Albany Senior High School/Curriculum plans/Impact Projects

Curriculum Plan for Impact Projects

This is an innovative programme where students take responsibility for their learning by developing projects that link to and work with our community, be it our school or the community on a local, national or international level. Individually or in teams, students plan and implement the project, then evaluate and share their endeavours. Impact projects provide students with the opportunity to build on their specialist subject knowledge by making connections to real life situations, develop the key competencies and demonstrate initiative and enterprise. Students and teachers may select appropriate NCEA standards to recognise their learning as well as showcasing their understanding at the projects conclusion.

Vision

At Albany Senior High School

• we nurture each other
• we inspire each other
• we empower each other

How will we contribute to the realisation of the school’s vision?

Impact Projects support this vision because they are where students will be able to engage with and take responsibility for developing projects that will make a positive connections with our community and allow for rich authentic learning to take place. They will be able to follow and explore their passions through the focus they choose. Students will be encouraged to make links and inform their work through specialist subject insights, as well as having the opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom to the 'real world'. Where subjects brush against each other in new situations, new insights and understandings will emerge, and new knowledge will be created enabling deeper learning experiences.

Values

• Excellence in all that we do.
• Warm, mutually respectful relationships.
• Families as part of our learning community.
• Fairness, openness, honesty and trust.
• Learning together and making decisions together.
• Using evidence and reflection to make decisions.
• Curiosity and enquiry, creativity and innovation.
• Contributing to our local and global communities.
• Protecting and enhancing the environment.
• Diversity that enriches our learning community.

How will we affirm and promote the school’s values?

At Albany Senior High School we value delight in learning, participating in our local community and the world and learning together.

Throughout this whole process students will build their capabilities as confident, connected learners through their active involvement in these rich authentic tasks. Students will:

• Develop their meta learning, using creative, critical, caring metacognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences and ideas.
• Build new knowledge and understanding through robust research techniques, evidence collection critical reflection and creative insights.
• Be engaged, enthusiastic and motivated through having agency to set project goals and work towards successful outcomes.
• Be supported to be responsible for and take control of their own learning.
• Do something with their learning - performativity.
• Make a difference to the world by working with different communities and actively contributing to them in positive and meaningful ways.
• Develop capacity to interact and work effectively with a diverse range of people, being open to other perspectives and able to negotiate outcomes.
  

Expectations

Expectations for teaching and learning including embedding ICTs

1. How will our teaching and learning meet the school’s expectations for 21st century pedagogy based on current research?

Aligned with the ASHS teaching portrait and school curriculum and assessment policy How will we ensure students: Know what they are learning and why? Connect learning to real life situations? Have multiple opportunities to build on existing knowledge? Examine and use new knowledge? Have time to reflect on their learning? >> Identifying topic, and developing a deeper understanding about the issues/potential to make a difference through research process. Develop success criteria and strategically plan the timing of key events for the project to ensure it's success.

2. How will we know our projects have been successful and promote effective learning?

Feedback from audience Postive publicity Conversations with students Conversations with the community and stakeholders. Potential to be assessed in other forums (CREST, YES and NCEA) The project is not 'shelved' - it remains organic.

3. What does an effective 100-minute lesson look like?

<<An annotated 100-minute lesson template >> Exemplars of 100-minute lessons How will we cater for difference? How will we identify and address students at risk of not achieving? Gifted and talented students? How will we know about our students prior knowledge?

Key competencies

How will we develop each of the key competencies in the learning area? How will we promote the split screen? These are a means and an end.

Thinking Using language symbols and texts  Managing self  Relating to others Participating and contributing

Underpinning the whole process is the opportunity for learners to develop their key competencies;

Curriculum design

What do we want our students to learn and/or develop? 

<<Matrix of AOs and indicators from the curriculum and the standards that will support their development Course design template Exemplar of a course

Quality assurance

How will we ensure that standards are transparent, clear, reliable, valid and fair?

<<See NZQA Teachers’ Handbook>>

Self review

What data will we collect and how will we use it?

<< See data plan >>