The End of Summer :(

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So with the end of summer approaching and the harsh reality that University is starting back up again I thought I should update you all on my progress of my achievements throughout the summer, and for honesty sake here is the list from a previous blog post on what I would like to do this summer.

  • Re-design this entire site
  • Build a footy tipping comp website from scratch
  • Build an android and iPhone app for it.
  • Build a small game for android.

So…What have I done, of this list. Nothing.. Apart from the time going extremely super quickly I have changed what I would like to do. I have been learning bits of pieces of javascript which should be handy for what I am going to need this semester for one of my IT courses. I also started learning c# which i thought would be more advantageous to use later on down the track. The problem with this is I started with a book, one  of those Teach yourself in 21 days however you need the motivation to keep on pouring through the dry and bland information in the book. Though this is not the biggest problem, as I have found in recent days, that whilst it was teaching some very basics of the language, it was not teaching this in conjunction with using the program I use to code with Microsoft Visual Studio, and there are many upon many features that make life easy that the book just fails to explain.

With the flipped classroom being touted around these days and with youtube showing tutorials left right and centre on a plethora of subjects, learning and teaching as we know it is evolving at a rate that is quite difficult to contemplate. Its certainly given me something to think about.

Before I go I am going to give a shout out to The New Boston which I have been following recently after ditching the C# book and they are so easy and simple to understand!

I would also highly recommend the links that appear on the side as they are some fascinating reading.

Tent Embassy Saga

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I am taking a risk with this blog post, I am going to try and discuss my thoughts on the state of Indigenous affairs in Australia in 2012. I am not Indigenous, and do not represent their views this is just my thoughts on the matter.

Without a doubt this is probably one of the most complicated issues that is often discussed in politics and also every day life at Barbecues and gatherings all around the country.

There are so many past issues that plague this community from the European Settlement in 1788, through to Governor Phillips treatment of Bennelong, Driving them out of Tasmania, the “White Australia Policy”, not to mention the issue of recognition of land rights for the original owners, the Stolen Generation, and the fact that a Aboriginal Tent Embassy needed to be set up.

To be fair since then I feel Australia has moved forward in the right direction in the recognition of past mistakes. Recognition of Land rights through the MABO decision, the Freedom Rides, Not to mention “The Apology” by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Yet there is more that Indigenous rights activists ask for such as recognition in the constitution that they are the original land owners. In which I have a slight issue with, basically if it happens I don’t want the wording to be so bad, as it opens up litigation for the recognition.

However the recent action taken by some protesters allegedly attending the celebration of 40 years since the start of the Tent embassy has been nothing less then atrocious.  Basically what has happened is that the News Media, namely news corp. have been playing fast and loose with what the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said. In this article they  state that he said maybe it was time for the Tent Embassy should close. However this is not what he said, this is what he said.

So what happened was broadcast all over the world as protesters surrounded a building in which the Prime Minister and the opposition Leader had a function, and was flung into an awaiting car.

Since then the following day there was another protest in Canberra, where everyone as usual was jockeying for position and spin, on whether the protest was necessary, or the police escort was not necessary and who started what.

One of the most dis-respectful things happened during this time. Protestors BURNED the Australian Flag.

Whilst it is certainly not illegal to burn the Australian Flag there has been many attempts at making it illegal. I do understand that they were angry, sure everybody gets angry. However to burn the countries flag that you live in, has got to be the most disrespectful thing anyone can do. In the United states it is illegal, as with many other countries. This sort of disrespect and lack of pride for the land that you live in regardless of past issues is something that I can not forgive.

No matter the issues that have happened in the past Australia is moving forward as a country. There is no denying that, and there has been great steps forward to recognising the crimes of the past, however for the country to move forward a few things have to happen. Firstly a better effort then the current Northern Territory Intervention is required, its a government initiative and therefore is pretty much half a job. Leaps need to be made in closing the gap between education and health issues that exist in the Indigenous community compared to the rest of Australia. However the more important thing is to move forward, sure things have happened in the past, but as evident throughout the world with past atrocities if you don’t forgive and move forward, you will be stuck with the same bitterness and the same gap and double standards.

