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VT's all New FREE Newsletter for Educators
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION?
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Amazing
Thank you
I'd like to thank everyone, it's been amazing. Since the relaunch of Virtual Teacher 2 weeks ago I have been overwhelmed by the support from the education community, 16,000 page impressions will tick over this weekend - 10/11/2012.
There are now over 7,500 people who are registered VT subscribers. That's an huge amount of unique educational information, experience and wisdom.
And once you accept that
“Everything around you that you call life(substitute here education) was made up by people no smarter than you and you can change it"
Then together we can change everything.
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The question is how do we/you go about this? Well,I like to start with questions and my first questions are -
What are we educating our students for?
What is the purpose of Education?
Some great thought starters in the NEW Creativity & Inspiration. Love to have your feedback and
 comments about this. Tweet or eMail me.
Change is in the wind and we must change Education. The French President proposes to ban homework How do you feel about that? I think, finally a step in the right direction. How do parents really feel about that?
I have reimagined the newsletter with some great new typography, which I thoroughly enjoyed, hope you love it, let me know what you think.
Thanks to Wendy Jones the Latest VT Supporter. With your donation we’ll be able to spend more time to improve and update this website resource. I appreciate every cent! Thank you for your support & contribution! Become a supporter.
SPREAD THE WORD
ciao
Cathy
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An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.
Niels Bohr
You don't need to budget for PD, in a professional environment Professionals develop.
Seymour Papert
Your life is an expression of your mind. You are the creator of your own universe.......
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.
John Lennon
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
“I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous; if he can't learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and of those who would have to teach him.” ~ first biology teacher of John Gurdon, who won 2012 The Nobel Prize in October for his discovery at the University of Oxford. that the specialisation of cells is reversible.
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WHAT are we educating our students for?
WHAT is the purpose of Education?
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
".....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."
The Commissioners offered "to send the boys to school".
For the Indians there was a point a purpose to the education, it was
"to Make Men of them."
The Indians needless to say declined the Commissioners offer saying
"Several of our young People were formerly brought up at the Colleges of the Northern Provinces: they were instructed in all your Sciences; but, when they came back to us, they were bad Runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods . . . neither fit for Hunters, Warriors, nor Counsellors, they were totally good for nothing."
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 do to direct curriculum choice.
WE NEED TO NAIL THIS ONE
I hope your inspired. Send in your comments, thoughts and answers.
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The iPad Mini has just been released smaller powerful and amazing. The touch screen measures 20cms, and it has 275,000apps, 1.5million books from iBooksand over 5,000 magazines from Newsstand and music and movies to download from itunes. It uses Facetime 2 allowing you Video talk in HD, and take great photos. Simple and intuitive to uses - exactly the way of the future.
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This amazing website seems to cover everything, and it has been around for years. The site is huge and it has kept uptodate with everything. It still looks fresh and wonderful. There's not much you won't find here, so include this in any topic search you do.
Take a look at The Stuff to Blow your Kids Mind Video Series. The auto section has always been great and now includes video on car maintenence, future cars, auto basics, and details of how engines work. Take some time and explore or just type in your questions and be amazed.
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Earth and Moon Viewer
View either a map of the Earth showing the day and night regions at this moment, or view the Earth from the Sun, the Moon, the night side of the Earth, above any location on the planet specified by latitude, longitude and altitude, from a satellite in Earth orbit, or above various cities around the globe. Here is my favourite page on this site Night and Day Around the World - I love this
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Music Theory
An interactive website with music theory tutorials for students and teachers by Ricci Adams. Lesson topics include: staff, clef, and ledger lines; note duration; measure and  time signatures; rest duration; dots and ties; simple and compound meter; odd meter; steps and accidentals and more. A chord calculator, staff paper generator, and matrix generator are available for online use. Nicely done.
Ricci has also added some phone apps including Theory Lessons for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
Symphony Orchestra
This is a fantastic site with all orchestral instruments depicted and explained. Wonderfully it includes sound files of all the instruments so that students can listen to them as well. It deals with harmony pitch, symbols, rhythm tempo etc, and allows students to fiddle online.
