Photogaphy guide, John Bellany and harbour at night

In last weekend’s Guardian, there was an 80 page handout – The Guardian: A photography masterclass. Anyone who is a keen photographer should have a look at this – I have certainly learned much and am only half way through. There are sections on camera techniques and equipment, but also on photography as art, “emotional awareness”, street photography, landscape photography, sport, travel and still art photography. These articles are written by experts such as Eamonn McCabe and Don McCullin and what they give the reader is ideas and different ways of looking at what you might photograph e.g. don’t always go for the obvious.

There’s a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh and it features the artist John Bellany who was born in the fishing town of Port Seton which is 20 miles (32K) up the coast from Dunbar. One of my sisters has 2 Bellany paintings – gifts from the artist himself who now lives in Braga in Tuscany. While Bellany is not one of my favourite artists, there is a fascination in his work as he often juxtaposes the real and the surreal. In Edinburgh this week, I took the 1st photo below (phone camera so not the best quality) as it struck me as high art and low food, with the Bellany poster on the side of the National Gallery and the burger van below. While this is a juxtaposition of the real and the real, I thought it was a great contrast.

A walk long the harbour in Dunbar last night to try and get my night photography to improve. While I can take some good photos close up, I’m struggling to get good landscape photos. I have searched for advice on this but not found the right advice . There were two fishing boats in last night, both with catches of prawns. Next to each boat were flocks of noisy and disputatious seagulls. There was also a seal which dived and came up in the middle of the gulls, causing them to panick and fly up in unison. This would make a great shot and during the day, I could use my sports setting to catch this but it wouldn’t work at night. What I did get was photos 2 and 3 below – of a box of newly landed prawns waiting for collection, and a young seagull which landed on the harbourside next to the fishing boat.

High art and low food

Newly landed prawns

Young seagull at night

Schools in the digital age and a butterfly

Reading Mal Lee’s article in the new edition of Scan (in which I and my CSU colleague Judy O’Connell also have articles), I followed up the reference to Schools in the Digital Age. The authors argue that digital media is a ‘disruptive technology’ and will change the way that schools are organised in the future i.e. digital media will not just change the delivery of education. The authors point out that while many businesses have changed their management structures, school still operate on what they call an ‘industrial model’ which has remained unchanged for over 100 years. For TLs, it is worth downloading the 28 page summary and to look at some of the ideas presented there, especially those about learning spaces in schools, as there are implications for virtual school libraries here.

Out walking last weekend near Coldingham Beach, I spotted a flash of colour in the grass. The picture below shows the butterfly, which proved to be a very willing subject for a close up photograph by, from the butterfly’s point of view, a giant. The butterfly is the reasonably common Red Admiral whose proper name is the splendid Vanessa Atalanta – sounds like a great name for a film star, or female sleuth who solves murders in Madrid. I like the contrast of the vibrant colours of the butterfly with the grass.

Red Admiral aka Vanessa Atalanta

Digital literacy and The Killing

From time to time, I check out the Futurelab site and I always find something of interest. One of the current offerings is a report on digital literacy which starts by giving examples of what different teachers might define as digital literacy. As with information literacy, there is no one agreed definition. An excellent part of the report is where examples from schools are provided. These show how both primary and secondary schools have tried to incorporate digital literacy into their school curriculum and there are many useful ideas here. The subsequent sections deal with the curriculum, pedagogy and teacher’s thoughts on developing digital literacy. No need to read it all word for word, but certainly worth scanning – and passing on within your school.

The Killing in the title of this posting does not refer to any murderous crime committed hereabouts recently, but to the very popular TV series which has just ended here in the UK. It’s a strange success story as The Killing was shown in 10 double episodes on Saturday evenings at 9pm and was in Danish with English subtitles. So 2o hours of viewing with more twists and turns than an Alpine cycling route. It was riveting, with a mixture of whodunnit and political intrigue and some excellent acting, not least from the often persecuted detective Lund, as she determinedly followed every clue. It was one of these shows/films with subtitles which, at the end, you would testify in a court of law that you had hear the characters speak in English. If it comes to your country, rearrange 20 hours of your life.

