As we’ve been sorting out our junk and packing things to keep for an upcoming house move, I’ve come across all sorts of photos. This has had me checking out the Old Friends website – to which I’m a member – and attempting (and failing) to upload some of the school photos. (The site won’t [...]

And so we come to the Christmas season. For many it’s a time of buying and receiving presents, for last minute shopping, for stocking the house with enough food to last through a blizzard. For my kids (21 and 24) their presents come care of Oxfam Unwrapped and Kiva.org. Both are causes we think are [...]

I’m back home from a wonderful weekend away in Dunedin and Invercargill. While I stayed with friends in Dunedin, a car-load of us drove down to Invercargill for an educamp. I love educamps – they’re so different from the usual conferences I attend. Don’t get me wrong – I love conferences too – but educamps [...]

I’ve been reflecting a lot on my teaching practice over the last few months. Teaching traditionally has adults working in isolation with age-leveled groups of children. While there is usually an overview set by senior teachers/management/school, what happens in the classroom is a result of how the teacher interprets the overview and presents to students. [...]

  I don’t often rave about apps but this one is definitely ‘rave-able’! Craig posted yesterday about using this app in his classroom so I thought I’d download it and show it to my class today. Well – talk about excited! They got together with buddies and scripted some quick maths videos.      I [...]

Over the next while I’ll be blogging about my thoughts and reflections from Ulearn11 but I thought I’d start with a good old ‘compare and contrast’ post. Way back in 2006 I attended my first Ulearn. I was the only teacher there from my school and didn’t really know a lot of other people who [...]

In conversation with a friend a day or two ago, I was reminded of a series of plaques I first saw quite some time ago on the Wellington Waterfront. They commemorate the arrival of 732 Polish children by ship on their way to Pahiatua to experience a different kind of life to one they had [...]

During term time I don’t spend a lot of time listening to music – when I get home I savor the peace and quiet and don’t turn it on. However, come holidays, I enjoy listening to favorites both old and new. One of my students sent me an email today with a couple of youtube [...]

CORE education have announced the deadline for their 2012 eFellowship awards. As a 2011 eFellow I’d like to encourage innovative educators to think about apply for this award. The CORE Education eFellowship Awards recognise innovative e-learning practice by New Zealand teachers. The Fellowship celebrates teaching excellence in an eLearning context and aims to raise public [...]

Disclaimer: This is just my opinion being expressed here. I remember voting in a number of elections and becoming more and more confused. Numbers didn’t seem to add up at times and I think for a lot of us the 1981 election results tell a graphic story. Back in the day we didn’t have all [...]