Backyard

It is the Saturday of a long weekend here in Oz so I am in more relaxed mode and have been sitting reading the newspaper in the sun. I read with real interest about Obama’s speech in Cairo, which I had missed and, of course, cranked up the mac and went to Youtube to have a look!

As  I watched this excepetional man speak I became aware of just how much deeper my involvement and learning about this significant event are because of my access to the visual media. To watch and hear and “be in the crowd at Cairo” is a far greater experience and deepens my understanding of the events Obama talked about. He was talking to the world. I sensed myself “sitting beside” people with much more at stake e.g. people huddled in refugee camps in Palestine. It was quite an experience!

It reaffirms for me the dawning understanding that the world has changed and the way I learn has changed. So we must change the way we teach in our schools!! (I have worked in a couple of institutions this week where the “battles” around freedom and access are still being keenly fought, I was a little tired from this but have been lifted by watching a truly 21st Century leader!)