Why Authentic Context Matters.

               

On Saturday, like many thousands of New Zealanders and Australians, I attended an ANZAC day memorial service. I went with my family to Cranmer Square in Christchurch for the Anzac Dawn Service. As we walked to the Square, there were hundreds of people also making their way to commemorate 100 years since the first landing of NZ troops at Gallipoli. ANZAC day continues to be an important and symbolic day in the history of our country. Every small town you drive through has a war memorial to the fallen. Young men who were prepared to go to war, "for King and Country" and for the 18,000 NZ soldiers who died in foreign lands, killed in action during WW1.
I have always taught WWI poetry at this time of the year to my classes, hoping to use ANZAC day as a way to given some authentic context to what we were learning. One year we even sent "Tweets from the Trenches" as young soldiers from the Papanui area. (See future blog post about this)
A phone call on Saturday from a cousin informed me that recent family research had revealed an unknown great uncle had died at Gallipoli.
Within a week of arriving with the Otago Infantry Battalion, 14th (South Otago) Company, he was killed, missing in action. For me, ANZAC day has become just that more personal.

  They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Thinking about 2015

It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult. – Seneca

I am looking forward to 2015. I have an exciting new job, a new grandson and I have made a start on all the boxes still sitting in my garage after moving back into my house after earthquake repairs. (Okay, a small start, but a start). There is the Cricket World Cup here in Christchurch at the new Hagley Oval, exciting buildings are going up in Christchurch, there is the Rugby World Cup, I am back riding my bike, there are lots of exciting things to find out in the elearning world, interesting people to follow on Twitter, fabulous family and friends to hang out with, fish to catch (husband's job), interesting people to follow on Twitter, CORE's ten trends for 2014 to reflect on, blogs and books to read, gardens to weed...

So what do you have planned in 2015. I am sure that every teacher has spent some time thinking about their plans for 2015 during the holidays. As a last blog post to the staff at previous school, I wrote a letter with these "twelve days of eChristmas" suggestions. 

Hello All

Below are twelve tips,tools or links that might be useful as you move forward on your

“e” journeys in 2015. They are in no particular order of importance and not all my own ideas.

As always, there are many, many people smarter than me, which is why I have borrowed their ideas.

1) Join Twitter - greatest free PD there is.

2) If you did join Twitter then try joining or following  these types of  weekly or fortnightly twitter chats

    #pechat (UK) #edchat( US) #edchatnz  #aussiechat  #scichatnz  #pechatnz #UKEdChat

and of course there are amazing educators to follow. Here’s one @teachertoolkit - Ross Morrison McGill is the most followed teacher on Twitter in the UK ( he’s the guy with the 5 minute lesson plan shared by Warren)

3)  http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

   brilliant resources all free

4) http://www.educatorstechnology.com/  Another brilliant resource blog - has lots of useful infographics

5) Three blogs to read

Derek Wenmoth’s blog - One of the ICT thought leaders in NZ

Edna Sackson's blog (one of the Grannies in the cloud)

teacher toolkit blog  If you don’t want to follow him on Twitter(see No 2) then read his blog

6) Digital Citizenship - Mike Ribble

• Netsafe

7)  Are you using the LMS (eg MOODLE ) at your school. A great place for your Digital Textbook
and combine this with Google Docs (your student's digital exercise book).

8)QR codes and Aurasma app (virtual reality) Find out about these.

9) TED talks and Ed talks

10)3D printing - Does your school have a 3D printer? How could you use this in class?

11)Read one of those INTERFACE Magazines that some annoying person on keeps putting in your pigeon hole

12) Sir Ken Robinson TED talk on creativity / TED -ed /

Good eLuck for 2015!

What do you think will be the trends for 2015?

Why we "do speeches" in English.

And that, Ladies and Gentleman is why we do speeches in English!

Today is my son Alex's 22nd birthday. I posted this on another blog after his 21st birthday last year and on re-reading decided to re-post it. As we all wind down for the holidays, English teachers take a well-deserved pat-on-the-back for your efforts in teaching, facilitating, cajoling, encouraging and supporting all those students in your classes who have to "do" speeches. It's worth it!

“Good evening Ladies and Gentleman. For those who don’t know me, my name is Ben and I have known Alex since we both started school aged 5. I even have my name written down in case I was to forget it after taking advantage of the free alcohol, Thanks Bill.”  

And so began the best 21st speech I have ever heard from a young man speaking about his best friend. In our family we have all had opportunities to speak in public  from Captain’s speeches after a rugby match, 21st’s, weddings, funerals, family functions, assemblies, staff meetings etc.In fact, my husband Bill is seen as someone you don’t want to follow if you are speaking at a family occasion. However, last night this young man stole the show.

From this cliched start he proceeded to discuss George Washington’s revolutionist ideas with a quick reference to Napoleon and Che Guevara, a passing comment on Barack Obama’s charisma and finally a picture of Richie (McCaw of course). The speech detailed some of our son’s adventures and escapades, without the embarrassing tales that can occur on these occasions. He was witty, perceptive and absolutely genuine in his friendship with our  son. At the end he mentioned All Black Captain Richie McCaw and listed his qualities of leadership, modesty, intelligence, being trustworthy and dependable and referenced our son. However, all present were able to recognise the same qualities in the speaker. 

