http://sandcastle.edublogs.org shifting sands of creative minds Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:15:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en  I guess it's time I put fingertips to keyboard in this blog! It seems I've been negligent in the blogging department... but not so... in fact I've been pretty busy with it, just not with the post pages. I spend quite a bit of time each week drawing, dabbling about ... http://sandcastle.edublogs.org/2008/06/07/illustrationsandcastle-blog/ So Jo has asked me to deliver a brief presentation about my induction to blogging and the blogosphere to a gathering of the MYP development team at our school. Hmmmm... what to say... I think I will focus on the evolution of my blog, which began not so long ago, in ... http://sandcastle.edublogs.org/2007/11/13/the-evolution-of-my-blog/ Attended a PD this week called Koorie Conversations, hosted by Dare to Lead. Wonderful. Enlightening. We were served with a smorgasbord of highlights that included Koorie speakers sharing personal stories Indigenous heritage & struggles Education & the future Resources for schools & communities The audience of educators was challenged in relation to What we are doing in our ... http://sandcastle.edublogs.org/2007/10/27/dare-to-lead/ So my Year 8 students came with many interesting and creative questions that could be carried out by Amy Rogers as she takes up the challenge of her Antarctic adventure in November. We vetted our list and finally came up with four questions to explore. We sent off three detailed experiments ... http://sandcastle.edublogs.org/2007/10/27/dinner-table-science/ The last couple of weeks have seen my two Year 8 Science classes exploring Amy Rogers' Teachers on Ice webpage as they consider many of the themes in Ecology. We began by looking at the Antarctic continent and taking up the challenge put out by Amy to ask questions and ... http://sandcastle.edublogs.org/2007/10/24/virtual-antarctica/ This edublogging caper is fantastic! I was introduced to the blogosphere serendipitously at the confluence of a set of otherwise mutually exclusive factors. These included the need to set up a web page to mount artwork for posting at Illustration Friday, the commencement of an alternative and rather innovative annual professional appraisal ... http://sandcastle.edublogs.org/2007/10/13/antarctica-eexplorers/ How to start a new topic? I asked my Year 8 Science students the question, Who remembers the information best when I teach a lesson? They were unanimous: "You do, Miss!" Having agreed on this point a discussion ensued about why this is so. This was our launchpad for the next ... http://sandcastle.edublogs.org/2007/09/04/iteach-ilearn/ Discovered Yann Arthus-Bertrand during a recent trip to Sydney where a wander through the Darling Harbour parkland leads you through a cascade of brilliantly colored billboards depicting sites, simple & complex, from around the world. Fantastic graphics of the Earth from Above. Colors & cultures, plants & animals - aimed at inspiring a ... http://sandcastle.edublogs.org/2007/09/02/green-yann/ This is my first blog! Today I attended a teacher PD provided by Jo McLeay instructing staff about the blogosphere. Watched a short clip entitled Are you paying attention? Decided to take the last piece of advice, 'If you can't beat 'em, join'em'. Glad I did! http://sandcastle.edublogs.org/2007/08/20/3/