I am a self-confessed Cirque du Soleil nut (that's where my Lottery win will end up I reckon) and each time I see a show I wish I could take every science student with me. It should be a mandatory activity for everyone studying physics at least. The entire show is riddled with science, especially the physics of movement. There are lots of videos online to use in class, but nothing beats the whole live multisensory experience...can't wait for the next chance to catch one of the shows. (Santa take note). Here's some thought provoking footage for discussion on equilibrium, gravity, balance, moments, not to mention adrenaline and conditioned reflexes!
The last few weeks have brought me three great learning chances, mostly at the weekend or late evenings. Mostly on Sundays as it happens. So long sofa.
1st up is (was) Coder Dojang, and yes, if you follow that link you will find it now leads to Ultimate Kendo, which is what the Coder Dojang link now leads to. I travelled on Sunday afternoons from Cavan to Dublin to join a group of adults learning or relearning to code. This dojang was set up and lead by three young gentlemen - thank you Stu, Ravi and Brett - and attended by a motley crew off every age and gender mixture possible! We worked our way through java, html5 and css, limping and leaping along together. Now we are to take an evolutionary jump and become collaborative 'designathon' coding crews..who knows where that will lead? Not me, but I look forward to the journey. My original interest in all of this was to sharpen up my weak and neglected coding skills so I could use them with my students next year in school, and learn some ways to devlop their confidence and creativity as well as their skills. I am feeling more confident about both now after Coder Dojang. Thanks guys!
2nd was a chance flick of the TV remote to find myself watching a Horizon programme from the Beautiful Minds series. This one was about Prof Andre Geim, who shared the 2010 Nobel Prize for the discovery of graphene. The graphene story is amazing enough to hear, but the riveting part of the programme was the story of Andre's approach to discovery in his labs. His "treating work as play" approach, his encouragement of his students to take a "what if?" approach to their thinking made me smile, as it appeals to me as the best way to encourage learning, and is central to the inquiry based science my colleagues and I encourage working within the Discover Sensors framework. It is nice to get the feeling you are taking the same approach to teaching and learning as a Nobel Laureate ;) What a pity we can't access BBC iPlayer here, this is a programme for every science and physics student and teacher to watch.
3rd was the annual weekend of science that is the ISTA AGM. It is great as ever to catch up with old friends and like minds, and meet some new friends and minds. Learning highlights for me were, in time order - (i) a great talk from Alom Shaha (@alomshaha) reminded us that science should be educating students to be active members of democratic society, (ii) Professor Aidan Moran's overview on memory and how we use it or lose it and (iii) the energy and infectious enthusiasm of Humphrey Jones (@humphreyjones, @thefrogblog) as he guided the Sunday morning stragglers through his Top 20 Apps for science. Personal highlight was seeing my friends Tanya Morrison and Philip McGuinness (@scimbop) from Crana College Buncrana pitch their presentation as finalists in the "Science Dept. of the Year" section. I know just how far they have journeyed, and to hear after dinner that they had won the award made me smile (and shout - yea, that was me in the corner). Well done guys!
The Computers in Education Society of Ireland 2012 Conference is now over and here we go again - how to take it in all you learn and remember all you learn and remember to use all you learn and remember to reflect on all you learn...and then it's next year already?
This year's CESImeet was a real treat - the house was packed, the bar was open, the ideas generously shared were amazing. Apps for creative teaching and learning, freely available resources to strengthen literacy and numeracy, sensible ideas for using all the amazing technology available now, three calls to arms (a Science Hack Day, translate Audacity code to Gaeilge, and the big blog on Feb29th.net), stories of students getting to build their own learning from Junior Infants to Degree level...it went on and on. The fact that 100 teachers from all sectors would gather on a Friday night and sit and stand and wander and show and tell and listen to each other amazes some people - not CESI people though - CESI people know the value of this form of social CPD (priceless!). The swapping of information and offers of support between colleagues went on through supper and well beyond. We had a terrific streaming facility, and the satellite gremlins stayed away to allow us receive video calls from the UK and NZ. A truly global CESImeet covering two hemispheres. My sincere thanks to everyone who gave so generously, and pardon me for not naming names here, - I'd have to list all 100 of us.
