Backyard

This weekend I will be attending the Meeting of the Minds in Richmond, Vic. with some people I have wanted to meet for some time. I am quite looking forward to it but am not quite sure just what to expect as it is an “unconference”.  As Andrew Williamson says on the Conference blog:

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could get a group of these people in the same room over a couple of days and have our thinking challenged through sharing, exploring, and learning together? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could create new bonds as well as solidify old ones through a face to face experience where the participants were empowered to drive the direction of the conference?  Wouldn’t it be a brilliant idea to carefully curate our own ‘unconference’ invite all our online personal learning network peeps and call it “The Meeting Of The Minds Unconference”?

This is sort of how I have been thinking for some time now after a number of years of Conferences and other events and I am looking forward to being challenged to participate in a different way. Conventional conferences have their place (I still think Ulearn is the pick of the offerings in our region) and recent CEO Sydney Showcases and the energy of Teachmeets provide lots of inspiration, sharing and challenge for many of our teachers and need to continue and be developed. I am becoming increasingly concerned for those energetic early adopters who have been carrying the elearning torch in our schools for many years now and who need to be developed themselves in ways beyond competency in some new area (Mobile Technologies and Google Apps are the latest waves to break on our shores).

Our game is Teaching and Learning, there will always be a new tool. Sure we have to know how to use the new tool but we also need to feel that we are moving forward as learners and educators in this rapidly changing world. My hope is that MOTM13 and the people I will meet there will challenge me to reflect more deeply about my own thinking and practice. I followed MOTM12 online a little bit and am hopeful of being immersed in an experience that I may be able to bring back to our organization to enrich the many great educators with whom I work!

Having written about our January the last couple of years, I felt I should at least succumb to chronicling our Festival of Sydney experience for 2013. After the Liberal Govt. cut the funds severely the festival Opening Night was a bit of a fizzer after the last few years. Nevertheless we faithfully turned up in the Domain, sat under the tree and listened to the “Daptone Super Soul Revue” which was OK and a nice afternoon out but nothing special. It seemed as if Sharon had said “I’ll come if you let me bring my friends!”

The real standout was “The Secret River” and adaptation of Kate Grenville’s book by Neil Armfield and the STC – it was truly amazing and is destined to become one to the quintessential Australian plays, I feel. We didn’t get to see the Duck, but people seemed to like it! The other standout was the world premiere of “Concrete and Bone Sessions” – an extraordinary presentation involving skateboarders, BMX stunt cyclists, Urban Runners and dancers and set in a suburban skate park .. it was really something!

We also saw “It’s Dark Outside” – Perth Theatre Company puppets about getting old and forgetting…very good; “Symphony” – Legs on the Wall, great music but not quite great; “Song Dong – Waste Not, Want Not” – very different and engaging in a strange way; Anish Kapoor – art meets Quantum Physics .. great stuff’; “So Frenchy, So Chic” – a music night out in the Town Hall with Melanie Pain and Nadeah … not a bad venue at all! and Francis Bacon at the AGNSW accompanied by the “Dawn Calling Alpenhorn guy – Bacon didn’t quite bring it home for me, I’m afraid!

Sydney is a great city to be in in January and it didn’t rain much at all .. amazing after the last few years. There is a “summer wineglass” series to be found on Instagram which adds some nuances to the month. We had a lovely time with a couple of “poshy”, enjoyable nights at the Intercontinental Hotel (courtesy of a voucher from friends!)- so all in all a good holiday!!

We (a group of 40 0r so Inner-West people) are in Auckland for Ulearn 12. We brought 20 of our “Growing Capacity” group and about anothe 20 Primary teachers from a range of schools were here too. I has been great fun(as always) although different not being in Christchurch. It was big as usual (around 1500) and has had some wonderful bits as expected.

The image is, of course, some of the wonderful IW group ..the most colourful part!!!

It has been interesting to see the development of the way that people interact  while at something as big as this. Twitter is really the king but , during the Keynotes, there have been some great collaborative Google Docs set up (by the uLearn Committee and  shared) which people have used and tweeted about. This has certainly made note taking during these much better.

The standout for me (so far) was Kevin Honeycutt whose story-telling and passion was terrific. A few of us were wondering at lunch how we could “bottle” him and share some of him with parent groups back home as we felt that it is often the parents who have lots of the fears and challenge what we are trying to do. His real and amusing anecdotes were spot on and especially family based!

My Google doc summarising my sessions is here it contains links to the really detailed collaborative Keynote summaries as well. The Twitter hastag was #ulearn12 and Twittersearch will bring up lots for that!

