Wednesday, May 4, 2016

HPS Competition - Blue

The April competition was titled 'Blue', and once again I tried to think outside square and here are my images:

 This one was titled 'Blue Attitude' but the Judge couldn't see that there was any real attitude.  Fair enough, let down by naming the photo.  It was be hit or miss with photo titles.  

Still, Highly Commended.

I though really hard about this one and it took me hours of planning and capturing the image.  It's a piece of white and I have use a blue piece of cellophane, over a torch, in a softbox.  The jade surface is highly reflective so it took many attempts.  The judge said that it would be better if the image was reversed, and I looked at that but it didn't work.

Again, a Highly Commended

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Pasifika - March 2016

This morning I popped down to the Pasifika Festival to soak up the atmosphere.  It wasn't 'rocking' but I thought that was probably because it was the morning of the first day.  Still, I had a great couple of hours and caught a few good PJ (photojournalism) shots.  I had another engagement in the afternoon which would have probably been the best time.  Oh well, next year maybe.






Samoan Elvis - great voice but didn't really have the King's moves.  He needs a bit more exposure to work on them.  Still good fun to watch.




 Never throw water on an oil fire.  A particularly important point for the Pasifika community because they cook with oil quite a lot (as does everyone else I guess).
Crowd Zumba - well, just one person in the crowd, but she was having fun and right in to it.
Samoan Beauty

Traditional Necklace of painted pods






Green Competition

The most recent competition at Henderson Photographic Society was 'Green' as part of the RGB range (next up will be Blue).  It struggled to think of anything other than plant life, the most obvious source of inspiration.

When I was in Brisbane over the Christmas period I caught these two images in my sister's back yard.

I received Highly Commended for both so not a bad effort.

The green pattern below is a shallow shot of a garden table top that I have cropped right in so only the pattern is obvious, not the object.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Bokeh Effect in Photography

Last week Henderson Photographic Society had a workshop focusing on working with light and light sources.

This is one of the photos I took working with bokeh (that's the circles of light at the back).  I didn't really understand the camera settings at first, and our President, Elton McAleer helped me out.  Working in these very low light conditions is quite hard, especially for finding a focal point.  Luckily some people were able to put their finger on the lip of the glass jar for me.

I love the colours in this image.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Pride Parade in Ponsonby


 Yesterday the annual Pride Parade minced it's way down Ponsonby Road, celebrating 30 years since the Homosexual Law Reform Bill was passed.  Homosexuals were then declared normal citizens!!  How very civilised of New Zealand.

Anywho, it was a brilliant celebration of diversity and inclusion.

Left is Miss Ribena at the front of her float, in all her magnificence - you go girl.

This wee fella on the left was out supporting the NZ Police Force.
 This was my personal favourite - Air New Zealand - the wonderful blue contraption was made from seat belts.  They also had the best music by far.

Above is a lady with all the confidence in the world, and working it like a dream.

The ANZ has the best outfits by far with thousands of balloons gathered at the back of the dozens and dozens of paraders.

A wonderful evening with my good friend Anne Watt - we even sneaked a cocktail while waiting for the festivities to begin.

Hobbiton in Matamata

On the way home from Rotorua we detoured to Matamata and Hobbiton, the original and fully restored set for Sir Peter Jackson's trilogy - Guy hasn't seen the movies yet and hopefully he will recognise some scenes when he does.

The 'hobbit holes' are all a genuine up the indoor vestibule area, and after that all the filming is done on sets in Wellington.
This is quite an amazing little village and one well worth visiting when you visit New Zealand, about two-and-a-half hours from Auckland.

It was quite a cloudy day when we went so the sky is quite harsh.  There were also loads of visitors so it pays to book before you get there.  Its quite easy to do this online.

Zip Lining in Rotorua

I sent a couple of days in Rotorua with Guy Wilson and one of the most amazing things we did was zip-lining with Rotorua Canopy Tours.

We were in native forest that is a protected area and fairly rodent free.  They had developed a great system for attracting and killing rats and possums.

The first leap of faith was the ice-breaker and once everyone had done this it was pretty smooth sailing.


