Virtual
Teacher Newsletter No. 95 21st August 2004 THE AIM
THE
FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
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CONTENTS
1.
Welcome
2.
Mind Candy
3.
WWWinfo Movie Database
4.
New Printables - Adrianıs Art
5.
Technical Stuff Adobe Seminar
6.
Web Site Focus The Indians
7. Adrianıs
site
8.
Great Sites
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10
Next Issue
11.
Code of 'Netizens'
12. Tips
1. WELCOME
EVERYONE. I have a feeling that
the last
newsletter
didnıt get out to everyone. If you
missed it all newsletters
are
archived at http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/archives.html
Please
let me know if this happens.
Newsletter looks at, THE AIM OF EDUCATION, and restructuring the
curriculum totally, all in one
VT
newsletter, nothing is too big. I
am still interested to hear
about
any feedback on Neurofeedback, especially hardware
and
software involved.
Please
enjoy.
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2. MIND CANDY
³Civilisation
becomes, more and more, a race between
education and
catastrophe.² H.G. Wells
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If ever there is
a generation that knows only what the generation
before it knew,
it can kiss its survival chances good-bye.
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Some underlying assumptions about curriculum
What the next
generation most needs to know is what this
generation
happens to know.
Education is a
fairly straightforward process which, in the words
of Louis
Gerstner, CEO if IBM, has to do mostly with
the distribution
of information.² If schools will just raise the bar²
students will
clear it. The student potential wasted by
one-size-fits-all
programs isnıt worth developing.
Students turned
into failures by their willingness or inability to
meet standards
wonıt be a problem.
It is more
important to focus attention on minimum collective
performance than
maximum individual performance.
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³Not everything
that can be counted counts, and not everything
that counts can
be counted² Albert Einstein.
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If we teach only
what we know how to test, we wonıt survive.
We wonıt deserve
to survive.
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Learning like
love is its own reward. It meets
one of the
strongest human
needs and therefore pays off and in deeply
satisfying
ways. Substitute extrinsic for
intrinsic satisfaction
threaten the
teachers and the kids with humiliation if they fail,
reward them with
praise and other goodies if they succeed-
and getting the
praise and avoiding the penalties are the emotions
that drive the
system. Love of learning for itıs own sakes die.
Dead. What
Copernicus did for astronomy, and Newton
and
then Einstein did
for physics, Antione Lavoisier did for Chemistry
and Sir Charles
Lyell did for Geology. They didnıt
build on
someone elseıs
ideas, they advanced theories that
zigged
off in a totally
different directions. That kind of
zig is long
overdue in
education.
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Excerpts
and Inspiration, and Quotes taken from
A Seamless
Curriculum*
*A single,
systemically integrated whole, every part of which r
elates logically
to every other part
3. WWWinfo
Movie
Data Base
http://www.imdb.com
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4. NEW
PRINTABLES
Adrianıs
Art Activities
3 new
art activities
http://www.byroncs.nsw.edu.au/starfish/art/
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5. TECHNICAL
STUFF
This
is not a free seminar. costs $130 per day BUT this will be
a
great seminar, if you are teaching students to use these tools,
this
promises to be totally inspiring.
Photoshop &
InDesign for Design & Photography
Brought to you by
Software Cinema
If you and your
staff could study with the world's finest
Photo/Digital,
Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Acrobat
instructors,
would you?
Software Cinema
will bring to you today's leading digital imaging
experts practical
and proven Adobe Software and imaging
techniques in
vivid detail. The day consists of live training as
well as methodically produced high definition QT digital video
demonstrations
covering a variety of professional topics.
Attend the
Australian Launch of Software Cinema
Starring Jack
Davis - Live!
Jack is the
award-winning author of Photoshop Wow Book!
Melbourne Dallas
Brooks Hall
September 15th:
Photoshop for Photography
September 16th:
Photoshop & InDesign for Design
Sydney Powerhouse
Museum
September 20th:
Photoshop for Photography
September
21st: Photoshop & InDesign for Design
http://www.ultratraining.com.au/camps.html
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6.
