It was a wonderful autumn day, cold and bright; as we drove inland from Bergen in the morning, frozen mist was lying over the fjord. The trees on the mountainsides were displaying red and yellow leaves, the fjord below was like a millpond, the waterfalls immense and white. Karl Ove Knausgaard We are […]
“This was a townscape raised in the teeth of cold winds from the east; a city of winding cobbled streets and haughty pillars; a city of dark nights and candlelight, and intellect.” Alexander McCall Smith, The Sunday Philosophy Club “Edinburgh is alive with words.” Sara Sheridan “Climate change argument is absolute crap.” Tony Abbott “Jesus […]
“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 […]
It always concerned me that Amazon had such a monopoly on ebooks. However, my customer satisfaction since purchasing my first kindle in 2009, compared with the obvious inferiority of other e-readers, has been high. The price, ease and massive catalogue of ebooks available did not make it seems so bad to have all my eggs in one basket. I […]
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 […]
I have written many posts about social reading but this one is focused on the the decline in Amazon’s (previously excellent) customer service. It is really difficult to understand how the loop I am currently in with Amazon is not dealt with more positively by the people employed to maintain the standard the company has set since […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.” […]
Two years ago I posted about the tech tools I use daily. Many I continue to find essential, others have fallen by the wayside. What follows is a brief update to close 2013. Best wishes for the New Year! Reading, writing, saving & sharing WordPress: my blog records some of my professional thinking and life. Often I share […]
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. […]
Cuddled up on the couch with my children early this morning watching the simulcast Day of the Doctor, the fiftieth-anniversary of Doctor Who, made me feel all tingly and nostalgic. I have not really enjoyed Matt Smith’s incarnation of The Doctor and considering the hype around the event, figured it would likely be anti-climatic. Not so. […]
Students in Australian schools could be given access to a wealth of pre-existing online books and journals with just a little coordination by the state. Thinking about Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in schools and the quiet online revolution taking place in our libraries has led me to the conclusion that it is very possible for students to […]
The future of the book has been widely discussed in the last decade, as has that great democratic institution, the library. Both have been challenged by technological advances and societal change this century but are fighting off most suggestions of obsolescence by adapting successfully. My local libraries have made a number of innovations that I […]
Walking, ideally, is a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making a chord. Walking allows us to be in our bodies and in the world without being made busy by them. It leaves us free to […]
Chase Jarvis’ quip, “the best camera is the one that’s with you” resounds in an era where anyone who wishes to take photographs is spoilt for choice about how they capture images. A few still opt for a battered, much-loved film camera and send their pictures to the photo lab to be developed but a […]
The next generation of NAPLAN literacy and numeracy tests will transform the monitoring of students’ development of these key foundational skills. It will be 21st century assessment for 21st century young people and their families…Electronic delivery will bring major benefits. It will allow quicker turnaround of results and give schools a better opportunity to use […]
Darcy tapped the page of his book and the next appeared. It had been years since he had to physically labour, turning page after page, of a novel or heavy non fiction tome and he knew he would resent having to make that much effort to read when his Kindle iPad app was so convenient. […]
“I think he got it just right” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s granddaughter Fresh from viewing the dazzling, 3D kaleidoscope, that is Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby, it is imperative that my disbelief at reviewers, who have castigated or had […]