Digital literacy and the Manly Ferry

From Futurelab, a handbook on digital literacy across the curriculum, which can be downloaded. The handbook which Futurelab describes as providing not a how-to-do-it guide, but ‘a rationale, some possible strategies and practical examples for schools to draw on’. It also discusses professional development and how digital literacy can be included in ‘whole-school initiatives’. The handbook uses the term ‘digital literacy’ and it implies that what we might refer to as information literacy, is part of digital literacy. I think that we need to accept that there is going to be a range of terms used, with different definitions, and that as long as people do not jump on every bandwagon that comes along and stand behind the barricades of their own term, we can co-exist with our firmly on the key aim of student learning. This is an important report, so please circulate it amongst your school colleagues.

In Sydney at the weekend for s short break. One of the iconic trips in Australia, I think, is to go on the Manly Ferry from Sydney across to Manly and walk through the shopping area to the beach. Don’t stop there but keep walking round to Shelly Beach and you can see some of the wonderful natural rock sculptures. One of the best ideas is to return to Sydney on the ferry when it’s dark and you get a great view of the lights of the city, the bridge and the Opera House. This is an unexpensive and healthy trip, and you can take a rest under the Norfolk Pines and watch the surfers. The picture below is taken from the ferry on the return journey, with the cruise ship Volendam in the harbour.

Approaching Sydney Harbour on the Manly Ferry

Information literacy and Nam Le

I’ve just completed a podcast for my students on some aspects of information literacy in schools. One of the issues facing TLs and teachers has been the proliferation of literacies in recent years. So how do you distinguish, for example, information literacy, digital literacy and visual literacy? Should you distinguish them or are digital literacy and visual literacy components of information literacy. There is no agreement on this. One Digital Literacy site (and there are many) defines digital literacy partly as ‘the use of computers to retrieve, assess, store, produce,  present and exchange information’ but is this not also a possible definition of one aspect of information literacy? I think that the key aspect here is not to restrict ourselves to definitions of different kinds of literacy, but to see how they might overlap. So ask your self – how does media literacy relate to information literacy, and vice versa? Consider it your homework for tonight.

I’m reading an astonishing book of short stories at the moment. The Boat by Nam Le contains a range of stories which will grip you with a sense of high tension. You will also be fascinated by the range of characters and by how much you find out about characters in a relatively short period of time. There is so much depth in these stories that sometimes I have come away thinking that I’ve read a whole novel and not a short story – although many of the stories are not short in the sense of being only a few pages long. If you think you don’t read short stories, then try this book and prepare to be amazed. Seldom have I read a book that lives up to the lavish praise of the reviews quoted.

Concept maps and snowdrops

I’m writing up some research about students using concept maps in schools and how many students value their concept maps when doing assignments. With encouragement, students can be taught to make extensive use of their concept map (or mind map) i.e. not just to identify keywords for information retrieval but to help students think about how they might structure an essay or report. Concept maps can also be used to help students understand concepts and many science teachers, for example, find them helpful. If you want to increase your knowledge about concept maps then I would point you to a study by Novak and Canas. It’s fairly long but you can dip into it and gain some very good insights into how you might use concept maps with your students in the classroom or in the library.

The snowdrops have been out for a while now here in Dunbar and they are lasting longer this year because of the cold weather. There is always a great display of snowdrops at the local farm of Pitcox. The photo below shows the snowdrops in the garden of the ‘big house’ i.e. where the farm owner stays. Snowdrops, my web research tells me have the Latin name Galanthus Rivalis meaning a milk white flower resembling snow, but should not be brought indoors as this is bad luck – like putting new shoes on the table, I suppose.

Snowdrops at Pitcox

21st century skills update and pigeons

From eSchool News, comes a report that the MILE (Milestones for Improving Learning and Education) guide for 21st century skills has been updated from its launch in 2003. The new guide was launched at the AASL National Conference ,which I have attended once and it’s huge, with over 2200 delegates milling around everywhere and it’s one of these conferences where if you meet people once, don’t rely on seeing them again. Despite that it’s a very invigorating experience. The updated guide to 21st Century Skills includes a poster which you can download. The article in eSchool News states that new guidelines on implementation have been included e.g. “a visual mapping and self-assessment instrument”, to allow authorities and schools to gauge implementation. So it looks very useful. Of course, we all must question whether there could possible be a discrete set of 21st century skills which our students can use effectively and accept that many skills, e.g. higher order thinking skills have been around for many centuries, in both oral and written cultures.

