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Student blog posts – please comment on one if you can!
CC-licensed Flickr image by mrsdkrebs This semester I have been leading a group of future Teacher Librarians through the Masters of Ed. unit ‘Youth, popular culture and texts‘. For their second...
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Coming up for air
Hi folks – it’s been a bit quiet here on the blog, I know. All I can say is … omg MARKING! I have always had an interest in assessment, but this semester has made really clear to me how dire the...
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Building up my Pinterest resources
I wrote a little while ago about my venturing into the world of Pinterest. My first board was a collection of images and links relating to ‘Indigenous Studies‘. This post is just an update on what else...
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RSA Animate ‘Drive’: Purpose, mastery, self-direction
I just came across this excellent 10 minute clip from the RSA Animate series. It was put up in 2010 and has had over 9.6 million views on YouTube, so some of you may have seen it the first time around....
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The cost of preparing for class
Each year before school goes back, teachers can be found out and about in stationery and bargain basement stores, stocking up on materials for the coming term or semester. New diaries, pens,...
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Making content posters for my classroom walls
Over the years I have seen many creative and high utility wall displays in other people’s classrooms. Imelda Judge for example is wizard with cardboard and hot glue – sharing a classroom with her in...
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Classes start tomorrow!
The week we’ve all been waiting for, week one of the university semester, is finally here! This semester, I will be focussing on the following areas of my English Curriculum Studies unit for...
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A ‘rhizomatic’ take on Semester one so far
Last week I had the good fortune to hear Professor Diana Masny speak about her Deleuzian approach to researching multiliteracies theory (which she referred to as ‘MLT’). Masny is from Ottowa, Canada,...
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Using social media to support FYE
Ah, “FYE” … the new acronym in my life! It stands for First Year Experience, and now that I’m the FYE Coordinator for my Faculty, it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. As a school teacher, the...
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Where I was: The 2013 MILID meeting in Cairo
I’ve been back from overseas now for a few weeks and have almost (almost) accomplished the Great Assignment Marking Catchup. We’re all faced with one from time to time, but for me having a trip...
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‘I’m a teacher and I just joined Twitter…now what?’
Last week I was walking a colleague through Twitter and thought now may be a good time to pen a post with some tips for new users. In particular I want to encourage new users in the education sector to...
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Which PBL?
Today I attended a whole-day symposium on ‘learning and teaching in collaborative environments’, aka the LATICE program at QUT. At the start of the day I was really excited to hear some of the speakers...
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Preservice students’ ultimate classroom design
In most English Curriculum units I run an activity where students work in groups to design their ultimate English classroom. Here are some of the elements that come up in many of the designs: Really...
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It was a cyberbullying kind of day…
Most teachers have had some experience with cyberbullying. Whether your students are very young primary schoolers or adolescents, circumstances can arise when students post nasty comments about each...
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We’re hosting a TeachMeet!
It’s been over a year since I went to my first TeachMeet, up here in Brisbane. I presented a pecha kucha on ‘fair’ assessment and Project Based Learning and had a great time meeting a bunch of other...
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TeachMeet Debrief – September #TMBrisbane
Tea break at #TMBrisbane (photo by author) #TMBrisbane 2013 (September) I recently publicised a TeachMeet that my students and I were hosting at QUT as part of a unit on English Curriculum Studies....
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Guest Post: ‘Christopher Pyne, equity goals, and the p-word’
This week a former student of mine posted a link to a piece she had written for the University of Sydney student newspaper, Honi Soit. I read the story (feeling proud, impressed, and agreeing with her...
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Inspiring PBL unit outlines from #CLP409 students!
This semester I modified my unit planning assessment for CLP409 (Secondary English Curriculum Studies 2) based on the outline developed by Bianca Hewes. You can see the 40 fantastic project outlines by...
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Explaining theories of learning and pedagogy
I want to post here two excellent images that I have come across to explain the various theories and concepts that can be drawn on in relation to learning and pedagogy. The first is an image that I...
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Risk-taking and risk-aversion in teaching
Happy 2014 to all! It seems I inadvertently took a blog break over summer holidays – a break from most things digital, in fact. I’m back in the swing of things now though, with a head full of ideas and...
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