Liebster Blog Award Nominations

From my research of Leibster Blog Awards it seems that the intention behind the Award is to support and showcase blogs (with less than 200 followers) that you enjoy reading.  I like the fact that it’s not a competitive thing – it’s really just about making others aware of blogs that you like.   I was pleasantly surprised to find that this humble blog has been nominated for a Liebster Blog Award by Karen O’Connell.   Thank you for the nomination Karen and for the kind words I have gotten to know Karen through Coder Dojo in Limerick and I must admit it has been a pleasure getting to know her.  She has been one of the driving forces on the administrative side of the Dojo which has allowed us to deal with the ever increasing numbers who continue to flock to Coder Dojo Limerick.  Karen blogs at Follow the Food Link about sourcing local food.

In accepting the Liebster Blog Award you agree to :

1. Thank the person who gave you the award
2. Link back to their blog
3. Copy and paste the Liebster award to your profile
4. Pick 5 blogs that you feel deserve to be in the spotlight (they must have under 200 followers)
5. Blog about it and leave a comment for your nominations to let them know that you have chosen their blog

So here I am picking 5 blogs (this is something I hate doing as I hate choosing one over another – I don’t do #ff on Twitter for that reason ) so I apologise before I start if I haven’t chosen your blog

Firstly I nominate Hellie Bullock’s blog http://www.anseo-a-mhuinteoir.com/.  Hellie blogs about all things educational from her journey through the Grad Dip in Primary Teaching through to the trials and tribulations of being a seriously underused sub!

Secondly I nominate Sabine Mc Kenna’s blog http://sabinemckenna.wordpress.com/.  Sabine blogs about various topics around education including music, juggling, technology etc.

Thirdly I nominate Michael Thornton’s blog http://mthornton78.wordpress.com/.  Through his blog Michael gives us a look into his classroom which sounds like a fun place with lots of learning going on.

Fourthly I nominate Pam Moran’s blog http://spacesforlearning.wordpress.com/.  Pam has an insight and a richness to her writing that make her posts a pleasure to read.

Finally I nominate Nigel Lane’s blog http://theinsidelane.tumblr.com/.  Nigel blogs at the Inside Lane on many things educational and also aggregates Irish Teachers Blog at http://irishteachers.tumblr.com/.

So go have a look at these great blogs and consider making your own Liebster Blog Award nominations

And so to the ICT in Education Conference 2012

After all of the excitement of the CESI Conference 2012, I am now turning my attention to the pulling together of the ICT in Edcuation conference in  May, which will hopefully be as invigorating and inspiring for attendees.  The next few months will be filled with calls for presenters, registrations, promoting the event and finally the culmination of it all – the CESI Meet and ICT in Education conference on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th May 2012.

At this stage we have confirmed keynote speakers Ira Socol and Pam Moran.  This keynote line up will be supplemented in the coming weeks so watch out for updates at http://www.lit.ie/ictedu.  But now the real work begins, to put together a programme, which will build on the energy and enthusiasm of the keynote presentations, and give attendees workshops and presentations which will provide practical ways in which they can weave technology into their learning spaces.  For me, the real strength of a conference, is the combination of inspirational keynote presentations, which challenge you to reflect on what you do, and the breakout workshops and presentations, which support you to make changes to how you do it.  And so my simple plea to you is this: if you are planning to come to the conference, and are doing something in your learning space that you think might be beneficial to others, please consider presenting at our conference.  The call for presenters will be put out in the next few days so get your thinking caps on!!

Post publishing note:  Call for presenters for ICT in Education now open.  Closing date for submissions is Friday 30th March.

CESI 2012 – what an amazing 24 hours

It’s hard to know where to start as I try to capture the energy of the CESI 2012 Conference. I got to the Heritage Hotel in Portlaoise on Friday evening at 6 o’clock and left Portlaoise College at 6 o’clock on Saturday evening and in between had the most amazing, inspiring, thought provoking and invigorating 24 hours. Friday evening started with a quick bite to eat with Catherine Cronin, Mary Loftus, Stephen Howell, Leigh Graves Wolf and her husband Scott and what an entertaining meal it turned out to be. We then made our way to the CESI Meet which was just getting under way. Mags Amond was in her element as she got the Meet up and running with the fruit machine, the oracle who decided who was next up to speak (unless Mags decided who was next up ). First up was David Mitchell who Skyped in and told us about Quad Blogging and Feb29th.net. There then followed more than 2 hours of bombardment with lots of great ideas from people such as Brendan Buckley talking about chess, Mary Jo Bell telling us about her junior infants tweeting from @MrsBellsclass and Hellie Bullock talking about great iPad apps such as Skitch, Doink, I am learning and Story ideas. There were so many other presentaions on blogging, teacher efolios, learning philosophies etc. etc. etc. My mind was buzzing by the end of the night. As an aside, note to self for future years, don’t go up to collect a spot prize!! Mags suggested that I talk about Coder Dojo without my lovely Prezi that I had prepared so I really didn’t do it justice.

