Venue: Management School, University of Waikato
Rooms: MSB1.05
Time: 7.00pm to 9.00pm

Bookings: please download our enrolment form pdf or word document and email it to Amy Barker (admin@elp.co.nz)

You can download our lecture flyer here.

14th February
Being Brave - Overcoming Fear Through the Support of a Trusted Companion
Lecturer: Robyn Lawrence

Researchers claim that from birth, and most likely before birth, babies seek the companionship and engagement of others. If this is so, then in what ways can teachers of babies and young children become trusted companions? Does the companionship of another nurture the tendency to take risks, try out new things and thus shorten the gap that exists between uncertainty and courage?

Venue: MSB1.05, Management School, University of Waikato

13th March
This is Your Life - Learning Stories
Lecturer: Kathryn Delany

Ssh! Don’t tell anyone but Learning Stories is our surprise guest tonight!

In this lecture, we will take a retrospective look at the philosophy and practice of formative assessment in the narrative form that many of us have come to know and love as Learning Stories. In the relational learning world of the 21st century, do Learning Stories still have the power to transform?

Venue: MSB1.05, Management School, University of Waikato

10th April
Why Does My Brain Hurt? A Lighthearted Journey into the World of Adult Learners
Lecturer: Alison Brierley

Picking up the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (Betty Edwards) could be where our story starts; but this is not just a story about drawing. It's about delving into the complexities of being a learner. Why is it so hard sometimes? Drawing on the work of Carol Dweck, Guy Claxton, Byron Katie, Sue Gerhart and others, we will consider our own learning histories and habits.

We will also think about the ways we approach new learning possibilities and whether the environments we teach in are the kinds of environments that foster powerful learning dispositions for teachers.

Venue: MSB1.05, Management School, University of Waikato

8th May
Do You Know Me? - Do Teacher Attitudes Towards Gaming Influence Learning?
Lecturer: Carol Marks

Do we create an environment where the use of ICTs is controlled in ways that are meaningful to teachers but is limiting for children? This lecture provides an opportunity to think more deeply about what we say and do when using ICTs that can impact on learning, using popular culture and gaming.

Venue: MSB1.05, Management School, University of Waikato

12th June
Being a Learner - What Outcomes for Early Childhood?
Lecturer: Prof Margaret Carr (Waikato University)

Margaret will talk about what it might mean to ‘be a learner’ in early education, and consider some of the dilemmas associated with context-free generalisations about this – and with the notion of ‘outcomes’.

She will call on some of the ideas in a recent book written with Wendy Lee on ‘constructing learner identities in the early education’. Her view is that constructing learner identities - in collaboration with children, communities, contexts and colleagues - is an important agenda for teachers. The presentation will look more closely at ‘what is learned’ as the complex intermingling of knowledges and learning dispositions in a range of contexts.

Venue: MSB1.05, Management School, University of Waikato

10th July
Disrupting Conventional Thinking through Sharing Perspectives, Growing Conversations and Deepening Understanding....
Lecturers: Lorraine Sands and Christina Leef (Assistant Principal at Greenpark School, Tauranga)

This lecture explores the growing relationship between Greenpark School and Greerton Early Childhood Centre as we began to listen actively to the passion and commitment that was the motivating force for teachers in each setting. Christina and Lorraine present their perspectives on this journey. We talk about the difference it made to the relationship between our primary and early childhood teachers and the way we began to re-think how we supported children’s learning as they moved from ece into school.

Christina holds a B.Ed, and a Diploma in Teaching (Waikato University). She is Assistant Principal at Greenpark School in Tauranga, a large urban contributing school. Her specialist area is in junior school education with a particular interest in transitioning students into Primary school.

Venue: MSB1.05, Management School, University of Waikato

14th August
The Power and the Passion of the Teacher
Lecturer: Wendy Lee

At the heart of teaching are our relationships. Te Whāriki states this as a central principle and goes on to describe within Ngā Hononga (Relationships): “Adults provide encouragement, warmth, and acceptance. They also provide challenges for creative and complex learning and thinking, helping children to extend their ideas and actions through sensitive, informed, well-judged interventions and support.”

How do we ensure that, as individuals, our power as a teacher is optimised? What do we need to do to ensure that we are the best we can be? This lecture will be an exploration of what it means to be a teacher.  It will explore what theories influence our practice and whether we use these in an intentional way. Understanding our own pedagogy, our beliefs and values, and how these are constantly influencing our teaching, is central to the inspirational teacher. Wendy will share examples of inspirational teachers and processes that build passionate and enthusiastic teachers.

Venue: MSB1.05, Management School, University of Waikato

11th September
Another Year on: A Diary of a Crazy Woman Continued
Lecturer: Julie Killick (Stanmore Bay Kindergarten)

Last year I shared some Stories of Interest from my first year back teaching after working for ELP and talked about the knotty little topic of planning! When I worked as a project facilitator, I met many teachers who were really keen to see real life examples of Planning Stories and how they can be documented, so I thought you would like to see what we have been up to another year down the track in our journey with Planning Stories/Stories of Interest.

This is the diary continued, Mermaids, The Kindness of Children, our ICT journey, enriching our outdoor learning environment, parents as planners, ephemeral art, and stories of other Learning adventures here at Stanmore Bay Kindergarten.

Venue: MSB1.05, Management School, University of Waikato

9th October
Nurturing spaces, thinking places: how do these link in practice?
Lecturers: Greerton Early Childhood Centre - Infants and Toddlers Teaching Team

Alison Gopnik et al. (2001) in How Babies Think: The Science of Childhood says: “Babies think, observe and reason. They consider evidence and draw conclusions, do experiments, solve problems and search for the truth.....even the youngest babies know a great deal about the world and actively work to find out more.” Listening to these thoughts, our questions as teachers of infants and toddlers have been focussed on the ways we work, as a team together, to embed opportunities for our children to continue their active journey to find out more about the world.

This workshop will consider:

• The essential aspects of learning and teaching cultures that support infants and toddlers to be active researchers.
• The structural and process support systems and strategies that enable teachers to nurture strong relational communities of practice.

We present this together to model the way we practice on a daily basis.

Venue: MSB1.05, Management School, University of Waikato

13th November
Welcome to a World of Possibilities: ICT in ECE
Lecturer: Jo Colbert

We live in exponential times! From one week to the next a new communication device comes onto the market; iPads, Kindles, laptops, apps, smart phones... ICT is an expensive investment in your settings. How do you choose what is relevant, what will be a five minute wonder and what will stand the test of time? During 2012 I will be doing some research into how settings are currently using ICT, to support children’s learning and I will be sharing this work in this session.

Venue: MSB1.05, Management School, University of Waikato