following on media ideas and blue screen ideas, here is our first attempt at a primary school, yesterday ...
a surf movie, and a wild conductor . ...
year 9s now looking at it
August 29, 2006
blue screen
August 23, 2006
the future is not what it used to be …
Schools are intense places. I remember someone saying that schools are full of talented people who stay in the career for the buzz, the “hit the ground running” stimulation, and the satisfaction of being in the hothouse exchange of teaching and learning. But there is also an increasing body of literature that says its getting more intense; that the satisfying buzz is rising to the whine of an overstretched engine; and the term used to describe this seems to be “intensification of teachers work” (the push to greater professionalism, greater ICT usages, greater social issues are some of the threads. Teaching is not alone in this, but its certainly intensifying an already heavy load).
Anyway, we all know that. The exchange “how are you going?” “Flat out” – is sort of a call sign for teachers, and a point of pride for some. Or the variant :"Flat out – here at an event till 9 o’clock last night, camp next week, organising this and that, reports due etc".
Anyway, it often seems there is little time for reflection – for nurturing creativity and new ideas, for properly integrating the latest reform, establishing and reflecting on core values, learning with colleagues.
Technology is a two edged sword in this regard. It opens up the realm of possibilities in interesting ways, but can also multiply the information flow and tasks. (more...)
August 22, 2006
maths
Maths
Some of the maths content that might otherwise live on this blog has been filed under the http://bendigomathsnetwork.wordpress.com/ blog; since that is aimed at Bendigo math teachers
For example discussion of
KLA specialisation vs Middle years approaches - (are they complementary approaches or opposing philosophies?)
Some discussion of primary and secondary approaches
Minutes of the network meeting (the first one included discussion of team teaching)
are all there
but some other maths content (eg maths 300 in the cluster, use of interactive whiteboards) might end up here instead (or as well)
August 16, 2006
kids congress update
Just a note re Kids Congress
(1) It looks great
(2) Cost might be an issue ($65 per student who attends, and the need to release a teacher from the school for 2 days – who then receive ICT related PD which they can take back to their school)
(3) I&E can help subsidise cost
For schools who are incurring costs to send staff / students – I’m thinking approx $1000 over the cluster, divided between the schools who would incur costs
(There is no charge for students if they are from a presenting school).
So if you let me know if cost has been a factor , and if you’d like to send a small group of students
our local congress is 5 and 6th Sept
From their site :
“KidsCongress™ is an international, award winning technology and learning conference for 9-12 year olds, which gets the digital generation to take part in fun, problem-solving workshops using ICT tools.
What's different about this mini conference is that it's run by kids for kids”
More info :
http://www.core-ed.net/victoria/
multimedia update
So … this update is tagged– "more explicit use of media technology to document and share ideas, stimulate exchange, provide activites for students" (more...)
August 15, 2006
Kahootz Blue Screen
ok, just learnt how to use Wax for blue screen work
one application is using it with Kahootz - which our local schools are already using
its simple - i recorded one layer with a little camera that can only take 15s of film, and doesn't record well at night - hence the translucent effect --- but it shows the possibilites
here's my "Into the Vortex" movie (990 k) - just a proof of concept
i share an office with a media teacher (Tim Lawrance), the founding genius behind the local Bendigo film festival, where some of this will possibly end up (or the ACMI ScreenIt competition) , and he's brought in a huge blue screen .. so off we go