To move forward in education, there has been many steps forward in not only recognising the indigenous culture but working with it by the Northern Territory Department of Education. They have done some fantastic things with integrating indigenous languages in curriculum, and recognising that things need to change. If only the other states followed some of their lead. I guess the interest level in school and education would not be as high in the indigenous children as their role models may have issues. However I think as a teacher it will be my duty to encourage and nurture an interest level, so that is what I shall endeavour to do.

If you have any comments please feel free to make them below!

Update: One of my friends on Facebook commented this.Instead of turning it into a troll fest on facebook, I thought I would explain my thoughts below:

Why should indigenous Australians have pride and respect in a flag which represents their oppression and genocide? To say that they should do so despite ‘past issues’ demonstrates a failure to understand the gravity of the injustice served upon them.

Their burning of the flag should be of no concern to you Justin. It is an image which represents different things to different people. If you don’t want to burn it or if you don’t want to protest that is fine, but to tell others that they shouldn’t is absurd.

I understand that Oppression and Genocide has occurred in the past, though I fail to see how they are currently still oppressed. When I have worked throughout society in Australia, or now as I am currently at university there is always that little box that asks am I from Indigenous or Torres straight Islander descent. Making this differentiation makes a difference in government funding in both a school and educational environment and also helps with equality in the workforce. The fact that there are not many jobs in the country side throughout Australia is a well known fact and those who normally live there if they are motivated to work on something other then a family farm or business will normally move to the city. However the Indigenous community is ingrained in their land and will not want to leave. Funnily enough I understand and respect this, however you can not ask for a hand out or more money from the government if you are not willing to work and if that means changing location so be it. Sorry I have drifted off topic.

My big bug bear is this, no matter what the symbol of Australia as a nation is our flag, our nation is forged by people coming from different lands and this land and assimilating into one complete united nation. The nature of the nation is Democracy, if you don’t like something you do something about it. When one travels over seas for an extended period of time, you take great pride in simple symbols of home such as the Flag. They hold a special sign of sovereignty and often give you a sense of belonging. To see this emblem of my and all of our freedom for mine shows disrespect. Sure you may not agree that this flag represents the founding people of this land, however this symbol represents the entire nation and should not be used as an effigy. I can assure you that if this was burnt and spat on by a youth of an ethnic descent they would have been hung drawn and quartered by the media, the general public, and the RSL’s.

Please comment below if you have any comments you would like to make.

The Problem with learning a computer Language these days

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I have a major issue with trying to learn a computer programming language these days, and its not that I don’t particularly get what they are trying to communicate. Its just that they are doing it wrong!

What do I mean by they are doing it wrong? Well lets take for starters the SAMS Teach yourself the C# Language in 21 days book that I am currently going through. It states that is aimed at beginners who have never touched another language. I’m currently up to only Day 6 of the book and already I can tell that there are pit falls that I would have fallen down if I had not had any prior knowledge.

Lets Delve deeper into this abyss. The first problem is the program that I am meant to learn on. You can either use Microsoft Visual Studio or another IDE that Sams preaches, though it doesn’t start off at the very beginning. It does not offer an explanation between building a cursor file or a windows form app. So for the past few days I have been stumbling around these applications trying to work out when and where to use the appropriate type.

Thankfully after searching around for other resources there are MSDN videos that explain what it is all about, though that is not the point. Assumed knowledge is required. Then there is the issue of practical versus theory. Where it explains the theoretical side in brief detail and then asks you to do a practical example. Whilst doing the practical example you are just basically typing what is in the book, and then it tries to explain what you have just done. Though If you have just typed it into the IDE what is the point of doing this if you do not understand what you are doing.

Then there is the issue of changing speeds on what you are teaching. Most books start with just type this in, don’t worry if it doesn’t make sense it will later. Each chapter is meant to be a different topic, building on knowledge that you have gained. Sometimes this information is a great leap that you don’t fully understand, and then sometimes it is information that you have already covered.

