User:Robin Kirkham

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=My Profile= I am in the middle of my life and have a wife and two children. I live in Auckland New Zealand

Professional Background
My teaching career started in about 1982 when I worked at Cayon High School, St Kitts in the West Indies as a Science and Maths teacher. Since then I have worked with young people in theatre in England, Belgium and Israel, performed on the streets of many European countries with British Events Theatre Company and taught in high schools in South Africa and New Zealand. I was Deputy Principal at Botany Downs Secondary College, a High school in Auckland for 4 years. I am now Executive Principal at ACG Strathallan a private school for preschoolers, primary children and high school students in the rural area immediately South of Auckland. Strathallan provides a fantastic environment for me to lead and develop a vibrant and innovative learning community.

Personal Background
I have emigrated twice
 * 1) From UK to South Africa in my early 30's
 * 2) From South Africa to New Zealand 8 years ago

My Beliefs and Values
The decisions I make and the style I adopt are based on my values, beliefs and principles.

I believe…
 * Leadership makes a difference.
 * Change is a given – I lead change.
 * An effective leader uses positive public statements … always.
 * As an educational leader I must build leadership capacity in and around the school.
 * As a leader I model the behavior I am trying to build/encourage in others.
 * That to be a teacher is a higher order job that is significant and valuable in society.
 * Education must be designed around learning.
 * The way I see myself (mindscape) determines the way I see others (landscape)
 * We construct meaning based on prior experience.
 * When faced with a challenge I ask 'what can I learn?'
 * The most effective staff development takes place through inquiry based methodology motivated by data and supported by evidence from research.
 * Students will behave how I expect them to behave.

I value …
 * Personal integrity.
 * Dialogue and reflection as a means of lifelong learning.


 * Both data and intuition.
 * Creativity and innovation whilst preserving and recognising what is good from the past.

My Interests

 * Teaching people of all ages
 * The concept and practice of Leadership
 * /New Technologies for Learning/


 * Birds
 * Wildlife
 * Tramping and climbing

My Projects
I am especially interested in engaging students in learning. This is a broad focus for my work as an educational leader.
 * Robin, you will soon have a chance to choose whether you wish to use the editor/embedding features currently only available on Wikispaces/Wetpaint/PBWiki etc. --Nellie Deutsch 10:55, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Robin, we have added a few online workshops that may interest you as a developer, participant, or facilitator. Here is the list of new online courses on Wikieducator


 * Hi Robin, how effective is the VLE for the high school students in your school? --Kin Tung Wong 10:29, 20 March 2010 (UTC)

My Sandbox

 * 1) /My sandbox/
 * 2) look at my Books

My Lessons

 * /Y10 Electricity DC Cicuits/

My Reflection
Otago Polytechnic may provide helpful ideas for the BDSC LMS

/Helpful Models/

This is perhaps more of an aspiration than a current reality. With my colleagues I hope to design some really effective learning materials.