WEBSITE FOCUS THE INDIAN STORY
Every
once in a while you come across a story, that nails it.
On June17, 1744,
Commissioners from the English colonies of
Maryland and Virginia
negotiated a treaty with the Indians of the
Six Nations at
Lancaster, Pennsylvania. As part of the deal the
Indians were
invited to send boys to school at William and Mary
College. The Indians replied ³..if the
Gentlemen of
Virginia will
send us a Dozen of their Sons, we will take care
of their
Education, instruct them in all we know, and Make
Men of them.²
The Commissioners
offered to send the boys to schoolı. For t
he Indians there
was a point a purpose to the education, it was
to Make Men of
them.²
NAIL IT:-
If Education had
a single purpose, point, aim, then selecting
suitable
curriculum to teach would be easy.
Sending them to
school, to
educate them, to teach them, to help them reach
their potential,
none of these are aims that can or will or do
direct curriculum choice.
WE NEED TO NAIL
THIS ONE.
We need as a community,
as professionals, to work out an aim
for everything, a
single guiding aim which provides a purpose
for
teaching. Currently curriculum is
based around the disciplinesı,
an arbitrary
division of knowledge that occurred with reasonable
rigor about 100
years ago. They have no real relationship to how
students learn,
what knowledge is important, and they donıt
encompass all
knowledge.
What should the
young be taught?
How to make sense
of the human condition.
And should follow
along these lines
Whatıs happening?
To what or whom?
Where?
When?
Why?
The type of
questions toddlers ask constantly, the questions
that come naturally,
and form the basis of how we learn best.
AND WHAT SHOULD
BE THE AIM you ask?
The aim should be
to provide students with the skills they will
need to live in
the 21st century as positive happy productive,
functioning adults,
who understands their relationship to society
and value in it.
Who understand that their actions have an
impact on the
society in which they live. Who understand how
that society
works. All life is linked
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/time.html
Only an education
that teaches
connectedness to all things will help them make
sense out of life.
WELL you might
say - this is a pretty unwieldy aim, Cathy
and you would be
right - this needs a great deal of discussion.
BUT immediately
allows a close examination of the current curriculum.
It defines what
can be removed from the curriculum, areas of
study which arenıt
essential to the functioning of a student or
future adult in
our society.
There needs to be
one core basic curriculum that encompasses
all Seymour
Papertıs Driveresqueı knowledge. And the
disciplines
become specialized optional areas of ³Latinesque²
knowledge, which
students can choose to study according to
their own
interests. this would essentially free teacherıs of
cumbersome
curriculum overload and allow them to work with
students on the
more important areas in greater depth and detail.
So you could
loose immediately, algebra, long division, and
concentrate on a
lot more of what is currently called consumer
maths in the
general course. Offering more specialized
maths
in elective
course.
Learning to read,
and write is essential, but also, to are speaking,
social relations,
how organizations such as schools work, and the
relationships
within them. Text books with their
third and fourth
hand information
would be redundant as students studied reality,
starting in primary school with the
social organization with which
they are most
familiar there own school.
Applying the
Whatıs happening?
To what or whom?
Where?
When?
Why
questioning
techniques to new and old situations.
Here is a beginning, what do you think, itıs time for a change,
to restructure
This kind of zig
is long overdue in education
Excerpts
and Inspiration, and Quotes taken from
A Seamless
Curriculum*
*A single,
systemically integrated whole, every part of which
relates logically
to every other part
http://home.cfl.rr.com/marion/page1.html
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7.
Take a look at Adrianıs site again. Just Brilliant.
http://www.byroncs.nsw.edu.au/starfish/
Here
are the highlights...