So how do you fix this?

As a future teacher prior knowledge is Key. However even books that preach that no prior knowledge is required used terms that do not make sense to the layman. What should occur is to help with accommodating these new terms is using an existing schema of something that everybody knows like a kitchen. Where you can break down the main concepts into something that is understandable and practical. Like when cooking its no good just saying that this is the recipe and this is how you bake a cake it is more useful for the person to know the ingredients, what they taste like and how they combine together. It may not be cooking, it may be sports that you relate to it, however it is easier for the pupil to relate to an existing infrastructure that they already know then to give them something new in which you have no way to associate it with anything else.

What else can be done? well as technology is changing so should the teaching and learning. The use of multiple resources is becoming more prevalent. If you are going to learn something in this day and age, just googling an answer does not mean you understand the question, so If Blooms taxonomy is applied to these types of learning events by ensuring that higher order thinking occurs then the pupil will actually understand the subject more. Would this approach help others? That unfortunately I can’t answer its just my view.

Reflecting on how I learn

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I started a journey not so long ago on trying to discover how I learn.

The journey started with a subject I am taking at university that made me consider how I learnt to read and write. It was quite surprising at how difficult this was, as the years have passed by and being able to remember how exactly I learnt was difficult. For this task i enlisted my parents to fill in some of the blanks of what i did. I also had memories of specific encouragements my parents thrust upon me to spark my interest in reading.

On analysing how I learnt this initial but important first step, I then started to analyse how at university, my learning style and capability. What stood out for me is that I like many other people don’t learn from direct instruction, but by actually doing a task related to the subject. The particular object I was learning was how to program in a specific language which in my case was Java.

So to test my theory I decided to try and learn a completely new computer language but without direct instruction. What does this mean? Well it meant that I looked up some code from the internet and tried to make a game using the code that had been scraped to form this new game. This meant that I did not read a book or watch videos on the new syntax, but rather just tried to jump into the deep end. The result was a complete and utter failure.

Image by: Flickr user Garrettc

Then I sat down to ponder why it was such a failure and came up with this example. When you make a sponge cake, there are different skills that you need to be able to perform to make the cake properly. If not your cake turns out like a flat biscuit (This is from experience). First you need to know the different ingredients i.e. what they look like, and the different tools i.e. a whisk, electric beater, oven, cake tin etc.. Then you need to be able to follow instructions whilst being able to interpret the recipe on what each stage should look like. I.e. when beating the egg whites to form soft peaks what are soft peaks and what do i use to beat it? When combining the mixture, what exactly is folding? I can do that with paper, but its not the same. What would happen if I was to make this cake without the recipe? well from experience it turns out to be a biscuit, which is not what was required from the ingredients.

Image by: Flickr User Vanessa Pike-Russell

Direct instruction be it from a book, a teacher or a peer helps to establish a base line of knowledge on a particular subject it guides us from having no knowledge to some. However having a recipe for a sponge cake is all well and good, but it doesn’t mean i can make it. So going through the process of physically making the cake, knowing the possible problems and also how to make a solution comes from actually doing it.

So as a future teacher and as a university student what does all this mean to me? It shows me that when learning about a new subject that prior knowledge and the existing schema of a person needs to be taken into account. As a learner by analysing what do i know? where do I want to go? and what parts of this recipe need to be completed before I move onto the next part are all parts of the learning puzzle that need to be considered.

 

Summer Holidays – To do list 2011

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I have now completed university for the year, hopefully this will allow me to have more time to get more content on this website. In the past few weeks it has been migrated over to a new host VentraIP who are graciously giving me free hosting for the year.

