Journey through teaching

Global Storytellers

2011-10-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

This star studded video reminds us that stories are powerful when shared...everyone has a story to tell - what's yours?

Outdoor Environments

2011-10-09T13:12:00.000-07:00

Nō hea koe? - Māori Maps

2011-08-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

Nō hea koe? - Where are you from? A common greeting in any Māori/Pasifika introduction. Who you are and where you are from determines your place in this world. It helps the person you are speaking to make a connection with you. So what happens when your sense of ancestral ties lie in another part of New Zealand. With most Māori living in urban areas the links to marae for many Māori occurs when you have lost a loved on, when you are celebrating an event or a family reunion.

Today I read an article in the Aucklander - "Putting Māori on the Map" which briefly details the endeavours of some wonderful people who have trekked Tai Tokoreau capturing images of Northland and Auckland marae - these images and details have been capture on a portal called Māori Maps.

Instinctively, I took the opportunity to search my own marae (as you do). And there in all of its glory is an image of Kohewhata Marae on Mangakahia Rd and Te Kotahitanga Marae on Rangihamama Rd. I can see the potential of such a site and am looking forward to see how it unravels.

Reflective Questions

2011-08-11T03:18:00.000-07:00

I came across a post this evening at Wake Up Tiger. I usually just browse through their quotes and find some gems here and there. Tonight there was a link to thoughtquestions.com and what a great find. I've been reflecting in online spaces and the role I play through commenting, liking and sharing. One hundred percent of what I share is super positive... that's fine obviously! But I've been thinking lately about how I might engage in some in-depth thought provoking thinking. The questions at thoughtquestions.com have done this for me tonight. I'm about to head over to Facebook and start some thought provoking conversations. A few questions that got me thinking are below:

What would your answers to these questions be?

What memories do these images bring back?

2011-06-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

Reomations

2011-06-14T16:43:00.002-07:00

We're enjoying a National Facilitators Hui with our Early Years team up in Auckland. The ideas buzzing in the room are ample. Our colleague Tania shared the Reomations link yesterday. A resource within TKI - Te Kete Ipurangi that has a huge range of animations focussed on Te Reo Maori. There is a wealth of information with accompanying teachers notes and videos. The list of Units are detailed below:

Unit 1 Ko au

There is lots of potential for children, teachers and whānau to further explore this resource in their centres. Perhaps sharing a video at each team meeting and then practising the reo throughout the week would be useful. If you have any ideas for other teachers feel free leave your ideas in the comments section below.

Reflections on 'Children sharing stories across the world' - Glynda Hull

2011-02-11T08:04:00.000-08:00

Children sharing stories across the world - Glynda Hull

I first learned of Glynda Hull several years ago when my colleague Ann mentioned her work with the D.U.S.T.Y (Digital Underground Storytelling Youth) programme. The notion of children from under-privileged areas coming together after school to engage in digital storytelling to share their stories appealed to me.

I grew up and still live in Otara, Auckland which is considered to be a very low-socio economic area with high social needs and issues. Like alot of my friends doing okay for themselves and still living in the 'hood' we do what we can, when we can to do our bit to reach out to youth, with the desire of helping them carve out a better future.

So, in 2007 I contacted Michaelangelo from D.U.S.T.Y to seek advice on how to replicate the programme in South Auckland. At the time I was volunteering with CANOPY Trust and working with two ladies teaching them what I knew about technology and getting them to join me in my role teaching teachers, we started an 'Otara Heroes' programme where they created a DVD about people they considered to be Otara Heroes. We soon learned, that the definition 'Hero' meant something different to each of us: a single mum with 7 kids, Reuben Wiki and Manu Vatuvei amazing league players, Norman Kirk and Len Brown.

Glynda Hull talked about the D.U.S.T.Y programme in her korero, she is still involved with some of the youth she worked with some years ago. The stories she shared with us were very moving, the most popular story that has epitomized the work of D.U.S.T.Y for the past decade is Life 'n' Rhyme.

Since then however, she has moved into working across many different countries with a forum called Space2Cre8. She talked about the impact of circulating stories by youth for youth across the world and using a social networking site as the platform to share these among youth.Hull went on to talk about the lessons learned from the work that she is currently doing with Space2Cre8, these included:

- Children can easily extend print based genres.

- Children use different modes.

- Children who struggle with writing may excel with digital media.

- Sharing Digital stories both online and offline can have unexpected and unintended consequences.

She went on to talk about the notion of 'mirror stories', and demonstrated this with two stories: one created by a young girl in India and her struggles with day-to-day living, she then showed a story from a teenage boy in the Bronx who saw this story and decided to document his neighborhood and life - bringing to light the similarities and differences. Hull confirmed through stories "the personal assumes great importance".

What could happen in our teaching teams if we all took time to tell stories? Tell stories of our journey into teaching? Our backgrounds? Our goals and our desires? Then share these stories beyond our walls and into International forums?

Reflections from International DST Conference - Day 1 (Part One)

2011-02-05T22:56:00.000-08:00

With over 200 participants registered for the 4th International Digital Storytelling conference I am not phased at all by the fact that I am the only New Zealander present and have probably travelled the furtherest to be here. The small number of participants provides an intimate context to establish and maintain some great conversations with other participants - a little different from the thousands I am used to at Ulearn.

So what was the attraction to a conference on the other side of the world I hear you ask? As I detailed in my previous post Digital Storytelling has captured my interest for some time, the opportunity to hear both Glynda Hull and Joe Lambert at the same event was definitely something I was keen on engaging in, but what was more appealing was the fact that I would hear about Digital Storytelling in a range of different contexts - health, education, social justice, historical colletions and across a range of different countries. It seemed to me that this was an opportunity to experience professional development like no other.

Without a doubt, Day One has been amazing! I have been inspired during workshops as well as by conversations held throughout lunch and morning tea sessions. Today, I sat with a lady at lunch who is currently a photo-journalist as well as having a background in social anthropology. I also met a filmographer, an aviation museum curator and a woman who uses digital storytelling in student teacher reflections all whilst chatting over lunch. I've always been a firm believer as a teacher in the importance of looking outside the walls of education to be inspired by other sectors and using this to inform my own thinking. This conference has already exceeded my thinking in this area. The common theme that brings us all together is stories: Everybody has a story to tell!

Reflection on the Opening Korero.

Joe Lambert from the Center for Digital Storytelling opened the conference with a brief overview of the history of Digital Storytelling and a re-cap of previous International Digital Storytelling Conferences. What the heck is storytelling? Just about everybody today is a storyteller, from our Twitter and Facebook updates to slideshows and movies of happenings in our lives. The mix of images, audio, video and a story is considered Digital Storytelling.

While I feel that I am familiar with the Center of Digital Storytelling (CDS) and the work they do (well at least I thought I was) it seems that I have yet to scratch the surface to the depth of the CDS model, which means I really do need to look into the work they do.

While brief, Joe Lambert's message opening speech was clear: Digital Storytelling is about giving voice to those who do not have a voice. It's not only the 'how to' of Digital Storytelling but how it can make you a better person and how it changes you. What does this mean when I adapt it to my context working with early childhood teachers in Tāmaki-Maungakiekie, and who are we to give voice to those who have a voice? Surely Everybody has a voice? Isn't it more about strengthening, turning up, spotlighting ones voice? It looks like I've got some 'intellectual conflict' in store for me (Burman, 2009). More thinking on that statement to come later.

Touchdown in Lillehammer

2011-02-04T23:18:00.000-08:00

I'm here, I'm finally here! What an amazing journey - 42 hours in total to reach my destination but oh so glad that I am here. The winter landscape is beautiful to say the least. While I wont be seeing much of the landscape over the next few days due to being indoors attending the conference I certainly will make the effort when the conference is over to explore the little city of Lillehammer.

Taking South Auckland Stories To Norway

2011-02-04T02:38:00.000-08:00

Today I start my lengthy journey to Norway. I'm flying across the world to attend and present at the 4th International Digital Storytelling Conference. Check out the video below to see a quick glimpse into how far around the world it actually is.

I have had in interest in Digtal Storytelling (DST) for over 4 years now, and the more and more I investigate the DST process the more and more I am convinced of its benefits. In the ECE ICT PL Programme I witnessed a range of powerful Digital Stories, in most cases those created by 3 and 4 year olds. The areas that interest me most when it comes to DST are:

* The impact of Digital Storytelling to support literacy.

* Engaging community through Digital Storytelling.

I will be presenting on the latter at the 4th International Digital Storytelling conference. When I first considered submitting an application I debated whether I had anything worthy of sharing, then when I finally convinced myself that I had a story to share, I debated which parts of my DST story journey would be most interesting to an International audience. Working with teachers, children and families has certainly been rewarding as well as offering some great learning moments. How do you pack, 4 years of investigating into a presentation?

I am pleased to say that my presentation is complete, and while I cant post the presentation in its entirety here I will upload relevant slides over the next few posts to illustrate some of my thinking. For me, the most exciting part of pulling this presentation together has been the realisation that I am taking "South Auckland Stories to Norway". When I have talked to teachers about the possibility of Digital Storytelling reaching a global audience through blogs, websites and podcasts it never occurred to me that I would one day travel to Norway to share these stories. How exciting for a girl from Otara and to the authors of the stories. Wish me luck for both the travels and the presentation!

