Culture of Thinking @ Bialik
Bialik College has hosted almost 400 educators from Australia and around the world at the College’s 4th Cultures of Thinking Conference.
The College’s Cultures of Thinking philosophy, renowned through the education world, is the outcome of Bialik’s collaboration with the University of Harvard’s Project Zero and is the first of its kind in Australia.
l-r: Kiran Bansal, Mark Church, Dr Ron Ritchhart, Ravi Grewal, Corinne Kaplan, Saroj Singh
The calibre of presentations and learning was outstanding with 37 sessions/workshops planned, half of which were led by Bialik teachers. Dr Ron Ritchart and Mark Church from Harvard University presented at the conference to critical acclaim. The conference provided educators opportunities for collaboration and reflection and sharing of powerful stories of learning within classrooms and schools. Attendees considered concrete strategies, tools and pictures of practice to broaden their own vision of what a new story of learning might be and how it might be achieved through creating a culture of thinking in their own classrooms.
Day three of the conference was a normal school day at Bialik and over 160 external delegates visited classes to observe Bialik’s teachers and their classrooms in action. Bialik’s practice of ‘making thinking visible’ and other exciting learning opportunities, are held in the highest esteem by many schools. The feedback was extremely positive with educators picking up excellent tips and strategies. Two international Primary schools closed for the duration of the conference to enable their entire teaching staff to attend.
During the conference, many of Bialik’s talented student musicians performed in ensembles and as soloists, delighting the delegates.
The success of this major international conference, which was booked out, is an impressive endorsement by the educational world of the calibre of teaching and learning at Bialik College.
Overseas participants came from New Zealand, UK, USA, Argentina, Israel, Singapore and Hong Kong