So what are my plans and where am I headed now that I have the time to sit and think about it.  This is what I have come up with:

  • Re-design this entire site
  • Build a footy tipping comp website from scratch
  • Build an android and iPhone app for it.
  • Build a small game for android.
So what will this involve? Basically I will need to learn a few different languages my knowledge in Java, SQL will have to be refreshed. Then I will need to learn a few new tricks PHP, Android API, Ruby on Rails, and possibly HTML5?
Why am I doing this? Well as a future teacher, if I have the knowledge behind me on being able make applications both Java and others maybe teaching in my class room at least wont be stuck in the 19-20th Century and will embrace technology. I have seen many forward thinking teachers lately appearing on twitter trying to embrace the growth, however most apps are a one size fits all and don’t allow for differentiation and inclusion in a classroom.

Moving forward with Technology in the Classroom

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Its the dread of “Will this work for me”, that Technology is reluctantly used in the classroom. The Irony that little Technical IT skills are taught to teachers incomming into the job is not lost on me. I’m currently doing a dual degree IT and education. The reality is things go wrong every day. Servers go down when you don’t want them too, Devices freeze, Devices are not compatible or the worst of all the “Policy” of the schools IT agenda is 3 years behind and is only now allowing Ipods in the classroom.

As a university student I spend a lot of time on a PC, whether it be listening and catching up on lectures (flipped classroom theory) or doing notes from readings I am doing to doing assignments. Though as soon as I am out in the real classroom my addiction to technology is meant to stop I have to teach children and use IT in educational ways.

Technology has invaded life as we know it. Not is or will be but has and the more accepting of this by the older generation the less of an age gap there seems to be. Though the Irony is not lost on me, that in Primary school the public want and need us to teach skills such as handwriting but by the time they are in highschool they are equipped by the government (In Australia) to use a laptop for taking notes. This along with the great firewalls placed around schools where nothing is suitable to view unless its been approved. The children in most homes aren’t this protected in terms of what they can find on the internet. Some parents have a filter of types or Net Nanny or something but many just place a PC in a main area so they can “See” what the child is doing. Though the mobile device in their bedroom i.e. ipod touch, has wifi access to Facebook and Twitter.

So as a teacher what will my role be with the young students? Another one of the many things that i’ll have to contemplate before starting as a teacher. I’m sure what I can use is going to be restricted for the safety of children. Most teachers as i have said before only have an elemental knowledge of online innovations and therefore those restrictions should be in place. Especially to protect the children from some of the content out there.

What would I like to see? I would like to see a general IT/Education course be introduced as mandatory, i’m not talking about just SmartBoards but give an indepth knowledge of what you can actually do on a PC/Mac these days to get pre-service teachers up to speed with the technology out there. Also how do use social media for educational needs like my idea on how to use twitter in the classroom.

Secondly I would like for the IT policy not to be 2 years behind, and encourage students to explore what they can do with their BYO devices to be used educationally. We’ve seen that in the past a total ban on devices is not effective and that students Socio-cultural experiences are expanded by being on facebook and sharing ideas. So why not use these as effective learning devices. I know the last thing I would want to do as a student would be to do “Educational” things on something i have fun on, and therefore I would take up another interest (possibly sport) So why don’t we embrace the technology and use it for learning?

How Does Quality Teaching Affect Me?

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One of the many decisions I made when deciding to become a teacher was why I wanted to become one. Apart from feeling that I have a natural ability to teach, it was the fact that on reflection of my schooling my learning became highly affected by having a few in my view poor teachers. The stand out of these was Year 3, Year 5. That and a transition to a new high school half way through year 7, which is another story altogether.

When I went to school, I felt as though rote learning was the only way we did things, teachers concepts of collaboration and reflection were not really around then. Creativity was encouraged but only at specific times with specific purposes i.e. Creative writing. Assignments and assessments were a mystery in what the teacher wanted, I had never experienced a rubric or criteria before admission into university some 12+ years after finishing high school.

I have learnt many things throughout my life, I found travelling the world and having time for reflection extremely important in knowing what and how I want to achieve and grow. The main reason I wanted to become a teacher was to guide children so as their learning experiences were not as rubbish as mine, so this brings to me Quality teaching.

Quality Teaching

Quality teaching is something that is aligned with my own goals of what I want to be like as a teacher. My father influenced me heavily in my life by getting me to question that in which I don’t understand. So what exactly is Quality teaching? It is how to improve the Quality of learning for students by understanding that everybody is different with different needs and abilities.

