Adventures in Teaching and Learning

I used the tripod for the first time today! This is also my first time using iMovie 8 – mixed feelings!

I’ve been exploring Twitter, looking for new people to follow that I might be able to learn from or be inspired by. I came across an RE teacher’s blog, and have decided to follow some other links and share them with you (and with me, for the future). Unfortunately some of the bloggers have not blogged recently; however, perhaps getting a mention here might encourage them to have another go! And we can always learn and be inspired by any posts already posted. So here goes …

Intellectual Bohemian – another Catholic RE teacher based in London.

Catholic Teachers Online – I’ve just added myself to this. Hope other Catholic RE teachers add themselves here. In fact, the site is for all Catholic teachers.

Simon O’Carroll – The first teacher I found on Twitter.

I feel I ought to add a short reflection on this. Some people might wonder why Catholic teachers, whether RE or not, might want to particularly identify themselves as such. I mean, I don’t think I often go on about being a Catholic RE teacher on my blog, although I am sure it comes up from time to time, and is probably obvious on my school blogs. I have taught in both a state school and a Catholic school. The thing is, as an RE teacher, the content is – for me, anyway! – quite different in a Catholic school from a non-Catholic school; I also find that my delivery is a bit different too. So it would be interesting to be able to share ideas with other teachers in a similar context!

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Dalek, originally uploaded by uitlander.

And here is one of Davros’ creations! I was up in the circle, so could only see the dalek from afar, but still very exciting!

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Davros, originally uploaded by MykReeve.

I was lucky enough to be able to go to the Doctor Who Proms concert yesterday morning. I was up in the circle, so was looking down as the Judoon, Sonatarans, Cybermen, Ood and Daleks appeared in the Royal Albert Hall. Here is a photo one of the promenaders took of Davros, the creator of the Daleks. We all booed and hissed. Fantastic event! And you can listen to it on http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00cq3vg (this is Part 1 – Part 2 is around there somewhere too!).

What is Humidity?
Humidity is the amount of moisture in the air. It can be measured in various ways, but the most usual is to describe it as ‘relative’ humidity. This is expressed as a percentage. A relative humidity of 100% means the moisture content of the air is the maximum possible at any particular temperature. The hotter the air, the more moisture it can hold.

Why is it Important?
When relative humidity is low, evaporation is rapid. Soil dries out, wet clothes dry quickly and perspiration evaporates from the skin. When relative humidity is high, clothes dry slowly and body sweat cannot evaporate easily. We feel sticky and hot and because our perspiration cannot evaporate quickly, we feel uncomfortable. We can stand dry heat much better than damp heat which makes us feel listless and takes our energy away.

Taken from the BBC Weather Centre.

I mention this because it’s so, so hot here at the moment, in sticky London, that I can hardly move or get on with anything. But when I was in Malawi, it was even hotter, and I don’t remember it being as difficult to get on with everything as it is here. So, I looked at the BBC’s 24 hour forecast, and discovered that at present it’s somewhere between 76% and 83% humidity – and should head up to about 93% at 7am tomorrow morning. With thunder expected around 1am. Hopefully will get better after that!

NOTE: I have just been enticed away from my computer by the gentle sound of falling rain! It’s 12:25am … hopefully this might clear the air for a bit – and it’s interesting to see that the forecast was quite accurate!

View my page on Classroom 2.0

Hopefully the badge does the trick! I’m not sure what to do with Classroom 2.0 now though … so many social networking sites to keep an eye on!

Right. Tomorrow’s task is to plan a lesson for 11 year olds on Confucius. So I need to learn a little more first … If anyone happens to know of any resources that would be suitable for that age group on that topic, please feel free to post them in the comments box!!! Thank you!!

That is the question that Terry Freedman is asking on his blog, and he is asking bloggers / writers to complete a survey which can be found here, with their views on the difference. So first of all, I thought I’d put up the link in case any of my readers would like to complete the survey to help Terry with his research.

Anyway, it’s an interesting question. I enjoy blogging, but some of the topics I blog about aren’t exactly what I would choose to write about if I were writing fiction, for example. Last November I took part in NaNoWriMo, and the resulting writing was quite different from my posts here. A lot of stream-of-consciousness, for example, which, although I do a little of it from time to time here, might not always get across the main point or link that I want to share.

Also, Samson’s book is completely different from his blogging style. I’m sure there are many other people who would be able to give such examples. After all, the purposes of a book, essay, short story or blog can be very different.

I suppose for me, the big question in relation to Terry’s article is, what is a writer? What makes a writer different from a blogger? Is a writer a novelist, an author, a journalist, a blogger? Are they interchangeable? Am I blogger on here, but a writer when I’m taking part in NaNoWriMo? If my blog were more literary, would I be a writer who blogs, or still a blogger who writes?

Well, it’s getting late now and I wouldn’t want to reflect too much this late at night! But I would look forward to any responses … (That could be another difference … a blogger should be able to get quicker feedback, presumably? If we have any readers? Whereas a writer might have to wait for longer and look for letters in the feedback pages of newspapers or hold their breath for reviews?)

An ice cream analogy to explain social media. With thanks to Ant Jessop, who left a comment at Ben Annett’s blog … it’s those digital breadcrumbs again!

A lot of teachers online have been blogging about using ToonDoo and other cartoon sites to make cartoons. I am currently trying to make some classroom rules cartoons as a trial. I came across the cartoon above, and it made me smile, so I thought I’d share it with the world as an example.

(Oops! Forgot about the width of the page … ah well, enjoy it in all its glory for now!)

(Please find a link to Caryl Oliver’s website here. Caryl, who made this cartoon, is an Australian educator specialising in mobile learning.)