Spreading the News

Emma and Caitlin worked on this news presentation during our Learning Leaders Project during Term 4 of 2008. The idea was to take a field of interest and work out a way to share their thoughts and ideas with an audience, so that they could "Make A Difference".

While most of the children choose to focus their attention on school based projects, (such as writing and art competitions or teaching younger students a skill), these two students used their time to research about the quality of Christchurch's drinking water. Their work was inspired by recent news articles about the damage residents are causing to the Avon River.

Again it was great helping out the students in any way that I could, but these two needed little help from me! They were so interested in their topics, that they chose to work during their free time to gather the information they needed. They contacted the City Council and spoke to experts about the problem at hand as well as researched using the library and internet to gather the facts they needed to back up their points.

In 2007 Kiri Anngow spent a lot of time working with the children to create a short movie about safety in and around our school. This opportunity ingnited the imaginations of several students who banded together in 2008 to create a zombie movie! They used the skills learnt previously and independently created "The Zombie Premise"

As a teacher, it was incredible to see the passion and excitement that these students brought to their learning. During their Karawhiua time the children negotiated with me to find time to write the script, (using Googledocs) create 3D graphics of props (using Googles SketchUp), write the musical score and theme music, (using Garageband), and film the scenes using equipment they brought from home.

I really enjoyed helping the students create this movie, but what was obvious was how little help they needed from me. This was really an exercise in letting the students' passion develop. Other children, who had not been involved with Kiri's class, also caught the bug and where keen to be involved in the making of the movie.

The student's, obviously proud of their creations, invited the school to watch their premier during the scond to last week of school. The Village was packed and after two showings the audience was finally satisfied!

How does Karawhiua help our learning?

Some of the students investigated this question as part of their Inquiry last year. These are their results:
Wilson said, "It helps us out so much, because you have the freedom to choose what you want to focus on. Even though we need to complete other learning in the classroom, we choose when we want to do this. I find it lets me focus more of my time on the stuff I want to learn about."

Molly’s and Asher’s answer was that it helps us learn to manage our time and you get more choice in what you want to learn.