“He is a storyteller, a poet, and has the unique ability to communicate with all Australians, across all age groups and gender. Collaborating with indigenous musicians, young performers, and artists of all genres, Kelly has created some of the most important songs of our times.” I grew up with Paul Kelly. His music and distinctive voice […]
“The Red Room Company works in partnership with schools, teachers and poets to put the playfulness back into poetry. One school which has particularly embraced creativity through these projects is Dapto High School.” LIFE MATTERS I had a fun start to the last week of term today being interviewed on Radio National by Natasha Mitchell about our partnership with […]
“I’ll close my eyes and admire the quality of the silence I’ll write rhymes in my mind honestly and define them Solidly redefine and memorise them Until like a diamond when I come out I’ll be better than when I arrived in” […]
There have been many posts about our school’s nurturing democracy program over the last few years at my blog, including this one about our plan to hold formal elections conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Today, we made significant progress in assisting students to learn about how preferential voting works in our country as almost 900 […]
The Wollongong Living Books program brings to the community a collection of human ‘books’ that represent a diverse range of backgrounds and life experiences. Our students have enjoyed listening to Living Books several times at school. There truly is a diverse range of ‘books’ on offer and wandering from group to group, it is evident how interested our students […]
Hugh Mackay, in a recent article about the 2014 federal budget, asks Australians to consider: is this the Australia we really want to be? To answer this question we all need to reflect on the important role of ideology in the formulation of policy and what we personally believe, as citizens, is important. Joe Hockey, when […]
Our exchange to Seowon High School, our sister school in The Republic of Korea, has been an absolutely superb, exciting and positive experience for the students, staff and parents who made the journey during the school holidays. For the last five years our school’s Wider World View @DHS program has encouraged students and staff to […]
Does your school hold authentically democratic elections? The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is conducting our school elections for the first time in 2014 as our ‘Nurturing Democracy’ program continues into its third year. Students from Year 7-11 will experience the same voting protocols that their parents recently followed at the 2013 federal election. Students will […]
I am hoping to teach Big History as a NSW Board of Studies Endorsed Course to Year 10 and Year 11 in 2015 at our school. My plans, at this stage, are to find ways of funding the use of Geno 2.0 kits for students and ensuring parents are on board for a genuinely personalised learning […]
The School Library Association of NSW invited me to speak about advocacy at their recent conference at the State Library of NSW. I was asked to talk about a range of topics including: the transition our school library is currently undergoing with the assistance of Kevin Hennah; the partnership with our local municipal library; the need for teacher-librarians […]
“The greatest history book ever written is the one hidden in our DNA.” Dr. Spencer Wells The analysis of my DNA, as a participant in National Geographic’s Genographic Project, was published today and, as you would imagine, makes for fascinating reading – well, it does for me. […]
“The teacher’s job is not to transmit knowledge, nor to facilitate learning. It is to engineer effective learning environments for the students. The key features of effective learning environments are that they create student engagement and allow teachers, learners, and their peers to ensure that the learning is proceeding in the intended direction. The only […]
What ought one to do? Socrates I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it. Albert Einstein A quiet conscience makes one strong! Anne Frank Do you believe Australia has great need of […]
The science of teaching is knowing a number of different methodologies. The art is knowing when to use which. Source: Taming The Beast Our school has had a government funded 1:1 laptop program since 2009 that is ending. We have learnt […]
“We need librarians more than we ever did. What we don’t need are mere clerks who guard dead paper. Librarians are too important to be a dwindling voice in our culture. For the right librarian, this is the chance of a lifetime.” Seth Godin “If you can’t dance a step, you can’t teach it, and if […]
“More than anything else, we want to take the politics out of this issue.” […]
He didn’t want a television, he had no need of a radio. He didn’t want the world to come in….He couldn’t stand the false hysteria of soap operas, the forced hilarity of sitcoms, the feigned outrage of commentators and the hosts of current-affairs shows. He didn’t own a computer. He didn’t need its temptations. He […]
The world is but a canvas to our imaginations. Henry David Thoreau Today we enjoyed the fifth annual conference held at Nan Tien Temple for our professional development on the last day of the school year. The focus this year, although still optimism and resilience, is more about nurturing creativity and the keynote/workshops reflected this theme. […]
Our school has moved to implement a BYOD (Bring your Own Device) policy for 2014. We have spent the last 6 months exploring what is best for our community and practically possible for students, as well as their teachers. There are a variety of opinions, challenges and POVs but a specific model has been chosen. […]
Educational leaders need to do better in ensuring a more cohesive educational experience for students in our schools. We must ameliorate the current, balkanised, approach to how curriculum is delivered in high schools with new, cleverly designed, models of learning. That’s why I’ve been at the Big History conference at Macquarie University for the last […]
While school traditionally separates art and science, theory, and practice, such divisions are artificial. The real world just doesn’t work that way. Architects are artists. Craftsmen deal in aesthetics, tradition and mathematical precision. Video game designers rely on computer science…The maker community brings children, hobbyists and professionals together in a glorious celebration of personal expression […]
The Red Room Company created a quality learning experience for our students this month with the first two of an ongoing series of workshops. The ‘quality’ and ‘experience’ really does need to be emphasised as the pedagogy employed by our poets – Candy, Lorin and Tamryn – was superbly physical, reflective and high energy, engaging […]
Since commencing my career as a teacher in Australia, I have written many articles for free and presented at conferences at the same discount price, often having to pay to attend the event into the bargain. I did this willingly enough as I am passionate about learning, sharing and education but in more recent years, […]
Ozymandias I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped […]