At the beginning of the year, I was blithely doing what I normally do, prepping for classes, exploring ways I might use assistive technologies for my students with differing learning needs, working with Dr Tim Kitchen on the Adobe Inject Creativity broadcast while his faithful co-presenter gave birth to her beautiful daughter with partner Max, playing, teaching, cooking, recovering from damage caused by an awful destructive deluge and planning the MSM Writer's camp for 2022.
I have always loved my vocation, the incredible young people whose lives I touched and occasionally changed; the relationships that stood the test of time and which remain precious to me, both with students and dedicated colleagues who shared the trials and tribulations of working under increasing work intensification. I had no idea that I'd ever leave the classroom. I honestly believed that I'd be taken out of MSM in a wooden box but that was not to be!
Last Days at MSM
In June I was asked if I'd be interested in a role as a national Education Innovation Specialist at Datacom. I am really happy and excited to have accepted this position and it truly is an incredibly enriching role, this blog really will be more of an exploration of how transitioning from the classroom into a totally different context is. I know so many teachers toy with the idea of leaving the classroom, but when you are conditioned to be everything you can, to give everything you can, and to feel responsible for absolutely everything, there doesn't feel like there is enough space to look at, let alone act on other opportunities. I'm here to tell you that there are so many life lessons in embracing change. I don't want to see teachers leave the classroom, hence being excited by this role which aims to help teachers remain in the classroom, confident and with technology skills that they can enjoy using, knowing that they are research, and pedagogically grounded, but for those serious about moving outside the classroom, I want you to know some of the transitional changes you might find unusual.
Friday, August 21, 2020
Drowning Not Swimming!!
One of the most incredible things about exploring creativity, is the understanding that it is not limited to the arts but rather, the ability to conceive an idea, work through different iterations of it and produce an outcome in some form. In the context of this project, creativity, flexibility and resilience have vied for dominance. As the world has been responding to the pandemic, teachers and students have felt themselves tossed in an ocean of uncertainty and this has found expression in the different outcomes we have seen so far.
And so, week one of my lock-down staycation has begun and frankly I have been all around the world from my desk thanks to so many of you. On Sunday I had the wonderful opportunity to speak face to face with four fabulous educators in Jakarta, Miss Mariati, Miss Adzura, Miss Valencia and another who hid in the shadows. I am hoping that we will get to meet next time. Having the chance to share laughter and learning in such an immediate and intimate way was really special and I better understood what I will need to do as my students return to an uncertain schooling in just over ten days time. The chances are that it will be schooling from a distance. I can't call it distance education because frankly I can't promise that it will resemble a form of education I haven't been trained in, but I can promise it will be my best effort, just like yours will be.
On Monday and Tuesday I completed setting up pages for each of the sustainable development goals as a form of stimulus for our student participants on our website. You need to click on the down arrow of SDG 1 to see the 16 subpages. Each page now has videos, buttons to topic related Google Earth Voyager projects, and buttons to the United Nations fact pages. I have begun to curate our student's work too and am adding their words and cartoons and videos and I am certain that they will inspire others to engage with the issues they are passionate about. Google Earth Projects are fabulous and they may well be a fantastic tool to use as you each teach your own subjects remotely. Once you launch Earth you will find that it gives you options. If you click on the ship's wheel you will find a wonderful range of voyages into realms that excite the minds of any child or curious creature.
Another fantastic feature of Google Earth is that you can also create your own project which is what I did yesterday. I am currently building a website and Google Earth project to teach students who Sir Thomas Brisbane was...hint...he gave my city its name. I am including a link so that you can see what I mean. It is another work in progress. Holidays always take a week to kick in and so I am following my curiosity down a million rabbit holes. As an educator you may like to create resources this way but you might also like to get your remote students to create their own on any topic. It builds their capacity to appreciate geographical distances and differences in a way that a text book simply can't. I am building a project to also show our students where they are in the world, much like I did last year.
We may feel physically distanced but we are anything but socially distanced. You are only as far away as a keypad and screen as we discovered via Zoom.
As part of my coping mechanism, for the little bit of extrovert in me, I have taken up the challenge of completing a thirty minute drawing each day. It has been decades since I've drawn and it has been wonderful to rediscover what had once been a passion. I would advocate it as a particularly therapeutic mindfulness pursuit and again something that you might suggest for your own children or students.
I don't know what the next months will look like but I do know that I am striving to build something precious with some incredible educators both within the project and beyond. Please join with Maria and I in whatever way you are most comfortable with. Use the project as curricular or not, it doesn't really matter. Our aim is to engage our students with issues beyond them and right now the refocusing is particularly important. I am including a link to a Forbes article which you may like to read and perhaps share bits of with your participants. Building strength, resilience and joy as a means to celebrate the life we have as others lose theirs or work on the front lines to protect ours, is crucial at this time.
