Happy Chinese New Year

???, Gong Xi Fa Cai, Happy New Year! 2006 (from January 29) is Year of the Red Dog (fire and metal)! I hope that's translated OK, I used AltaVista's Babel Fish Language Translator (selected traditional Chinese)...


Image source: iVillage, 2006

So for those who are born in the Year of the Dog, this is your year!

I'm a tiger (wood, I think), and I wonder what the Year of the Red Dog holds for me? It is known that Tigers and Dogs are compatible. Not sure if that's just a love-match or other aspects of life too! Anyone clearer on that?


Chinese, dog, New, Year.

Anchored in sand...?

Anchored in sand
Originally uploaded by margoc.

Well it's certainly nice to feel anchored again! :o) Although the anchored in sand title is aimed at the tai chi notion of 'still yet moving'!

Into my second week at CIT and loving it so far! Have had the warmest of welcomes too - thanks guys and gals!

I've managed to link my wiki (click the 'new' logo in the righthand sidebar!) with my blog now and will make 2006 my "year of integration" or in the words of a soon-to-be-published author "coalesence"!! (Love it!)

So this will be my year to practice more of what I preach ;op and to put my money where my mouth is (and to find alternative cliches!).

I'd also like to look more closely at the practicalities of blogging in education including (as per previous posts) the development of principles of blogging for myself, and for teachers and of courses learners! Coming up with working examples and 'toolkits' as ways to approach how we might deal with the ever-increasing list of issues and challenges (and successes!) of social software and its myriad uses in education and training.

Now, I'm gonna go write all that down as a PD plan for myself - in my wiki!! ....Stay tuned!

Blog Hui 2006 - NZ international weblog conference!

Blog Hui begins 2006!

Check out the growing list of invited speakers!

Get your paper in NOW! Due end January 2006.... :o)

Registrations are also limited so first in first served - register NOW!

Challenging the status quo - blogging in schools

Update(18-01-06): This post by Will Richardson, is timely to the discussion about blogs and our children. A emotive example, which shows aspects of teenage living that perhaps parents do not yet fully understand. You be the judge.


Earlier: Came across Scott's commentary on a post at 'I Speak of Dreams', about the art of teenage blogging and the reaction by schools to restrict access by students to these blog/journal sites in schools.

We are still seeing the blogosphere as somewhat emerging in terms of teaching and learning, but already there are some excellent examples of its use in education - you only have to see the wave of edublogs, uniblogs and learnerblogs, courteousy of James Farmer, for one!

How is the Establishment going to face up to this? I put the challenge to Ed institutions out there with Scott's pointers and questions as a starting point! I agree with him when he says:

...providing an open yet supportive environment for student writing and communication may not be as difficult or risky as its made out. But you have to understand students, and understand the emerging teen web culture.

These young adults are our future! And I don't think we get to know our students enough to make value judgements about what we teach them. If we continue to hamper students' development as responsible and civil global citizens, how are we to do so if we continue to cast limitations on them? How will they learn responsibility? How will they embrace the critical thinking skills we espouse in our teaching practices, while at the same time locking up their options?

I am reminded of a tale (told many times over, the origin of which escapes me) where a young boy, a diehard Superman fan, dressed in his Superman outfit - including cape, was convinced that in wearing his outfit he could fly. His mother did not deter him as he climbed the fence - his "launching platform." He of course jumped and fell, hurting himself in the "fly" - but learnt a valuable lesson about gravity (and the lack of human flying ability) at the same time. This story sticks with me as a constant reminder of the need to 'love with open arms' as they say. Painful, yes of course - that's life! We often learn best from painful and involving experiences! Often, in sytematising processes and practices (like education), we find ourselves trying to lighten the blow, removing ourselves one step from the action, objectifying and sterilising the experience.

Perhaps we need to bring such topics into the upcoming 2006 Blog Hui Conference in NZ? What can we do to better advocate for blogs and persoanl learning spaces online? How might such technology be better understood in the teaching and learning context? What do we need to do now in order to better serve our students (and teachers!) of the future?

Christmas shopping that's good for the soul!

My partner heard about these guys on ABC radio. They're called TEAR and offer Arguably the World's Most Useful Gift Catalogue! Check it out! You can buy donations as gifts for family and friends, like a goat (A$50), or a health worker (A$60) or even a small but significant gift of school supplies (A$5)!

Makes me feel a little better than watching the Christmas ads on TV. It's sort of like making a home grown burger instead of going to Hungry Jacks! If you wanna know exactly where your donations are going, you can check out the slideshow here (3.2MB).