And last but by no means least, a huge thank you to CORE Education for the amazing opportunity!!

The birth of my digital storytelling passion.

2011-01-31T15:21:00.000-08:00

I first learned about Digital Storytelling when I became a Regional ICT Facilitator in the ECE ICT PL Programme for CORE Education back in 2006. I worked with centres across Auckland and Northland looking at ways ICT could enhance teaching and learning in Early Childhood Centres. Each centre chose their own topics of research, and areas of focus ranged from - How can ICT support parent/whānau engagement? to How can literacy be enhanced through ICT? and What impact does ICT have on Oral Language? To see more comprehensive documentation of the ECE ICT PL research, download the full report here

I used digital tools long before starting my facilitation role. As part of my role I enjoy trialling new things in my own time. A great way of doing this was by exploring tools with my own children. My then Mr. 5 and Miss. 2 were avid Digital Storytellers - often taking their own pics and narrating their own stories. It had never occurred to me that these could be shared beyond our immediate family, but to our wider extended whanau, school, early childhood centre and their teachers.

My first 'wow' moment with Digital Storytelling actually occurred in my personal life. Mr. 5 and I went for a walk at a local park, he took photos along the way and then he and I worked using Photo Story 3 to compile the story. In this one instance, I learned what my son learned, he recounted a recent school trip and detailed his knowledge about composting, growing vegetables, plants and his relationships with friends. I sent the story to his teacher, school and family who replied with great enthusiasm. His teacher made links with what they had been doing at school and what he had articulated. My father an avid gardener committed to extending this learning with his grandson and taught him more about gardening and composting. If this impromptu experience could have such an impact on my son, then what are the benefits of Digital Storytelling in Education.

After 4 years, my short answer is: A whole lot! And today as I write this I know without a doubt that I have learned much more than I ever expected, and vouch completely for Digital Storytelling for Education. Watch this space for more posts about my upcoming journey.

Google Demo Slam

2010-10-21T01:15:00.000-07:00

I've really enjoyed checking out Google Demo Slam this evening. There are some incredibly talented people in this world. See this weeks slams below, then go online and vote!

Contender Tahi:

Contender Rua:

YouTube - Everythings Amazing & Nobodys Happy

2010-10-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

YouTube - Everythings Amazing & Nobodys Happy

Sharing resources online = awesome!

2010-10-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of sorting out my bookmarks and 'read that later' pile and have come across a huge range of great resources that I have been meaning to get to.

The Learn It In 5 - How To Videos simplify online applications and give you a how to in 5 minutes. What a great idea! Sadly, they don't have an embed feature so follow the link above to check out the types of videos they have.

There's also a great online magazine with a great list of Web 2.0 tools applied to teaching.

The amount of resources freely accessible online never ceases to amaze me! Thanks everybody...I'm off to tag, bookmark and read :D

Kōrero through pictures

2010-10-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have noticed several kōrero that have been represented through pictures. I first connected with this method at the recent TedxAuckland event. Gavin Blake from Fever Picture intricately captured the Tedx Talks through images. All of which can be seen here.

You can see more about what Fever Picture are about in the video below.

Today, I was pleasantly surprised to see a Ken Robinson kōrero presented through animation. I particularly enjoyed this version imagery. I'm hoping that this will become more and more popular in coming months.

Tips of fun maths, reading and writing at home

2010-09-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

The lovely R.Jensen flicked this out on Twitter this morning. So I thought I would share the links here for those teachers that visit this blog. There are several links to resources for families to support their children's learning at home. While they are aimed at children attending school there are some lovely tips for families with children of all ages i.e. Make reading FUN!

Supporting your children's learning:

- After 1 year at school

- After 2 years at school

- Ways to get involved

The websites themselves are text heavy but the downloadable PDF's look great. (Scroll to the very bottom of the page to find the link). You can also email 'orders@thechair@minedu.govt.nz for hard copies.

Banned Books Week

2010-09-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

An interesting title? Yes, well this is the exact same title that caught my eye this afternoon in my daily flick through my blog lists. The source of this title: Reading Today Daily. The post highlights a number of books that have caused controversy in the last year. They write;

To Kill a Mockingbird...the Twilight series...Catcher in the Rye...The Color Purple--these are just a sampling of the most frequently challenged books of 2009, according to the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF).

So after further investigation into the ALA Website I learned the difference between a 'challenged book' and a 'banned book'. See full post here. Basically, a challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials.

So what kinds of classic stories have been banned over the years?

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner

Catch-22, Joseph Heller

Beloved, Toni Morrison

The Color Purple, Alice Walker

The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

I’ve read all of these stories and some of them more than once. If you want to see the full list of ‘banned and challenged’ classics go here. You may be surprised at some of the books that are in the Top 10 challenged books for 2009.

However, the purpose of this post is not to delve deep into the Banned Books List. The list is certainly interesting, but it has prompted me to think about early childhood settings and the books we provide for our young children.

While we don’t go as far as contacting an association to ban stories in our centres (not that I have heard of anyway), there is some level of power that teachers have in their day to day activities that actually limit children’s literary experiences.

Here’s an example:

What are your initial thoughts of the following book?

It's a book about a mole who goes around trying to find out who 'poohed' on his head. When I first read this I thought it was funny, however, when I shared it with a colleague she didn't find it funny she found it offensive. Who gets to choose whether this story is available for young children?

What about more controversial topics and books like "Where do babies come from?" or "Heather has two mummies". Who chooses whether or not children in your early childhood setting are exposed to these stories? What are your thoughts?

Rules at School

2010-08-20T23:49:00.001-07:00

This afternoon my 5-year old daughter and I enjoyed a casual conversation about school. It was interesting to see the amount of 'rules' that she could recall about school. For her this was important. I have tried to capture this with a Voicethread. We may add to this over the coming weeks.

Brown Bear

2010-08-20T20:52:00.001-07:00

I recently visited Akomai, a blog created by an awesome colleague. Her gorgeous daughters have put together a Voicethread re-enacting the popular Eric Carle story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear".

Recently I have been looking at the notion of literacy and creativity. This story for me captures both very strongly, the way the girls have used everyday clothes to interpret their animals is very creative and the rich language experience of re-enacting stories is so powerful.

Here are some of the links shared on Janine's blog to extend on the story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear".

A forum for teachers with ideas for each book.

The official Eric Carle website.

Thank you Hannah and Bryony! Tau ke!!

Kiwi Book Reviews

2010-08-10T13:27:00.000-07:00

I especially enjoy finding new blogs to subscribe to that have a hint of Kiwi or Pasifika flair. This morning as I rummaged through a series of new blogs, I stumbled across a fantastic blogsite. Oh, the joy of hyper-linking and following a multitude of pathways is sure to reveal a series of little treasures.

The KidsBooksNZ blog is a fabulous blog with reviews of books written by New Zealand authors. The team of reviewers have a vast range of experience and passion when it comes to NZ Literature. Head along to their site and take a look for yourself. They also have a link for those that are keen on writing their own children's books, Kiwi Write4Kidz.

Storylines Festival 2010

2010-08-09T02:53:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again! Storylines Festival: Children's Literature Charitable trust are hosting a series of Free Family Fun Days! The Storylines Festival of New Zealand Children's Writers and Illustrators has been a highlight of many families' calendars since 1993.

The festival is always great for children and adults to meet the real masterminds behind some of our favourite stories. The hands on activities are also fun and entertaining.

To check out where your local Storylines Festival is being held, check out this link.

My family and I are off to the Auckland Free Family Day at the Aotea Centre, with what looks like a great line up of events throughout the whole day.

Uploading Comic Life to Blogger

2010-07-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

Throughout the past few weeks I have had several teachers ask me how to upload a Comic Life to their Blogger blog. Below I have detailed how to do this.

Step One: Create your Comic Life document. When you have finished and ready to post to your blog. Click File --> Export --> Export to Image(s).

Step Two: A dialog box prompting you to save your file will appear. The software automatically defaults to a JPEG file. You may like to change the resolution and quality depending on the purpose of your Comic Life document. Name your folder, the software automatically creates a folder for your images. So if your document has 3 pages it will save 3 images in your 'folder' called 'Page_1', 'Page_2' and 'Page_3'. Press Export.

Step Three: Open up your blog, go to New Post and click on 'add an image'.

Step Four: Open up your blog, go to New Post and click on 'add an image'. The Blogger dialog box will appear. Click on Choose File and find the folder you just created. Click and open, once you are in there you can click on the Image - usually titled 'Page_1'. You can click on 'Add another image to add up to 5 images at a time'. When you have your images picked. Click on 'Upload image'.

Step Five: You will see a dialog box that says "Your images are being uploaded to Blogger". If your files are large they can take some time to load. Once your images have uploaded you will see a dialog box that says 'Done' or see your post as below.

Step Five: Make sure you have titled your post and added text to the body of your post if required.

Uploaded Comic Life Image

You can enlarge the Comic Life document by clicking on the image. The image will open in another window. This can make it easier to read.

EduCampNZ @ Summerland Primary in Auckland

2010-07-24T00:17:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous morning in Auckland, and a group of awesome teachers wait anxiously for the beginning of EduCampNZ. Summerland Primary School have kindly offered their school as a venue and what a gorgeous school it is too.

