Inequality and Technology

During the course of this week I have really had to come to terms with the inequality in access to technology afforded to some people in our community. So much of what drives and excites me about teaching is this new wave of technology and I have been challenged and frustrated by the lack of access that some people have. I have really had to be creative to make sure that my students have access to technology. I feel very supported in my work to allow students to access technology however sometimes computers are just not available. 

There has been much money poured into schools to ensure there are Smartboards or Interactive Whiteboards are in classrooms but the same cannot be said for adult education. I have discovered that up until this term there are people who have no computer skills or have any regular access to technology. I have had to adjust lessons to accommodate those who need a little more time to learn using technology. I have taken my access to technology for granted and have really only begun to see how much those who do not have regular access to computers or competent skills suffer for their lack of education and training. 

Access to computers and technology is everywhere we look. Each week there are specials in the junk mail, advertising on the tv and billboards when we drive around. There seems to be an assumption that we are all connected either through computers, mobile phones or tablets. I have discovered this is not the case. I'm not sure what to do with this realisation but there clearly needs to be more access and training for all adults. For some students computers had not been invented when they were at school but for others they were always too expensive and so there was never a need to learn. How excited they are when they discover what potential lies in their gaining new skills and knowledge to use technology.


Will really have to think on this some more........


Have not had time to surf this week. Only a few ideas to share:
Some great ideas for poetry
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/portrait.html


Some teaching ideas
http://www.theteacherbuzz.com/

Until next week,
K

Living the dream

It has been a great week but an exhausting one. Have met my students and they are great. They are such a diverse group of people. I didn't know that teaching adults could be so much fun. I can't believe they pay me to have such a great time. 


Was conscious off the fact that I was going to try and have a work/ life balance. Didn't go so well. Brought home work two nights. (Worked until 11 and got up at 5). Finding lots of distraction at work but feel I need to be there. First week is always crazy so I am hoping this week will settle down a bit. My work colleagues have been so helpful and I even had the opportunity to share some of my techno ideas with them. They are quite open to learning new things which is great. I feel like I am really getting a handle on what I need to teach and not feeling so stressed things. (Except for Tuesday morning when I was about to throttle the photocopier!!)


Have been taking a few more steps towards getting my business underway. Have set up the PayPal option for my website (when I actually make it). I saw Tracy from LPF -Level Playing Field Graphic Design to help design my new logo for my company. I want to do this right so I seeking help from those in the know. Taking one step at a time. 

I have finished the week feeling very blessed. I feel very excited about my future. I am loving my new job at TAFE and yet I am still very excited about the prospect of training teachers to use technology in the classroom. I really have felt like this week I am one step closer to living my dream. 

Now for this week's favorite links:
Had a little time this morning to surf the net. I enjoyed a reading 'The Magic Carpet' from this collection of short stories.



Thought this clip was so touching.



Cybraryman has spent much time collating education sites on the internet. This is quite an amazing resource for teachers. (Thanks for the tweet @vivimat78)
http://cybraryman.com/0_teachers1.htm


Needing inspiration for creative writing. Devianart is a great place to start. (Thanks for the tweet 7Mrsjames)
http://www.deviantart.com/


Hope you are living your dreams,
K

What is a work / life balance?

For me to be a day late on my blog post is rather unusual. I just couldn't squeeze in any time or had the energy at 9:30pm when I got home. I guess my work life balance is something I have to work on. I really enjoy writing my blog now and it is a part of the week that forces me to reflect and look forward to my goals for the new week. I am going to try and leave work at work as much as possible and not bring too much home. I found at the end of the week I was very tired but I didn't bring home mountains of work and was able to wind down a bit at night. Sometimes I struggle to sleep because I have ideas racing around my head at 2am in the morning but this week I was so tired insomnia stayed away. Getting the balance right is one of my goals this week. 


It has become clearer to me that my learning styles have changed over the years. I always new I was a visual learner but it really only came to my attention off late that I am someone who does not intrinsically motivate myself. I need encouragement and clear goals before I venture into the unknown. I am not a learner who gets a task and internally motivates themselves to complete the task. As I have been writing my programs this week my awareness has been heightened to consider all different types of learners and I have been thinking about how I can support learners like myself who at times lack confidence to get started. Let me give you an example... I was reading on the English Teacher's Association website that they were asking for submissions to run workshops at the annual conference. As you all know by now I love using technology and I thought I would be able to run a workshop on blogging and tweeting. I emailed my good friend Sally for her advice as she is a guru on these two things and she advised me to jump in the deep end and apply. So I have. Now I wait and see. If I was intrinsically motivated I may not have bothered with this step. A little extra encouragement goes a long way. It's not to say that I am looking for someone to stroke my ego I just need a little push to get moving.