One of the highlights for me was the “MineCraft” session with Tony Richards (@itmadesimple) of EdtechCrew fame. One of our schools has introduced MineCraft as part of their compulsory TAS in Years 7 & 8 and I felt I had to learn a bit about it. (I also want to be ready when Mr6 hits online games) …I’m still trying to survive the first night but I am learning.

As always a big part of this has been meeting and catching up with lots of people. Being at a conference doesn’t change lots (on the surface) but it starts lots of ideas, thoughts and challenges which often surface down the track. For me, being here with so many of our own people has really enabled me to see clearly that we need to provide some of these opportunities for our own people in Sydney – I’m not being exclusive at all, but we need to celebrate what we have and show each other  what we can and are doing!!! Moving to Google has been a good thing for us but the real work will come next year as we build and share capacity and practice in our schools.

Without being in any way critical of this conference I think my time at uLearn may have come to an end …. I need a little more!  If this was in Sydney I would continue to bring large numbers of “emerging teachers” (aka those who still have to get the message that the world has changed!!) because the level of inspiration is great and I envy the NZ Primary Principal I sat next too who had brought 80% of his staff!!! For me, yes, I do need the inspiration still (people like Kevin Honeycutt always make me want to think more and try harder) but I know the genie won’t go back into the bottle (nor do I want it to) and I work with lots of people who work harder at this than I do BUT I need to have conversations and seek solutions from people who are doing specific things to engage their “reluctant teachers” and challenge those “Bobs with concerns” that Jason Ohler spoke about. I want to talk with people doing PBL and share their programs, I want to be challenged by people who are reflecting more that I am and who engage me to increase my thinking and work rate. I know this is not easy but we need to get something together that meets the higher order needs (the absence of people like Helen Timperley, Tony Ryan, and people like Chris Betcher and Adrian Camm (who are both in Bejing) is sort of what I mean – perhaps some “unconference” stuff or a different model in places (maybe when the “inspiration” is on) but maybe I just need to get of my own ar**!!

So what am I going to do???  I have rabbitted on for long enough to people like Greg Swanson and others. I will make sure we have at least three sessions in Sydney for those “a little further along the elearning line”. Sort of like a “Teachmeet on steroids” maybe using the MOTM12 and MOTM13 lines – especially if Tony Richards is in Sydney (maybe he could even bring Jess McCulloch too) !! We would limit it to maybe 50 people and run it on a Sat from 9 till 10:30 or even “sleep over” like Motm13!! I would be really challenged by what we would do and I am sure others would be too but I feel energised by it!!

This doesn’t meant we won’t keep at the classroom practice iLe@rn projects and the burgeoning Teachmeets – those of us who have been fortunate enough to have been taught and encouraged to swim in these swirling new waters have to keep passing on the skills and teaching others to swim too, but, increasingly, I feel the need to get with people who will help me clarify where I want to swim to – as well as teaching me some of the new strokes and  styles that inevitably come up each year!!!

Keep me to this people!

I’m sitting down to write this on a balmy Tuesday morning after a walk on the beach and a coffee – relaxing in the the knowledge that I don’t have to get on the Bluesfest Bus in a couple of hours!!

The “Bluesfest” finished last night for 2012 and, while I don’t think my opinion will ever rattle the foundations of the music establishment, I felt like just recalling who we actually saw and what we liked – even if this is just to help my fading memory which struggles to recall when I have ever been here before let alone who we saw when!!

Overall the whole experience is “awesome”!!! Even if you have never done the full five days from the quiet start on Thursday until the strange sense of “where is everybody” on Monday evening (even tho’ that crowd is bigger than any other festival crowd in Aus) via the massive days on Fri, Sat & Sun …. Talk about the Easter Tridium! …. you would only have to drop in for a while to know that this is something very, very special …… and this year it didn’t rain a drop (unbelievable, the gumboots are still in the car boot!).

What did we see (no weblinks, too many … Google them yourselves!):

Thursday:

Trombone Shorty, Ziggy Marley, My Morning Jacket, John Hiatt, Nick Lowe, Canned Heat, Lucinda Williams

Friday:

Steve Earle, Backsliders, Jonny Lang, Buddy Guy, The Specials, Crosby Stills & Nash

Saturday:

Hat Fitz & Cara, Keb Mo, Ray Beadle, David Bromberg Quartet, Bettye LaVette, Angelique Kidjo, Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot!, Donovan, John Fogerty, Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Sunday:

Watussi, Richard Clapton, The Audreys, Josh Pyke, Blue King Brown, John Butler Trio.

