne

Module One and Two
Mod 1& 2 down and 8 to go! Well it has been an interesting start. It began with my mobile phone alarm not going off and being 'saved' by my husband ringing me at 7.08 am to say hi. Thinking it was my alarm, which was set to go off at 5.28am, I thought I would just snooze another 5 minutes, but thank god I glanced at the time. So he didn't get a pleasant, "good morning dear". It was peppered with a few expletives and I was on my way. So I raced around and managed to get out the door at 7.55am. That's a record for me. So then I thought, it's all cool, I've made up the time. And I'm organised, I have my map from Whereis. Then my plan to get to the venue at 8.00am went up in smoke the minute the reception girl sent me in the wrong direction up the highway. Not being able to find the main road that I needed to turn up because it was being 'hidden' by major road works didn't help. So here was little old me tottling up and down Princes highway, breaking the law constantly because I was calling people on my mobile leaving messages left right and centre trying to get directions. Trudie said I was laughing on the phone, I guess it was a matter of laugh or cry and there wasn't much point crying...I'd only ruin my make up! So 45 minutes later I arrive at the school, just in time to greet everyone as they were walking in. But the day has gone well since then. I must say I had a sense of trepidation knowing that this was the first time that we were running the course with the new updates. We have had a little bit of feedback so far with some liking the new VR activity around the 21st C skills and others finding it hard because of the difficulty in also understanding or accepting the validity of the list of skills. I think the other main challenge that I also felt was the timing of the program. Particularly with the MT program where we are trying to fit everything in. Taking the time to have people register for the wiki and set up their delicious account set us quite a way behind. Also allowing for the inevitable and very valuable incidental discussion also adds time. Personally, I felt a little 'off' today and didn't feel that I was at my best. I think it was a combination of the funny start and a lack of sleep last night. But I will rectify that tonight and am determined to think of all contingencies tomorrow.

Day 2- Modules 3 & 4
Got here well and truly on time this morning so that the day at least started without a rush. Modules 3 is a really interesting session as it challenges us more to think about the notion of questioning and introduces for some and revises for others the concept of Curriculum Framing Questions. I didn't spend a great deal of time on Open and Closed questions as the group was familiar with that concept. I wasn't sure how the cut up activity would go, being the first time we did it but on the whole I think it went well. I think people liked to get out of their chairs and move around. Some groups finished much quicker than others. We had some good feedback with a suggestion that we have some of the text places 'filled' so that there was less confusion for those who weren't familiar. We also talked about other alternatives for the format such as using Flash as an online version of the activity. I think it would be a great idea and would achieve the same outcome. Once we moved on I tried as much as possible to 'hover' and support those in our group to ensure that they were getting their heads around CFQs. On the whole I think this course provides a lot more scaffolds to support the understanding of CFQs. I like the list of big ideas on 3.08 although some questioned its value. We discussed that and after I explained it I think there was a better understanding of the use and validity. I also personally like the activity on 3.09. Again I think it's a very useful activity to refine and clarify understanding. There were a few comments about why we were returning again to the Deeper thinking SR map. But I think that will become clear as we move on. Off for a long trip and a weekend at home.
 * Module 4-** We have come across a few little errors in the Manual. I will forward them to Becky at the end of the course. Assessment strategies and methods and the introduction of the timeline are the positives of this module. Again I don't think that there is anything greatly new here but I do think that here there are new ways to approach and new resources and supports that are very valuable.

Monday- Mod 5 & 6 Trudie and I negotiated that she would take Mod 5 today and I would take Mod 6. Visual ranking, although the easiest tool to get started with still requires some thinking and careful design to ensure it works. It all went well and Trudie took it all in her stride and did a great job. I have checked out the unit plans and I think that one of the things that we must do today is try to build in some solid time to work on the unit plans. I think that our MTs have noticed the difference in the amount of time that participants have to work on their unit plans is substantially less compared to the Essentials course. I think that this is reflected in where everyone is at at the moment in terms of their development of their units.