by I spent the past two glorious weeks in-residence at Westbourne Grammar School, outside of Melbourne, Australia. It was a pure joy having such a spectacular canvas on which to paint. The spirit of Westbourne’s leadership and faculty welcomed me, as well as my ideas, for how to propel their already fine school into the future. I have no question that they have the potential to become a global model for what school can be. I can’t wait to return to Truganina!
Some highlights of my residence:
- Teaching in their beautiful Reggio-inspired preschool twice
- Offering two family workshops, one in micro:bit engineering and another in computation, maths, and design
- Teaching symbolic programming, linguistics, and probabilistic thinking to 240 8th graders for an entire day
- Meeting with the insanely impressive middle school AI Club and senior school tech clubs
- Collaborating with art and maths teachers to teach sixty 7th graders for several hours
- Presenting a vision of progressive education for the entire junior school faculty
- Designing curricula with brilliant colleagues
- Leading a hands-on physical computing workshop for 3rd-6th graders
- Spending a day teaching 200+ 7th graders robotics and engineering with the Hummingbird Robotics Kit
- Teaching geometry to 3rd graders at the school’s satellite campus
- Leading a day-long teacher masterclass on the project of projects
- Brainstorming the design of their new middle school
- Meeting with the heads of academic departments & school executive committee
- Leading an inspirational talk about learning-by-doing for the senior school faculty
- Checking-out the school’s jazz bands
The school did a lovely job of documenting my residency. Please enjoy the video, text, and video below. Read my previous diary entries here and here.
If you are interested in having me in-residence at your school, click here.
Last Thursday, Gary Stager, Ph.D. hosted a fantastic parent workshop focusing on the fusion of art and mathematics. It was a great opportunity for parents, teachers, and students to come together and explore diverse ways of thinking and learning. The workshop aimed to create an environment where students can blend analytical, creative, and interdisciplinary approaches to unlock new pathways for innovation, problem-solving, and holistic understanding. Participants spent the evening using TurtleArt, a programming tool that allows for the creation of interesting artworks and bridges the gap between art and mathematics.
Last week we concluded an incredible two weeks with our residency with Gary Stager, Ph.D. From engaging workshops to strategic planning sessions, it’s been a whirlwind of creativity and collaboration with staff, students, and parents. The week started with a Year 7 creativity day, followed by an academic executive strategic planning session before uniting our Williamstown and Truganina students together for a Year 3-5 creativity day. The week concluded with a family workshop delving into art and mathematics before ending the residency with a Year 3 coding workshop at our Williamstown campus. Thank you to all staff for embracing such an innovative initiative and to those who made the residency possible including program-led Director of Teaching and Learning Jeremy Otto, Deputy Head of Junior School Emma Watters, Deputy Head of Senior School Paul Rose, Head of Junior School Andrea Elliott and Head of Williamstown Campus Mario Chrisanthou for the support throughout the last two weeks. A special thanks to Gary Stager, Ph.D. for enriching our campuses with your expertise and empowering our young learners to engage in authentic, hands-on learning experiences.
Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer – Forward 50, co-author of Invent To Learn — Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, and the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. He led professional development in the world’s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about Gary here.