Jun 30
It is great to remind ourselves of the potential for learning to occur whenever and wherever, and to see the opportunities for learning.
And it is wonderful to see the products of a growing process, literally, at one of our local public schools.

At Hamilton, kids have been active participants in the Blue Gate Garden, working together to grow and then build links with local restaurants to sell produce: an age old village custom.
On top of this, though, they have been conscious of the need to be able to clearly state just what sorts of things they are learning by doing this. And, think about it: they are learning lots!
Understanding of basic needs for growing.
Developing social skills to work together to achieve a purpose.
Seeing opportunities to recycle and reuse resources, saving the future for our kids….
See how the signs describe it
…
In our garden we learn to:
Predict; plan; observe; weed and water; measure; work together; research
Not a bad list of learning outcomes really!

And..in case that’s not enough..
We have some great schools.
Jun 18
Yesterday was spent in a couple of different locations delivering ideas and updates about the program formerly known as Laptops for Learning: now Digital Education Revolution NSW.
Within the presentation it has been timely to reflect on some developmental facts that: despite their being ‘digital natives’ in terms of the culture and context of possibility into which they have been born, our adolescents are still exactly that and, in a range of ways are still very much ‘under construction.’
I walked out to the car at the end of the first presentation at a senior campus to find a carpark full of cars with red and green P plates, and this car, parked in waiting.
After re-assuring the driver that I wasn’t stalking and checking that it was OK to take the pic, I got this shot which just seems to work so well as a metaphor at a range of levels.
Today, I was reminded of the talent we have amongst us when I heard a colleague presenting about some of the issues affecting the middle years, and about the need for scaffolds, and elements of explicit direction and support to allow the emergence of the potential in adolescence.
The future: under construction. There’s something positive, however, that the vehicle for its driver sends a message of optimism, a statement.
Yep; time to move from school planning to planning school.
Jun 05
Well, here we are at the start of a holiday weekend and a weekend of moving house planned ! Not what we would have preferred but: that’s what happens in this grand adventure we call life.
Have been spending a lot of time lately adding links to a blog which is more specifically related to ICT integrations. You can see it at the Grapevine.
It has also been interesting to try out some new themes for the Parent and Community Web blog. You can see the result here.
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