 I would absolutely recommend this as an adventure for Rotorua - much better than zorbing or luging.


Wednesday, February 3, 2016

HPS - February 2016 Competition Results for 'Red'

The first competition of the year was titled 'Red' and these were my two entries.

Red Door earned an Honours.

This was shot in Guangzhou and is the door to a temple.  At the time I took this shot I knew it would used in the future.  I have heavily cropped it to provide a focus on the form of the panelling.  I thought it might be worthy of a Merit or Highly Commended, so was chuffed with Honours


Red Wave earned a Highly Commended.

I shot this up in the Brick Bay Sculpture Park at Snells Beach.  There were series of sculptured metal forms with strong powder coated finishes.  The narrow depth of field provided a focus for the lip of the form.  The feedback was that there was quite a bit of negative space at the base that didn't add to the image.  I'm not sure about this because I had already heavily cropped the image.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

ULearn12 - Keynote One

Dr Jason Ohler - Wednesday, 10 October 2012

Digital Storytelling through digital literacy.

Blog - the committed sardine blog
jasonOhler.com for this presentation - link at the bottom of the page

Learning through music - he could hear music but couldn't read it - his teacher gave him a listening test which he passed with flying colours - multiple intelligences - has since written loads of music.

Miss Phelps and John Hasselback - inspirational teachers.

BYOD - get students to bring their own devices and shift the cost of this technology away from schools and kindergartens.

We are Mobile; Connected; Where does school fit into this?  Who is the teacher?

Augmented reality - what you can see and download information to help - video with glasses.  Media literacy will be new way of learning and finding info - walking through town and McDonalds, BurgerKing will be fighting to have this info there for you.  Trigger and overlay.

Text to media collage - written is becoming less important with the depth of information that can be shown on e-learning sites

screen + easel = screasel   as new way for children to interact with various art forms.

Value writing - it is not a lost artefact
Adopt Art - leads to wonderful literacy
Follow the DAOW of literacy - oral language is there as well
The attitude is the aptitude.
We have personal and social literacy - pursue knowledge together and collaboratively.
Technology connects and disconnects - microwave analogy.


Hans Roslings - 200 countries in 200 years - video on BBC Four

Math is not static and solving preconceived problems - very 2D
Everyday experiences use basic Maths concepts

Monday, October 8, 2012

ULearn12-Preconference Pick n Mix Session

Tuesday, 9 October, 2012

Preconference Day for ULearn12 -with Wendy, Krystel, Jo-Anne and Jo

Attended Powhiri - very powerful experience and very professionally done - also gave us an explanation in te reo which is very inclusive.

Pick and Mix Session with Tara Fagan and Karen Melhuish-Spencer

Investigating Twitter - spent the morning session learning more about Twitter and created 3 lists so I can manage messages as they come through.  Karen put me on to HootSuite as a management tool and I came home, categorised contacts and added streams to tabs - brilliant.  I understand #hashtags now and will make an effort to connect with communities.  Might have to keep in contact with Tara and Karen for this.

Investigating Google Docs Presenter - am thinking about using this tool for connecting with families - will talk to Sheryl about managing email contacts in a Learning Curves Google Account - think it could be good for Transition to School groups with reminders of trips and follow-ups.  I emailed a draft Presentation to Learning Curves staff to see if they get it.  Tara said that it would be best just to send the link rather than the Presenter doc so I will find out more about that.

Online Education - Tara shared sites that she uses for free, online courses and I think that I would like to investigate this further:
  • iTune U
  • Coursera
  • ECE Online through Core Education
  • Scoop.it
Here is a link to a talk by Karen on Edtalks
http://vimeo.com/43504781

I will also continue to access the following website to play with the Pick and Mix technologies:
http://bit.ly/web2picknmix




