Demon

 Demon was the first pet that was mine. Previously mum had brought me a dog (which she chose and named) and we got a cat (as family weren't going to keep it and we were moving into their old house), but Demon was MY first cat. The first pet I got to choose and I got to name and was brought for ME. He was my baby. 

He was cuddly but would play fight too. He curled up with me for cuddles all the time especially when I was sad.

 

But then about a year ago, when we got the kittens, he changed. He started to come inside less and less. When he was inside he'd eat and then sit in the corner by the door hissing wanting to leave.

 Then one day he just stopped coming home. For about a week he didn't come home, he never came running when we called him.  We knew of a few neighbours who's homes he hung around we went around to talk to them to find out he'd been staying in one of their yards. We brought him home for dinner and cuddles... But he just wanted to leave.

 For weeks we played it this way. Bring him inside when we could, feed him. He'd sit at the door and hiss. I'm be in ruins knowing he didn't want to be home, that this was no longer his home. He was no longer my baby....

 Now.... He hasn't been home in months. I hate it! It hurts because he was my baby! It hurts knowing he's out there somewhere but he doesn't want to come home! Seeing him in the neighbours yard and calling him just for him to turn the other way. Not knowing if he's safe or not, if he's still alive or not. I just want him home safe, to wake up to him curled up in bed with me like he used to. Even to be lying here writing this for him to suddenly jump up and curl up on my back while I'm writing. 

But I can't force him to be what he's not, I can't force him to be somewhere he doesn't want to be, it's not right. 

He's decided this isn't his home any more. He's decided he's not my baby any more. He's decided to leave.

I'm left with my memories of him and photos and videos. I can only hope that one day he'll decide to come home.

Photography

So because I haven't posted in a while I thought I had better get something up ASAP. However majority of what I have listed to post at the moment has a ton of writing and editing and structure. So I thought for something different I'd post some of my photography, which I'm loving at the moment. I hope you enjoy.

ACEC 2014: Now it’s Personal - Day 3

Third and last day of ACEC 2014 started with a keynote from Sally-Ann, @sallyannw and Alan Noble, @scruzin about CS learning.

Only 2% of Australia’s domestic graduate’s numbers are in CS (computer science). While there is a 6.9 increase in employment in this field from 2006 to 2010, everything is moving faster and it’s starting to be a concern that there will be more jobs in the computer sciences department than people qualified to fill it.

After watching a video ‘Coding is the NewLiteracy’, Sally-Ann spoke about how the language of the future is coding, and as software touches all different things it’s important to know how it works. It’s being said that coding is as important as reading and writing the question is, will it ever surpass that?

Sally-Ann then went on to explain how CS + X is not just for programmers, the ‘CS’ standing for computer science of course and the X can be anything you want, i.e. science, math, etc. She then explains that computational thinking isn’t just about producing programmers but it’s about 21^st century thinking. Computational thinking is a set of skills of softwares engineers use which also apply to human endeavours.

I really enjoyed this presentation and followed it up with the conversations with Sally-Ann.  During the conversations we spoke about the 20% time at Google and how it could be incorporated in schools. At Wirreanda we had genius hour which was based off of 20% time where for an hour a week we got to work on whatever project we liked for at the end to present it to the class. However we spoke specifically about what it is at Google that makes 20% time work so well and Sally-Ann’s answer was that there are set guidelines which she believes makes it more successful. Also that they pick a topic and find a solution to make a difference and do something amazing that makes an impact.

Overall Sally-Ann made a big impact on myself and other students. I loved her persona, she was really lovely and it was a comfortable feeling talking to her.

The rest of the day was prepping for the panel after lunch. I think the panel went fairly well and I must say Jordin did absolutely amazing! Although she said she was nervous, you wouldn’t have guessed it, she seemed so comfortable on stage and spoke really well even when she was answering off the top of her head.

In closing of ACEC 2014 it was an amazing experience and I’m glad to have had the opportunity. My two highlights of the experience would have to be listening and talking to Alec Couros as well as Sally-Ann. They were both so lovely, presented well and had a very interesting point of view.

