Rambling Teacher's Blog

Last year, I began teaching an elective class in year 10 called "Big Ideas in Computer Technology". The first class had 12 girls in it and, this year, the number grew to 17. I was blown away with the number since, in year 10, the girls can take only three electives across the year and the offerings at our school are mind-boggling. How the learning was structured This year, I really wanted to work with a principle I learnt from a video by James Paul Gee which I reviewed earlier . Using computer games as a metaphor, I saw my role as designing the learning in such a way that the students could have enough guidance at the beginning - the first two levels of the game - and then learn through experimentation, discussion and some help from me.

This video by James Paul Gee is an absolute gem. One idea I want to discuss here is his vision of people learning in what he calls "passion communities". Passion communities form around video games, popular books and hobbies. Fans of Harry Potter go on sites where they write their own fiction stories in that genre. World of Warcraft gamers develop the skill of solving problems in groups. So, what are the features of a "passion community" (ideas taken from the video): They solve problems collaboratively: The group is smarter than the individual. Learning happens on demand: In a game, progressive levels introduce you to the skills and language you need to succeed. You don't acquire knowledge in a vacuum and expect to apply it later. They are not age-graded. People of different ages can contribute and learn. The same teacher can mentor one time and be mentored at another time. The community sets high standards and provides honest feedback to help its...

In this, my 100th post, I want to reflect on some of the things that make me grateful to teach at Avila College. The last week was exhausting and energising at the same time. I believe a summary of that week will suffice in explaining why I love working at Avila. Here is a snapshot: World Integrated Unit For three days, groups of Year 7 students formed their own countries. They learnt about preferential voting, designed a national flag, dance, anthem, sandwich and animal! Each country had to conduct a campaign to host the Olympic games and use social media to their advantage. Treasurer, financial adviser and head of state deciding their country's investment priorities My role was to look after the treasury and guide and the individual country treasurers through foreign exchanges and a financial report.

Last year, I decided to start an APP development club at my school. I spent some time in the summer break investigating alternative development environments . In the end, I settled on Corona SDK . Unfortunately, I only had a few days left to learn it before the start of the school year. I took some time in Term 1 to complete some tutorials and make connections with Corona developers. Thanks to Twitter, I was able to make friends who have taught me a lot about the technology. The group began in Term 2 and we are now most of the way through an APP we intend to submit to the App Store. A friend has prodded me to get back to writing about the experience so far.