To check out the wealth of stuff that happened today hop along to the EduCampNZ2010 site kindly hosted by ACESNet. So first up;

Speed Geeking in Twitter Time

140 secs to introduce yourselves, a little bit about yourself, what your passionate about and what you can contribute to the Unconference.

Smackdown

You get 3 minutes to share with the group your cool idea, website or topic. Check out some of the topics that were shared:

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/educampnz2010

Virtual and F2F: I learned that the contacts and connections I make online through Twitter and other forms of online spaces has been particularly useful for keeping up with what's happening around the place i.e #EduCampNZ. Was awesome catching up with people face to face today adds another dimension to the online connection. And always nice to put real face to twitter faces.

Junior Schools and IT:
Lots of handy hints shared in this session

*EasiSpeak Microphones: Using the microphone for recording poetry, questions and conversations.

*Voki.com

*Engaging whānau through blogs in Junior School - feedback from some families that they prefer photos.

E-Portfolios:

Looks like I have to become more vocal about what some of our centres are doing in early childhood regarding this. While services like Mahara and KnowledgeNet serve a purpose in some schools at the moment. One thing we found limiting with these 'pay-for' services was that once children left the early childhood centre and school they no longer had access to the resources and learning records they accumulated over the years. The idea of children developing life-long portfolios online through their lives was high on our list of criteria. Therefore blogs using Blogger soon become our preferred option.

When these portfolios are started the parents of the children create the blog and have administration rights. Teachers in centres are then invited as authors (sometimes with admin privileges). We have found by doing this parents and families quickly assume ownership. Therefore, they have the rights to invite other family members to become readers. Most of the blogs we develop in the early years are kept private with the assumption that once children take a stronger ownership of their blog they may then choose to make it open. (NB: CORE Education Early Years Facilitators are accredited Netsafe facilitators and offer all centres that we work with Cybersafety courses as well as workshops for families looking at the safe and responsible use of ICT).

We have some lovely examples of authentic and meaningful assessment and learning, shared meaning making with families and active engagement in curriculum by parent and whānau through the use of e-portfolios. We also have student that are now in Year 3 and 4 who are continuing their blogs in the compulsory school sector.

For snapshots of what's happening in early childhood education go along to Stories of Practice.

Right, Im off to wade through the huge mass of awesome links accumulated today.

EDUCAMPNZ in Auckland - 24th July 2010

2010-07-14T23:24:00.000-07:00

Kia ora koutou (calling all early childhood teachers in this years mentoring programmes!!)

We have an exciting opportunity to mix and mingle, learn, contribute and dialogue with some of the most amazing e-learning leaders in this country. It is also an opportunity to share some of our early childhood practices with the compulsory education sector.

Further details are outlined below:

What:
EducampNZ is based on a user-generated 'unconference' or BarCamp The focus is on e-learning and education, sharing ideas we've discovered and learning from each other. Everyone is invited to participate in some way.

Why:
The purpose of EducampNZ is to both learn and contribute. It is based on the OpenSpace Meeting Format . No real agenda has been set and it will be up to you to determine the focus for the sessions, grow your learning, network and have fun!

Who:
Follow the link below and find out who is coming and other relevant details. http://acesnet.wikispaces.com/Educampnz+2010

When:
Saturday 24th July, 10am to 3pm

Where:
Summerland Primary,
62 Summerland Drive,
Henderson,
Auckland

The venue will be open from 10am to 3pm and you are invited to turn up and leave whenever it suits you. It may be useful for participants to have some idea of who might be there and areas of interest.

This is a not to be missed opportunity!! Look forward to seeing you all there.
Kia manuia
Naketa

TAMARIKI ORA - Sounds of Hope

2010-06-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend Sounds of Hope aired on Maori Television. Sounds of Hope is a compilation of stories and songs collected from Kiwi musicians. The artist shared their thoughts addressing the issue of Child Abuse in New Zealand. A truly inspirational documentary that is a must-see for all New Zealanders.

Sounds of Hope screened alongside another 5-hour landmark documentary entitled Tamariki Ora. The content of this series was much more hard-hitting and heart wrenching and incredibly moving. Showing families who have overcome family violence in their lives and profiling their inspiring stories. While some of the content is hard hitting its a call for all New Zealanders to stand up for the children of Aotearoa.

Often when I am confronted with inspiring and confronting messages such as those outlined in these documentaries I ask myself - So What does this mean for me? It's alright to be inspired but the real proof of inspiration is action. So some of the things I hope to action include; spending more time with my own children - enjoy them, listen to them, hear them, love them. Learn more about the children that live on my street - try and encourage a real sense of community in my own street. And instead of saying 'tut tut' when I witness any form of abuse I'm going to say something and do something.

What will you do?

Ulearn10 - Come on down!

2010-06-24T21:41:00.000-07:00

CORE Education Scholarships

2010-06-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

Any ideas about what I should do to fill in the long quiet hours over the school holidays?

Here's a thought - give yourself time to pull together your application for the CORE Education Travel Scholarship – it’s been set up to encourage and celebrate a teacher's or leader's thought leadership in education and the prize is up to $5,000 towards travel, accommodation, event registration & expenses for a teacher to attend an international education event. To enter, you need to submit a perspective piece relating to CORE’s Ten Trends.

Or perhaps work on putting yourself forward for the Professional Learning & Reflective Practice 2010 Awards recognising best practice in action. Winners get $3,000 (for an individual) or $5,000 (for a school or centre) to put towards professional learning. To apply, individuals, schools and early childhood centres have to submit proof of the impact of professional learning activities they have completed.

Both the Scholarship and the Awards are now open to teachers and leaders in all NZ early childhood centres, primary and secondary schools. Go to the CORE website for more information, selection criteria and application forms.

Art and Creativity Blog

2010-06-06T02:47:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this fantastic blog this evening - Art and Creativity in Early Childhood.

I'm totally impressed with the visual aesthetics of the blog and the detail of the experiences written in the post. There are lots of resources that can be downloaded and relevant readings.

KidRex - Safe searching for Kids

2010-05-22T01:29:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I came across a link to KidRex.org. It's a website designed for kids, by kids! Its a customised Google search engine that promotes safe searching for young children. I thought I would give the search engine a go to see if it really was safe! I typed in a range of search words including popular shows for kids and common phrases and was impressed with the search results. Most of the results were official sites, lend themselves to being child friendly or educational.

When I typed in some inappropriate words, this is the message I received. There were a few searches that fielded Google Ads - many of them not overly explicit but inappropriate. I have emailed KidRex.org to let them know about this, so hopefully as time goes by some of these bugs can be ironed out. However, overall I think this site and search function has potential.

Book Scavenger Hunt with Manukau Libraries.

2010-05-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

My children and I enjoyed a great day out with Manukau Libraries. Thank you for hosting The Great Garden Scavenger Hunt at Botanical Gardens yesterday. We've never participated in such an event but we totally enjoyed the day out. It was great fun for our oldest son (10 years) right through to our youngest (4 years). Although, our youngest got pretty tired towards the end.

We started the Scavenger Hunt with a registration form each. On the registration map were clues in the form of stars on a map that lead us around the gardens finding book characters, once we found a character the task was to match up the character with a book and a fact about the book. All together there were 10 characters ranging from fiction to non-fiction. See below some of the characters we found. The kids were pretty pleased with themselves for finding all of the clues and the characters. Watch this space for a link to Lee's post about the event.

The Pig from Piggity Wiggity Jiggity Jig written by Diana Nield.

The boy from The boy with green hair by D.R. Evans

I Can Animate

2010-05-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

I have a 10-year old son. He has the attention span of a fly (usually). He's incredibly creative, inquisitive and articulate and is awesome with ICT. This afternoon we asked him to teach his younger brother and sisters how to create an animation. All four of them set out on their first animation creation. They watched this several times on completion and when asked what things they might like to improve on here is what they came up with:

*No hands

*Too many shadows

*Stay in one place

Watch this space for more animations over the coming months.

NB: Excuse the storyline. We don't condone violence in our family but when you see children engaged (all 4 of our kids spent at least 2 hours exploring I Can Animate this afternoon) you kind of have to roll with it. See for yourself :)

Teacher Dimensions to be replaced by Teacher Criteria

2010-05-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

The Satisfactory Teacher Dimensions will be phased out in 2010 and replaced by Registered Teacher Criteria. The Registered Teacher Criteria (pdf) will be mandate from 2011. While I can't see any significant changes in terms of overarching principles, there does seem to be a simplification process carried out (not nearly as many indicators in the criteria as there were in the dimensions). The criteria is certainly open to interpretation in terms of how these are met by individuals but it's great that the strength of the requirements still remains.

Overarching statements
1. Teachers play a critical role in enabling the educational achievement of all ākonga/learners.
2. The Treaty of Waitangi extends equal status and rights to Māori and Pākehā. Thisplaces a particular responsibility on all teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand to promoteequitable learning outcomes.
3. In an increasingly multi-cultural Aotearoa New Zealand, teachers need to be aware of and respect the languages, heritages and cultures of all ākonga.
4. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Code of Ethics / Ngā Tikanga Matatika commits registered teachers to the highest standards of professional service in promoting the learning of those they teach.

There will be workshops around the country delivered from May to September 2010 to support professional leaders with the Registered Criteria. Visit the Registered Criteria section on the Teachers Council website to find out more.