Monday:

Daniel Champagne, Claude Hay, Visu Mahlasela, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Justin Townes Earle, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Dubmarine, Candi Staton, Maceo Parker, Melbourne Ska Orchestra.

What did we really love?

Trombone Shorty, Ziggy Marley, Both Earles, Keb Mo, Brian Setzer, Kenny Wayne, Josh Pyke, Blue King Brown, John Butler, Daniel Champagne, Dubmarine and the MSO … and Donovan for the nostalgia!!

Who did we miss?

Dawes (according to Twitter!)

It was really apparent that there are two festivals going on at once. The bread and butter obviously comes in via the punters reliving their youth and actually seeing and hearing people who changed our much younger lives. Even this child of the sixties couldn’t resist singing(?) “Mellow Yellow” & “Universal Soldier” with Donovan so I can’t begrudge others their personal trips …… even if some of them just look like “nearlydeadwhitemales” to me!! Dylan was different last year as he is still a real performer and miles from where he was when I first heard him (and obviously Leonard Cohen is too, but I haven’t heard him live, maybe he’ll headline here next year???!!).

The other festival is of the people making music right now (maybe they will be “nostalgia headliners” in 2035?). These ones come at you out of nowhere almost and blow you away with their musicianship, skill and talent. You need to ask your kids before you come about who they are and then just get carried along by the magic. Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Trombone Shorty are two of those and Josh Pyke, The Audreys, John Butler, Blue King Brown, Dubmarine, Daniel Champagne, MSO, Ray Beadle as well!

We had a magic time and this will help me remember who we heard and saw!!!

Over the last few weeks I have pushed myself to really use the iPad as my only computing device and am interested to reflect on the thoughts it has brought up within me. I was overseas as part of WYD11 and then at an ICT Conference in Melbourne so had plenty of opportunities to use it for blogging, photos, Twitter etc.

I promised that I would reflect on my experience of taking only an iPad on an overseas trip – this fits into a longer stream of thought about accessing data etc. while overseas that I have been ruminating on for some years. I was, on very short notice, seconded onto the WYD Pilgrimage to Spain recently and decided that I would only take an iPad rather than a laptop or netbook as I have done in the past.

From WYD Madrid 2011

May I begin with a disclaimer – I make no pretensions to be any sort of iPad guru! I have used one for a year or so but have often said that I often prefer my macbook (and am indeed typing on the macbook now as I find the iPad keyboard, with its many suggestions, alternatives and annoying need to switch for numbers etc. quite a pain when trying to write something of more  length like this and I’m to “ikey” to shell out for an external iPad keyboard when the laptop is right here!). I see the iPad as a seriously cool device and a real gamebreaker and glimpse of the future but find the need to look for workarounds for things I do so easily elsewhere a touch tiring – it was a bit like that when MS first went from DOS to Windows! Some of us still miss dir/w etc.! Must be my age or perhaps just exponentional RSI! I must admit though, lying in bed and streaming video to the iPad is luxurious in the xtreme!!!

The other thing I would like to acknowledge is the power of the network! I am finding the EdTechCrew podcasts a really efficient way to be kept up to date and a regular challenge to try something new. Their interview with the redoubtable Judy O’Connell (who I’ll catch up with ftf in Melbourne this week) was a most helpful insight into how to efficiently use the iPad. Hence Good Reader, Evernote, Osfoora and Posterous (thanks @jessmcculloch from an older EdTech Crew podcast for making me revisit Posterous) became my daily bread! We all know that none of us will ever have any legacy on tech (although I never ceased to be amused at some people’s need to “know stuff” about the new rather than be content to simply search and share like the rest of us!! – reminds me of Bertrand Russell “The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.”).

For my simple life the issues for me when travelling have always been about keeping in touch and managing my photos. I used to need at least a netbook so that I  could back up my photos to a USB – the fear that the camera  would be stolen is always great. This time I just used the iPad as my camera and uploaded the photos to Picasa using WebAlbums. This meant that I didn’t have hi res photos (probably coming in iPad7 so that Apple can keep us upgrading!!) but it certainly did the job and it was really great to have ready access to the photos for an email or for the blog. With the camera dongle I could have backed up my photos easily too had I had a camera.

Keeping in touch (provided you can find wi-fi) is really easy with the iPad. The internet, Skype and mail are just there and it is a real winner on this front! I don’t know how much it would run out at but I would seriously consider having a 3G iPad and buying an International sim like eKit. We were supplied with eKit mobiles and the ability to ring home whenever made the timezone issues trivial. I would certainly look into that if I had a 3G machine.