Newsletter for October 2012


Monday, May 17, 2010

ELP Seminar - Wendy Lee - Sustainable Leadership

Wendy gave us a personal journey and history to introduce her to the group.
Easy to let things go, but we need to take responsibility – sustainable leadership – what will make a difference for our children. The work done in NZ is recognised internationally – Peter Moss has placed us as in the top 3 countries in the world because we deserve it.
Sustainable development, democracy and peace are divisible as an idea whose time has come – Wangari Matthai.
United Nations decade of education for sustainable development – 2005 – 2015 – what have we been doing as work towards this goal – didn’t really even know about it until now.
Andy Hargreaves and Dean Fink – drawn on for this presentation and is dedicated to them.
Sustainability leadership matters, spreads and lasts.
Sustainability is the capacity of a system to engage in the complexities of continuous improvement consistent with deep values of human purpose.
With professional development targeted to specific areas what will Centres do now – will they pay for this.
1. Depth It matters
Sustainable leadership matters. It preserves, protects, and promotes deep and broad learning for all in relationship of care for others.
Te Whaariki has been showing us the way all this time. Do we have utter respect and de we care deeply for all the children in our care – it’s not easy, but it’s incredibly powerful. Who are the people that have made a difference for us – what was the value of this relationship and why did it resonate for you personally.
In a team it is important to have a deep, abiding respect for each other – when then there are differences of opinion it doesn’t break the team a part.
The Five Pillars of Learning – Unesco (Four Pillars Of Education)
2. Learning to Know
3. Learning to do
4. Learning to be
5. Learning to Live Together
Hargreaves & Fink 2006
Paper – John Bennett – research for OECD – schoolification – able to search on the internet – we should be providing less structure up to the age of 7 because the research shows that this is a better pathway for later learning.
Slow Schooling –
1. Starts formal learning later
2. Reduce testing
3. Increases curriculum flexibility
4. Doesn’t hurry the child
5. Rehabilitates play alongside purpose

2. Endurance It lasts
Sustainable leadership lasts. It preserves and advances the most valuable aspects of learning and life over time.
Endurance – it is a common defect in men not to consider the good weather the possibility of tempest.
Good Succession Plans are important for the team – a good leader might just die!
Spreading positive messages for all – write a message – we used our cards from Wendy and I will take time to write one to every staff member over the next couple of weeks. Do this often – as with children, focus on the strengths because it will make a difference.
SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP SETTINGS:
 Leadership is not delegation – distributed leadership is shared leadership and is based on respect for each other as a team member – ownership.
 Build strong professional communities – engage in P.D. because they know it is a pathway for strong leadership, are committed to learn something new and not shut it down.
 Deepens are broadens the pools of leadership talent.
 Establishes leadership settings – Roskill South Kindergarten – get a critical friend to take the team forward.
 Stresses future leadership competencies – Greerton Childcare Centre – they take it through to budgets and salaries – it’s not easy but it can be done.
 Supports aspiring leaders –
 Replaces charismatic leadership with inspirational leadership
Have you considered yourself as a Mentor “to help and support people to manage their own learning in order to maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance, and become the person they want to be.” Pen Green think that it is critical to mentor another personal.
Mentoring is to be a rainbow in the clouds! www.mentoring.org
Maya Angelou – google her and find out more!!!!
A mentor helps a person interpret the world!
TED.com – Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we are educating children. His book – The Element
3. Breadth It spreads
Sustainable leadership spreads. It sustains as well as depends on the leadership of others.
Collaborative leadership with children – what are the processes, what are we doing to make this truly collaborate.
How much do we use the knowledge of the students in our team and do we take on board this – new theorist can be one area of reflection and review.
Professional Learning Communities Aren’t
 Merely convivial and congenial – they are demanding and critical
 Just a collection of stilted teams looking at information together
 Obsessed with results instead of depth of learning
 Forced or imposed, they are facilitated and supported
 Ways to hijack teachers to carry out administrative agendas
Justice It does not harm the surrounding environment
 Do not steal your neighbours capacity – another Centre – don’t take from them.
 Emphasis collective accountability
 Coach a less successful partner centre or setting – find another Centre and form a partnership
 Make a definable contribution to the community your Centre is in – go out and get to know your neighbours – this is our community – bake a cake – clean up your area
 Pair with a Centre or setting in a different social environment
 Collaborate with your competitors – at the heart there is fear, particularly in these difficult times, but both Centres will be strengthened for everyone.
Te Wháriki
You can learn more from people who are different than oneself, than ones that are the same, Hargreaves & Fullan, 1998.
Strong Networks are:
 Strong branding and definite products
 Clear moral purpose
 Clarity, focus, discipline
 Resourcefulness
Energy Restraint
 No achievements without investment
 Shared goals, not imposed ones
 Slow leading, slow learning
 Time
Self and Peer Feedback Process – available on the internet – John Heron – this can be used within the teaching team – get someone to give feedback on a teacher practice, e.g. reading a story, puppets – it’s about feedback not criticism – do it with someone you trust – email admin@elp.
Conservation – The Past, Present & Future of Change
 Acknowledge the past because the best learn from the rest.
 Wildness, diversity and disorder have value
 The past is not pure – do not romanticise it.
 The past has no Golden Age to which we should return
 We view the past differently, we must therefore interpret it together
 We dismiss or demean the past, we fuel defensive nostalgia among its bearers
Three Cultures of Teaching
Veteran Dominated Novice Dominated Blended
Serves experienced surrounded by provides mentoring
Teacher interests fellow novices
Feels exclusionary feels inclusive offers leadership
Offers few leadership driven by enthusiasm Reciprocal learning
Opportunities
 Go on retreats
 Audits of the organisations
 Organisational abandonment meetings
 Storytelling to pass on the wisdom – of our place, our Centre – make them visible
 Mentoring that runs in both directions’
 Good documentation
 Creation of blended cultures