Had a great day on Thursday helping out with the HSC enrollments. Was really great to meet the students and hear some of their stories. Have finalised my program and feel like I'm ready for next week. Have to finish writing a few other programs but all will be ready for classes this week. 

I need to get onto the Teacher's Institute this week and see what date I need to have my courses in for accreditation. I have finished writing the courses now and hope by next week to get them in. Must get my logo organised this week too. Working Mon, Tue, Wed so that leaves Thur and Fri to get back to my business. Wonder if I can get the work/ life balance this week. We'll see. 

Haven't had much time to surf the net but here's a few things I found this week:

Interesting blog about student engagement.

http://promotingstudentengagement.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/students-transformative-work.html?spref=tw

Great assessment task on 'Belonging' for those doing NSW HSC (thanks BiancaH80 on twitter)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/71680412/Belonging-2012-Assessment-Final

Those who are doing the Shoe Horn Sonata for NSW HSC there is a live production 

http://www.emuheightsproductions.com.au/productions_shoehorn.html

Keep finding the balance, until next week,

K

Addictive inspiration

This last week has been a week of mixed emotions. I had my first mini meltdown thinking I wouldn't cope with work, family, life. Thankfully God steered my right back on track. Silly me, the year hasn't even started yet. I wish I would take my own advice more often and just take one day at a time.

I decided to go to work this week and get myself a little more settled into TAFE. Having spent quite a lot of time reading about what I need to teach it has been good to talk to colleagues and get a reality check as to what I have got myself in for. I have spent much time listening, absorbing my new work environment and ended the last few days asleep on the lounge at 9pm. I have heard the most wonderful stories from teachers who have had students succeed and go onto uni. Some of these students studied whilst they were homeless and in terrible situations. The emotional connections these teachers have to these disadvantage students has inspired me to see that compassion has such an important place in the learning journey. Story after story I listened to and I was drawn into these stories through great story telling and through passion and dedication of these teachers to see their students succeed. There is a whole lot of heart in teaching and that's important.


Had a great opportunity to run one of my Twitter workshops with a good friend and she became all revved up and inspired to continue her learning journey in France. http://happyhourwithollia.wordpress.com/


Being inspired by others really does spur you on to inspire those around you to be creative, make connections, be committed and persevere with those things that are important.

Haven't had a lot of time to surf the net but here are two favorites I have found:
Smartboard's Touch Controlling ipad 2-Sneak Peak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUjvLOJJugk&feature=youtu.be


Writing Prompts
http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/


I do hope that if you are a teacher you can be inspired by not only your students but your colleagues and open yourself up to the joy of sharing your learning journey with others.


Until next week,
K

What drives your passion

This week I have had the opportunity to think about what it is that drives my passion. I was able to attend a free talk by the amazing John Bell, Australian actor and Director of the Bell Shakespeare Company. He has been involved in Acting and Directing Shakespeare plays for over 35 years and yet he never tires of it. He has changed with the times and is happy to play in modern costume to make the performance more relevant to modern young audiences. His passion for his craft drives what he does and he seeks high quality in what he does.

I have found that this really resonated with me as I seek make lessons engaging yet challenging enough for students that allow them to grow in their learning journey. I enjoy the experiential component of learning and find that when I discover something for myself I retain that skill more so than being shown. There is a balance that needs to be found between teaching students new stuff and providing the skills needed to discover new knowledge for themselves and making connections as to how that fits into the topic that is being studied. 


Having passion about something doesn't just come from having an interest in it. It is much more than that. Coming from a family of work-a-holics I know that you must work at it and there will be mistakes along the way but perseverance is something that will make the journey worthwhile. In order to maintain my professional standards yet still drive my passion I need to stay current with where education is going in terms of the latest research and technology and ensure my material is relevant for the ever changing generations of students that I will teach. 
  

The other experience of passion that I discovered was in a Twitter chat I was involved in. #ozengchat started on Tuesday night for about an hour at 8:30pm and many Oz English teachers jumped on board to share their ideas on digital storytelling. They were not paid. They freely shared their ideas with other teachers to the benefit of all Australian students. There was no distinction between Public and Private schools but merely a combined desire to improve teaching and engagement of all students. This commitment to learning and sharing has so inspired me to be a better teacher. I appreciate this new community I have joined and love communicating with other like minded teachers.