Post by Naketa Ikihele

Latest COI Reports online

2010-05-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Wadestown Kindergarten, Botany Downs Kindergarten and Kidsfirst Kindergartens Bush Street have recently published their Centre of Innovation action research reports. These are available for download from Education Counts. I'm looking forward to reading these comprehensive reports. Watch this space for future reflections and commentary.

Reports can be found here:

A curriculum Whāriki of Multimodal literacies - Wadestown Kindergarten (April 2010).

Inclusion at Botany Downs Kindergarten - Botany Downs Kindergarten (April 2010).

Central character story: Weaving families and their stories into children's learning in early childhood - Kidsfirst Kindergartens Bush Street (April 2010).

Post by Naketa Ikihele

Creativity is Essential to Learning

2010-05-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

I never get tired of listening to Ken Robinsons messages in this 20-minute video. Nearly four years on from presenting this at TED, his key points are still very pertinent today. Let me share the points that always resonate with me:

*Children starting school this year (2006) will be retiring in 2065. Nobody has a clue what the world will look like in five years time and we are supposed to be educating them for it.

*Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.

*If you're not prepared to be wrong you will never create anything original. We are educating children out of being creative because we are so concerned with them always getting it right.

The challenge then is to transfer these concepts into 'everyday' teaching practices and ways of working? What are your thoughts? And how do you ensure creativity is given the same status as literacy?

Motivational Posters

2010-05-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks to @achurches for sending this link through Twitter.

Poster Street has a range of great motivational posters for a range of contexts: office, kids, teachers and teens just to name a few.

Here are a few of my favourites:

Powerful photography that will make you cry.

2010-05-02T00:44:00.000-07:00

As I was flicking through my blogroll this evening I stopped to read Garr Reynolds latest post on Presentation Zen titled "The storytelling power of photography". I would usually flick through key words before giving a post my full attention, the key words that struck me were 'storytelling' and 'photography'. I am quietly obssessed with digital storytelling and find myself attracted to any text related to the issue and have recently found myself intrigued with photography as well. So, I couldn't look past the title of this particular post. I am so glad I stopped to read this post. Within the message of Garrs post was the most amazing video I have seen for some time. Heart warming and heart wrenching all at the same time. Please take a few minutes to watch the video embedded below, it will move you!

Motivational Posters

2010-04-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to @achurches for sending this link through Twitter. Poster Street has a range of great motivational posters for a range of contexts: office, kids, teachers and teens just to name a few.

Here are a few of my favourites:

CORE Education Tours

2010-02-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

I had the great pleasure of driving a group of American Educators from STE’s Special Interest Group of Teacher Educators (SIGTE) around Auckland, New Zealand today.

We were privileged to visit both Pt. England School in Glen Innes and Viscount School in Mangere.

Two very different journeys at both of these schools but fabulous efforts all the same. It amazes me how many international educators come to New Zealand (Pt. England School in particular) to hear/see/explore the great things happening when there are schools within driving distance who have yet to hear the wonderful work they are doing.

What touches my heart the most with these schools is the difference they are making for our Maori and Pasifika communities. I have posted my thoughts on Pasifika Education here.

The information presented today was nothing short of amazing. I am inspired to engage in their communities and learn from both their journey's. Check out the CORE Educations Tours Blog here.

MacHeist Bundle - Why Wouldn't you?

2009-11-10T22:28:00.000-08:00

If you have an Apple Mac computer head over to MacHeist and grab the free apps they have on offer. Why wouldn't you? Well for one, a couple of the apps I already have and had already paid for. But I'm up for FREE stuff anytime.

More Fun with the Fun Theory

2009-10-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

After interest generated from a video on my previous post The Fun Theory. I thought I had better make it clear the source of the awesome videos. I came across them in my feed on Facebook. Followed links back to the original source and came across the Thefuntheory.com.

Their description:

This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or something entirely different, just so long as it’s change for the better.

I can see huge potential for children in schools to come up with ways to make a positive difference in our world. I'm going to be setting the challenge to my own children to see what they think :) In the meantime, take a look a the world's deepest bin,. Which, by the way did actually encourage more people to put their litter where it's supposed to go.

Organise your meeting online with ease

2009-10-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to organise a night out with a group of friends for aaaaagggggeeeesss!. We have all been friends since high school and always have great fun when we get together. We regularly email, chat, text and FaceBook. The problem is we hardly get to catch up Face to Face, our lives are so busy with kids, work, community commitments, church, sports, family etc. Its taken us 3 days to come to any conclusion on when we should catch up I just about gave up. Well not quite! But you get the idea. Then I found this awesome tool that's just made organising our event that much easier.

WhichDateWorks allows you to Create an event and choose the people you want at your event. They then receive an email with a message asking them to choose the dates that work and don't work for them. Once they've done that, I (as the organiser) find the date that suits everyone and let them all know.

The Fun Theory!

2009-10-15T04:03:00.000-07:00

Pasifika Education - NZSTA Conference Reflections

2009-10-15T03:23:00.000-07:00

Pasiﬁka Success - Leading Change by Lesieli Tongatiʼo

Much of the information presented I have seen at other Ministry of Education Fono, the statistics taken from the Pasifika Education Plan: Monitoring Report suggest that the education system is failing Pasiﬁka learners. As a Cook Island/Nz Maori mum, aunty, board member, teacher, and community member the words "Pasifika children are failing" rings in my ears like nails scratching along a blackboard.

So what can we do about it? and What are we doing about?

The Pasifika Education Plan released by the Ministry of Education in 2008, has the following suggestions (these are my summarised notes and interpretation of workshop content rather than word for word of what was said):

- View Pasifika learners as central to the system.
- See the world of your school from the eyes of the child.
- Hooking churches around schooling could be a strategy to promote learning for Pasiﬁka learners. 97% of Pasiﬁka children belong to a church (couldn't find source for this statistic).
- Learning that works outside of the classroom.
- Pasiﬁka delays in NCEA can be ﬁxed by encouraging children to attend high quality early childhood centres.
- Pasiﬁka boys are the lowest achievers. What are we doing about it?
Some of the initiatives aimed at Achievement for Pasiﬁka children
- Reading together
- Leadership - Lead the change (PD for teachers, evaluator from University)
- Kelston Primary School - Homework Centres
- Happy Hours - Fun with your kids

Most important initiative is working with teachers and providing quality professional learning i.e.setting high expectations.

Effective teaching + Parent/Whānau relationships = Achievement

Overarching Principles and Goals
ACHIEVEMENT
ENGAGEMENT
PRESENCE

In summary, I found the key points useful for my context. The challenge however is to ensure these principles are inherent in everything we are doing. Teachers CAN and DO make a difference. I would love to hear stories of authentic learning experiences and/or strategies that others have used to ensure success for Pasifika students.

Green Screening made Easy with iMovie 09

2009-10-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

Just having returned from Ulearn09 my mind is buzzing with opportunities and things to action. One of the things I definitely wanted to explore more was the iMovie09 software. I attended a workshop facilitated by Dean Rogers from RED on this topic. Check out how easy green screening is now!

Did You Know 4.0

2009-10-13T06:32:00.000-07:00

NZSTA Conference Reflections

2009-09-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

One of the hats I wear in my life is a Board of Trustees member for my sons school. I took the role on because the teachers and principal at my sons school asked a whole bunch of us to stand in the 2007 election. We had many parents and community members standing for this election and I was very fortunate to have been voted in.

I love my role as a Board member, however, there is such a wealth of information to consume, digest, reflect and act on that at times it feels somewhat overwhelming. For the last 2 years I have attended the NZSTA Conference. I have on both occasions thoroughly enjoyed the conference. Pio Terei also adds spice and laughter to the 3 days. The most exciting part for me is meeting other parents and community members from around the country who want the very best for their children and have joined the Board in the hope that they can make a difference.

In the next few blog posts Ill share some of thoughts and reflections from the workshops I attended. Find them here

Sponge Bob in Te Reo Maori

2009-07-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Sponge Bob is hitting the screens in Te Reo Maori as part of Maori Language week! Thats pretty cool in my books. To be honest I dont particularly enjoy SpongeBob but Im going to make an effort to watch the updated versions screened for five days from Monday 27 - Friday 31 July 2009. Check out original post from Spasifik here.

Be sure to tune into Nickelodeon New Zealand (SKY Digital, Channel 041) from Monday 27th July to see SpongeBob Tarau Porowhā.

MJ Mix

2009-06-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist the urge to post something about MJ. Throughout the years he has entertained and inspired my family. My 9 year old son was devastated to hear the news about MJ's death so we decided to stay home all weekend and watch MJ videos together. Friends and family are all aware of my sons love for MJ. He has for years carried an MP3 player with loads of MJ songs and a bound book of lyrics to his fav songs. Then DJ SirVere sent a link through Twitter with a link to this mix. Go ahead and enjoy! xx

Update

Here are a couple more DJ Reminise - MJ Mix 001 and MJ Mix 002

Early Childhood Blogs

2009-06-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

In preparation for my work with a group of teachers tomorrow night below is a list of ECE blogs I am currently subscribed to:

Next Generation Childcare

Manaia Kindergarten

ICT in Early Education

Te Kupenga o Kahungunu

KIDSPACE Quality Early Learning Centre

Greenwood Community Kindergarten

Geraldine Kindergarten

Fiordland Kindergarten

Hunter Park Kindergarten

Grasslands Kindergarten

Please feel free to add others that you know of in the comments below.