If you like pigeons - look away now and do NOT look at the photo below. If you think cities should protect their public sculptures from pesky pigeons, then you may admire the strategy I saw recently in Abu Dhabi. I was walking back to my hotel down a street with lots of public sculptures (see previous entry for example) and this man appeared and started laying down handfuls of grain on the pavement. At first I thought he may be an eccentric bird lover and I wondered if he’d be allowed to do this. After the pigeons flocked off the nearby monuments, I noticed that there was a metal diamond around the pigeons. I then saw a wire going from this diamond to a man, about 20 metres away, holding a wire. He pulled the wire and a net closed over the pigeons. I snapped (see below) the man approaching the netted pigeons but left after that. As to the fate of the pigeons – who knows. In Scotland, pigeons are known as doos. So this paragraph has been about the Abu Dhabi doos (with apologies to Fred Flintstone).

Pigeons.net

ASLA conference (2) and Richard Woldendrop

I’m posting this at the ASLA conference and I’ve just been listening to an extremely good presentation by Mark Treadwell. He is one of these polymaths who gave a range of examples of how, in the last  5 years, there has been a paradigm shift in society with the emergence of the internet. He argued that learning is the key factor in our schools but that schools are not necessarily geared towards learning. He cited the new New Zealand curriculum which focuses on a new approach to learning, which, for example, gets students to think about their emotions. Mark emphasised that we need to take a new approach not only to schools but also to school libraries. Get on to his websites – and yes, he is selling books – but there is a wide range of superb ideas.

One of the visits (pre-conference of course) which was very worthwhile, was to the Art Galley of Western Australia . The current exhibition is by Richard Woldendorp. It is a series of photographs, taken from the air and the exhibition, according to the gallery, ‘established a fresh visual vocabulary for the Australian landscape’. The photographs are stunning and at first often look abstract, until you look closer and see, for example, trees on a sand dune. Absolutely stunning.

Teacher’s domain and new books

A message on the IASL_Link from Margaret Stimson via the redoubtable and ever-active Gerald Brown refers to the Teacher’s Domain which appears to be worth investigating as a useful resource for TLs across the world. It has a wide range of sources including websites, videos and lesson plans. I searched under information literacy and tried the first of 609 hits, just to try it out. There’s a video and a lesson plan  on how students can be taught to be critical viewers of what they watch e.g. to identify bias or missing information or ambiguity. The lesson plan includes an intriguingly named Idenitifying Information Graphic Modelhandout, which turns out to be a Word document using a Word graphic but the content is good. For full use, you have to register but for browsing, you can use the Search facilities. It is North America based but most of the issues dealth with appear to me to be relevant across the globe. Check it out.

I like buying books. I like reading books, of course when I have the time but there is something very satisfying about buying new books. Don’t get me wrong, if paper ceased to exist and all reading material was only available digitally on one of the new e-book readers (no advertising here – do a search for digital book readers and you’ll see the range ) I would still buy books. However, there is something tangible about books in print as there is with a newspaper, plus walking round the bookshop is a physical as well as mental experience. As opposed, of course, to walking round shops selling clothes as this is a physical experience but a mental strain. The books I bought were The White Tiger, The Tin Roof Blowdown and The Cellist of Sarajevo. They join the 9 other books yet to be read on the current ‘to be read’ shelf although on other bookshelves, there are also unread books. I’ll get there.

Visual search engines and Lake to Lagoon

Visual search engines such as Kartoo  have been around for a while now. Other visual search engines such as SearchMe are being tried out by teacher librarians. There’s a good comparative article  on the excellent Listio website, which looks at 4 different visual search engines. There are number of interesting features in SearchMe, including the ability to stack i.e. you can drag the thumbnails of your selected sites into a stack (which you create) and then you can save them, like your favourites, or email them to someone else. In a world where Google is always the first port of call – and I’m as guilty as everyone else – allowing our students to see search engines such as SearchMe gives them an oportunity to think more about how they search and how they can use what they find.

On Sunday I was involved in the organisation of the Wagga Wagga Lake to Lagoon event – a 9.5K run, wlak or cycle. This is a free event which attracted over 2000 entrants. Now Wagga Wagga has a population of about 60,000 people and this means that, apart from a few people who visit from outside Wagga Wagga, 3.3% of the population took part. There is a run in Sydney called City to Surf which attracts 65,000+ people. We (the Lake to Lagoon committee) reckon that, given Sydney’s population and Wagga Wagga’s, that City to Surf  would attract 130,000 runners and walkers if it matched Wagga Wagga proportions. So, onya rural Australia. Picture below of the winner’s trophy and L2L stalwart Paul Gooden.

Lake to Lagoon Cup