This morning as we all gathered for a clean-up and de-brief about the evening, we were all still amazed and delighted at this fabulous speech. We were all in awe of Ben’s wit and intelligence, something that is not always applauded in our sporting culture. Ben, you made your friends, your parents and I am sure your teachers proud last night.

Stepping up and delivering an unforgettable speech at your best mate’s 21st – Legend!!

This was originally posted on my other blog.

Constantly Learning - Another opportunity for educators

I came across this via Twitter (Thanks @BridgetCasse) I thought it looked interesting so I have signed up. I attended a workshop by Julie Lindsay @Julielindsay earlier this year at the GAFE
Summit in Christchurch so I knew one of the keynote speakers.  Looks interesting.

Here is the link to the Global Education Conference 2014

21st Century Learning - Two viewpoints

21st Century Learning-Two viewpoints

Mount Vernon Presbyterian School is committed to preparing students to be college ready, globally competitive, and engaged citizen leaders. Academic rigor remains a must, but adding a focus on 21st century skills enhances the education of our Upper School students. Rather than being passive consumers of information, we are teaching our students to be actively involved in solving complex problems, with a growing emphasis on project- and team-based learning.

The defining characteristic of a 21st century classroom is that it focuses on what students needs to learn and succeed in today’s global, digital age. In addition to mastering the core subjects of mathematics, language arts, social studies, and science, addressing broad questions, thinking along multidisciplinary and multicultural lines, and employing high order thinking skills to explore solutions to real-world problems are among the core competencies and skills necessary to successfully navigate the 21st century marketplace. MVPS faculty uses a blended approach, one that combines the richness of traditional academic disciplines together with 21st century skills. Both are essential, and we call the 21st century skills…
I really like the  Mount Vernon Mindset  which talks about skills for the 21st Century. Compare this to the ideas in the NZC about the key competencies

The other viewpoint is from Pernille Ripp, a 7th grade teacher in Wisconsin, Oregon.

This is a link to her blog.  She discusses how " We often confuse great teaching with constant innovation."

Some interesting points here and well worth a read.

Who can be amazed, inspired, sad, excited, enlightened or moved to tears in just one day?

"Who can be wise, amazed, temp'rate, and furious,

Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man."   

Macbeth Act 2, Sc 3

@annekenn

@ReneeAC115

Who can be amazed, inspired, entertained, enlightened, frightened, moved,saddened, moved to tears, hopeful and have their hearts and minds filled to bursting point?The answer is no man or no woman - actually any man, woman or child who attended TEDxChristchurch on Saturday 1st November at the Aurora Centre for the Performing Arts at Burnside High School Christchurch.

I have been a fan of TED talks for a long time. I have shown my students wonderful talks from amazing people and actually find it impossible to believe that not all teachers are doing this as well! In fact one of the highlights for me this year was going to the Eductech Conference in Brisbane and seeing Sir Ken Robinson speak on stage. 29 million people (including me) have seen his TED talk about creativity, so it was fantastic to hear him speak about this subject and more in June. The other amazing speaker was Sugata Mitra of the "hole in the wall" experiment where children demonstrated their ability to teach themselves. 

So, TEDxChristchurch was my opportunity to experience, firsthand the "magic of TED". And I was not disappointed. In fact I thought my brain would explode! And as I obviously enjoy near-death experiences of possible brain explosion, I shall be signing up for next year. 

I find it difficult at this type of event to take notes any more coherent than what appears to be the ramblings of a madwoman. I can only manage a few tweets. Luckily my good friend @annekenn live blogged the whole event for me. Thanks Anne. She also followed up by meeting several of the speakers and several of us were also lucky enough to meet them. What a humbling experience to meet Thomas Petschner and Tariq Habibyar, as well as sharing the joy and wonderment created by Mark Gee and his amazing moon silhouette.

If you didn't make it to TEDxChristchurch this year, then I suggest you hop onto their website

and get on their mailing list so you too can experience "the magic of TED" 

Form a queue  behind me!

Photo source @gmacmanus

Why is being a Connected Educator important?

What's happening in your classroom?

I never really thought about being a connected educator in any depth before this month. However, Connected Educator month here in NZ and USA has really made me think about what is a connected educator and why it is important. In a Secondary School it is very easy to be an individual,alone in your classroom, door shut, teaching the same units you have for years, unable or unwilling to change. It may be that you see no need to change or you don't know what to change or how to change, your students may be connected with the world, are collaborative, creative thinkers and achieving to the best of their ability. But how would anyone know? Over the last few years I have come to realise the importance of sharing my practice, collaborating with other educators and increasing my knowledge about my subject, new technology and learning/teaching. How have I come to realise this? I have increased my understanding and knowledge through Post Graduate study, creating a PLN through Twitter, blogs, a variety of professional development opportunities,  such as attending conferences, workshops and teacher-led meetings. I was lucky to be awarded a CORE-Ed fellowship in 2013 which has expanded my horizons and again reinforced the need for modern teachers to connect with other educators and ideas in a multitude of ways. The world and technology are changing so quickly, that a teacher who is not connected to what is happening, is not only missing out on amazing information and resources, but so are their students. The smartphone, tablets, laptops and other technology have made information and knowledge accessible to our students 24/7. We can no longer be the "sage on the stage". By being as connected as our student we can share the digital world and learn alongside them. The world are students will enter when they live school will be a about collaboration, connectivness and creativity. How will they experience this in school if we don't know how ourselves?