Let’s dive into it a bit more. Quality teaching involves engaging thoughts of students by Using Intellectual Quality and Significance. Intellectual Quality is about questioning what you know, having a deep understanding of the knowledge, being able to solve problems by using “Higher order thinking” which effectively is Level 3-6 of Blooms Taxonomies. My Definition of this is being able to understand the terms used in a particular subject/schema and to be able to not only relate to the information, but use it effectively as part of already known knowledge or schema. This inter-relates to Significance where prior background knowledge, integration into known schema, and therefore you are able to connect the dots from what is new knowledge to what is old or previously known knowledge.

This is how I learn, when I am able to put in practice the theory I have just learnt, by using the knowledge creatively and expanding and thinking on what or how I can use this further. Or analysing what the point of something is. “Higher order thinking” is key to this, by Explaining, Judge, predict, how something is related to another thought gets you to analyse and see gaps between known and new knowledge.

Quality Learning

Expanding on my own learning, A “Quality Learning Environment” I can see how explicit learning criteria, high expectations, self-regulation and expectations all rely on my engagement to the activity. If I know what is expected I can cater what I am learning to what is required. However this may come with a flaw, if I tailor my focus on just what needs to be learnt, then I may miss a point that may connect the dots between what is learnt and how I can use it practically.

There is definitely a correlation between my own goals and focus to this focus on being a Quality teacher that will hopefully make me into a better teacher.

Complimentary Crazy Cool Colorful Candy Confetti Creative Commons from Pink Sherbet Photography (Flickr)

If you are after more information on Quality Teaching please visit this Link

Social Media could be a good thing for Learning Development

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There is many bad things written about social media, and its effects. Bullying is a major factor of these problems for online media. Facebook, twitter, texts etc. The case for Facebook being bad in many schools and institutions both private and business is that it is distracting. Facebook and twitter are distracting, friends making posts, tweets about random things and is an escape or way to know what is going on in someones life without speaking to them directly about it.

The Bullying factor is a major hurdle that needs to be overcome. Bullying has always been a major thing in school, when i was in school I was bullied. I was bullied by people in my form, kids lower and higher than me, even my sister got into the act at one stage. Physical by actually hurting me sometimes or mental by names and nasty jokes but even my friends did it. Maybe its part of the Australian culture I don’t know, anyhow getting back on topic I don’t have all the answers to how we get rid of bullying. However I have an idea.

Make Facebook/Twitter a place of social learning and interaction.

Why? well whats the point of going and hanging out somewhere if learning occurs? Is there a problem if learning occurs whilst you are hanging out socially with your friends? As I have got older, and especially being in university you get stuck on things you can’t quite do for assessment or concepts etc. What do you do when you get stuck and you can’t find it on google? You can either go back to the text-book, in which you need to interpret what it says into something you can understand. Or you speak to your friend in the class and you can check your understanding of different bits and pieces together.

Wait! so you mean that Facebook is used and can be used productively to learn? SHOCK HORROR! #GASP!

You may be wondering well saying all this is all well and good, but there is nothing to support your claims that learning on Facebook/Twitter can happen. Well it’s called sociocultural learning and is one important theory on how people learn. This theory developed by Vygotsky is where you learn from cultural tools i.e. Facebook and the langauge used as well as learning from your peers. This all comes from learning in your Zone of proximal Development which interacting with your peers helps you understand and relate to the material, hence the call in recent years for collaboration in assessments and school work.

Why is twitter useful? Because twitter invites posts that must be succinct, but also can allow #hashtags for searching and therefore can be useful in tracking for assessment. I’m not going to get into whether the assessment should be formative or summative this is another kettle of fish altogether.

Basically at the end of the day, if Twitter and Facebook are used not only for social interaction but for learning as well maybe bullying could be reduced? What are your thoughts on this matter?