Flash/Swish
Poetry - This really is amazing.
http://www.byroncs.nsw.edu.au/starfish/poetry/catpoems/white.swf
10
Things Our Teacher Would Never Say to Us
http://www.byroncs.nsw.edu.au/starfish/poetry/herrick/10things1.swf
Twinkle,
twinkle - another impressive way to publish
poetry
http://www.byroncs.nsw.edu.au/starfish/poetry/twinkle/index.htm
Recent
Press - a really nice article written about our
class
http://www.byroncs.nsw.edu.au/starfish/science/compwin/index.htm
Postcards
from Mars
http://www.byroncs.nsw.edu.au/starfish/science/mars/mars1.html
Our
first go at 3d rendering using the free software
anim8or
http://www.byroncs.nsw.edu.au/starfish/art/anim8or/index.html
3 new
art activities
http://www.byroncs.nsw.edu.au/starfish/art/
Adrian
and his class would love you to write to them and let them know what you think.
Adrian
<hey_ad@yahoo.com>
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8.
GREAT SITES
HOT
SITES
Big
Fish - Great film
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/big_fish/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319061/
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Great
Olympic site Well done Trinity college Western Australia
Itıs great
to see great teachers taking on the new technologies
and
using them this well.
go
Trinity
http://library.trinity.wa.edu.au/issues/olympics.htm
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Anatomy
of a Refugee Camp (Canadian Broadcasting Company)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/iraq/presentations/refugees/refugee.html
This
Flash-based interactive map of a refugee camp in part of a large
site
created by The Canadian Broadcasting Company. The Flash version
uses
a small compass to maneuver through the overhead view of the
refugee
camp. There is also a drop-down menu at the top.
Text
Only version
http://www.cbc.ca/news/iraq/presentations/refugees/text_only_print.html
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Nutrition
Data's Nutrition Facts Analyzer
http://www.nutritiondata.com/index.html
NutritionData
(ND) generates nutrition labels and provides simplified
nutritional
analyses such as foods that are lowest in carbohydrates,
highest
in protein, or that match any other dietary restrictions or
goals.
Translate confusing ingredient labels with ND's Food Additive
identifier
or browse a list of the 50 Most Popular Foods. You can even
analyze
your daily dietary intake using the "Pantry." Pretty amazing
site.
Play with it before lunch!
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Australian
Gold League Group
Great
site. Lots of Interesting Info, and just added the Australian Wildlife Cams
well worth a look
http://www.gould.edu.au/wildlifecams/
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9.
READERS COMMENTS/REQUESTS
Hi
Cathy,
I
love your newsletter! There are always so many helpful ideas and links!
Thank
you for all your hard work - it is really appreciated!
This
site http://www.edselect.com/olympics.htm
is to
a Canadian teacher/librarian's site where Pat and I worked
together
on a fairly comprehensive list of Olympic sites.
Kind
regards,
Alison
James
Computer
Specialist Teacher (1-10)
Toowoomba
Christian College
Queensland
Australia
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10.
NEXT
ISSUE Your responses to the GREAT AIM.
ciao
Cathy
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11.
Code of the 'Netizens'
This
Newsletter is not free, despite the misleading advertising
above.
The Fee is now due. Each week you must help one
colleague
on the Internet who has less knowledge than you.
Help
that person even if you have to visit their classroom or
do a
little research and get back to them. Trust me, this will
help
a lot of people get their computer classrooms running better.
OK
I'm trusting you!!!
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12.
TIPS
1.
Double click on highlighted URLS to open in browser.
2.
Send in your Questions, Questions will be published with
Answers,
send in your Answers, if you have expertise to share.
3.
Nominate a brilliant site for review and inclusion in this
newsletter.
4.
Nominate a fantastic school site for review and inclusion in
this
newsletter.
5.
Make contact with other schools using fantastic programs.
6.
Prepare and innovative article for this newsletter.
7.
Tell 2 colleagues about this newsletter.
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The
opinions expressed here are purely those of the editor,
Cathy
Brown. All other small print clauses apply. Such as:
Use
at your own risk. Nothing in life is guaranteed. If it doesn't
work
for you send me an email.
Editor:
cathy brown mailto:cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
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