Month: February 2015

Blogging Task #2

chris hope

Book reviews, Singapore, Chinese New Year, Formula 1, The Giants in Perth, these are just some of the incredible topics the students from LA19 have been writing about. It’s been an absolutely fascinating few weeks in the LA19 world of blogging, but now it’s time to get down to the more serious side of our blogging – the Blogging Tasks. Our second task is a bit of fun and gives a little direction to those bloggers beginning to run short of ideas.

Some song lyrics, for whatever reason, strike a chord in our minds and end up having an impact, or at least stay in our memory. This line from Big Country’s hit In A Big Country has always stayed in my mind:

“I’m not expecting to grow flowers in the desert,

But I can live and breathe and see the sun in wintertime.”

I’ve never been a particular fan of their music, but when I first heard these lines they just made such an impact they’re still in my mind. Maybe it was because they convey a message that I can totally relate to, almost like a personal, cool, almost laid back philosophy (it feels like I should have ended that sentence with, “man”). Other songs have stuck too, but these lyrics are more meaningful than most. The task for LA19 this time is to tell the world about a song or some lines from a song that, for whatever reason, have stayed with you. What are the words? What do they mean to you?

I look forward to your completed tasks.

Incredible Start

chris hope

Well, this is usually the point in the year where I pick out a handful of students who’ve made an extra effort with their blogs and give them a shout-out on this blog. Unfortunately, I’m unable to do that this year. Before anyone gets the wrong idea, though, this is because it would just mean me listing almost the entire class in this post; it really has been an exceptional start to the year. Not only have the students been posting faster than I can comment (honestly, I can hardly keep up), but the number of students doing this has been outstanding. To cap this off we’ve had comments from new friends in Canada and visits from old friends who have moved on to high school. Check out the blogs on my class list and you’ll quickly see what I mean.

Can We Keep It Up?

chris hope

Following the restructure of the first week we seem to have been running permanently in overdrive. We’ve had such an incredibly busy two weeks that I have to give enormous credit to the students who have been open to learning new technology and integrating it into their routines. Not only have they started so well with their blogs, but they’ve also started to use Google Drive and our education department’s own Connect application which allows us to complete our work online. I also have to thank the parents who have also been so positive and open towards our new technology and have even joined in, following us on Connect. This has all been on top of our general class work which hasn’t taken a step back for a second. Whilst this pace is exhausting, it’s also very fulfilling and exciting, I only hope we can keep it up!

The Giants

chris hope

This week The Giants came to Perth as part of the incredible Perth Festival. The Giants are huge puppets that are powered by amazing, energetic people, pulling ropes, swinging from trucks and abseiling from cranes in spectacular red uniforms. The puppets come alive and walk through the street, although a huge part of the attraction is watching the operators as they perform their medieval-like manoeuvres. Have a read of the blogs of Savannah, Shantelle and Tarnika as they pass on their experiences of this fabulous weekend.

Blogging Task #1

chris hope

This post is especially for our new students.

Now the blogs have been created it’s about time we started moving things along. Hopefully, by the end of this week, it would be great to see all the blogs with a set theme, header, background and greeting. Also, an initial post to welcome people to your blog would be a great idea, or, if you feel ready, a post on a topic you feel is worth sharing with the world. Don’t forget, all posts and images need to adhere to our strict code of conduct. The writing has to be clear and accurate and the images must either be your own or licensed for re-use. Good luck and have fun!

New Year, New Students – Again!

chris hope

What a difference a week makes! Since we came back to school on Monday we’ve been through a huge change process. I originally started this week with a mixed year 5 and year 6 class, 19 year five students and 9 year six students. However, due to serious changes in the numbers and ages of the students attending the school we had to carry out a sudden restructure. As a consequence LA19 is now a straight year 6 class and we had to say goodbye to our year 5s (hopefully they may be back next year). All this means that we’re basically starting everything again with our blogs, so the names on the class list will change and so will my header photo. Hopefully we can get all the technicalities (permission notes, login details…) sorted out soon and start the students blogging. Keep watching this space.

New Year, New Students

chris hope

Well, Monday is it! The first day of a brand new year with a brand new class. Last year was an incredible year for me, so I’m going to have to work twice as hard (not possible) to make this year even better. The students will be looking at blogs and investigating what it means to protect themselves and their privacy online before they post, so it may be a few days before we hear from them. However, the excitement and anticipation is building and I can’t wait to be inspired by another group of amazing young people. Watch this space!