Pink Sunset of My Dreams Free Creative Commons Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, Flickr User: Pink Sherbet Photography

Twitter as a Classroom aid to Formative Assessment

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I had a thought the other day of using Twitter in the classroom. I think it may be a great way of checking the understanding of students whilst also being able to ask questions at the same time possibly like an online forum?

Flickr @JoshSemans

How would you use twitter?
Firstly you would need to decide on a unique hashtag. Hashtags (#hashtag) allow for tweets to be monitored by a simple search of users posts. So if it was a lesson on Australian History at a public school possibly a tag of #AUHIST7911 (Using a number at the end allows easier tracking of the tweet specifically to the subject at hand). If this is then tracked by the teacher using tweetdeck monitoring all tweets with that particular tag.

Students then can summarise what they have learnt in a particular lesson, and post questions for the teacher to answer. This is also a possible use for distance education, where the history of a discussion can also be tracked. The advantages of this is that the tweets are restricted to 140 characters so therefore the questions or comments must be succinct.

Using this as a form of assessment.
We could see a form of formative assessment for students watching the progress of their thoughts and questions on the topic. It would also be Summative as you can also see the progress as well as their overall thoughts on the subject.

limitations
The biggest limitation of this is if twitter is blocked by the particular educational institution much like Facebook is. Also technology in classrooms is continually plagued by problems and issues most teachers are fearful for using too much technology as it can break. Finally if twitter is down due to having too many tweets this could be completely useless. However most schools and educational institutions use servers normally with sharepoint on them which allow for adaptable monitorable discussions which could be used as an alternative for this.

Using twitter as a formative assessment model came to me after reading  @LearningSpy‘s Blog on Formative Assessment and @creativeedu blog on why teachers should give twitter a go.

Challenges in becoming a male teacher in this day and age

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Male teacher issues and issues with political correctness

This is a blog about possible issues and experiences i have had about becoming a teacher. As a male teacher hopefully going into the primary school system and with today’s nanny state environment I have been alerted to many issues i will face as a teacher. As i am looking after young children there will always be a view that i will have to ensure that inappropriate situations never appear. It should be said that i am a tall man, but also quite large so therefore i’ve been told that i can be quite intimidating to small children.

Being intimidating to small children has its advantages in terms of discipline, but will have downsides in being approachable and being able to acheive this balance seems difficult. I currently work in a after school centre in which I look after primary aged children. During this week, i have been told that to get attention when the kids are going crazy, i should not whistle as my intimidating stature may cause the kindies to freak out. Which means what? I have to yell or clap like every other teacher? NO i’m different so I want to be different.

Another recent issue is that I was in a room with 15 children where they were having a dance party on a cold stormy afternoon. So whilst i’m wathcing the chldren sing and dance to the music and generally tuning out staring right in front of me not watching really (just watching for wrestling and hitting of each other) I am pulled up by the supervisor of the time as it “looked” like i was watching the girls dance, and watching them dance provocatively, whilst the song “Womanizer” was on. Apparently this would not be a good look for when a parent/father walked in the room. So even though i was doing my job and watching the children, all of them people will make these judgements? How in the hell am i going to avoid these situations in the future if?

With these sorts of situations i’m already quite paranoid in not getting myself into any issues by avoiding any physical contact with children. However this is extremely difficult as I also look very cuddly and therefore children want to cuddle me. Especially the kindies! How do I avoid this? Do i really want to avoid this? At the moment i’m saying no to hugs and if they do come up and hug me I say “what do i look like your mother?” to avoid the contact. That said i still have a situation with a child that always wants a hug as her father and mother have recently divorced and this child see’s me as a father figure. I don’t know how, I am only there casually like twice a week and she is always hanging around me. So how do I avoid any issues and keep myself out of trouble?

As you can see as a future teacher I have a few questions about avoiding trouble. As for answers to all these questions i’m sure in time i will have the answers but for now. I just have to be careful in avoiding situations like this.

Another issue is political correctness in this day and age, but that is another blog post all together. I hope you enjoy my blog posts and please feel free to leave me feedback if you have any.

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Flickr user Tasumi1968