Early Childhood Education (ECE) EdTalks

2009-06-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Sue from Rotorua Girls High School Childcare and Tania from Manaia Kindergarten for their korero on EdTalks. Your passion and enthusiasm for advocating for children, whanau and teachers is inspiring. Thank you!

A quote powerful beyond measure...

2009-05-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

I find it quite ironic that in the span of 5 minutes I find a beautiful slideshow and a blog post with this quote below. It started at Isaacs latest blog post which lead me here, to a beautiful movie created by Amy, a photographer he is inspired by, then I read a Tweet by Jo, which lead me here... to a blog post. And to my surprise without even realising each of these presented me with the quote below by Marianne Williamson.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Marianne Williamson

Warm Fuzzy for Easter

2009-04-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

I have had the best Easter weekend! I hung out with my kids, did everything THEY wanted to do and had 3 straight days of cuddles, games, baking and conversations with them. My life is so busy normally with kids sports, school meetings, drop offs, pick ups, workshops, emails, phone calls etc that I sometimes find myself at 7.45pm (15 minutes before bedtime) looking at my kids saying where did the last 12 hours go?

We are a breakfast family, I wake up early to make them a warm breakfast before school almost everyday (excluding those days where we skip off to a cafe for a coffee and fluffy). I have fond memories of my grandmother doing this for us when we were younger and that sense of belonging, warmth, safety and security is something I want my kids to have each day. I have had two 'things' bookmarked to blog about for some time now and thought that this would be an appropriate post to diary them in my blog.

The first one is a great blog my colleague Helen steered me towards a while back, but this particular post by Wake Up Tiger is something that really resonates with me, growing up in a single parent family in the heart of South Auckland definitely has its challenges - although we were not rich in monetary value we were wealthy in love, family, wairua and culture.

The father of a wealthy Mosman family took his son on a trip to country NSW, with the purpose of showing his son how poor people can be.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their way back in the car the father turned to his son and asked him, "So, how was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked. "Oh yeah" said his son. "So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

His son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends and neighbours who protect them."

Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

Original Post here

The next one is a movie my sister made we watch several months ago, titled "The Ultimate Gift", its a warm- fuzzy-type-movie that will leave you feeling 'oh-so-blessed'. The movie works through a series of 'gifts' a wealthy grandfather leaves for his grandson. He's surprised to see that it's not your normal type of inhertitance but a series of life lessons/blessings:

* The Gift of Work
* The Gift of Problems
* The Gift of Friends
* The Gift of Giving
* The Gift of Gratitude
* The Gift of Family
* The Gift of Learning
* The Gift of Money
* The Gift of Laughter
* The Gift of a Day
* The Gift of Dreams
* The Gift of Love (which leads to the Ultimate Gift)

I encourage you to watch this movie and reflect on the many blessings you have in your life today.

Pasifika & PolyFest 2009

2009-03-26T03:45:00.000-07:00

As you may have read in a previous post - March is Pasifika month. I had the pleasure of attending both of these events. It wasn't till I read NiuZila's blog the other day that I felt compelled to write about both experiences.

Pasifika - Saturday 14th March 2009

It rained and it rained and it rained! My little girl did so well walking around that day, we basically planted the kids with Aunty at the Cook Island Village to watch the performances while we stood in the long lines for the yummy food. I must say this years performances were off the hook. The Atiu group did an amazing job at combining the younger members of their group into their performances and man can they shake. I read over on Niuzila's post that the theme of Pasifika this year was the 'frigate bird' and that this may have of had an impact on the weather. I briefly passed the NiuFM stage where the Honourable Phil Goff cheekily stated that "it never rained at Pasifika under a Labour Government" - I unfortuantely was the only one that laughed. Well it was funny! Overall a great day (except for the rain).

ASB Polyfest 2009 - Saturday 21st March 2009

Wowzers! Talk about busy busy busy, we live around the corner from the Manukau Sports Bowl where the event was held and the traffic and amount of people walking to the Polyfest was outrageous. We made our way down just in time for lunch and spent most of our time at the Niuean stage. I commented over on NiuZila's post about my thoughts on the fact that MaiFM were drowning out the actual cultural performances at the Tongan and Maori stage with the HipHip & RnB music. Now I'm a fan of RnB and consider myself to be fairly up with the play in terms of music (my 9-year-old son makes sure of that). But when you go to a PolyFest expecting to hear and see Polynesian Cultural performances you kind of want that to be the highlight. Some may argue that HipHop and RnB are a 'culture' - I agree - but when your at a Polynesian Cultural Festival - turn the hip hop down and listen to the smooth sounds of Te Whanau o Tupuranga or at the very least play NZ Made music.

All in all a great month for Pasifika and although I didn't see nearly as many performances as I would have liked, there's always next year.

Kia manuia and Blessings

Belonging - Go the Warriors!

2009-03-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

The NZ Warriors played their first game of the season last night against the Paramatta Eels. I won't even try and interpret the game play by play, although I will note that we WON!! My partner and I got season tickets for Christmas and we are very excited about where we are sitting, pretty good seats if I do say so myself:

Check out the view here:

The game started with a minute of silence to honour the life of Sonny Fai who was tragically taken from us while saving his brother, the Warriors wear his name above their heart on their new jerseys and he is listed as player 138 for NRL Season 2009.

What provoked me to write about this topic was not the game or the inspiring tribute to Sonny Fai but the atmosphere the Warriors game creates (excluding the drunkens at the end of the night). While parking up around the corner we saw types of people in all walks of life making their way to the first game of the season - guys in Warriors everything (even socks), guys in stockings and dresses, young woman, mature woman, children, teenages, people of different ethnicitites...we talked about the impact such an event has for bringing people together and how exciting it was to be a part of it. We carefully made our way to our newly bought seats checking out the people around us - 6 rows and a bay across from my dad and 3 rows in front of our friends - we watched as people hugged and hi-5'd as they reunited with their Warrior Member colleagues.

After a while, and agreeing that the seats we had were very good, our neighbours nestled into their Warriors season home - a couple with two children. The father looked around and noted that all the people that should be there were in the right place, (oh yes they're still here, and yep them too) then he turned to us and said - Did you guys buy these seats? Um, yes we did, apparently we got them because the people before us didn't renew, he explained that it was strange for people not to have renewed these seats because these were really good seats and he knew because had been coming for 4 years. Pretty happy with our purchase we smiled and continued watching the pre-game entertainment (J.Williams)

As I sat there and soaked in the lights, noises, people, smells, body language and environment, I made my connection to Belonging - these regular season membership holders belonged here, and for a minute or two we didn't, One day we will feel as though we belong, we will learn the names and language of those that sit next to us and feel a sense of comradery (when the Warriors win or lose). We'll learn that there is a guy who always dresses up, a loyal Cowboys supporter, we will accept the language (cursing and all), and adapt to the ways people talk to the players as if they were close friends.

I made a few connections last night, but the biggest one was that 'belonging' to something is important, it lifts your self-esteen, it makes you feel great and it gives you a sense of connectedness which I believe is vital to living in the 21st Century. I have tried to create this for my son (other than the fact that he has a huge family) I created, manage and coach a basketball team for my son and his friends - he belongs there, I drive to a school where the teachers take the time to know all of the children, the roll is fairly small and there are many families who know me and my son - he belongs there, he goes to karate with his siblings and enjoys the classes - he belongs there, he has a large extended family - he belongs there. He identifies with being Maori, Cook Island and Tongan - he belongs there, he has been raised to appreciate the richness and diversity of South Auckland - he belongs there. So, in amongst the excitement of the first Warriors game I asked myself, what might it feel like if you didn't belong - to anything, to anyone, to any group. How might that impact on learning and life?

2009-03-14T00:39:00.000-07:00

This is why I became an early childhood teacher, in a nut shell - I got to play all day and got paid to do it. Every day was different and each I had the honour of getting to know each and every child, their personalities, their interests, their families.

Inspirational Movie Q

2009-03-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

Life Balance - Family is more important than work.

2009-03-12T06:04:00.000-07:00

This video came second in the AARP U@50 Challenge .The contest, launched in August 2007 on YouTube, and gave people between the ages of 18 and 30 the chance to submit short videos on the subject of what they expect their lives to be like at age 50. The video itself is quite innovative and clever. And a timely reminder as we lead our busy lives that 'family is more important than work'.

I'm off to shoot hoops with my kids! :)

Change our ways...

2009-03-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Garr for bringing this to my attention.

'...I am here to speak for all generations to come...' Severn Cullis-Suzuki's moving speech at only 9-years of age is still just as powerful 16-years later. But how much has changed since then? and what are we in early childhood doing to create a better future for our children?

Lucknow Kindergarten are leading the way in teaching our young tamariki about sustainability in a meaningful way, some of things they are doing include -

• the children recycle old paper to make new paper in the big barrels located outside
• storage containers are made of flax – the kindergarten now grows enough flax to make their own baskets when they need replacing
• a large inside area is dedicated to collections of natural materials that children can explore
• ongoing development of the outdoor environment includes many native plants providing homes for birds and insects
• produce (eggs, fruit and vegetables) is collected and used in baking and food preparation.