The Saturday conference itself was another wonderful learning day. All I can say is the programme was so strong that even a grounded flight that delayed our Keynote Professor Steve Wheeler (@timbuckteeth) did not slow the train - our Capstone speaker Stephen Howell (@saorog) gallantly moved forward and simply blew us away with his Kinect2Scratch creativity; watching Stephen is like seeing stand-up comedy crossed with a seriously deep educational philosophy lecture. I have declared my admiration for Stephen's teaching in a previous blog, but it only grows. (When Prof Steve finally did get to Portlaoise he got a fairly robust Irish welcome along the lines of "well follow that me boyoh". Ah but sure he did!)
It was a treat to meet the teachers and exhibitors who attended the conference, and again the mind was boggled as to what to attend. And the problem with signing up to give a workshop is that you can't get to the visit with the other people timetabled against you. By the end of the afternoon, when we gathered for the now Capstone Keystone, we were all singing the same tune - 'can't wait to get to try these ideas in the classroom'. After the amazing Steve Wheeler had (i) demostrated his Superpower of tweeting while still on stage presenting and (ii) well and truly catapulted us into the futures (note the plural) that are coming at us, CESI chair Adrienne Webb closed the conference by inviting Stephen Howell once again to the stage to show us the latest Teacher Productivity App (patent NOT pending). You had to be there, but it absolutely took the house down.
At the close of the weekend at our AGM the Executive for next year was elected, and all I can say to us is "well follow that me boyoh". Looking forward to #cesi13 already...
Some time ago I watched my colleague and friend Adrienne Webb demonstrate how she uses her LiveScribe pen in her teaching of mathematics. I was intrigued, but sort of let it go into the "must try that sometime" net.
Recently we took up the conversation again when we both attended a conference together, and the "what happens with your classes when you're away from school" conversation came round. Adrienne informed me that she had prepared some maths lessons on vectors with Livescribe, uploaded them, and had informed both students and cover teacher where the files were to be found.
That kick started me again, and this time I am going to go for it when covering genetics with my 6th year students. Its a huge skills based topic for us (a topic I love), and takes a lot of practice for the students to become proficient in working out the Mendelian heredity of characteristics. I'm going to offer them the pencasts I will make so that if they are stuck at home, frustratedly tearing their hair out because they can't remember the next move or how to get from A to B, they'll can go to our Edmodo VLE and find something to remind them of what we discussed in class.
Well that's the theory anyway. I'll introduce it (both genetics and the idea of the pencasts) tomorrow with a lightning revisit to mitosis (maiden pencast below!! I can see the mistakes in it already). Keep your fingers cross and I'll keep you posted
This is one of the most creative things I have seen in a while, and it has immediately sparked some ideas for lessons for multimedia class. It is clever, neat & tidy, and most of all it is thought provoking (very useful for a teacher's collection). Oh, and it is really lovely to watch also!
Thanks to the ever helpful Mary Farmer (@ebd35) for retweeting the link this morning. It has made my day. Another example of Twitter now being my main source of CPD, ideas and inspiration.
Being in the presence, virtual or real, of a truly great teacher makes me smile. And makes me think. What are they doing that is so good? For me, it's the storytelling - they are telling a story they love and believe in themselves, spellbinding their students, and making them want to get into action.
I came across two wonderful teachers again recently. Both have been high on my list for a long time. It doesn't seem to matter that one was right beside me in the classroom and one was on a stage behind a tiny piece of glass - both stopped me in my tracks, and made me, as well as listen to them, watch the way they taught.
Stephen Howell from Tallaght IT visited my school to help me introduce my 48 Transition Year students to the graphic programming world that is Scratch. The students wrote a post for the school news blog. Stephen told us about the world of programming in a way that was engaging, and made us all want to "have a go". He introduced us to Scratch, and we had real fun with his amazing Scratch-Kinect crossover activities. He made us think about what we wanted to do next (the list is long!!). Stephen is a gifted and generous programmer, as well as an amazing teacher (and judging by my students reactions and evaluations, I am not alone in holding that view). Find him on Twitter @saorog
Hans Rosling (@hansrosling) is not a teacher by trade (biography), but he is a natural born educator. I first came across his amazing evidence based talks at the TED website a few years ago, and have since made use of his web materials (see Gapminder) when working with students and teachers. His most recent short video is called Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine, and it is a beautiful piece of teaching. He has a message to impart, and he does it so gracefully, thoughtfully and truthfully - just watch it here. All educators, take note; Dr Rosling - take a bow!
