Teachers and Social Media

“If you can’t dance a step, you can’t teach it, and if you can’t teach it – we might as well all pack up and go home.” from STRICTLY BALLROOM cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Dell’s Official Flickr Page I read Steve Wheeler’s PLN post, ‘Tools of the trade’ this weekend and […]

The Melbourne Declaration, Democracy and School

…please strive to maximise [my daughters’] potential…so that they can contribute to and enjoy the fruits of living within an Australian society that is fair, just, tolerant, honourable, knowledgeable, prosperous and happy. Dr Paul Brock Goal 2: All young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens          ‘Melbourne Declaration’ The Melbourne Declaration on the […]

Building a school in Cambodia

My friend and colleague, Lynette Lanham, is celebrating a significant birthday early next year by asking her friends and colleagues to support the construction of a school in Cambodia. What a wonderful idea! Lynette travelled to Cambodia last year and was entranced by the beauty of the country while becoming increasingly aware of the ongoing […]

Somnambulism

The characteristic symptoms are walking or exhibiting other activities while seemingly still asleep. Some people mistakenly believe that a sleepwalker should not be awakened. It is not dangerous to awaken a sleepwalker, although it is common for the person to be confused or disoriented for a short time when they wake up. cc licensed ( […]

‘The New Science of the Teenage Brain’

The current October edition of National Geographic has an interesting article on the ‘teenage brain’. I do not usually buy this magazine but waiting for ferries in Hong Kong, and the incredibly inexpensive cover price compared with Australia, has led me to buy a couple recently for articles of ongoing interest. The New Science of the Teenage […]

Viborg Katedralskole

My time at Viborg Katedralskole is coming to an end in a few days, which saddens me greatly. The liberal Danish ethos towards education and the general willingness of the students to engage with learning and life has been a joy to experience. The staff are very collegial. I have enjoyed their company and appreciated the professional encouragement […]

Conclusions: Waiting for Gonski (Part 4)

Each report reaches conclusions and offers advice to the panel. The following comments are not a comprehensive analysis of these findings but my conclusions about what is the best advice. I am interested in Australians having a ‘high equity, high quality’ system and my comments are to be viewed from this perspective. The politics of […]

The Education Revolution: Pledge

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore I am currently listen to the live stream from TEDxLondon of the #EducationRevolution. Here are the speakers and the Facebook page for the event. Sir Ken Robinson has just opened the conference with his usual inspiring clarity. His anecdote relating Peter Brook‘s beliefs regarding theatre, that you can strip almost everything […]

The Reports: Waiting for Gonski (Part 3)

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Oberazzi Have you read the reports commissioned by the Gonski Review of Funding for Schooling panel? I will briefly outline the ‘research questions’ each report was trying to answer or assess for the panel. My purpose is to clearly understand the scope of each […]

Education and Democracy

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore The vibrant student participation at Viborg Katedralskole in the wider life of the Danish community continues to delight and impress. The Danish election is on the 15th September and students are very actively engaged, in a variety of platforms, with the political dialogue of […]

The Eye of the Future: Waiting for Gonski (Part 2)

All agree that the educational and political issues David Gonski and his panel must sift through are formidable. Maybe we need to simplify. If you asked an Australian person the following question, how would they likely respond? Should all Australian children be provided with a high quality education regardless of social background? The vast majority of […]

Waiting for Gonski (Part 1)

 On 31 August 2011, the Review of Funding for Schooling panel released a Paper on Commissioned Research and four research reports, seeking feedback from the general public. It is important to note that these research reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the panel.          Source   The Review of Funding for […]

Twitter and Edmodo in Denmark

  You may have read these musings about hashtags and citizenship after the #LondonRiots. This post is a brief reflective piece about a series of lessons with classes and Professional Development sessions with staff at Viborg Katedralskole (check the new website) focusing on student engagement, Twitter and Edmodo. It has been very enjoyable for me to be back […]

A day, make that week, to remember…

It was a memorable day for the the community of Viborg Katedralskole!  The former Danish Prime Minister and current Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen visited his ‘old school’ for several hours (on the day when the Danish election was announced). His speech to the students was well-received and he answered questions for quite a […]

Google Translate

  Google Translate is the most essential tool in my daily existence at the moment, on exchange in Denmark, at Viborg Katedralskole. Most Danes speak English and it is completely possible for me to function at the school, without speaking or understanding the language, in most contexts. However, the Danish documents I want to read would […]

All I need to know about Twitter I learned at kindergarten

Thanks to Prof. Steve Wheeler for his post about the ‘art of twitter’ and this slideshare below. All I need to know about Twitter I learned at kindergarten View more presentations from Steve Wheeler Slider image: cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo by xotoko: http://flickr.com/photos/xotoko/2382680812/

PISA and the Disadvantaged Student

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) causes a flurry of interest in educational and political circles when newspapers report the publicly released ‘rankings’, often highlighting the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ like some international sporting competition. Then all is seemingly forgotten, just when robust debate about our educational strategies is needed. Stephen Downes posted about this issue last year. The […]

‘Online Introduction to Artificial Intelligence’

A colleague, who prefers it when I do not mention his name on any social media channel as he is a geek who studiously avoids facebook, twitter, blogging etc, emailed some interesting links about Stanford University and the new, “Online Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, by Professors Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun“. I noticed, a few minutes […]

Digital Footprints & Family History

The digital footprints being created for my family, or more to the point of this post, being created by me for my children, gives rise to some reflection about the future of family history in our societies. Family history has been revolutionised by the internet. Ask anyone who did research prior to the 1990s about […]

Learning in London

“Travelling is just like homeschooling but way better…” says Lucy – and I tend to agree. Not having the chance to travel overseas until was 25, I really value this opportunity and what it represents for my family on a number levels. Together time, learning, new experiences and just opening up horizons – for all of […]

Travelling in China: Photography, Social Media and Shanghai

Last year I wrote a unit of work, after my travels in Shanghai, that I would like to share with you. It is written for NSW syllabuses but it may be of some interest to any teacher interested in travel, Asia, teaching visual literacy, social media or organising a student trip overseas. Here’s the PDF […]

The future is here…

This post was written for the IBM 100th Anniversary website, Shaping our Future (hit the drop down under the education topic). The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed. —William Gibson, quoted in The Economist, December 4, 2003   ‘The future is here’ and this oft (over) quoted line from the father […]

Teacher-librarians: Digital Communication Tools (Part II)

In the age of ‘infowhelm’ choosing the appropriate digital communication tools – to stay in-the-loop and professionally connected – is essential for any professional person, especially teacher-librarians. A teacher-librarian can make a start on developing a Personal Learning Network (PLN) by following these steps at their own pace: finding several excellent blogs to follow and […]

Teacher-librarians: Context (Part I)

I am presenting to teacher-librarian colleagues about ‘digital communication tools’ this week.  I’d rather say we are ‘collaborating’ than I am ‘presenting’ and have used survey monkey to collect data from the delegates prior to the conference about their needs and yammer to seek advice about the perceptions of what ‘skills’ and ‘knowledge’ are needed […]

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