Drawing #mindset #grit #resilience #flow #learning

I cannot draw. This has been my mindset since about 8 years of age. Aged 48, I now understand how it came to be that “I cannot draw” and how this mindset (and inability) developed. So, why can’t I draw? More importantly, how can I do something about it? In second class my friend was […]

Workflow & Writing: Ulysses

Write. Anything. Anywhere. My daily writing routines are improving and Ulysses has quickly become an everyday tool. The very effective slogan tells you why. One still needs to actually write but this is by far the best integration across all my devices and I imagine many of you will be interested in checking it out (if you use Apple […]

#BYOD Tool: WordsEye

“WordsEye is cutting-edge technology that works by parsing text input into a semantic representation which is then rendered as a 3D scene. This process relies on a large database of linguistic and world knowledge about objects, their parts, and their properties. A set of 2D image filters can be applied to any scene to add […]

Free is not a radically new price

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, […]

Writing & Workflow: Scrivener & Simplenote

And it has become a kind of a truism in the study of creativity that you can’t be creating anything with less than 10 years of technical knowledge immersion in a particular field.    Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi It’s best to have your tools with you. If you don’t, you’re apt to find something you didn’t expect […]

ALARM (A Learning and Response Matrix) #1

When Max Woods distilled the core of his presentation about ALARM (A Learning and Response Matrix) for the 200 teachers at the Chifley hotel this week to – this is all about ‘learning how to learn’ and sharing – he certainly won my respect. Ostensibly the two days of professional development were about improving HSC results, […]

Life in 100 Words

Life in 100 Words is an idea gleaned from Solid Gold Creativity: The magazine, Marie Claire, recently featured a series to mark the centenary of International Women’s Day. It asked “10 women, 10 years apart, to offer their life story in 100 words.” I will try this idea with students in the future but would really […]