Dermot Casey introduced me to Storyful at a workshop in Tipp IT last May. It is my main source of news since then. At Dermot's workshop we were introduced to the idea of creating our own stories, pulling in video, picture, tweets found online or uploaded specifically for the story. I have been wondering how and when to try it since then. Returning home to my house after spending another day at the wonderful All Ireland Fleadh in Cavan, I decided this was the time to go for it. The Storyful tool is intuitive and clean to use. I will be back! Check it out... http://storyful.com/magsamond/1000006827
Earlier this summer I promised two educator-blogger-friends that I would be more reflective on this space - hope you're happy now @squiggle7 and @moloneyking! Both said 'it's simple - just start typing!' There is a lot to catch up on - LOB11, Midsummer Night, Michael Wesch at DCU all need posting on the shelf where I put things I know I will want to remember long after I forget - so better get going.
1 LOB11 John Davitt sounded the bugle again for the second unconference Learning on Beach '11, and this year I didn't have to leave the party early. Three long days and late nights of the most amazing blend of analog and digital learning, in the most mixed weather the west of Ireland can offer (see our collective Flickr pics for evidence - TOG 50 warm gear one day, Factor 50 sun cream the next), with as amazing and wonderful a group of people you could ever ask to be with. @katherinedavitt followed us politely and gracefully with her cameras and sound equipment, and recently posted her summary video:
It is difficult to quantify what is learned at an unconference like this - (hey Lobsters - maybe we need to coin a new educational scientific unit?) - because it goes way beyond conventional knowledge, skills or attitudes into the realm of confidence and certainty and determination...and love and fun in learning. Thanks to John D, Angela, Katherine, Susan (and family), Sarah, Richard, Andy, John M, Tim, Mark, Jamie, Dughall, Vicki,Emma, Sean and Matthew. You are all amazing teachers and worthy people, and next year cannot get round quick enough.
2 MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Two 'firsts' collided on Midsummer's Eve for me - my first visit to the Olde Franciscan Abbey in the centre of Cavan town (despite having lived here for over 30 years now - ouch), and my first time at Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream (at the risk of sounding too luvvie, after a lifeltime at dramas). The family packed up picnic chairs and golf umbrellas and headed out (with what seemed like every other family in town), all available digits crossed to ward off the rain.
Director Kevin O'Conor did some inspired casting (none better than placing Paul Cox as Quince!), and used the structure of the Abbey brilliantly in the staging.
The rolled up scroll containing programme notes, the hundreds of jars of tealights designating the perimeter of the three stage areas, the metals braziers ready to be lit at dusk, the canopy of really old broadleaved trees - each added to the atmosphere created by Philip Doherty's Gonzo Theatre company. What really drove the show to a higher level was the live and original soundtrack woven through the performance - Darragh Slacke and Robert Perry delivered a primeval pulse from start to finish. Loved it!
The audience was the most heterogenous I have ever seen at a drama event, and the most appreciative. The best moment of the evening came when one of the 'players' within the play did a fabulous play on words and accents, turning Shakespeare's 'odious' into the broadest Cavan 'ojoius' imaginable. Brought the house down.
At one stage it really really poured rain - I hunkered down in my beach chair under my golf umbrella, couldn't see a thing but could hear it all. When it eased off and I emerged, I was surprised and delighted that no one had left. Sign of a great show methinks.
3 June 28th 2011 - Professor Michael Wesch at DCU! Having long ago been mesmerised by his viral video The Web Is Us/ing Us, it was great to be able to attend Michael Wesch's Keynote at Diverse in DCU. It did not disappoint. He is as good a story teller in person as he is online. His surprisingly humble delivery accompanied stories of the amazing impact the use of technology can have on society. Listening to him speak of his own reaction to the explosive growth of The Web video alone would have made it worth the journey to hear him.
I was really taken by this example of turning something on its head to drive a point home - watch the two videos in turn. Will definitely use this with my TY Multimedia class this winter.
Everyone in the auditorium was there because they had some interest in ICT in education - Michael Wesch gave us plenty of pause for thought - hopefully the results of those thoughts will filter through our schools and classrooms.
(btw thanks to DCU and the NCTE for organising this session, as the original conference price was way beyond budget!)
