It seems appropriate that these words I shared just over a week ago, are now made more poignant by the passing of Carrie Fisher. Not just because that post used the title of the film in which she seared herself upon our cultural memories, but because of all that she embodied. Put simply, her life’s work, her strength, passion and attitude to life are all that I would wish for my daughters and my students. ...
My opening and closing remarks from the final assembly of 2016 at Thorndon School. Opening: Hey! I’m not giving up today There’s nothing getting in my way And if you knock knock me over I will get back up again If something goes a little wrong Well you can go ahead and bring it on ‘Cause if you knock knock me over, I will get back up again Any clues on where that lyric is from? ...
News this week, that China ‘seizes US vessel’ in South China sea. That article reminded me of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which led directly to the US escalation of military engagement in Vietnam. In reading through that Wikipedia entry I was struck by the tensions and similarities in the intelligence that was presented. And how specifically it was presented to the then US president, Lyndon Johnson. The Hanyok article stated that intelligence information was presented to the Johnson administration “in such a manner as to preclude responsible decision makers in the Johnson administration from having the complete and objective narrative of events.” ...
Recently media narratives have placed the spotlight firmly on education, and in considering these stories, I was struck by this from Stuff, Cute Toy or Racist Relic? If you watch the video, you can almost sense the reporter wanting someone, anyone from the public to throw up their hands in horror, demand action and storm off to complain to the shop owner. Because you know, “Outrage”. Because we should care about these things right? ...
I started this morning on the bus to work, in a Slack session, with some friends discussing buzzwords and edu memes. One of my friends nailed it by saying… “Maybe we need to embrace the buzzwords but ensure their use is critiqued and their meaning and origin understood/explored?” And I thought about the educational buzzwords we use: Life long learners Critical and creative thinkers Innovative Active seekers, users and creators of knowledge Enterprising and entrepreneurial. Resilient Now arguably these aren’t buzzwords, they’re the vision of the NZ Curriculum. ...
This Longform podcast featuring Kathryn Schulz is fascinating for a number of reasons. Not least because she unpacks the effort and the work behind her Pulitzer winning magazine article, The Really Big One. In the opening section, David Remnick, Schulz’s boss and editor of the New Yorker poses the question “What would you like to do?” Schulz replies: “…I’m so fortunate, who’s boss says, ‘What do you want to do’. I mean, what a lovely sentiment … I feel very lucky to work somewhere, where the thing that is guiding my work, is truly what I want to do…” ...
After the week that was, this weekend has been about whanau. Spent Saturday with the girls - took them to Te Papa, then played board games in the afternoon. As we prepped dinner, we listened to the Spotify playlist - 50 Great Female Vocalists. Letting B & Z be introduced to Aretha, Marianne, Erykah, Carly Simon and Mary J. Blige seemed appropriate at this of all times. Over dinner I discussed the 1981 Springbok tour with Bella. We started at 1995, because she’d heard something about food poisoning, then rolled back to 1981, mentioned the Baby Blacks, and even chatted about the 1976 Montreal Olympics. She was really surprised and disappointed that New Zealand had been the reason 20 African nations had boycotted the Olympics. ...
“It would be a stronger world, a stronger loving world to die in” - John Cale The finale of Alan Moore’s seminal Watchmen has resonated over the last 48 hours. Reading of protests. Reading of students being called cotton pickers Reading of Russian fighters preparing to strike Syria Reading of how it’s likely to get worse Reading Seeing it begin. And I’m reminded of how Watchmen ended. Adrian Alexander Veidt, aka Ozymandias unites the world, by inflicting a horror that takes the lives of 3 million people. ...
I met with a class of 10 and 11 year olds this morning. I read the preamble to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence to them, and I told them, that sometimes when tragic, dark things happen, that we can’t control - we can still choose to do brave, generous, kind things. And the things we choose to do still matter. One of the girls in the class - her family is from Mexico. ...
It’s November 6th and in two days the US election will be held. The election cycle has felt a little bit like this if I’m honest. That’s all of us as Hudson. A few months back, I received an email from a good friend in the States, and their words placed much into perspective. “As for politics and people, there’s no solution, but some solace in remembering, as bad as things may seem, nothing is new, but things slowly progress and get better. I was always fascinated with Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations because it was chronological. And you didn’t get far into it to realize there have always been more stupid people than smart, politics has always been slimy, and the end of the world has always been right around the corner. ...