Finished with Nickleback video “If Everyone Cared and Nobody Cried”

Considerations for me:
Mentoring – getting and giving
Cards to every staff member in celebration
Make more links to our local community – Exminister Street, Green Bay Kindy, UELC – Jump Start, Te Puna Reo and other Kindy
Become politically aware – curriculum development
Thank you from Karen Ramsey

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity Video on TED.com

Sunday, April 25, 2010

ELP - Margaret Carr Seminar

Learning Pathways and Learning Journeys in the Early Years: Opportunities and Responsibilities

Educational Leadership Project Ltd

Present by Margaret Carr, Kohia Teacher Centre, Tuesday, 13 April, 2010

Margaret talked about our own learning journey and “Possible Learner Selves”.

Building Super Learners and Super Heroes – Guy Claxton, “Building Learning Powers” book inspired Flatbush Kindergarten to explore Super Hero play and they developed a big resource of coloured capes for children to become different super heroes. Guy’s book is mostly geared to Primary School teachers and key competencies, but it is quite relevant for early childhood.

Our learning journeys include recognising our possible selves and thinking about finding a balance between the selves we hope for against the selves we are afraid of becoming:

Hoped Possible selves could include being successful, creative, rich, thin, loved admired

Fear Possible selves could include depressed, alcoholic, afraid, bankrupt, criminal

Children might see themselves as: explorer, writer, belonging, activist.

Jane Campion stated “You need just one degree more of inspiration than fear” to get on with the things that inspire you and you want to complete. As educators we often pop back to our old ways, not committing to the new “possible selves” and we need to cultivate our teaching dispositions – keep getting out, coming to seminars, conferences, centre visits etc to stay fresh and inspired.

Carole Dweck has an excellent book “Mind Set” that is well worth having in the Staff Library.

Who Are My Possible Learning Selves:

o Resilience – Edmund Hilary – the inspiration to respond and construct a challenge

o Relationships – Dame Whina Cooper – the inspiration to lead people and strive for a just world.

o Imagination – Rita Angus – the imagination to see and explore the world in different ways.

Ideas

Think about the NZ Curriculum and how it is linked to early childhood notions of important dispositions to foster in children for life long learning. Page 42 of the NZ Curriculum should be an A3 poster that is displayed in all educational spaces because it shows the intention from the Ministry of Education on seemless transitioning with assessment practices that are driven by the children and supported by their teachers. Page 12 & 13 are comments on the Key Competencies.

