What is MIT14?

MIT2014 - About the Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher programme

Background

The Manaiakalani Programme has gained national and international credibility as an innovative approach to ensuring the foundation requirements of schooling are being met whilst offering students the opportunity to learn in an environment which recognises the special character of our students as digital citizens whose world is very different from their teachers at the same age.
The foundation requirements for our learners in our community of the wider Tamaki area are

to become literate and numerate and reach the National Standards in their primary school years
to attain at least Level 2 NCEA in their secondary school years.

The environment in which all young people live in this decade is one in which they accept as their right the ability to collaborate, communicate and connect at any time and in any place, often via digital tools. Their hours of learning are no longer restricted to the opening hours of school (9-3) and are no longer restricted to waiting for the teacher to deliver knowledge to them.

Most of the funding directed explicitly at teaching and learning for the Manaiakalani Programme is being offered at the entry level; to new schools and new staff entering the programme and to teachers who need additional support to upskill and become proficient in teaching our students in this new way.

We are now blessed with a group of teachers who are early adopters, who are offering their students ever enriching experiences and are ‘pushing the envelope’ in terms of the teaching and learning experiences in their classrooms or schools. These educators are light houses of innovation to their colleagues- when their work is recognised and shared. They are often the kind of person who will work on their innovations over and beyond required tasks and expect little in return.

Purpose:

To provide an opportunity for innovative teachers to form a network for support and mentoring as they continue to explore ways to enrich the lives and learning of the students they work with.

Proposal:

Manaiakalani Education Trust offers up to 10 innovative teachers from this cluster the opportunity to

• plan for an innovative project in 2014 
• implement this project (two days per term release)
• receive ongoing mentoring
• form a collegial network (one day per term release)

MIT teachers will:

• use the “Learn Create Share” model in their own journey of innovation
• present to their Manaiakalani colleagues at the annual Hui
• present to the wider education community at Learning and Change Hui and ULearn14
• use a public online tool (eg a Blog or Site) for ongoing sharing and reflection