What followed the CESI Meet was an opportunity to chat, and put names to faces, and just generally relax and enjoy it all, which we did. It was fun to finally get to meet people in person, who I’ve been following on Twitter over the past year. I love my Twitter conversations, and am happy to stand tall and say ‘I’m Pam and I’m addicted to Twitter’, but nothing beats the face to face chats you get to have with people, at events like last nights CESI Meet.

This morning saw lots of faces at breakfast as we all got ready for the day ahead. I made my way to Portlaoise College and had a quick look in the room I was to present in later. All seemed more or less OK so I went to have a cuppa before we kicked off. The conference was opened by Adrienne Webb, chair of CESI, and Joe Cunningham, from Laois Education Centre, and a thought provoking presentation was given by Gerard McHugh from NCTE. Next up was Stephen Howell, who stepped in to the breach at short notice when Steve Wheeler was delayed as he tried to make his way to Ireland to present. As always, Stephen was amazing as he energised us all at the start of the day, and opened our minds to the wealth of opportunities that exist from simple tools like Scratch and the Kinect for xBox. You can download the software for Scratch2Kinect here. Then we were set free to choose the workshops we wanted to attend. The only criticism I have, and it’s not really a criticism, is that the line-up was fantastic so in each session there were a couple of workshops/presentations I wanted to attend. Well done to all in putting together such a varied and rich programme!!

To start off I went along to Anne McMorrough’s workshop on using iPods in the classroom and thoroughly enjoyed it. Anne’s approach of using the iPods to enrich the learning environment was technology in Education in all it’s glory. Next up was lunch during which I made sure that all was OK in Room 16 – location of my presentation on ‘Getting stated with technology’. My session was chaired by Ban Ryan and the hour following lunch was filled with Animoto, Glogster and Voicethread – web tools which can be used in a multitude of ways in classrooms. Next up for me was Simon Lewis’s workshop on Making an App which was a full house as expected. Unfortunately the broadband did not allow me to use AppMakr but lots in the room managed to get going with it. I definitely want to have a look at this tool and I’m looking forward to working through the steps outlined in Simon’s post on making an app on Anseo.net.

And so to the capstone address from Steve Wheeler. To say that it was a thought provoking presentation doesn’t even begin to do it justice. We were challenged to reflect on the future and where we are headed. To paraphrase Steve – we are living in exciting times and the change is not linear, it’s exponential! The way in which so many ideas were stitched together was magical and left me with plenty to ponder on my journey home. And so we get to the journey home – in some ways my favourite part of any conference. This is when I have time to digest and ponder the many, often simple ideas, that are thrown in my direction, by presenters who do such a good a job in getting me to reflect on what I am doing and how I am doing it. As I drove home from #cesi12 I was shocked at the speed at which the hours passed. I didn’t get enough time to talk to people and yet I talked to loads of people. I will finish as I started – from 6 o’clock on Friday to 6 o’clock on Saturday I had the most amazing, inspiring, thought provoking and invigorating 24 hours. Thank you one and all.

To PhD or not to PhD …

image from http://paworldclassmath.webs.com/mathhumor.htm

Over the past few years I have toyed around with the idea of entering a PhD programme.  I didn’t tell anyone about my aspirations but it was something I was mulling over in my head.  The thoughts of starting a body of work, that will realistically last for 5-6 years, and, which will really take me out of my comfort zone, is absolutely terrifying but I think I’m finally ready to start the ball rolling.  I’m not sure of the exact area or topic but I do know that it will be on some aspect of Mathematics Education.  As I look into the abyss, the only thing that will make me jump in, is a topic that I feel passionate about and that I will hopefully still feel passionate about at the end of the PhD process.   Am I being unrealistic?  Probably, but I’m an optimist by nature so hopefully that will carry me through the dark days ahead when I wonder why I took this step.  Wish me luck as I take my first tentative steps on this journey

An iPhone and a bit of imagination ….

For the past month the girls in my daughters class have been practicising their play “The Snow Queen”. Last Friday saw the girls parents and grandparents come in to the ‘halla’, to finally see what the girls had been so excited about. My daughter wouldn’t generally be the best to share what she is doing in school but this has really grabbed her attention. The first I heard about it was when the scripts came home to practice for the auditions. She really wanted to get the part of ‘Junior Crow’ and so she was thrilled to get the part that she wanted. There then followed weeks of learning the script and lots of practising in school, with a few dry runs along the way, to prepare for the day when the girls parents came in to see what they had been working so hard on. Posters and invitations were made by the girls and by Friday the excitement was at an all time high 1.30 was the appointed time so by that time mammies, daddies, grannies and grandads were all assembled and seated ready for the performance.