To this end I have also included a Mindfulness page for our students on our website. You will find a few videos, more to come, and two Connect Four grids for students to complete in pairs remotely. I must add though that the grid only operates as a grid in a browser not a phone. Please feel free to use them if you would like to.
Please contact us if you would like to participate with your students, for those who aren't already doing so.
Keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers and continuing in my digital bower bird way to build interest and advocacy in creating a participatory culture in our students. Stay well. Stay safe and...
Video of Elora used with parental permission.
On another note, Australian Teacher Magazine 2020 just ran a story about last year's project. Somehow they mixed up one of fifty projects with one of 1700 applicants!!!! all of a sudden I am now project queen! HARDLY!
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Whoooooo Is Going To Speak Up If We Don't?
Sometimes I feel as startled by life as this owl appears to be. Sadly I have had a few schools have to withdraw from the writing project because managing online education is already causing stress and I assured them that I certainly wouldn't want to add to the anxiety that already abounds. However; having said that, I do want to assure participants that although the project may be changing shape and deadlines become obsolete, it is still running and all are encouraged to dip in and out as they want or need. We have a beautiful world to care for and right now need to care for one another by attending to the common good. So, let us do that. In our ASEF Flipgrid you will find a new grid that asks you to look at how Pink Ribbon Day is run in your countries. You might like to compare what your communities do to raise awareness for breast cancer, a cancer that not only effects women but men also. Wear pink in your videos, respond to one another and support one another by sharing good news stories. You might like to create an awareness info-graphic based upon the information from each country showing how together, by keeping it in the public eye, we can work together. Fundraising may be out of the question right now, but affirmative posts will tell those suffering that they aren't forgotten. The Flipgrid details are in this link and the password is ASEF___4. (participants know the other numbers).
Taking time out to look at the way life is shifting and the implications of these changes on the SDGs might be a way to give purpose to our days, our fingers and our thoughts. Changing the focus from Covid-19 to other issues can be empowering and quite frankly, liberating. While we cannot go out and advocate for change, we can explore ways that we might improve the lot of others; anticipate what new needs might be anticipated and met. Perhaps those who are digitally literate could make apps, stop motion videos, cartoons. Adobe have so many wonderful tools for building in creativity. Google also has so many applications that can support creative responses to be shared. Google Slides make great comics. Perhaps creating resources for young children to help them handle the situation we are currently in might be a possible project. Make sure that the outcomes you create are life giving and hope filled. There is an ebb and flow in all things and this situation will pass. Teaching young children the importance of good hygiene, safe distances and considerate behaviour will have implications for SDG3. Teaching little people about not sharing food utensils, spooning food onto their plate rather than eating from the same plate as others will help them understand that they too can make a difference. Small things can leave large legacies.
I am creating a Book Creator book to collaborate on and will put the link in Write the World. Let us use this time to build our knowledge, our skills, our relationships, our resilience and our hope for the future because together we can write our way to a better world.
Sometimes, just sometimes life begins to resemble a B Grade movie. You know, the ones where an innocuous by line lost in a newspaper report, explodes into a world changing event leading to a dystopian, zombie apocalypse. The hero/ine rides in on a Harley or helicopter, with well placed smudges and attractive dishevelment and saves the world from ruin... I'm sure that you get the picture. Well, while exploring the SDGs and trying to get schools on board, global issues that were significant enough to engage everyone in meaningful dialogue, suddenly became dwarfed by circumstance. Students were beginning to look at important issues that might have felt a little remote to them. Now SDG 3 is no longer a remote consideration since Covid 19 has evolved into a pandemic which we are all currently confronting. Few lives are untouched by the changes that are unfolding in our daily routines and relationships, but that doesn't mean that we lose track of those things that help life make sense.
Today we aren't craning our necks looking for external heroes. We recognise that they are right here in our communities and that their stories need to be told and we as teachers with young writers around the world are well placed to tell them. From the services, medicos and carers, to those working relentlessly to discover a cure; strategies to manage co-ordinating the traffic and care of people confirmed with the virus, and the rare but wise and wonderful leaders who advocate calm and patience (and yes there are some such as the PM of Singapore), people are stepping up and stepping out of their comfort zones to put the welfare of others before their own.
Positive psychology has research which backs the contention that remaining calm and a positive 'can do' perspective, not only eases any sense of panic but also increases our immune systems. Being proactive and informed is important. This is where this project may prove helpful, particularly in situations where learning is being conducted remotely.