The big thing was no wires and good battery life. I could prepare my blog posts in Evernote (even on the bus) and simply upload them at the next wi-fi station – no more creating a specific time to “do the blogging”. It was also obviously much easier to carry around. No Flash was an issue (bloody minded Apple!) e.g. I found it impossible to edit blog posts once I had posted them but for most things it doesn’t matter. My Gmail account wouldn’t load in Spain (I think it was something to do with the locality but I don’t know) I could still get to it in the browser though but with limited capabilty.

All in all taking just the iPad was fine – but practice before you go!!!

ps What does it say about me that I do most of my blogging on this page when I am sick in bed?? Spanish(?) flu this time ……

I’m actually blogging on the run (I usually use my blog for “considered” thought but I am right in the middle of something really exciting and with great potential so I want a “stream of consciousness” that is longer than Twitter!!)

I am sitting in a great after school session run by Tony Ryan for over 100 teachers  from our Inner West schools (mainly), we have Teachmeet tomorrow night. I have been struck by the possibility of combining both of these things.

Teachmeet lets us show each other things in short grabs and this is essential for capturing the enthusiasm and the joy that lives in our teachers! I am wondering about getting a teacher to “teach” a lesson (or even a part of a lesson) in the Teachmeet context. Could (e.g.) a Teachmeet consist of half showing “things” in the traditional Teachmeet fashion but some volunteers could actually “teach” the others as a class??

I need to develop this but I didn’t want to lose it!!

Look, I have meant to get back to this for ages .. my excuse is that it has been a busier year than others seem to have been but, Hey!, I know I have all the time there is…
In the last eight days I have been to three conferences: Technology in K-12 at Redfern; ICTEV Conference at Melbourne Grammar and the Hawker-Brownlow “Teaching for Learning” Conference at Caulfield Racecourse. all work and no play I hear you chorus!!! Actually it’s four if I include the great Teachmeet last night!!!

At the moment my head is spinning and I realy feel the need for some space to try to

• remember what I have heard and experienced
• make some sense of it
• and (hardest of all ) actually use the good learnings in my work.

Simon Crook has described the Teachmeet in a better fashion than I could have! It was great fun and terrific learning with a lively community of passionate teachers. The next one is at Domremy on Thursday July 21st> You’d be mad to miss it!!!

The K-12 Technology in Education Conference at Redfern filled me with lots of hope! We might finally be growing a decent eLearning Conference in Sydney!!!!! Those of you who are forced to listen to me “rabbit on” will be familiar with my lament that it has been so long since we went to anything really good around elearning without getting on a plane! (Teachmeet & The Randwick Showcase excepted!!) We have taken teachers and school leaders to Cairns, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Canberra and Christchurch and it costs a fortune!!! Our system alone has around 4500 staff so the possibility of taking significant numbers of teachers to a worthwhile event is tiny!!

While no conference changes the world, we can all identify with the excitement, challenge, enthusiasm, regeneration and energy that comes from hearing about and seeing good people do good things. Often, though, the listeners are the already converted. If we are going to bring about whole-school change the classroom teachers have to be inspired!! At uLearn, in Christchurch (for my money the best conference going round in our hemisphere) I sat next to a Primary School Principal, from just up the road, who had 17 of his 25 staff there – a great change agent start??

This year’s show at Redfern was a long way from perfect obviously but it had:

• Endorsement from three Principals’ associations
  • I remember when they didn’t even talk to each other!
• High calibre Keynote speakers.
  • I’m still singing Alan November’s praises!
• Great trade support.
  • One of ours won an iPad!!

The organisers are obviously a professional bunch with connections us mugs would only dream about and they have already booked next year’s conference into the Sydney Convention Centre May 30-June 1 2012. While I wait in trepidation to see how the wireless copes with 1000 devices – I have $20 that says it will fall over under pressure, confirming my claim that Australia does not have a venue really capable of supporting a big conference wirelessly (uLearn puts up a temporary wireless network that easily supports 1000 devices) …. we’ll see!!! Roll on the NBN!!

Let’s see how it grows!! We can only hope!!!

Well after mucking around for a while I finally decided to put in an application for the Sydney Google Teacher Academy coming up this year. I don’t make any claims that the video is much good (and I concur with Chris that one minute is really difficult!) but I thought it would do me good to make myself apply. We’ll see have it goes!