Tomorrow marks 74 days since we saw our students face-to-face. Since we had the luxury of physical indoor and outdoor spaces. A library. Fields to play in. Classrooms. We're at the point of the year now where we've started talking about assessments and report cards and student led conferences. Where there are fewer days left … Continue reading How long will it take to rethink online learning?
One of the hidden advantages of learning Chinese is that I often catch myself pretending to learn and it gives me an acute insight and experience into the nature of real vs. faux learning. I'm doing a lot of "busy" work today on trying to get my document together for my ISTE certification (faux learning) … Continue reading Pretending to learn
One of the fun things about the FOEN19 (Future of Education Now) was meeting up with two librarians who I greatly admire and in-between sessions geeking out with them. One of the great things (and possibly why I like them so much) is that they're both keen students of Chinese, the three of us are … Continue reading A little on learning Chinese
I was prompted to think about this again with the publication of the White Ravens 2019 list at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The issue of increasing diversity in an international school setting is a complex one, and something I've written about at length in the past. There's the linguistic diversity bit - collections of books … Continue reading Enough windows – where are the mirrors?
One regularly hears phrases bandied around schools such as "Every teacher is a language teacher"; or "Every class should start with 10 minutes of reading" and you'd be hard pressed to find a teacher who doesn't agree in theory, that reading is a good thing. But then there is the "reality" of supposed too little … Continue reading Content plus
The phrase "life long learning" gets bandied around a lot, and today I'm going to write a little about just how much learning is involved in moving job, school section, country, and home. I left a country that was easy to live in (Singapore) and I job that I loved and was comfortable with for … Continue reading Learning and change
I threw down the gauntlet to my mentor, Katie Day last night. She who taught me all I know about being a teacher librarian in the weeks and months that I sat by her side while doing my MIS and part of my M.Ed before I was thrust into the world of a library of … Continue reading A little writing about writing
I'm busy preparing for next week's library lessons. G5 has one of my favourite units in "How We Express Ourselves" People create messages to target specific audiences Ostensibly it's about advertising, as the lines of inquiry indicate, 1. Advertising techniques can be used to influence society (Perspective) 2. Critically evaluating messages presented in the media … Continue reading #NotOurDiversity
My online library network is getting excited about a couple of articles that are challenging beliefs. There's danah boyds' You Think You Want Media Literacy… Do You? it is an incredibly powerful article that needs to be printed out and highlighted and read very slowly. A couple of times. One passage that struck me epitomised the near … Continue reading Ask the inhabitants
Recently I've been given to much pause of thought about learning and education, not the least following watching the movie "The imitation game" about Alan Turing's code breaking during WW2 on the plane, followed by three days of intensive attending of presentations at 21CLHK. It's taken a while to try and crystallise my thoughts, and … Continue reading The Imitation Game
