Reading Writing Responding

creative commons licensed (BY-NC) flickr photo by mrkrndvs: http://flickr.com/photos/aaron_davis/14606572678 I have spoken elsewhere about how I have become a connected educator. However, I have not necessarily spoken about those who have had an ongoing influence on me. +Cameron Paterson talks about finding someone who scares you to drive you, but I feel that it is more important to find some who inspires you and drives you forward. Sometimes such moments can be intimidating or awe inspiring. They provide us with a choice, we can either say that is too hard and baulk at the challenge or say that although it is a lot of work, with a bit more effort and endeavour I could achieve that too. Although 'influence and inspiration' exists outside of gender, I am inspired by a tweet from +Julie Bytheway to be more equitable. So I have decided to split my list between two five men and five women. So in no particular order, here are ten people who have made an impact on my j...

creative commons licensed (BY-SA) flickr photo by brizzle born and bred: http://flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/4934882110 In a recent ICT committee meeting, one of the participants made the remark that the digital revolution has failed to deliver all that it supposedly promised. Having been a part of the YVeLC pilot program almost ten years ago which focused on the potential of 2:1 laptops, it has been interesting seeing the changes that have occurred since that time. In a conversation with +Catherine Gatt , this is the list of reasons that we came up with as to why the digital revolution has failed to be the saviour that so many said it would be. Failure to Invest The government, both state and federal, has invested a lot over the last ten years. Whether it be providing Internet for students, WiFi access in schools, support in regards to servers and switches, as well as devices for students. In addition to this, the state government Victoria made a big investment wi...

I have been sent two separate challenges in regards to the 11 question meme, one from +Ian Guest and the other from +Steve Brophy . Although I have already engaged with this meme elsewhere , I just could not help but respond. So instead of choosing one set of questions over the other, I have decided to simply answer all 22 questions. Therefore, some of my answers may be shorter than you or I would like. However, I am always here to continue the conversation some other time ... 1. What teacher had the most influence on you and why? I would have to say Karl Trsek, my Year 12 English/History teacher. Not only did he have a breadth of knowledge, about history and the world - demonstrated by the fact that he wrote his own texts - but he also challenged the way I thought. 2. During your career, which student (without naming them!) most sticks in your mind and for what reason? I think that it is the student that doesn't necessarily fit in with the status quo, not n...

Shared Vision by William Ferriter (Flickr) CC The new year is a great time to set new goals. I have decided to do something different this year and actually share my goals. So often we keep such things to ourselves. Maybe because others do not actually care about our goals, but also because we sometimes fear in sharing our goals that we open ourselves up to ridicule and failure. The problem with this mentality is that sometimes we are unable to really succeed, because we are unwilling to ever fail. So in the spirit of life-long learning here are my goals for 2014 ... #1 - Utilise data in a more structured manner within the classroom in order to better personalise learning There has been a real rise in education over the last few years in regards to the use of data. What has been interesting though is that often this 'data' has a tendency to be neither personal nor individual, whether it be things such as staff opinion surveys or NAPLAN results. Such data often s...

Often when we talk about education, the term ' hidden curriculum ' is used in reference to all those elements that are not necessarily accounted for or made explicit, those elements that are between the lines, inferred. I think that much the same can be said about professional development. Often there is a hidden professional development that happens, often when we least expect it. In a recent blog +Ian Guest  spoke about the differences between professional development from the 'personal' to the 'organisational'. On the one hand, professional development can be self directed and based on the needs of a teacher. This is learning that can be classified as 'googleable'. On the other end of the scale is the learning that is often dictated by somebody else. Maybe it is a whole-school approach or nation wide program. Below is a table that Ian created to represent this continuum of sorts. This is a fantastic description of the different ...

Tom Whitby stated in a recent blog post addressing Connected Educator Month that: "Being connected is not an add-on or a luxury for educators: it has become a necessity". I could not agree more, there are so many benefits to being connected with the wider world that were not possible in the past. The question that constantly comes up though is why are there not more people connecting? Why are there not more people sharing their ideas with the wider world? In a previous blog I wrote about what I perceive as being some of the benefits of blogging. However, what is often missed in these discussions is why more teachers do not jump on board. Some reasons that come to mind are that teachers do not see any direct benefit for them and their teaching. They do not really use the internet 'like that'. They connect enough with the people that really  matter and they are the teachers in their team. The biggest difficulty though, in my view, is finding ...