What Qualities Will Children Need in the Next 40-50 Years.

1. Well Being and managing self – developing a “can do” attitude.

2. Developing the disposition to work and dialogue with others.

3. Belonging to the wider global community

4. Sustainable communities

5. Multi-levels of communication – we are barely scratching the surface at the moment.

Margaret showed a video from Greerton Early Childhood Centre (Lorraine Sands, Tauranga), of Ruby who wanted to climb and a climbing wall was created to provide a very high degree of challenge.

Who Do We Recognise as Heroes

Imaginery – Harry Potter, Dr Who

Famous Learning Heroes – Nelson Mandela, Sir Peter Blake, Sonya Davies

Famous Family Learning Heroes – various people who had survived adversity such as migrating, surviving war zones

People We Know As Learning Heroes – Wendy Lee, Margaret Carr, Alison Brierley, Jo Colbert, Jo Allen

Differences

Our children are questioning all the time, whereas we didn’t because it was seen as being ignorant, maybe you hadn’t listened enough or weren’t smart enough – there is definitely a generational difference.

Margaret and Wendy have been part of – A Royal Society – Marsden Fund Project – and a book has been developed “Learning in the Making: Dispositions and Design in Early Education” by M Carr, Anne Smith, Judith Duncan, Carolyn Jones, Wendy Lee, and Kate Marshall, published through Amazon although they are checking to see if NZCER will publish it.

The book looks at the following:

Resilience ) Initiating and orchestrating projects

) asking questions

Imagination ) exploring possible worlds

) our storytelling selves

Reciprocity ) Establishing a dialogue

) being and becoming a group member

ICT is a very big part of our future Learning Selves and James Gee writes a lot about ICT and has a wonderful book “Why Video Games are Good For Your Soul” and it is about pleasure and learning.

Vivian Gussin Paley “A Child’s Work” is also very inspirational.

Conclusions

1. Try something new and don’t be scared – particularly true for me as I consider further study to get my Teacher Registration.

2. Recognise and strengthen the hoped for inspirations and possible selves.

3. Be inspired by those who have gone before us – if Whina Cooper can walk the length of the North Island, I can complete one more year’s study and when I start I need these inspirations to help me through.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010




Last weekend I attended a seminar with Chelsea from Unitec, on Infant and Toddler settings based on RIE philosophy and the work of Magda Gerber - very cool day and so much to learn.




Monday, November 16, 2009

Monday, November 9, 2009

Waitakere Fireworks Display


Posted by Picasa

On Saturday, 7 November, 2009, I bravely ventured to Edmonton Primary School and set up on their field to capture images of the Fireworks Display in Waitakere Stadium.

Well I had great company, half the neighbourhood turned out and I ended up with my own little group of "friends/minders", making me feel much safer.

These are some of the amazing photos I managed to capture, (after dropping the camera, in the dark - no flashlight). I used an ISO 100, f14 and on Bulb, I opened the shutter anywhere from 5-20 seconds, just to see what I would happen.

The photos above have been collaged in Picasa 3.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Childspace - Leading the Way - Conference - Day Two

31 October, 2009

Day Two - Dr Anne Meade - A Vision for Change.
Dr Meade outlined the pathway for leadership in ECE through the Centres Of Innovation (COI) programme that has now been dissolved, and all the work that had been completed. What was remarkable about the COI work was that these women (no men that I know of), were allowing visitors into their programmes as they we engaged in research, they were disseminating their findings as they were happening, being invited to present their findings at National and International conferences, something that is unheard of under normal research situations.

I have purchased 2 NZCER books on the COI programmes and will use these for my own professional development.

Dr Meade urged us to continue with the work around leadership, even if we have to fund it ourselves.

Workshop Two - ePortfolios - Pukekohes Educare - Thames
Miffy Welsh presented their journey on creating ePortfolios using Powerpoint and downloading to DVD's for families to review and add too. This was a wonderful presentation, and too their credit, they admit to be ICT-illiterate, and they realise that this type of portfolio would be great on the web either as a wiki or blog, but they don't know how to do this just yet. Interestingly, they only to 1 comprehensive learning story for each child each year. There are lots of snippets and anecdotal stories, but only one really depthie story. We all received a DVD with their presentation which I will look at some time soon.

