Archive for the 'Personal Reflections' Category

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Sharing Other People’s Stuff

Published on October 30, 2010 in Future Directions, Personal Reflections, Staff Training and Web 2.0. 5 Comments

After school, Wednesday, in our staff meeting time, I finally stepped up and talked about the idea of Sharing using digital tools for the first time. I mean it’s not the first time I’ve talked about using Delicious or any other social media tool, but it is the first time I’ve couched the whole thing around the premise of sharing, and the possibilities that sharing with a wider network of educators than just the ones at your site might open up. I’ve shied away from really talking in a formal way to my colleagues about networked learning – a mixture of not wanting to push my own potential zealotry and a worry that most won’t have a clue what I’m talking about anyway. It’s hard to get the message just right so that they can see that this is a way that regular classroom teachers can go, because after all, it is the techhead, laptop loving freak pushing the ideas. If they could just sit here in this spot and see the potential stretch out in front of them like I can …

I chose to show the first seven minutes of Dean Shareski’s opening keynote video for the K12 Online Conference, which has stoked the fires of inquiring debate in a number of places across the web. I will chat to a few colleagues tomorrow and see what they got out of it. My worry is that not that they won’t see value in this form of sharing, but that they will see it as something beyond them, beyond what time will allow for them, beyond what their capabilities are as an online navigator.

What I struggle with as well is this notion of self-directed learning as a professional. I believe that participation in networked learning is ideally suited for this – tools like Twitter are subverted for educational sharing. But Twitter is mainly about sharing stuff that other people have created or found, and Delicious is the same. Neither ask the participant to put themselves “out there” like writing a blog post or adding content to a wiki or even posting a reply to a forum. So, why is that so many teachers find the use of social media for sharing to be such a step that they are unwilling to take? I find it hard to imagine their reluctance and need to be shown because I (like the majority of edubloggers I assume) have learnt how to use and manipulate social media through active participation. Workshops and PD sessions on how to use Google Reader and Delicious seem to run counter to the whole point of self directed learning through technology.

Also I feel that for a practice to stick, to become habitual, the desire to explore further must come from within. Maybe some teachers will never grasp the concept of online networked learning for their own professional improvement … but I have at least raised their awareness of what it is out there if they choose to look beyond their own self imposed boundaries.

It’s All About Me

Published on October 10, 2010 in Personal Reflections. 2 Comments

(This post is written with my parent hat on after enjoying two weeks of time with my family.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mburpee/3569582119/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mburpee/3569582119/

I’ve seen this slogan before on kids’ t-shirts but for some reason, the kid wearing it on the playground down at our local shopping precinct stuck in my mind. It’s funny that at times, my wife and I feel like the parents who are out of sync with most other kids we see out and about. We insist that our boys wait their turn in line, use manners and eye contact when talking to others and watch where they are walking in relation to other people’s personal space when out in public. On Saturday, we went to a birthday party for a family friend. Their son was turning seven and had his party at our local bowling centre. We arrived and insisted that both our boys stood with us while the bowling shoes were sorted out. No problem, except every other kid in the place was tearing around the place, running through other people’s games, near missing the staff while their parents chatted obliviously. I can see Josh looking at me with his unspoken words ringing in my ears, “How come they get to run around wherever they like while I have to stand here doing what you think is the right thing?”

Actually, I want my kids to realise that life isn’t just about them – that it is important to think about others. There is a difference between being true to yourself and wanting to have freedom for one self and allowing others to do the same, and having your own self motivated actions coming at the expense of others at hand. This is not a criticism of youth today but rather an observation of how many parents are telling their own kids in an unspoken way via their actions that they are indeed the centre of the universe, that yes, they do have the right to barge to the front of the queue, that their child is owed an apology if someone accidentally gets in their way and their child should get everything that their parent felt they missed out on as a child.

Another quick story – over the last two years, I had the privilege of teaching a student with impeccable manners. Every morning I got a genuine, warm greeting and I was thanked for small things that I did as a matter of course in the classroom. We (my tandem teacher and I) mentioned this to the student’s parents at interview time and the father made an interesting observation. He appreciated the fact that we were complimenting his child but in his opinion, felt it was sad that we were doing so because it made it feel like good manners and graciousness were exceptional things, rather than being commonplace and just part of the way people treat each other.

So seeing “It’s All About Me” on a T-shirt is either an ironic observation of the way society is operating these days or a motto to be adopted by kids today at the encouragement of their parents. There is a difference between catering for your child’s needs and pandering to their wants.

Teachers Are Lucky

Published on September 30, 2010 in Personal Reflections. 6 Comments

I’m not going to be one of those people who gets all defensive about the biggest perk we have in our profession. Classroom teachers are lucky – the holidays we get are much more than most workers get and in my case with a young family and a wife who is also a teacher, the fact that my holidays align with my boys’ time off help me to be a better father and husband. I feel like I work hard and that these breaks help to balance life out and it’s not like I do nothing work related at all during the time off.

