Category Archives: Uncategorized

Invasion by Alien Zombies *Experiment

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Had I not been to Northern Voice, I’m sure I would have passed this off as a hoax! It required an actual sighting to make me a believer… And yet I’m still not convinced that I believe my own eyes. Is this a bunch of actors doing some sort of street improv? NO, that’s real blood! I’m speechless.

 

Ok, not sure zombie is the right word, these things are living, yet they are feeding on people. I’ve got to get out of h

 

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*Update: So… for those of you that wondered what this was all about… I’d call it a failed experiment. It was really just a Northern Voice session where the leader tried to get us to create some buzz and *Trend* our topic of an alien invasion by zombies. It was forced. It really wasn’t authentic in any way. It also was funny in that I forgot this blog is autoposted to Facebook and so I had comments from Toronto to China wondering what was wrong with me;)

A classic example of worlds colliding: http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com/google-buzz-and-george-costanza-worlds-collide/

But there is more here… it really was about trying to game social media in a way that felt strained and which did what I like least of all about pushing a message and gaming the system to create buzz about a topic. 

It was a good lesson on what not to do to garnish attention. So I guess it was a valuable experience after all – we do learn from failure after all! 

Blending Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education

NACOL – North American Council for Online Learning :: Promising Practices in Online Learning
Blending Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education
http://www.15centnewspaper.com/resources/inacolblend.pdf

"…blended learning should be approached not merely as a temporal construct, but rather as a fundamental redesign of the instructional model with the following characteristics:

*  A shift from lecture- to student-centered instruction in which students become active and interactive learners (this shift should apply to the entire course, including face-to-face contact sessions);

*  Increases in interaction between student-instructor, student-student, student-content, and student-outside resources;

*  Integrated formative and summative assessment mechanisms for students and instructor.”

Most importantly, in this view, blended learning represents a shift in instructional strategy. Just as online learning represents a fundamental shift in the delivery and instructional model of distance learning, blended learning offers the possibility to significantly change how teachers and administrators view online learning in the face-to-face setting. “The widespread adoption and availability of digital learning technologies has led to increased levels of integration of computer- mediated instructional elements into the traditional F2F [face to face] learning  experience,” write Bonk and Graham, in the Handbook of Blended Learning."

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This is why I say there is a 'transformation' going on! It's not about things 'not working' or being 'broken', it's simply a necessary shift from doing things in a traditional school setting to doing things in a meaningfully different way. It's not about adding technology to teaching, it's about a transformation in what teaching means today. Exciting stuff!

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

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via ted.com

Wow! I love the very ending when he talked about developing a missing 5th sense…. It excited me about the potential for helping with special needs students.

Two other thoughts:

-What’s the next iPad? What’s the next device that everyone will want? What will it do?

-How do we create schools where students can explore and ‘tinker’ like Pranav?

Cassie and Katie – Public Speaking 2011

Both of my girls did a great job with their speeches! 

Katie was a finalist in our non-judged Junior Public Speaking Celebration, on the morning of June 9th, 2011.
Cassie was 2nd in the Grade 5/6 category of the Senior Public Speaking Finals, later that afternoon.

‘My Day with Boon the Elephant’ by Katie Truss

‘Procrastination’ by Cassie Truss

Sarcasm, even spelt right too!

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I think Cassie was only 3 years old when she started asking me, “Dad, are you being tar-tas-tic again?”
This is from her Father’s Day card.
It’s interesting but I really don’t think that my sarcasm plays out online. I tend not to use it as it is too easily interpreted as rude or at times even scathing. So instead I barrage my kids with it. I’m sure as they get older their eyes will role-over as I embarrass them in front of their friends, (the eye-rolls have already started), but my editing filter shuts off at home. So, my girls will just have to put up with me… even with my sarcasm. 🙂

T.I.C. Chinese School PE Program Inspection

via qik.com

This routine is practiced almost daily for a few months before the inspection. At the start of the year it involved skipping ropes, but our school (neighbouring theirs) showed a lot of interest in basketball, so they incorporated basketballs into their spring routine.

Every student was asked to bring a basketball from home. The small items on the ground near them are cardboard rings that they made to keep their ball from rolling around at the back of their classrooms. Often during PE classes you’ll see the younger students wearing these like bandanas on their heads. Cute!

Watch to the end to see the speed at which they run to their line-ups to head back into the school. It’s that fast even when there isn’t an inspection happening.

A neat look into a very different school culture.

Looking into North Korea

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We arrived in Dandong at about 9:15pm. This is the view of the Peace Bridge heading into North Korea. The lights on the bridge end at the border. Apparently a city of almost 2 million about 200,000 people sits in the darkness. Any hint of light is probably a military installation.

We’ll learn more in the morning, but this one image tells quite a story.