Those of you who have been following my journey to start my business I have managed to run another two training courses for teachers who wanted to learn how to use technology and ipads in the classroom. They were very successful and now I feel I am ready to present my courses to the Teachers Institute for accreditation. 


Am going to TAFE next week to see what I need to do to prepare for the courses I will teach in a few weeks. I am feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount of work that needs to be done but have discovered that taking one day at a time is the best approach. 


Now to my favorite websites for the week;
http://paper.li/ - Makes a newspaper from all your tweets on twitter
http://paper.li/vivimat78/1326755129#!tag-ozengchat If your an English teacher check out the #ozengchat site

Really enjoyed this clip. 
What drives your passion?
Until next week,
K

Making Connections

What a fabulous week I have had reading blogs and tweets. I have really found that the conversation by mere strangers has been so beneficial for me. It gives me the confidence I need to grow as a teacher and a person. For those of you who have not followed me from the start I am on this amazing journey of self discovery and like so many like minded people I have discovered that I am not alone.


I only started in September of last year when I registered my eLearning consultancy business as a way to engage and help other teachers tap into the amazing world of technology. I am really beginning to feel a sense of belonging and comradeship with other like minded teachers who are not only enthusiastic about technology in the classroom but they too are inspired to keep learning, sharing and inspiring others. For the old hands at this you have known this for a long time but I want all those who tweet to me or follow my blog just to know how much it means to me.


Have been thinking about what this year holds for me and I put them together in Wordle poster. Whoops forgot LEARN!

I have spent most of the week reading up for Area of Study, 'Belonging'. Have found some great Aussie English teachers to follow and have found some good sites. Need to get stuck into 'Strictly Ballroom' the movie to see how it relates to 'Belonging'. Also this week have been thinking about studying again. It's funny because when I finished uni 12 years ago I was so fed up with study that I said I would never do that again however, I have that thirst again and have been looking at the Masters in eLearning at Newcastle Uni. Will keep that in the thinking pot maybe for next year.


Some great sites I found this week: 
http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/matrix.php Matrix of how technology fits in with learning.


http://www.millennialprofessor.com/2011/12/year-in-review-top-10-education.html?q4220908=1
10 ipad apps that are useful. I really liked Good Reader and also discovered iMovie. 
Really love the app Puppet Pals for English. Great fun.


Keep the grey matter stimulated!


Until next week,
K

How learning is morphing into the future

During this holiday time I have had some time to read the paper, blogs and tweets. It seems to me there are some common threads coming from the information that I have been reading. The Australian Schools that have students receiving top marks all have similiar things in common. 1) They use technology and embrace it as a learning and communication tool. 2) They share knowledge and experience. 3) They have great teachers who are dedicated to learning.

1) They use technology: One of the schools I read about offers their senior courses part time school, part time online. Some of their students are in representative sport or involved in theater. Their students have training times and practicing schedules so they cannot always attend classes. These students study around their other commitments. What a commitment to learning. 


2) Sharing Knowledge: The most common theme about successful learning was about sharing. Students shared their work with everyone. The poorer students were bought up by the stronger students and the overall success of the student group was high. Sharing on a digital platform to a real audience made learning relevant.(e.g blogs and Twitter) Teachers shared frequently with other teachers and conversed with video chat or meetings. There became this sense of comradeship between educators.

3) Commitment to learning: I know you would think this is obvious but as teaching is one of the oldest professions it must move with the times. The iGeneration clearly learns differently to previous generations. The teachers who are switched on to using technology to learn are winning over this generation. There has always been a keen interest by researchers about the different ways that boys and girls learn. They need to start again now we have a new generation and see how best to equip boys and girls of this new generation and not treat them the same.


I listened to a very interesting talk by Sir Ken Robinson http://www.teachthought.com/?p=2164 who really sums all these ideas together. 

The adult learning sector really looks at catering a learning package to the needs of the individual. How can teachers do this on a large scale when they have so many students? It seems to me the best teachers are not just using class time to teach and encourage their students but are using technology to continue learning outside set school hours. Not homework, home learning. There is a balance between work and home and it is up to each individual to set those boundaries for what works at school and what works at home. 


Some food for thought.......


Until next week,
K