Recently I’ve been reading a number of the papers from the Maintainers Conference. I really enjoyed Lee Vinsel’s presentation, “The Stories We Tell, or, Mary Poppins, Maintainer”, and found these three quotes from the conclusion, useful to help us consider several important aspects of edtech, that aren’t often discussed. Values What values are embedded in the tales, for instance, that we recount to our children? I know so many young people who are literally all tied in knots because their parents and elders have told them that they must get STEM degrees, that they must be innovators, that they must be “game changers,” “thought leaders,” “entrepreneurs,” and a host of other hollow buzzwords attached to contemporary self-identity… ...
What is time? ’the interval between two events’? ‘a limited stretch of continued existence’ This rather thought provoking comment is the opening paragraph from an educational resource published in 1972. I retrieved this book “Time” from a chucking out exercise at a former school. This series of texts, produced by the Macdonald Educational Unit in London, has brilliant covers and features content that in today’s Googleable world is arguably redundant. ...
Last week I tweeted this.. “Britannia rules the waves” “U-S-A, U-S-A” “No. 8 wire” Redundant stereotypes that hold us back. Discuss. — Tim Kong (@timoslimo) October 26, 2016 And after a bit of chat with Rowan, he sent me this link: Watching the video, I was struck by this slide. In particular I was thinking about how education in NZ separates itself. Specifically how we have two separate unions for teaching professionals; the NZEI for primary and ECE, and the PPTA for secondary. ...
Last Tuesday I got a call from my friend Liz Gosling, asking if I could fill in for Michelle Dickinson, and keynote at the annual AUT digital planning event. I really enjoyed putting the presentation together - it’s taken from a number of blog posts, but also a result of several conversations with colleagues and friends, as well as pieces I’ve been reading over the last few months. This is my script/speaking notes, with most of the slides included. I made a few changes at the last minute, and I go offscript a little bit, so it’s interesting (for me at least) to have both the live version and what I planned to say in one place. ...
Trying to make sense of the Brexit result over the last 2 days has resulted in my deactivating my Facebook account, and deciding to not talk politics in any capacity when I return to the UK for a family holiday that begins in 2 weeks. I’ve also tried really, really hard to understand the reasons why, and there’s been a fair bit of analysis of the reasons: Outright and clearly defined racism. ...
In 2000, I spent a year working with Tomato and one of the key points that John Warwicker often spoke of there, was that process mattered. When designing. When discussing with and challenging colleagues. When meeting with clients. Focusing on the process allows interesting, beautiful, amazing things to happen. As a 26 year old, that was a powerful concept, that still underpins a lot of how I view and engage with the world today. ...
How the Internet gets inside us. Our trouble is not the over-all absence of smartness but the intractable power of pure stupidity, and no machine, or mind, seems extended enough to cure that. This essay from 2011 seems even more relevant right now, particularly in regards to the US general election, but also in so much of how we conduct ourselves in public, both here in Aotearoa and globally. ...
This article in Idealog featuring Kendall Flutey the co-founder of Banqer, is bang on, with regards to edu-tech design and efficacy in classrooms. Design She says Banqer is not actively trying to enter into secondary schools, as it is designed for primary and intermediate students. However, it is currently being used in secondary schools. “To craft a product that appeals to both six year olds and 18 year olds would heavily decrease the overall user experience. There would just be too much compromise in catering for both age groups. There are very few examples of successful educational, or otherwise, products who capture the entire schooling market and satisfy strongly at both levels.” ...
Two thirds of our 600 kids learning #science & #technology @OMGTechRangers this weekend are from decile 1-4 schools — Nanogirl (@medickinson) May 21, 2016 So this tweet from Michelle Dickinson gets 50 odd likes and 27 retweets, and I just can’t stop gritting my teeth about it. Not because of the event that it’s referring to - which is excellent - nor that so many students turned out for it - which is fantastic. ...
Via SB Nation In the grand scheme of the championship, that one point didn’t mean anything. But really it meant everything. We’re often quick to dismiss sport in schools. For the media driven madness hooplah surrounding it. For the skewing of values. For the jock culture. For the over-importance heaped upon it in relation to arts. For only focusing on winning. And all of those concerns are valid at times. ...