For those with access to the ECE ICT PL Site you can see more here

What are you doing in your context to encourage our children to be thoughtful citizens of the future?

Shape Collage

2009-03-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

Oooh found this neat little app over at Educational Oragami. The Shape Collage is a very easy tool that creates mosaic shapes out of your own images, the shapes can be customized, or you can use rectangles, circles, hearts and letters. It takes less than a couple of minutes to download and get started. I'm looking forward to using this application to spice up some flyers/newsletters and reports.

Here are a few images from my Photo-A-Day Blog.

Sudoku Troubles

2009-03-05T12:23:00.000-08:00

I often get teased by a few family members for having a Masters Degree and still having no clue about so many things in this world - the most recent experiences include a visit to the Paint Shop with my Dad - did you know there are exterior type paints and interior type paints...seriously...I did not know that - Dad's well-earned outburst - "I thought you had a Masters". And on the way out of the shop the door is clearly labelled PULL, so what do I do - push, push, PUSH...Dad responds..."I thought you had a Masters". Now its all light hearted fun but I pride myself on being curious - a problem solver and enjoying a challenge. And obtaining a Masters does not excuse you from continually having to be curious and learn - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

So when my son bought his homework home and presented us with his 9x9 Sudoku puzzle I was keen to help him unpack the mysteries of Sudoku, for him and for me. Of course our first step was to 'Google' sites, we found instructions here, here and here.

It was obvious that a 9x9 was not going to work for a beginning sudoku player. And I certainly had no clue what I was doing...so to the 4x4 sudoku puzzles it was till we were confident enough to take on the 6x6. Big ups to his teacher for encouraging parents to be involved...anyway so over the past 3 nights we have stayed at the 6x6 puzzles unabble to decipher the 9x9. His homework is due tomorrow, and we have encouraged my son to paste his 6x6 puzzles into his homework book to show that he (and I) have made an effort. Below is the puzzle my 9-year-old got. If you have any great tips to help us decipher the mysteries of 9x9 Sudoku puzzles, please feel free to leave a comment. Note: A Masters Degree does not mean you will be good at Sudoku.

Celebrate Pasifika

2009-03-03T02:04:00.000-08:00

March is Pasifika Month, in Auckland we take the opportunity to celebrate this with fabulous flair, armed with an array of powerful performances across a number of genres - dance, music, art etc. Perhaps the most common events are the ASB Polyfest, Pasifika - previously blogged about here. And in recent years an uproar of awesome plays from - Laughing Samoans, Diana Fuemana, Kila Kokonut Krew.

To find out what else is on in Auckland check out the Celebrate Pasifika site for more information, or download this brochure. Stay Fresh!

The Art of Facilitation...

2009-03-02T23:06:00.000-08:00

Its been over 10 months since I attended the Art of Facilitation course with Joan Dalton & David Anderson. The high-quality professional learning opportunity has made a significant impact on my facilitation and teaching craft over the past several months. I would dearly love to attend another one. So for those of you haven't I urge you to email Mel Stopford to register for upcoming 2009 workshops.

So what changed?

Intentions - Joan and David talk lots about 'purpose', Before organising anything with teachers I think about the purpose...J & D used the analogy of a parrot sitting on your shoulder asking "What's your purpose?" (I have the same little sticky they gave us at the course stuck to my whiteboard right next to my desk). Always asking myself "what's my purpose?" has really challenged me in some situations. Yes it would be cool to run a movie making workshop - but what's the purpose? Answer: To extend on their digital storytelling concept even further etc...I am continually having a conversation with myself when designing workshops and centre visits so that I am consciously checking the rationale and articulating my thoughts, consequently this then leads to me being able to justify why I do what I do. So with my intentions or purpose in check designing workshops to cater for teachers has been very worthwhile and rewarding.

My actions match my beliefs - Confession time! When I first started this position as facilitator I was mostly absorbed by the 'seductive ICT'. Yep. It was all about the bling baby. J & D challenged us to think about our role as facilitators, what I realised over the week with them was that what I was actually doing was soothing my own ego. I liked having the answers and seducing teachers with the ICT. In reality this is perfect for shallow lifeless learning - not suitable for vibrant, deep, life-long learning. I was stuck in a "Guru Loop" (a term I learned from Julia Atkin), and I was the Guru not letting go of the loop". I believe that teachers should be life-long learners - my actions did not say that. So as a result, overnight I magically changed - NOT! I have continually worked hard over the past several months to stop being the answer machine, to work with teachers from where they are at, challenge, provoke, inspire and encourage them to take risks and learn through mistakes.

Listening - The first thing that pops into my head is Beyonce's song - Listen. No seriously, Listen...so simple yet so complex. I'm not going to pretend that I was totally ignorant before this workshop but I certainly learned how to fine tune the little skill I had in listening - the activities based around paraphrasing, active listening and probing and clarifying were exactly what I needed to really get my head around the importance of truly listening to people. This led me on to further research into Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott (suggested reading by J & D). Great little journey with lots of though provoking and oh-my-goodness-I-so-do that moments, my journey will never be over and I'm learning so much on the way.

1%'ers - a huge mix of little 1%'ers that will complement purposeful workshops! My fav's are stickies, lightning round, quotes and remembering to greet people at the door (to some this may be common practice and many of these I have used previously but it its affirming to know that every little action counts - especially when you have a purpose...), personal information disclaimer - not that I ask for this much but it really does set the tone in the environment as safe. Ones that I am working on getting right are: sway the disequilibrium - change the environment or seating position after lunch to kind of kick start the afternoon, the power of pause (seriously I am trying) and 1 was easy 5 was hard -want to try that hand game but haven't yet had the opportunity.

Feedback - this one was instantly a hit on my return to work, I came back from this course to some work that required me to respond with my 'professional facilitator hat on', and instead of responding directly to the key points (as i might normally do) I took note of the Feedback notes that J&D had talked us through during the week. There are 3 types of providing feedback I used the second one for the written feedback I was providing but may use the first one when I am trying to encourage someone along.- Positive feedback: to appreciate and empower
- Constructive feedback: to help improve skills/practices
- Feedback to evaluate performance against standards, agreements or criteria

Overall, an amazing experience - one which I would highly reccommend to absolutely anybody who wants to take the lead in ensuring they contribute to an efficient, proactive and thoughtful environment - even though it is called Art of Facilitation it is totally relevant to teachers in early childhood and I have suggested several of our ECE ICT PL teachers attend as a way of extending them further. I hear some have enrolled or are on the waiting list.

And the best part for last - the website resource PLOT is a priceless tool that I use just about every day to support my planning of workshops, centre visits, meetings, conversations. Loads of well thought out plans, musings, suggested books and reading, links, theories all on one site. My absolute fav strategies to date 3,2,1; Final Word Strategy and the Placemat Process.

Thanks again Joan and David (J&D). Truly life-changing and inspiring.

If you want to find out more about things I have mentioned here be sure to enrol ASAP.

Choosing your passion..

2009-03-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

I have been struggling for the past few years with finding a particular passion in my teaching career. Not because I don't have 'any passion' but because I have a passion for lots of things. This has impacted on my studies so much that when it came to writing a thesis for my Masters of Education (Early Years) I struggled to pick 'a topic'. So I played it safe and completed 7 papers and a research report.

Now as I ponder enrolling in an Educational Doctorate I am struggling to make a decision on a particular topic to explore further. Here are my thoughts so far:

- Something to do with engaging families in the suburb of Otara, researched over a number of contexts i.e. early childhood, primary and secondary.

- The impact blogging has on children's ability to engage in global dialogue (from Otara of course) and what difference does this have on their learning.

- Digital Storytelling that brings communities together...

- The impact of ICT on infant and toddler interactions...(needs to be unpacked further).

Off the top of my head my passions in the context of my work life are: Otara, South Auckland, early childhood education, Pasifika/Māori education, arts, drama, music; ICT, engaging families, community sustainability and raising expectations for all children and families.

Below are the points identified by Randy Komisar that resonated with me.

What are my values what do I care about?

What are my opportunities facing that direction? How do they sync up with my passion?

My career makes no sense in the windshield, it only makes sense in the rear view.

Hmmm...lots of thinking to do...it was interesting to hear that he suggests that our perpectives of the situation impact on our decisions. When I choose one particular passion it does not mean that I have lost the other 7 rather I have opened at least another ten. Great now Imm off to look at my horizons.

For further Academic Earth videos visit: http://academicearth.org

Samoana Online!

2009-02-22T10:11:00.000-08:00

While working with teachers from A'oga Fa'a Samoa we came across this amazing site, an online village specifically designed to support Samoans globally, this site is jam packed withwith some very talented blogs written by those that identify with being Samoan. Although I am Cook Island Maori & NZ Maori I so totally relate to some of the posts, and growing up in South Auckland has certainly given me an appreciation of my Samoan friends, neighbours and colleagues.