I got there early enough to get front row seats so I was perfectly placed to take some photos and get the full effect of the performance. I had spoken to Fiona Murnane (the girls teacher) before Friday and had offered to go in to do an Animoto greeting with the girls so that they would have a reminder of their show. I took loads of photos and even recorded some of the songs as I thought it would be nice to use the girls singing as the background to the Animoto. I’m sure most people there thought I was a very proud Mum who probably went a little bit overboard taking photos etc. of her darling daughter. What they didn’t realise was that I was taking photos etc. of all of their darling daughters  I had planned to record the girls singing on another day but decided to give Voice Memos on the iPhone a go to see what the quality would be like. It may not be perfect but it’s certainly good enough for me to use.

Yesterday, I went in to the girls to produce the Animoto. They were still so excited about the show and it was lovely to be a part of that excitement.  I played back the recordings of the songs and showed them the photos.  Like typical 8-9 year old girls there was much giggling and embarrassment listening to themselves and seeing the photos.  We had to make sure that everyone was included and that we chose the best song.  Throughout the hour that I spent in the class the girls continually burst into song.  It was so clear to see that the show had been a really positive experience for them all and that they really enjoyed it.  As a parent watching the show, and as someone who has been in and out of their classroom over the past years and months, it was lovely to see them helping each other out with a nudge or the start of the next line etc. on the day of the show.  Have a look at the Animoto created by the girls as a momento of their play “The Snow Queen”.

http://animoto.com/play/bOODFlha8J1AQxPWw7jHfQ#

My 2 year Twitteversary

Yesterday, Sunday 5th February was my 2 year Twitteversary.  I signed up at approx. 11.30 pm on Friday 5th February 2010 after returning from the CESI Meet in Portlaoise. It seemed that everyone was tweeting so I thought I’d get in on the act. I didn’t really get it back then but decided to sign up anyway.  My first year on Twitter was nondescript, and that’s being generous.  I tweeted very little as I still didn’t really get what everyone was so excited about.  Fast forward to today and now I finally get it. I can’t imagine not tweeting now.  In fact Twitter is probably my main method of communication with a lot of the people I contact.  The change came about this weekend last year when I returned to the CESI Conference and again everyone was tweeting.  At this stage, I still didn’t have a smartphone so I still didn’t really get it but I suppose I was starting to.  After the CESI conference last year I managed to get the use of an iPad, purely for educational purposes you understand Then I got what Twitter was – no more having to remember to log in and check what people were tweeting and so really this is effectively my 1 year Twitteversary.

I can honestly say that Twitter has had a huge impact on my life.  It has changed my interactions with so many people.  I have made changes to my teaching – I used Java in my Maths class among other things this year.  I think for teaching functions particularly this has worked really well.  There are also more subtle changes to what I do in my classroom and how I do it.  The enthusiasm and encouragement you get from people on Twitter is infectious.

Something else that has changed as a result of Twitter is my interaction with local schools.  Over the past 10 years I have worked on various initiatives with local schools to introduce technology into the classroom.  My involvement with the Connected Classrooms initiative on Twitter (#ccGlobal) has given a renewed focus to my interaction with local primary schools.  I’ve used webtools such as Animoto to create greetings to be sent around the world as part of the #ccGlobal Greetings project.

My weekends have changed dramatically as a result of Twitter.  Back in September I saw a number of tweets about a new initiative called Coder Dojo which had set up in a number of centres around the country – my nearest one was in Limerick so I decided to take my son and see what it was about.  Since then I have signed up as a mentor and our trips to Coder Dojo have become a family affair with my son, daughter and niece making the trip twice a month to the Limerick Coder Dojo.  Check out what we get up to at Limerick Coder Dojo.

And finally my Monday nights have been taken over by #edchatie.   I really enjoy 8.30 to 9.30 on a Monday night where educators across all levels in Ireland come together to discuss some aspect of education.  Our musings are guided by the very capable @fboss who helps to keep us on track or just gives us our head as required My husband and children all realise that there is no point in trying to get any response from me during this hour of the week!!

So that’s been the highlights of my 2 years on Twitter.  I’m looking forward to the trip to Portlaoise on the weekend of February 24th/25th for the CESI Meet and Conference.  Who knows what I might be inspired to try out as a result of the trip this year!

Thinking of my Dad on World Cancer Day

Wednesday April 20th 1994 is a day that I will never forget.  At 3.58 am my Dad lost his battle with cancer.  He had battled the disease for almost a year.  In truth he had probably been battling it for longer than that but we were all unaware of it.  Seeing him go from a vibrant, independent man to a shadow of his former self during that year was hard to see.  And yet, even to the end, when he depended on the nurses to help him move in the bed, I still believed that he would somehow beat the cancer that ravaged his body.

The more than 17 years that have passed since that Wednesday morning, when our world was blown apart, have brought many changes.  My life, and the lives of my Mum and my brothers and sisters, has changed beyond recognition in that time.  There have been marriages, births, new houses and many other occasions that he has missed.  For me, the most poignant changes are the many grandchildren who have been born, but who he never got to meet.  They have missed out on the special relationship that they would have had with him.  So that’s why I’ve been thinking of my dad today, World Cancer Day.