It’s the size of a pocket!

Tonight I have been searching for interesting resources that I can use to integrate ICTs into the classroom, and I came along this slideshow of ideas of how to use a pocket video camera in the classroom (https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EU3chDsvvyNo8atu6GNljpMHh4IuMJBHzgN154GB6uk/present?slide=id.i0). I really like this slideshow for a few reasons. Firstly, I love creating videos. Secondly, I think that students would love it too. Thirdly, I would love to see videos that students would create and I love seeing children being creative! The ideas that are presented on this slideshow are fantastic, and I’ll just list a few of my favourites.

1. Interview a classmate about a recommended book and why it should be read.
2. Ask children to film what they’ve been doing, and show it at parent night.
3. Make a video alphabet by getting young children to draw brightly coloured letters of the alphabet/phonics. Film them holding up their drawings and saying it.

All of these are really interesting ideas and there are so many more!

The Best of Jonah Takalua – do I need to say ‘Language Warning’?

I have spent the past few days with my teenage cousins, who were visiting from the Sunshine Coast. What lovely family experiences did we enjoy together, I hear you ask? Well we watched Summer Heights High!

While sitting and laughing at the extreme political incorrectness, I sat there and compared what I was seeing on the television to what I know to be real life schools. For those of you who don’t know, Summer Heights High is a mockumentary starring Chris Lilley who plays three different characters – Mr G, the self-obsessed director of performing arts; Ja’mie, the self-obsessed private school girl on exchange to a public school (?); and Jonah, the Tongan boy who is constantly in trouble and coined the phrase “puck you, miss”.

The behavioural issues, short attention span, and low literacy and numeracy skills are something that I am one hundred percent sure that I will encounter on a daily basis when I am in the work force. While this is (hopefully) a grossly exaggerated account of daily school life, it is still interesting to see how different teachers in the show handle Jonah, to varying degrees of success. The one who has the most success is the learning support teacher, who apparently has a good sense of humour. Maybe that is the secret to success with children like Jonah?

Assignment One!

After a stressful few weeks of semester one, my first assignment is finally completed (about a week later than I would’ve preferred but that’s okay!

When viewing this video, please ensure you have not disabled annotations!

Changing Education Paradigms

I came across this video sometime during first year, and I remember being fascinated by it. It popped up in my recommended videos recently, and I re-discovered my love for this man’s ideas and gift for public speaking.

I especially enjoy the view of an intelligent, articulated, celebrated academic PROMOTING the education of arts. Throughout the more adult years of my life (I say ‘more adult’ because at the ripe old age of nineteen, I do not class myself as an adult), I have witnessed arrogance from all sorts of people – friends, teachers, parents, and just random people – about the worthlessness and trivialness of the arts. As a continued student of the arts, I find this to be complete rubbish. Who are these people to suggest that people who are brilliant musicians, artists, cinematographers etc etc, are somehow less worthy of our respect then people like engineers, doctors, mathematicians? I believe that these people, with these statements that lack credibility, have no right to demean people and their decisions in this way.

How does this link to ICT? I questioned this myself. But ICT is something that encourages, and develops creativity. The use of ICT in the modern classroom is a process that is consistently reinventing what it means to be a student, and changing education paradigms.

Caine’s Arcade

Today while completing the learning path I came across this beautiful little boy and his creation of a cardboard arcade in his father’s shop. A bit of backstory for those who haven’t seen it (and think, like I did initially that ten minutes is way too long)…

Filmmaker Nirvan Mullick met Caine while he was in his father’s shop, buying something for his car. The boy had constructed out of cardboard boxes and other bits and pieces a complete arcade, with innovative games, and a business plan like no other with catchy phrases like ‘Fun Pass’. Nirvan was Caine’s first (and only) customer, and of course he went for the Fun Pass. Caine decided to create a short film about Caine’s imaginative brilliance, and organised a flash mob through social media. Nine-year-old Caine came home from pizza with his dad to find adoring fans all lined up to play his cardboard arcade, and you can see as his life is made.

This kid is amazing! The way he uses concrete materials, especially ones with these levels of simplicity, is admirable, and teamed with his imagination and Nirvan’s ICT skills, Caine is turned into an urban legend. This astonishing tale of the ‘viral’ trend is inspiring and brought on some happy tears on my part.

Having confidence in your brilliance!

This concept is something that I have struggled with a lot. Some of my friends are wonderfully creative and I feel like my ideas are nothing in comparison! Struggling through this notion and coming out the other end is something that will be beneficial, and it will also help with the frustrations I have mentioned in a previous post (see http://wp.me/p4nuwt-7).

In the video, it is mentioned that maybe even famous musicians share this feeling. A few months ago I had a bit of ‘Lorde’ YouTube session, and I discovered that she thinks that her Grammy winning song, ‘Royals’, is nothing special or new. The massive amounts of critical acclaim and fame that she has received since releasing her debut album contradicts her thoughts completely.

So how do this relate to me? Having confidence in your ideas is something that will always be linked to the teaching profession. I need confidence to be able to present to my classes new and innovative ideas. I need to remember the mantra in this video – obvious to me, amazing to others.