We have a fortnight’s break right now and it has helped me to get on top of a nasty virus that knocked me down in the final week of term. My youngest has had a friend over for the afternoon and it has been great to potter around and casually participate in their activities and conversations. Tomorrow morning we are going to get up early to be down to Woodville Bowl to get in a few $6 games before their special ends at 10.30 am. Next week, we are going to pack a picnic lunch and head up to Belair National Park for the day. I am lucky. Other people have their kids in Vacation Care programs or farmed out to grandparents during this fortnight. Even if it is as boring and mundane as popping out to buy a new pair of shoes or heading out to Hungry Jack’s for lunch, this is stuff that I can enjoy – being an integral and visible part of my kids’ life.

holidaycalendar

Preparing

Published on September 21, 2010 in Personal Reflections. 1 Comment

I’ve been scouring YouTube for documentaries to be part of our current inquiry unit for the classroom “What Are You Listening To?” One of the key understandings is Music is an industry and in that search I’ve been watching a number of promising clips from the Classic Albums television series (which aired on SBS here down under a few years back). I found an episode that is about the making of Pink Floyd’s classic album Dark Side Of The Moon, and a quote from Roger Waters talking about his thinking when composing the lyrics for the song “Time” is applicable to anyone interested in the process of learning – and living.

I suddenly realised then that year that life was already happening. I think it’s ‘cos my mother was so obsessed with education and the idea that childhood and adolescence and well, everything was about preparing for a life that was gonna start later. And I suddenly realised that life wasn’t going to start later, that it’d, you know, it starts at …dot … and it happens all the time and at any point you can grasp the reins and start guiding your own destiny. And that was a big revelation to me. I mean, it came as quite a shock.

Remember The Feeling

Published on September 14, 2010 in Personal Reflections. 1 Comment

Unfortunately, I chose a seat right in the centre of the semi-circle of chairs directly opposite the three Ghanaian drummers who were about to lead our session on TeamBeat. I could feel the hot flush of embarrassment as we were invited to grab a personal drum for the session. My stomach knotted, I felt the pain of self-consciousness and the clock slowed down in slow motion as I realised we were expected to drum, move and dance throughout this session. All of a sudden, my most hated experience in a PD session where a yoga guru led us down a relaxing grassy pathway to a babbling brook (funny how something that is supposed to make people feel at peace makes me tense and unwilling to participate) seemed to be a preferable option. After all when everyone else shuts their eyes in a relaxation session, no one really knows if I’m actually doing the slow breathing and the deliberate relaxing of muscles.

And it was as bad as I feared. These guys were good and everyone was enjoying themselves, but I couldn’t coordinate my hands to the demonstrated beat, lifted my left hand when others raised their right in unison, my rhythm always a step or to behind everyone else. I felt another pang of uselessness every time our enthused instructor raised the stakes with a more complex pattern – me being right in his line of sight. One staff member excused himself early to go to an appointment. I wished I was him.

So this is what things are like for many kids in classrooms today. My classroom in all probability. Kids feeling completely lost, hoping like hell that their teacher isn’t going to ask them to do anything public and expose their shortcomings. Kids watching the clock, not because they hate learning, but what they are being asked to do is way beyond their comfort level exposing their greatest weaknesses to the scrutiny of their peers. Like me today, they try to lighten the mood with a few witty self-deprecating comments to mask their real fear. It still doesn’t make things easier.

I’m not going to say that I’m glad that I had to attend and participate today. That would be a lie. If I had known what was in store for me, regardless of the talented guys leading the way, I would still try and find a way to dodge out of it. But that feeling, that feeling like a kangaroo in the headlights, that feeling of struggling to keep one’s head above water, that feeling that many students face on a daily basis in the classroom when I’m the teacher in charge….

…. that feeling is worth remembering.

A Few Casual Notes

Published on September 12, 2010 in Future Directions and Personal Reflections. 0 Comments

My posting here is threatening to fall off the wagon so I’ll just post a few random notes here about things I’ve been noting of late.

New Buildings
Our new library and classroom block are now open for business. We will start moving the students into their new surrounds throughout this week in a staggered fashion, as we work out what resources will make the journey from the old to the new. I’m super impressed with how the technology has panned out and the AV specialist who walked me through all the options when the buildings were still shells has done a great job. We have four classrooms, two adjoin each other with a portable wall separating the two (if needed) a new teacher prep area (never had one of those before) and a shared open learning area that has been titled the Aula. Each room has a short throw projector on one half of the low sheen whiteboard (not interactive), ceiling speakers – any AV device can be attached and controlled by the projector remote – even my iPhone’s music list! We have one IWB in the Aula which means that it will be best used for student small group activities or collaborations. I’m looking forward to teaching in this gift from the Rudd government – it may be the only time in my teaching career that I’ll have the opportunity to work in a brand new, never been used before building.

