From the TBC PL Google+ Community
Auckland GAFE Conference
Registration is open for the GAFE (Google Apps For Education) conference. This is held at Hobsonville Point Secondary School in the Term 1 holidays. Being a Beaker, I intend to go to this (I went to it two years ago and it was really worthwhile). But not just for Beakers, there is something for everyone. If anyone else is interested, please let me know by this Friday (the 12th) as we could put in a small group PD application to share transport and accommodation costs. continue »
Tips, Tricks and Traps
Student Google Account logins
This video is about Student Google Account logins and how you can print out a class set of
labels that has their username (email address) and password. Take note of the updated tip (not in the video)- instead of Internet \ User name to get the student email, if you use General \ Student email – School, this will print out the complete email address with the @taurangaboyscollege.school.nz domain.
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TBC Google Account – Student instructions
Here’s a link to a short presentation you can show on your class projector that has what students need to do to sign in to their school account. The last slide has instructions on joining a Google Classroom
Emailing Letters from KAMAR
Here’s a ‘how to’ guide to email parents from KAMAR. You may want to email the parents 
of your subject classes with course descriptions or as a form teacher to send a general welcome back email. Here is a link
to a step by step text version if you don’t want to watch the video.
More tips and resources @ TBC PL Website
Things that make you go hmmmm….
Editorial: Homework should not be a chore – National – NZ Herald News
Making news in the NZ Herald is homework.
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With the popularity of last BWB’s Star Wars theme, here’s some education based posters. Enjoy!
‘What’s on’ to find out what is happening in the school? Add the TBC Term Diary to your Google calendar by going to 
and leading at four different fairly traditional, fairly engaging, high performing secondary schools, add three years of innovation incubation as part of the establishment Senior Leadership Team at Hobsonville Point Secondary School (HPSS) and throw in a bit of Most Likely to Succeed (documentary and book)?”
Ready to Get Started with Google Classroom? Here’s some tips from Shake Up Learning: “Google Classroom is a free application designed by Google to help students and teachers communicate, collaborate, organize and manage assignments, go paperless, and much more! This is the ONLY application that Google has developed specifically for students and teachers, and they want it to be your go-to assignment …”
collapse the Year 11 timetable to allow for say an English standard to be delivered and assessed within one week) and attempts to have student’s learn in authentic contexts (the student’s built the school’s outdoor furniture at the beginning of the year). They also have open evenings for the community to show the outcomes of student inquires.
another celebration of Star Wars’ return. Type this into Google:
Looking for that killer lesson for this last week with Juniors? Check out the selection of lesson ideas here.
Here is an example of one I use for Maths 
tal assessment is the use of technology for assessment purposes rather than the traditional pen and paper. The use of technology for teaching and learning programmes in New Zealand schools is on the increase and NZQA has developed a digital assessment programme as a response.
o scrap paper-based exams and replace them with digital exams that can be sat ”online, anytime”. NZQA announced earlier this month that it aimed to put all subject examinations – minus a few that are incompatible, such as art – online by 2020.
“Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) attempts to identify the nature of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge. ” Sounds pretty dry right?The point is that we teachers usually have great pedagogical and content knowledge, but usually don’t have great technological knowledge. Do you agree? Is technological knowledge now an essential part of being a great teacher? Click ‘continue’ to take you to the original article.
ve often tried to consistently start my lessons with a ‘Do Now’, mainly for management/routine reasons but also to link in with work we have covered in the previous lesson. This article offers an interesting perspective on ‘Hooks’ that are “more about intrinsic motivation and self-discovery”.
y. They now have a comprehensive online teaching and assessing activities for a range of different uses and abilities. A good staring point is their 
rms some of the programmes here at TBC-rather than wholesale change, we run smaller scale programmes to learn what works best in our context. Click ‘continue’ to read more…
