Dyslexia and Loving Words

Earlier this week I talked with mother from school as we talked over the dentist's chair I sat in. She was concerned about the last school report and her children's dyslexia. Who could she talk to?

It made me think about children diagnosed with or who I knew had dyslexia over the years. I thought about what I did do for them, what I didn't do for them, and that feeling of not having done quite enough.

I thought especially about one young chap who I know is bright; he could solve maths problems easily and was holding things in his head instead of using paper. He loved to discuss and debate and of course, at that stage in my career I told him to quiet down and write his answers. Whoa!

Another young lass more recently, was able to tell great stories. I read her story out at a moderation meeting. After the accolades, I showed my colleagues her written text and told them her name. They were astounded. Then of course, came the debate about how to grade the piece. Therein is the problem: we use tools that give us an overall grade. This wordsmith could capture an audience, by creating amazing word pictures and plot lines.

I knew that these children were getting a raw deal.  I knew that there were people in public and academic life who had found success in spite of dyslexia and a less than satisfactory experience of school.  Even in my own experience, I'd had a student who left my Year 13 English class to complete and English degree for which she planned to use a tape-deck (another decade of course).

I have to admit I still felt helpless as the mother spoke. So when the film,"Dyslexia and Loving Words" by Vicky Morris, was promoted on Twitter by Sir Ken Robinson, I got sidetracked from my reading and started watching. That was me for the next hour or more! (Stopping and starting to reflect, make lunch...)

I'd started out to read about writing in Gail Loane's book, but this was definitely a worthy substitute for the chapter I aimed to read.

I've added my reflections from Storify after the Youtube video:

 

I didn't formally make resolutions for the year but I have resolved to do things I want and need to do for my soul. One of these is find out more about dyslexia and ensure that our teachers are better informed. I'll be promoting this documentary for a start.

Chatting About Student Centred Pedagogy

Another great chat tonight with forty other twiducators from around New Zealand. It is so reassuring we have educators who are continuing to inquire about their practice.

Big ups to Maurie Abraham and the group of teachers he has gathered around him at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. They are having fun - yes fun - being able to design a school from the foundations up with people who are building a shared vision and being given permission to explore and experiment. It will be exciting to follow their progress as the first students enter their doors.

@mrs_hyde @MissDSciTeacher @mattynicoll #edchatnz to change students experience teachers must change pedgy and schools change institutions
— Maurie Abraham (@maurieabraham) November 14, 2013

#edchatnz Let them fly... Via @venspired pic.twitter.com/ub8YiI9VV6
— Sally (@SallyHart72) November 14, 2013

Attwicted to Learning

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moriza/126238642/

I had a laugh tonight going through a list of Twitter slang. I think I'm "attwicted"; but it's because I'm addicted to learning. And I like learning with others.

http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/Twitter_Dictionary_Guide.asp

Twitter has become my short read. Instead of the paper or the Listener on a Saturday morning, I'll lie in bed and go through the tweets. Usually the main news is highlighted by the media news accounts and interesting issues are retweeted and commented on by some of the people I follow. Another dimension is added: discussion with other tweeps. Most of the folk I follow are fellow educators, so a lot of articles and links to resources become subjects for conversations too.

I've also found that it's possible to become a source of news or even an editor. I've tweeted @melissa_stokes in the ad break of a news broadcast about an error and had her reply that she'd get it fixed!

Twitter has become my main source of learning and keeping up with what's going on in the world and especially the world of education. I curate what I find with Evernote - and I even occasionally go back to check out my cache. 

I take notes on Twitter. Yes, I could use a Google doc, but I love sharing the learning and waiting to see if an idea will be challenged or added to. Take the writing workshop I attended two weeks ago. An eminent and respected guru of writing, she stated that research proved boys' and girls' brains were wired differently. "Really?" I thought, "I wonder what that research is?" And I asked that question of the Twitterverse as I sat there and got an instant reaction:

I collate the notes I tweet using Storify, which has a great embed option to show the tweets as a slideshow. Useful if you want to flick quickly to a point. And that's another point: each idea must be encapsulated in a neat 140 character block. There's something satisfying about succeeding in turning an idea into a pithy epithet.

The associated link is like unwrapping a gift - the tweet gives a taster of the goodies you are going to find. And it is a gift. Twitter is free and Twiducators share their wares unselfishly. Just for the cost of your data.

Collaboration is a huge benefit of Twitter. I've learned to do #timelapse photography by sharing ideas with tweeps like @dakinane, which have then led to school collaborations across the country, like #nzschooltimelapse . Around the globe, educators are conversing at set times on a range of topics. Every second Thursday at 8.30pm, educators get together to talk on #edchatnz. Students can now connect on #kidsedchatnz on a Wednesday too.

I've had a lot of fun with Twitter. There was the day I decided to use it as a #lazyweb and asked for advice on processing feijoas. A #feijoafrenzy began, recipes, ideas, photos all shared amongst a great deal of bonhomie. My freezer was packed with feijoas and the day filled with a lot of shared laughter, even if it was by hashtag!  Seems I wasn't alone in enjoying the fruit.

Meeting tweeps face to face is amazing. You can go from a conversation online to meeting them f2f for the first time and continuing that conversation as if you'd been in the room together and old buddies. Funnily enough, we have a connection that goes further than a smartphone. The highlight of Ulearn13 for me was meeting up with so many of these "old buddies". I can now sit in a waiting room or even alone at a cafe and not feel friendless! (And sometimes the tweep gets to sit in the cafe too, rather than just at the end of the phone.)

I found out at Ulearn13 that it's not just connection, communication and collaboration...there's also a little bit of competitive tweeting possible, all in good fun.  Nothing like getting a hashtag trending...http://events.core-ed.org/ulearn/blog/techie-number-crunch

Hmmm - enough said about that!

Why is this all so important? Well for me it mean I'm already entering the future we are building with our children. The New Zealand Curriculum document, which has now been out since 2007, states:

NZ Curriculum, page 36

The last paragraph intrigues me as much as Captain Kirk's lines, "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man (one) has gone before." Now, six years after the document came out, I can see some of the new and different ways of learning.

I challenge you "to boldly go", to explore and find out for yourself.

Tweeting perhaps?
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSn6PcSs4tEXgPI7HkQ8hG_GnpeQna-a3P2yo54FrfNfpDFn_Zk

How Video Games are Changing Education

Via: Online Colleges Guide