blah blah blah, about nothing in marticular – may contain traces of aaaarrrggghh
When I first saw NeelishK’s fold of this model I was in total awe of the boxpleating skill it showcased:
He is part of a shared group on Fakebook and to my amazement shared, via photodiagram, guidelines and folding sequence suggestions. Continue reading
This time of year I add marks to student work:
I want to pretend it is a life-giving activity for me, the teacher. Continue reading
Last night (25th March) was Earth Hour. Between 8:30 and 9:30pm we turned off our lights:
I decided to try and fold something by torchlight … great plan Einstein. Continue reading
As a teacher and pastoral care “tutor”, I am always looking for ways to get kids working together. At the beginning of the year the tutor group room is a mixed-year level (6-12) mixture of strangers and established friends so “GTK” exercises (Getting To Know you) are great icebreakers if you can get them actually talking and working together:
A few years back I struck on an idea to get kids collaboratively folding an origami mega-structure. The model is fairly simple – I taught the newbies (in this case the year 6 and 7 students) a simple modular unit. They then had to go teach another kid in the group, who in turn taught another. The central metaphor is “the WHOLE is greater than the sum of the parts”, “many hands make light work”, “we are as strong as the weakest link” … and so on.
The Chinese Zodiac is rich with myth and legend, most cultures are full to the brim with such fancy. Chinese New year is based around the Lunar cycles, as such seem oddly placed to us westerners:
Moon cakes, yum cha, char sui hanging in a chinese butcher’s window, the red of firecrackers, the noise and smoke of a dragon dance – all wonderful to be part of. Most cities have a “China town”, in Brisbane it is a section of Fortitude Valley – these areas come alive at this time of year … mmmm, need some dim sum and a nice pot of jasmine tea. Continue reading