We also understand that this health issue touches upon so many of the SDGs and is far more immediate an experience than we ever anticipated at the beginning of this project. However, where we may have shared some sustainable development issues in clusters of countries, this current situation provides us with a shared experience; one which means that our young writers have their shared experience to draw upon. Not to diminish the awful impact and socially disruptive nature of this health issue, the ASEF Writing /Blogging Project: Writing our Way To A Better World, allows young people a place to share their stories and understanding of current events. Yes they can draw upon SDG 3 Health and Well Being as their stimulus, but this health issue is having an impact upon many of the other SDGs and blogging about it and the impact it is having upon some of them may be the pressure valve our students need to help retain a balanced perspective. To advocate, inform, diarise, support and write factual objective reports, articles, poetry and prose provides a place to process the negative scare mongering, hype and hyperbole. The cartoon above that I created for the project seems inane now but the concept of creating cartoons to share stories and to help younger students understand the issues we are currently confronting, may be useful. Book Creator is another tool that may prove to be a good collaborative tool to be used remotely. Writing, sharing, speaking and responding to the words of others is a life-giving experience. Have your students go to Write the World and respond to the group prompts and competitions; have them participate in Flipgrid video exchanges and more importantly, have them advocate and engage.
Please encourage your writers to engage in the writing process, as much for themselves as for their understanding of global issues.
The prayer below was shared on social media and I think speaks beyond religious boundaries. As we wake to ever shifting conditions, it gives us a moment to pause. Go gently into your week and weekend and know that Maria and I are keeping the project rolling and understand that you do have other imperatives that might keep you busy or only able to participate sporadically.
It has been a busy week and a joy filled one. This week we saw our Flipgrids gain traction. We have had over sixty videos made and almost an equal number of responses to those videos. Last week our Portuguese participants made their introductions and they were joined by some of my MSM Writers who responded and began a dialogue. Yesterday students from Singapore introduced themselves too. It wasn't only the domain of the student participants though, On a separate Flipgrid, the teachers began to share their hopes for the project. It is wonderful to be able to put a face to a name. We are working together to build skills and connections for our students and sharing the belief that we each have the ability to participate in building sustainable development, to reach goals that will enhance the quality of life for all, will make transformation possible.
It is a humbling thing to have the chance to bring so many people from so many countries across Asia and Europe together. At this point 35 schools from over 20 countries have expressed interest and are beginning to become familiar with the applications and platforms we are using. Naturally there are some considerations that we continue to work around such as time zones and school terms but they are nothing insurmountable. Showing our students our flexibility and resilience and willingness to participate is really important modelling. I also had interest in the project from our sister schools and it will be fabulous to have them on board. The SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are key to the Catholic Social Teachings that underpin our four schools. The fact that they, the SDGs are fundamental to us all irrespective of race or creed is probably one of the key factors driving me. I LOVE the fact that we have common goals and that our young writers can find that there is little real distance between them, geography not withstanding. I'm finding that my mind is often abuzz. The digital bower bird in me is constantly looking to improve my own practice and that inevitably leads to sharing what I find. The Google Earth Project I am creating helps us to see where we are in the world and will in itself contain evidence of our closeness and connection in the shared projects.
The wind outside is tossing trees and the sky is grey. It sets me to thinking about all of us sharing the same sky but experiencing our own postage stamp of it. Perspective is such a personal thing and it shows in our writing. Learning about one another's perspectives is something exciting to anticipate. I created a web page on AI and Machine Learning that also had me thinking about perspectives. You might like to have a look. I also adapted a SAMR Model table so that participating teachers could add their best practice. Learning how to use technology to modify or redesign student outcomes together, may be the gift that keeps giving. I certainly hope so.
On another note the young writers in Ireland have begun exploring their thoughts on the environment and are considering ways that we might be proactive in protecting it. I recommend that you go to our Write the World group and have a read. More writing will appear over time and we will need to think about how we share it meaningfully so that others may be stirred into caring enough to take action.
Check out
Australia's oceans are safe, and other lies you can tell yourself. Seanthesheep(Ireland)
Although you may only view bees as fuzzy, black and yellow bugs that fly from flower to flower, stinging anyone in their path, they actually play a major role on our planet and without them, life would cease to exist. Bees are an extremely important part of our environment as they are our predominant pollinator, pollinating one-third of all the food we eat...
The writing outcomes from this project are rich and are not limited to any particular genre. Participants may decide that they like the idea of creating an ebook where they can narrate their words and share their voice or perform a poetry slam. They may write letters and articles, plays and protest commentary. The project is limited only by our imaginations.
The key is our core belief. We have a responsibility to act wisely and justly to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals remain in the forefront of our consciousness. The future that our participants are helping to shape must be a place where nothing is taken for granted, including unwitting gender bias that can infiltrate our use of AI and other technology. Finding ways to talk about our world, its needs and issues, are steps toward action. Words are powerful. Words grounded in a firm, shared, life-giving vision, gain life and force. Let's make sure that we give others a reason to believe.
Write
and
write
and then
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