My top pic's are:

Hamo Geek Girl : This writer is incredibly talented, her writing is hilarious and very accessible, even if your not Samoan you will find this a great read. Fav post to date here

I'm a Genius: Another hilarious writer - must run in the Samoan blood! His writing is well beyond his years (raw natural talent) and I can definitely see this guy being the next Barack Obama of sorts! Fav post to date here

John @ Tala'aga Another amazing writer whose depth of writing will leave you yearning for more, seriously this guy has got game - funny, serious and inspiring. Fav post to date here

Niu Zila Life of a Samoan in New Zealand, very inspiring. Writes with realism and offers us a political perspective to topics that arise again and again. Fav post to date here

Its very rare to find talented writers such as these and to find them all in one village: Samoana is just pure awesome! Go along to check them out, you will not be dissapointed.

Tofa soifua!

Through the lens of a camera

2009-02-08T07:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I blogged about how I was going to take up the "photo a day" concept. I have now started and you can find my photos here. Today I found this post over on Maureens blog, it leads to this site, then this site. Basically what the articles refer to is our ongoing need to document everything, and witness some of our most memorable moments through the lens of a camera. They use the picture below to highlight their point.

Recently, my partner and I attended a beautiful wedding, the bride was stunnng the groom very handsome and the thought that went into making their day original and amazing was obvious, down to the very last detail As the gorgeous bride walked down the aisle there were at least 7 people standing and clicking taking their own photos of the brides (in some cases standing in front of the actual paid photographer), as the ceremony commenced there were more clicks and people bobbing up and down to get the best pic, after the formalities the couple with their gorgeous children stood and waited as over 15 people took photos of them. It has never struck me more than it did on this day that we may be going a tad bit overboard with our digital recording. Especially when you could see that the couple and their children were ready to move on and get on with the posing for the professional photographer. I wonder if it would have been better to have the professional photographer and a representative from each family take photos and then guests get a CD of the photos?

So what about those cameras in early childhood education, how many times do we as teachers leave the learning moment and participate in children's learning through the lens of a camera. I became conscious of this a while back when working in a kindergarten, the amount of times I left the 'shared learning moment' to get a camera was frightening, only later when recording the learning through a learning story did I realise that I had missed a big chunk of the moment. If I had my time again I would certainly pay more attention to the moments that don't necessarily need to be docmented.

Photography connects us...a photo a day!

2009-02-06T23:43:00.000-08:00

I took the time out this morning to catch up with my TedTalks and randomly chose David Griffin's talk on how Photography connects us with the world, he highlighted many points that confirm why I love photos, some of the ways photography inspires me include:

1. Photos can capture moments in time

2. Photos can provoke emotion

3. Photos can tell stories

This talk then prompted me to re-visit some of my earlier bookmarks about photography, Ive posted about photography here and here. And I often visit the Auckland Festival of Photography site to check out new photos of my hometown, with this image by Manuel Toribio - THE FLIGHT now my new favourite.

I then went back to my starred blog posts from Dean Shareski about his journey of 'a photo a day' for a year. You can find his thoughts on the topic here, here and here. Wesley Fryer also appears in my starred blog posts for his discussion about the Flickr group "Telling a Story with 5 Photos for educators". Their group was inspired by another Flickr Group "Tell a story in 5 frames" which can be found here. I actually first learned of this concept through Ewan McIntosh while in one if his sessions at Ulearn07 in Auckland.

So as you may have gathered I really like photos, Im one of those people, hoping there are more like me where photos in one way or another inspire me, especially artistic-kind-of-abstracy-ones taken by professional photographers. Unfortunately, I'm not too good at taking them myself and dont have a fancy camera or such like to match my enthusiasm, just a cheap digital one that is always set to automatic and very rarely charged. So in light of this mornings research/surfing/inspiration Ive decided to set a belated New Years 2009 resolution. Ive been debating whether or not I should participate in the "A Photo a Day" concept for some time now, purely for my own personal entertainment and in my opinion a wonderful way to sharpen my photography skills (one of the benefits mentioned at PhotoJojo). Ive decided that today I will start my very own library of "One Photo A Day". I'm thinking of uploading to Flickr rather than here on the blog so that I can streamline tag and keep them all organised. Stay tuned or shall I say stay focussed for updates. (Pun totally intended!)

Stories to tell my grandchildren...When I turned 30!

2009-02-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

Not sure why this was sitting in the drafts folder, several months later here I am hitting the publish button.

In November 2008, I turned 30...strange I know cos I only look a day over 20! - seriously...

One of the wonderful things about having a huge extended whanau other than lots of babysitters is the 'hook-up's' you get from family. My little cousin texted me a few days before my 30th to ask if I would like to walk around the Skytower otherwise known as SkyWalk - are you mad? crazy? Stupid? - Yep thats what every other person I told said.

Initially, I was like "uh uh, no way", then I thought hey what better way is there to celebrate my graceful entrance into the 30's - how about dinner, party, shopping spree, scrapbooking, jewellery making?..anyway I wouldnt be writing this post if I didnt go through with it right...of course not! So here goes...I did it, and I also did the SkyJump. It was absolutely the best birthday present ever - excluding that big bar of chocolate I got from grandad on my 10th - but anyway check out my photographic evidence below. I cant speak highly enough of the crew at Skyjump/Skywalk, absolutely professional, safe, funny, safe, pleasant, safe, inspiring, safe, careful, safe...well you get the drift.

Going Wild!

2009-02-05T07:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Jody I came across this cool site...have a go at going wild!

Soungle

2009-02-05T06:34:00.000-08:00

Came across the Soungle site a while ago, and have only just used it again, its a very cool site that allows you to type in words associated with sounds, the sounds can then be previewed and your preferred ones can then be downloaded FREE. The 'baby' sounds are very cute...give it a go...:

Their description of the site

"Soungle is a free site, developed by Southern Codes, for finding all kind of sound FX and musical instruments samples on our mega online library. As different from most of similar sites, Soungle is NOT a Web search engine. It only searches in our growing monster database. Our goals are to keep it simple to use (search, preview and download) and to keep it free.

Keyword searches are performed by entering any word or phrase in a search box. The retrieved results of a keyword search are displayed ten to a page. Clicking on play icon allows you to preview a file. Download button instantly downloads the sound effect or musical instrument sample file. A short description of the sound appears on top of every sound , followed by the frame rate, duration and bit rate. Remember, all of our sound effects and samples are royalty free for downloading"

Im really digging the plain and simple interface :)

Garfield Comic Strip

2009-01-31T06:22:00.000-08:00

Another neat little online app where you can create your very own Garfield Comic Strips, have a go here. My son has had a ball creating and printing his comic strips. The props and images are slightly limiting but a neat little activity for Garfield fans.

Yellow Tree House

2009-01-22T15:06:00.000-08:00

Was watching a bit of TV tonight and happened to take notice of a Yellow Pages advertisement for the Yellow Tree House. I must have seen this ad a few times before, but never really followed it through. It looked intriguing enough for me to "Google" it, sure enough I found the website and lots of other sites with pictures and information...Check out the pictures below, and take a few minutes to look at the information at this site.

Lessons learned from Presentation Zen

2009-01-12T03:58:00.000-08:00

I love the Presentation Zen blog, and always find useful information for my facilitation there. This evening is no exception, although I have little knowledge for Jazz, I was intrigued at Garrs list on what he has learned from Jazz and Zen over the years. Garr writes "These lessons, all seemingly commonsensical, can be applied to presentation or to any creative endeavor -

1. In structure there is freedom and spontaneity.
2. Restraints and limitations can be great liberators.
3. Don't ever force it; be ever natural.
4. Good intentions are key. Sincerity is king, and yet...
5. It's not about you.
6. Listen more than speak.
7. Speak only when you have something to say, and then in the most economic way possible.
8. Your approach can be direct and subtle at the same time.
9. Fear is natural (and human), but work through it and past it. Don't let fear hold you back.
10. Mistakes are part of it (do not worrying about them).
11. Embrace the power of now, this moment.
12. Technique matters, but it's not the most important element.
13. Make no pretenses; put up no facades.
14. Laugh, smile if you feel like it — why not?
15. Share yourself with others; make a contribution.
16. Simplicity is supremely beautiful, yet difficult to obtain.
17. Emptiness and silence are powerful elements of expression.
18. Remove the clutter, strive for absolute clarity.
19. If you think you have mastered it, you've have already begun your descent.
20. Always be learning. Always be learning. Always be learning.
21. Curiosity is your greatest gift, nurture it (in yourself and in others)" (read fill post here)

Lessons that resonated with me include:

Listen more than speak - I attended the Art of Facilitation workshop delivered by Joan Dalton and David Anderson last year and learned this "commensensical" strategy. I never knew this would have so much impact on my work and everyday life. Needless to say, I have learned more by listening than I ever did talking.
Listening ears

Laugh, smile if you feel like it — why not? - This is one strategy that I definitely try to implement into my everyday work life and home life. I was reignited by this concept when reading into the FISH! Philosphy - The principles of this Philosophy are: Play, Make their day, Choose your attitude, Be there. In the ECE Facilitators team at CORE Education you will often find out meetings with funny YouTube video, bubble blowers, lollies and move around activities.

Remove the clutter, strive for absolute clarity - This probably refers to something more metaphorical that I do here, but I strive to have a clean desk and computer desktop “most” of the time. I find that when I start work in the morning or late at night (depending on my schedule) a clean (like one icon) allows me to find clarity in the tasks at hand. I have also tried to keep my inbox at zero, if they are not relevant to me at that particular time I file it, if they need attention or response I email a response straight away, and if they do not relate to me at all or a spam emails sent by people I DO know I delete them. I’m striving to maximise absolute clarity.

