My research journey from Bloomsbury to Ballarat was sparked by a rough sea voyage. I wrote this article, while battling seasickness, on a large ferry bound for Denmark from Iceland. Of course, there are pills to ameliorate the worst effects and the ship was very stable but it had me thinking about the life of my ancestor, […]
The gull sees farthest who flies highest. Richard Bach As citizens of a free society, we have a duty to look critically at our world. But if we think we know what is wrong, we must act upon that knowledge. Tony Judt I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at […]
“Travel is still the most intense mode of learning.” Kevin Kelly There’s many experiences I wish all students could have as part of their schooling. Going on overseas exchange, or hosting a visitor, is high on my list of absolutely life-changing events. Our school promotes this notion of ‘a wider world view’ by encouraging travel and […]
The long-term goal of this project is to establish a set of bird indices for all major Australian bird groups, so that future SOAB reports can also report on indices for shorebirds, waterbirds and seabirds. […]
Two weeks of holidays certainly provided time for more books this month than last. I continue to enjoy the pleasures of rereading and science fiction, as well as some light but thoughtful travel books and tomes exploring historical wisdom on how to live – and win elections! High Possibility Classrooms Dr Jane Hunter has written a […]
The Maximising the Capacity of Citizen Science for Science and Society conference run by the Australian Citizen Science Association has showcased a wide range of projects and resources that will be useful to educators and citizen science enthusiasts. I thought I’d share some links and information: Biodiversity Snapshots is a useful resource for students/teachers to work in the classroom before […]
“Citizen Science is a partnership between individuals and scientists for investigating pressing questions about the world. The purpose of this conference is bring together the Australian Citizen Science community to share skills and ideas and encourage collaboration.” The first day of the Maximising the Capacity of Citizen Science for Science and Society conference is almost concluded and it […]
Why do people still pay to subscribe to magazines, journals, websites and newspapers? For some time, to subscribe, one has entered an email address or added the website as an RSS feed for an endless stream of online articles and posts. I subscribe to about a thousand websites using Feedly. In another sense, we subscribe by clicking ‘like’ or […]
“…by writing about himself, Knausgaard has really written about them, that reading ‘My Struggle’ is like opening someone else’s diary and finding your own secrets.” […]
National Geographic encourages student citizen scientists to participate in their Genographic Project, which employs cutting-edge genetic and computational technologies to analyse historical patterns in DNA from participants in an effort to better understand our human genetic roots. They have an emerging education focus that encourages schools to participate. Last year I wrote about plans to […]
He who would travel happily must travel light. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Although this blog has no product sponsorship deals or affiliations with companies, I am going to write a ‘what’s in my bag’ post for the simple reason that my kit for long-distance walking pleases me greatly. Over the years I have enjoyed […]
Certain books, though, like certain landscapes, stay with us even when we have left them, changing not just our weathers but our climates. Robert MacFarlane This is certainly true of Robert MacFarlane’s books. He is a perfect writer for me. His obsessions with authors, walking, literature, language, nature and landscape are just thrilling. That saying about reading […]
“Teaching is a dynamic and rewarding profession. Good teachers provide students with rich, interesting and well-structured learning experiences. Teachers who provide these experiences enjoy the opportunities offered by the profession and recognition of their achievements by the community.” Australian Professional Standards for Teachers My employer and union have collaborated, supported by the Secondary Principals Council (SPC), with the purpose of […]
Italy A full two weeks of the April were spent in Italy – most of the trip was spent in Perugia, a town located in Umbria before having a few nights in Rome – and I tried to read appropriately for (and during) the experience. River of Shadows by Valerio Varesi is not my usual genre, […]
Our school runs a program – A Wider World View – that encourages students and staff to participate in exchanges and homestays. Currently 17 students and 3 teachers are enjoying Italy, particularly Perugia, in Umbria for a two week Roman holiday. Umbria, I am embarrassed to say, is not a region in Italy that I […]
“Science fiction is a literature that belongs to all humankind.” Liu Cixin March has been an exciting month of science fiction reading and some progress has been made finding novelists writing in languages other than English. The trick, of course, is to be lucky enough to find novels superbly rendered by their translators. A tip from […]
‘More teaching, less tech-ing’** My employer has provided Google Apps for Education (GAFE) since the beginning of the year. Actually, this started five years ago when the student email service was hosted by Google but has taken some time for the full suite of tools to become available. We have been promised GAFE for the […]
“Sharpness is a bourgeois concept” Henri Cartier-Bresson I always enjoy using Lee Filters, especially the Big Stopper on my X100S. Since upgrading to the X100T I have had limited time to experiment but am enjoying my new Little Stopper and have been stacking these two neutral density filters for 16 stops of goodness. The featured image above, […]
Active and informed citizens…are committed to national values of democracy, equity and justice, and participate in Australia’s civic life. Melbourne Declaration The Student Representative Council (SRC) hosted a forum today for the candidates seeking election in the state electorate of Shellharbour where our school is located. The event was packed, attended by all senior […]
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Arthur C Clarke’s third law of prediction came to mind while walking through wetlands near my home on the way to my local beach. I had woken very early and packed my camera kit for some photography thinking I’d set up well before the dawn. I started […]
There’s been a good variety of books completed this month including graphic novels, historical fiction, essays, memoirs, biographies, contemporary fiction, revolutionary pamphlets and plenty of history. Christopher Hitchens and Thomas Paine Last month I consumed oodles of Orwell and re-read Hitchens’ evaluation of the author’s importance to contemporary literature and journalism. This has led to re-discovering […]
This book is written in the belief that the nations of Scandinavia and Finland, or Nordic Europe*, do continue to provide important living proof that economically successful, socially fair and environmentally responsible policies can succeed. Northern Lights: The Positive Policy Example of Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway by Andrew Scott will brighten our national mood, […]
Back in 2008, Martin Weller’s video, A Twitter Love Song, captured the potential of social media to be the ‘sweet spot’, a kind of comfortable marriage of the personal with the professional. This ‘subjective’ video message of Martin’s really appealed at the time (and still does). This, I think it is fair to warn you, is a […]
It is not a New Year’s resolution but I intend to write one blog post a month about what I’ve been reading. Usually I write a roundup of books enjoyed twice a year but these posts do not tend to say much in the sense of being reviews. They are more lists with a few […]