Making Connections

Before 2009 I’m going to spend a couple of days trying a couple of new eTools. This morning it’s the lifecast app for the touch. Is this a way for me to liveblog?

Posted with LifeCast

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well, this is cool! I’m on the lounge with my brand new iPod touch. I’m having fun putting it through it’s paces. Can’t wait to really play with the school potential of it!

This morning we woke up to an eerie stillness in our house. There was not whir of fans, no hum of computers, no glow from the microwave, no alarm clock blarring it’s annoying little squeal.

Sometime during the night we’d lost power.

Whilst I love living in a semi-rural area, there are times when things like our reliance on the pump for running water is annoying. Thankfully they happen rarely and when they do happen it gives us time to get creative about ways to entertain ourselves – this morning we played “file Nic’s marking”. Yay!

It also reminds me that we don’t need all the whiz-bang flashy stuff to do our jobs well. So many teachers seem to think that without the latest “flexible” furniture they can’t play with the concepts behind flexible learning spaces, or that without 1-to-1 using technology in the classroom is just un-doable.

A couple of years ago I was transferred (willingly) to a small rural school as the only drama teacher. We had no laptops for teachers, very few projectors, and the drama room was…let’s just say cramped. Going without the wonderful resources and spaces I’ve seen in other schools made me get creative – I formed a partnership with the local civic centre whose cinema had the perfect sized stage for final performances, I learnt how to make juggling balls (and how to teach how to juggle – although I never fully mastered the art myself), I became an advocate of drama, anytime, anywhere – classrooms, lawns, undercover areas, hallways…you name it we played there (much to the frustration of teachers who like their peace and quiet).

I loved my time at that school. Professionally I grew from being the uncertain, jaded novice to being confident and sure of my ability to just do it. Personally I grew from being incredibly one tracked when it came to my planning and thinking to being far more creative and enjoying the job so much more.

I worry about those teachers who haven’t had the chances to be creative like I did, good teaching and certainly innovative teaching cannot be achieved by ordering the ‘right’ furniture. If you can teach, and innovate, when you’re resources are severely limited and/or out-of-date then you’re on to something in my mind.

I’m slowing working my way through an extensive pile of marking, filing and reporting at the moment, as well as wrapping up the podcast project and working on a couple of other small projects (yep, videos just appear, they don’t take much time…two days notice is HEAPS of time).

I need to take the time to thank those who have been leaving me comments – I will get to them, but right now my responses aren’t going to do your wonderful thoughts and ideas justice…

My brain’s not exactly in the right place for reflection, but I have started reading a new book I’ll talk about next week which suggests finding time for fun and creativity…I find that hard to do at this time of year – how do you keep your spirits up when the mountain of work ahead looks almost impossible?

Image by: Drul @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/36543076@N00/164364367

Can you imagine being asked to write that many words? I panic at the idea of 3 000 for a uni assignment.

On Monday I had students bounce up to me (they really were that excited) bubbling about something called nanowrimo. Naturally I asked what on earth they were talking about. Turns out they’re participating in a “Write 50 000 words for fun” online competition. I was totally blown away, how awesome to see my students this excited about something that, quite frankly, sounds like a LOT of hard work.

To check out the project yourself you’ll find it at – nanowrimo

I have to admit this information has left me torn as a teacher, particularly as an English teacher (yes, I do teach something other than Drama). The absolute maximum we have students write is 1000 words, and while I agree that it is important that we teach our students to express themselves clearly and concisely I am beginning to understand why so many of my students are happy to leave their 500 word assignments till the last minute. It hardly sounds like a challenge for them does it?