Keynote Speech - Kate Thornton - Models of Leadership
Kate continued from her workshop that I attended. Kate talked about her own research "blended action research" where she worked with 4 Centres using online reflective journals. Part of this programme was providing support for each other, but only through questions, no advice was allowed to be given - apparently this was very cathartic for the participants - we all want to make suggestions!

Keynote Speech - Pennie Brownlee - From Your Head to Your Heart
Pennie is a very dynamic speaker and in the middle of her presentation we were all up dancing to "I love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett. Actually this was an experiment on how we ignore our heart desires (to get up and dance the minute we hear this song), and let our head rule (is it appropriate to dance at a Keynote?). Pennie has written lovely books over the years and her current one "From Your Head to Your Heart" is perfect for new parents. Pennie believes that we are both human and divine and when we screw up, that's our human side - don't let that hold you back. Between the ages of birth and 6 years, children are literal sponges and with this comes cultural downloading, e.g. beliefs, values, attitudes, intellect, answers, opinions, ego, etc. - we had better be very careful about what we feed young minds.

Below is the first part of this report, next time I will get more organised.



This is our circle of friends at the Conference Dinner - Halloween.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Childspace - Leading the Way - Conference

30 October - 1 November, 2009 in Wellington at the Brentwood Hotel.

Maree, Jo-Anne and I attended this brilliant conference and this year it was themed around Leadership.  We arrived on Thursday night and had a look around town before getting an early night.

Day One - Friday - we opened with a Keynote from Paula Jorde Bloom (from USA), who talked about the paradoxes we face each day, e.g. we have smaller families and bigger homes, money can buy us a clock but not time, there is more medicine available but our health is no better, etc.  Being a leader can be the best and the worst, sometimes we are the pidgeon and sometimes we are the statue.  Paula outlined 9 paradoxes for developing good leadership skills: cultivate a sense of community AND encourage individual autonomy; promote change AND maintain continuity; encourage diversity of opinion AND promote collaboration; strive for consensus AND make decisions swiftly; look at the big picture AND focus on the details; promote equity AND make exceptions; be thorough AND keep it simple; show compassion AND strive for emotional detachment; acquire wisdom AND affirm ignorance.  Considerations be clear about expectations, count to 10 more often, be committed as much today as you were 10 years ago, give in to laughter.

Toni Christie followed with her Keynote and a big part of her message was about growing teams where the philosophy and culture are the roots.  She has a lovely poster called "Camaraderie, Communication and Conflict" which highlights areas for consideration and looked at a GROW model; Goal (what do we want to happen), Reality (what is currently happening), Options (what are the options for resolution), Will (what will you commit too?).  Monkeys are a big part of understanding leadership and we don't need other people's baggage.  Considerations create a team contract, use the readings to investigate my own leadership model and develop improvements.

Annah Stretton was the 3rd Keynote for the day (prostitute to all charities - her words), Annah has an amazing empire under her wings and she spoke very strongly about making a commitment and working hard to achieve it.  She gets up at 5a.m. every morning and works before breakfast, she even works 2 hours in the morning when she is on holiday, before everyone gets up.  Don't accept mediocrity, business is business - it's not personal, think in black and white - the way men do, always keep learning through clubs, tertiary studies, networks etc.  Considerations I think I would like to find a mentor, I want to be more forthright with issues and get what I need, not what others want, I am also going to set myself some challenges for leadership.

Workshop One - Kate Thornton - Authentic Leadership
Kate got us to think about someone who's leadership we admire (Sir Peter Blake for me) and list all the qualities that you admire.  When all these attributes were put together it seems impossible that one person could be all these things (about 20 from the whole group), so if you can accommodate 80% of people 80% of the time, you are doing really well.  The point was that we can't be everything to everyone, but we can be true to ourselves.  We also did a timeline of our own leadership journey which was a bit of an eye-opener.  The question "what have I learned" bought up the following points