Gary Stager & The Middle Schooling Conference
Gary has been mentioned as a must see education presenters by many people who I read. So I made sure that I was in the front row when the opportunity arose. His reputation is well deserved and he kept me engaged for both his ninety minute presentation and his closing keynote. He whips through topics and points at a frenetic pace and probably needed a lot more time to really unpack his whole presentation. Everything he says is thought provoking and he is unashamedly controversial. I have my notes tucked away and need to re-read them and reflect on them in a future blog post to do them full justice. So, even though I also got a lot out of Erica McWilliam‘s presentation, it is Gary’s point of view that presents the most challenge to the way I conduct my job.

Lego Ebay Addiction
My youngest son has discovered Star Wars and is now a connoisseur of the licensed Lego products. He bought a couple of sets with his birthday money and I hunted a few second hand sets on Ebay to get him started. Now it has become a bit of an obsessive hobby on my part as we both research on the Brickipedia for the best sets to add to my Watch List. There are many resources on the web to ensure that what people are offering for sale is what we might be interested on including LUGNET and GalaxyBricks. My frugal German ancestry is coming in handy as I’m only bidding for items at very low prices, constantly being beaten in the final few minutes of an auction by someone prepared to shell out more $A than me. (Although I did score a new Boba Fett’s Slave I set for $50 less than down at Target in a surprising result.) Anyone wanting to offload excess Star Wars Lego might have a willing buyer here! It is something fun to do with my son – I think the next step is to work on creating some stop motion clips together. It could be my project for Ewan’s 100 Hour Challenge.

Surfing The Web

Published on August 8, 2010 in Internet and Personal Reflections. 0 Comments

Surfing The Web from Graham Wegner on Vimeo.

Surfing is actually a great metaphor for learning, especially when the internet enables us to learn anytime, anywhere. This is a think out loud mash up that draws some comparisons between learning and surfing and seeks to put some purpose back into the phrase “Surfing The Web.”

This Is The Only Lily Allen Song I Like

Published on July 22, 2010 in Personal Reflections. 4 Comments

… and this is a nice treatment of that song.

Lily Allen “The Fear.” mk II from phil tidy on Vimeo.

2000 people from around the UK were filmed singing The Fear for this promo for Lily Allen which was part of an Xbox Sing it with Lips game campaign.

Video directed by Caswell Coggins and produced by Phil Tidy, http://vimeo.com/channels/philtidyproducer

The Rumpus Room http://therumpusroom.tv/ provided the post production magic to make this work.

If Then Why

Published on July 16, 2010 in Internet and Personal Reflections. 9 Comments

If traditional media is dying and being overtaken by real time social media sources …

… then why are most of the links posted by my Twitter network come from mainstream news websites?

If it is generally agreed that we need educators who are self directed learners and that social media allows anyone to publish and contribute…

… then why do so many need How To guides and workshops to do what is supposedly so easy?

If we want our kids to be creative and critical thinkers …

… then why do politicians get such a big say in how our education systems should run?

If we want all students to use technology seamlessly with and as part of their learning …

… then why do we make a big showcase of certain technologies (take your pick – iPad, IWB, clickers)?

If we believe that the learning is more important than the software, hardware or device …

… then why do we let corporations decide what is innovative or worthwhile?

If basic skills around being literate and numerate are as important as critical thinking and creativity …

… then why is there so much debate around one approach trumping the other? Don’t learners need both?

If reflecting on one’s practice is such a big key to improving teaching in the classroom …

… then why is Twitter so celebrated as a place for instant PD?

If my goal is to contribute to the greater pool of learning via the internet …

… then why am I publishing such a cynical and hypocritical post?

The Three Chain Road

Published on June 29, 2010 in Personal Reflections. 1 Comment

Google Maps Street View now becomes Google Beaten Track View as I discovered that the Googlemobile has been documenting the Mid-North of South Australia where I grew up. My brother is still on the family farm and it is amazing to be able to virtually drive down the dirt roads out of Wirrabara and head towards the almost ghost town of Appila and drive past it. So, even though others have done a better job of using Google Maps to take a trip down memory lane, here are a few grabs to show where I come from.

stone wall

This stone wall on our family farm is over 120 years old.

3 chain roadThis is the Three Chain Road, aptly named because it is “three chains wide” in very old measurements. I remember minding mobs of sheep for my father taking advantage of the free grazing sitting on my old green bicycle and later on the Honda Ag Bike.

daleysThis is the gate to Daley’s, a piece of land that my Dad bought in the mid seventies a few kms from our original farm. I still remember him coming home shaking after taking out the then sizeable loan from the local ANZ bank.

rural schoolHere’s the Appila Rural School where I went to school in Year Five. I was the only Year Five in the school and went there after the local Lutheran School closed after dwindling down to six students. I only lasted one year before my mum decided to send me to the larger primary school at Wirrabara which had over fifty students for my final two years in primary school.

pine creek

Finally, heading back towards Wirrabara where the road dips through the Pine Creek that weaves its way through much of the family farm. I recall a flash flood that cut off our farm on three sides when I was about eleven or twelve. The water was up around the half way up the gum tree on the right hand side.


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