Frog Dissection
Online realtime interactive FROG Dissection WOW!
Fantastic Video on Frog Dissection
Anatomy of a grass frog, part 1. External anatomy and a quick look at the skin (Part 2 shows remaining internal anatomy). Phylum Chordata, Class Amphibia.
The MacOrganism's 2 Channel has a lot more anatomy Videos including:-
Shark Anatomy, Rat Anatomy, Bony Fish, Fetal Pig, Grasshopper , Crayfish, Earthworm, Sea Star, Bivalve, Squid and Round
Volcanoes are awesome manifestations of the fiery power contained deep within the Earth. This site contains images, 10 most dangerous volcanoes, quizzes and videos.
Current Eruption Reports, Virtual Field Trips, Facts, Games, Interviews with Vulcanologists, very comprehensive site.
I love this Video - anyone who can add chocolate to icecream and talk about Geology has got me. Geology is one of my favourites. And making S'moresite form chocolate, marshmellow and biscuits has certainly rekindled my interest. There are quite a number of Videos at the Geology Kitchen a great resource.
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Hi Cathy,
Great site you have there!
I'm a single mom working two jobs and I've been teaching my little boy about the Australian bushrangers. He became very interested when he saw them on TV and he said that he wants to be like them when he grows up. Adorable, isn't he? I don't really have time to look for books about the bushrangers so I went online instead.
I've been scouring the internet looking for good sites about it when I came upon your website http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/australia.html and I'm so glad that I did. You've got really great content and resources that I could share with my boy about the bushrangers with ease. It's also very easy to navigate around. Great job! Since your site has been very helpful to me, I want to contribute a little something. I found a site that's got useful content and resources like yours and I think it would be a great idea if you could put it on your site since it can be very useful to your visitors, too. Here's the site: http://www.startlocal.com.au/articles/educational_bushrangers.htmlThanks again and let me know if I've helped you in any way.
Sincerely,
Clare
Hi Cathy,
I really enjoyed VT in the past. Great to see it back.
To answer your question, I'm a teacher,
Wendy
Welcome Back!
Terry Fahy
So wonderful to see you back on line! All the best,
Catherine
Wow, that was a blast - where did those 4 years go? I remember your sign off 'life is very tricky right now' (or close). And the biggest reminder - formatting! How things have moved on since then. Do you have a new way to deliver?
Mike
Yes Mike, Just wanted to get the first Newsletter off as plain text, hope you love the look of this one. Typography is one of my latest passions and also one of Steve Jobs'
Let me know what you think.
ciao Cathy
Love your virtual teacher logo. Very cute.
Cheers
Wendy
Thanks Ruth this site has some great Apps please send in more of these I will review them in a future newsletter.
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What do parents want for their children?
What are we educating our students for?
What is the purpose of Education?
What do you think?
I see this as crucial to any discussion on educational change.
I'll also be upgrading the links and article pages from the old VT site if you have any suggestions or rests send them in.
Tweet or email your answers.
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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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1. GOT SOMETHING TO SAY - Send in your Questions, Questions will be published with Answers, send in your Answers, if you have expertise to share.
2. NOMINATE A BRILLIANT SITE for review and inclusion in this newsletter.
3. NOMINATE A FANTASTIC SCHOOL WEBSITE site for review and inclusion in this newsletter.
4. MAKE CONTACT with other schools using fantastic programs.
5. WRITE and innovative article for this newsletter.
6. TELL 2 COLLEAGUES about this newsletter.
7. BECOME A VT SUPPORTER CLICK HERE $5 per year, and keep a good thing going. Your name + a hyperlink if you, like will appear on our supporters list.(unless anonymity is requested)
Announce your support for innovation and change in Education.
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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 an email or tweet me.
Editor: Cathy Brown cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
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Reach a growing audience of teachers, by advertising in the Virtual Teacher Newsletter or on the Virtual Teacher site. For more information goto Virtual Teacher Sponsors or contact, cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
For information about inservice and training contact me at
cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
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