If you think you have mastered it, you've have already begun your descent - This is so pertinent to my teaching career, I have always been an advocate of this particular principle - once I think I have it, I know that I dont. There’s a saying (not sure of original source) - “The more you know the less you know”. Coming from the educational background of failing School Certificate and disliking school with all my might, then working through a Teaching Degree and a Masters Degree. I know that the more I learn the more I know I dont know. Which in a very interesting way is exciting.

Always be learning. Always be learning. Always be learning - This follows on from the previous statement, I am always driven to learn more, and after completing my previous qualifications I have been contemplating enrolling in a random paper to stimulate my thinking. Consequently, I took on a role as a Board of Trustee for my sons school, this in itself is an interesting learning process and inevitable I am learning so much in this role. Learning, learning, learning...

Im wondering if any of Garrs lessons learned resonate with others....Feel free to comment.

Innovative WiFi

2009-01-04T22:46:00.000-08:00

Scrolling through my blog roll this morning I came across one of Ewens posts with his infamous delicious links. I always find some gems in these posts and this morning was no different, a few clicks led me to this neat innovation. Heres the swissmiss link, and another one at Epica Awards.

"Hollands largest chain of coffee shop is called CoffeeCompany. CoffeeCompany wanted to attract more students. So it installed WiFi in some of its stores near universities

The problem is, lots of students just come into the store for the WiFi but hardly look at the menu. So THEY and CoffeeCompany decided to move the CoffeeCompany menu into the WiFi menu on peoples laptops.

They periodically changed the wireless network name from the normal "CoffeeCompany" to hardselling headlines. So when students connected to the network, they were greeted with the headlines in their WiFi menu like "HaveYouTriedTheCarrotCake?" or "Mmm...YummyMufinsOnly1,99".

The best part came when people yelled across the room to ask the barista what the name of the WiFI network was and the barista answered one of the WiFI lines like "OrderAnotherCoffeeAlready".

Now thats cool, mines just plain ol' Naketa....

How to create Māori Macrons in Pages

2009-01-04T08:34:00.000-08:00

I have become accustomed to using Pages for everything now - lists, newsletters, documents. Making the transition from Microsoft Word to Pages was initially a bit difficult, I had created a number of shortcut keys for my most commonly used Māori macrons and found it quite annoying that i couldnt set these up in the same way in Pages.

I recently learned how to do this in pages, see below for quick tips on how to set this up.

Step 1: Open System Preferences and find "International"

Step 2: Click on "Input Menu"

Step 3: Find Māori, and click on tick box

Step 4: Also ensure that you tick the box at the bottom that says Show Input Menu in Menu Bar. This way you can change Input Language without having to go through this process.

Now in Pages, you can push the "`~" button in the top left corner along with your vowels to create Māori macrons.

ā ē ī ō ū

iLearn iTeach ICT Symposium

2008-12-16T03:36:00.000-08:00

Over 200 people from around the Auckland and Northland area participated in the first ever iLearn iTeach ICT Symposium. With over 18 different workshops to choose from participants had their work cut out for them in choosing only 3 to attend. Nick Billowes opened the Symposium in true CORE Education fashion by challenging people to think about the purpose of their attendance and their goals for the day, Linda followed in typical early childhood spirit introducing participants to a fun balloon game.

There were over 13 centres from the 20 centres involved in the ECE ICT PL programme presenting on the day, in only two short years teachers have maximised the learning possibilities supported by the professional learning prorgramme and seized the opportunity to advocate for the innovative work they are doing within their contexts. As their facilitator is its hugely humbling to see teachers develop the confidence and skills required to present their findings in only a short amount of time. Congratulations to everyone who took the initiative to attend this FREE event and to those teachers who took on the challenge of presenting.

Acknowledgements to:

The Ministry of Education for their sponsorship as part of the ECE ICT PL Programme, CORE Education for their organisational support, Bairds Mainfreight Primary School for the venue and support leading up to the event, the Manukau Family Literacy Students for their support and hard work during the day.

Here's to the crazy ones!

2008-12-13T11:41:00.000-08:00

Kia ora Warren for sending this one through...I love it!

Tuatua Mai

2008-10-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

Pacific Island Affairs Minister Luamanuvao Winnie Laban recently launched Tuatua Mai, an interactive website designed to encourage increased learning of Cook Islands Maori. Visitors to the website will be able to learn and test themselves on spelling and pronunciation, while experiencing the sounds and sights of the Cooks.

You can read more here

What an exciting achievement for the Cook Island community. It is common knowledge that the acquisition of Cook Island Maori language has decreased over the years. Fortunately, we are seeing initiatives (such as this website) put in place to promote the language.

My sister and I spent lots of time immersed in the Cook Island culture and language, however, we were not privileged with the ability to speak the language fluently. On many occasions we asked our grandmother to talk to us in Cook Island Maori or share with us some of the words that we could most commonly use, her response was always along the lines of "I'm trying to learn English so you can help me". "Or its better for you to use papa'a for school". Its so very unfortunate that we did not get the chance to learn such a valuable treasure - but we are so very proud of the fact that she taught us so many other valuable lessons that have proved to be extremely useful attributes - be humble, work hard, give with all your heart, serve your community, educate yourself, respect your elders, and the list goes on.

Thanks Nana for these amazing life lessons and skills.

iTeach iLearn - Auckland Symposium

2008-10-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

The Ministry of Education funded intitiative ECE ICT PL (Early Childhood Education Information Communications Technology Professional) Programme is offering early childhood teachers the opportunity to engage in high-quality professional development. Please see the flyer below, or email aucklandregionalhui@core-ed.net for more information.

Second Hand Wedding

2008-10-31T13:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, a group of friends and I watched the amazing Kiwi film - Second Hand Wedding! We were very impressed with the high quality performance of the cast and were very inspired by the storyline. if you havent seen it yet, I urge you to..

Update: Congratulations to Geraldine Brophy who won the Performance by an Actress in a leading role in Film at the Quantas Film & Television Awards last night!

Blink

2008-09-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

I've just finished reading Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking for the 2nd time, and again I am blown away with the way in which Gladwell presents highly complex topics in a reasonably coherent manner. When describing the gist of the book to different groups of friends, the best description I could come up with was "brilliant, thought-provoking, random and interesting". You really do have to read it to truly appreciate it...just like any other book I imagine. Gladwell presents readers with an accessible insight into a wide range of research. I found a couple of key themes relating to early childhood:

1. Experience counts:"our reactions come out of a locked room, we become expert at using our behaviour and our training to interpret - and decode - what lies behind our snap judgements and first impressions"

I recall my first few months working in an early childhood centre, there were so many things I didnt know, like walking around wiping noses - when actually children are capable of wiping their own and 'Helping' a child finish a puzzle by putting the pieces in myself - not sure what the child learned but I affirmed for him that I knew how to do it faster. Its been over 11 years since those first few weeks and I now know I am a different teacher than what I was then, I've learned to read different situations based on my experience, and I've learned to decode or interpret different learning situations....its been an interesting process...and one that I imagine will continue for the rest of my life.

2. Thin-Slicing: "refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behaviour based on very narrow slices of experience"

The book refers to this concept regularly, with a wide range of different ways it has been applied in practical situations. I guess for early childhood, its about trusting that 'gut' feeling. The 'notice, recognise, respond' in documentation and learning stories. Making decisions that are authentic to the situation and having that ability to follow the emergent curriculum based on a 'thin-slice' of experience.

Whitcoulls offer the following Synopsis:

Intuition is not some magical property that arises unbidden from the depths of our mind. This book shows us how we can hone our instinctive ability to know in an instant, helping us to bring out the best in our thinking and become better decision-makers in our homes, offices and in everyday life.

If you were interested in learning more about the concepts and dont want to go and get the book, have a look at other work Gladwell has completed. I first encountered Malcolm Gladwells through Ted, His talk on 'Spaghetti Sauce' was interesting, he briefly refers to Blink and some of the concepts of the book throughout his talk. Check out his talk below (if you can get beyond the monotone, you'll find his work, knowledge, insight and humour quite delightful!)

Trying on my new outfit!

2008-09-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

CORE Blogs have made the move from Movable Type to Word Press, and I'm trying to find an outfit that fits. I'm currently working my way through the templates to see which one I like... and the one that I think suits me...

The move of our blogs is quite timely as I have been thinking recently about the purpose of my blog. I reflect lots on paper and have a reflective journal to support my thinking - I contribute to my reflection journal occasionally and have found this a useful process for revisiting my experiences. I've heard time and time again that blogs can be used for this very purpose. Up until now I have had reservations about 'recording' these reflections in a public domain. Mostly because I know that what I think today, right now may not be what I think tomorrow, later on...and Im not too keen on being held to my 'thinking' processes.

Actually I think that as I grow professionally and personally my views should always be changing. I recently ran a "Reflective Teaching" workshop and encouraged early childhood teachers to record their thinking in journals...I have finally realised that its okay to make statements and believe in something right now, right here...and if it changes tomorrow...then it does...thats healthy and thats ongoing learning.

So stay tuned for "right here, right now" thinking and posting...and keep and eye on my outfit aka template as I keep trying to find the one that suits.

Perhaps you could dance to Nesian's as you wait...:-)