To read up on the Twitter feed or other blog posts go to:

Conference twitter: @ACEC2014

Student twitter: @ACECDLs

Hashtag: #ACEC2014

Student blog: Digital Leaders Australia

My other posts on the conference:

1        Shining Remix         2        3

ACEC 2014: Now it’s Personal - Day 2

The second morning of ACEC began with the keynote speaker Kathy Schrock, @kathyschrock . Kathy’s keynote was about storytelling as part of learning. Story telling is personal and showing up everywhere, it’s showing up in the business world replacing bullet points and you could almost say it has become the ‘new black’. The main advantage of storytelling is the part of the brain that it activates. Lectures only use the portion of the brain that decodes words, so the full potential of the information is not taken in; whereas storytelling activates the brain as if you are actually experiencing the story, this is because the audience searched for personal connections in a story. This results in more of the information being taken in and the story making more of an impact. Kathy went on to talk about the different ways story telling can be shared, specifically using digital storytelling, she also spoke about visual literacy, creative commons and prepping stories with story boards.

However, although Kathy’s presentation did have some great information in it, I feel as though that information was lost in the first few minutes in the presentation and the rest of the time was filled up as advertisement for different apps. The majority of the presentation was basically there’s this app, it costs this much, this is what you can do with it; here’s a video of a product made with the app.

After the keynote it was time to sit down with Kathy for the conversations with the keynote presenter. This didn’t exactly make the best impression on me personally as I feel some of her answers were quite ignorant almost. One specific question a student had that I, myself agreed with very much was ‘If teachers are already so busy with marking and such how will they feel about another time consuming task?’ Kathy’s response to this was that you don’t talk to her about time, its passion. That may be fair enough if she doesn’t care about the time aspect of these projects as she is so passionate about these new medias, which you can clearly tell how passionate she is, however this isn’t the way for everyone and the question was about teachers who already have a lot of their personal time taken up with school prep, these are people who do care about time consumption.

I may feel this way because I did really enjoy Alec’s presentation the previous day and his general attitude to the conversations that followed, so I may have had a higher expectation for keynotes to follow, I’m not sure. All I can really say is I was expecting a lot more and while there definitely were good aspects to the presentation they seemed to lose out to the less impressive aspects. With that being said listening to Kathy speaking you could tell how passionate she was about these new technologies and mediums. From the way she lit up talking about it to the passion in her voice there was no doubt how much she cared and loved what she did.

Later in the day I had the pleasure of listening to a grade 12 student from Urrbrae presenting on being principal for a day. Jeremy spoke about his experiences of acting as his school principal for a day, an experience some can only dream of.  Principal for a day  is a hands on leadership experience which involves approximately 200 students around the world, it gives students the chance to have their voice heard by their principals and gives schools access to a structured leadership development program. While also allowing students to learn and be empowered with a passion to make an impact and inspire others.

Stepping into the shoes of the principal Jeremy had the chance to show his true leadership skills by participating in meetings and conversing with teachers. Getting to see the important role of a principal, not only in the school but also in the wider community.

Jeremy showed two inspiring videos in his presentation from Kid President , Pep Talk to Students and Teachers & Surprise Party For A Retiring Teacher . As well as sharing a quote from Nelson Mandella “It always seems impossible until it is done.” There inspiring videos and quote was to show that the impact we can make is astronomical as well as that actions speak louder than words. Each one of us has a part to play in this world and while we can’t do everything, we can do something for someone!

At the end of Jeremy’s presentation there were a few questions as just as his presentation was his answers were also inspiring. His attitude was very positing and over all held himself very highly. His overall summary for his experience was that is was truly amazing, the best part was to see and talk to teachers outside of the classroom environment. His advice to aspiring students was to break through walls, think positively and go with your heart. I absolutely loved listening to Jeremy he was very inspiring and was a strong public speaker, I look forward to hearing about him going far in the future.

Later on I went to my last workshop of the day which was about Project600: Inspire, Connect and Transform presented by Glen Watt, Glenn Finger, Vicky Smart and Fiona Banjer.

Project 600 is an online literacy and numeracy initiative in Queensland. It focuses on boosting achievement using online teachers. At the moment is varies from grades 4 to 9. Recruiting high performing teachers and training them to create a team project, helping the students with ongoing coaching using web conferencing. It lasts for 12 weeks with one lesson a week.

On a study done with a control group of normal students and a group of the project 600 students it was clear that project 600 does in fact boost achievement. Students clearly enjoyed it saying they found the activities fun and getting their brain working, majority of schools find it worthwhile and parents mostly love it finding their children more confident in their homework.

Project 600 also offers extension programs for the students who excel in specific areas and have a wide range of different topics.

When I asked if the project interferes with the way teachers teach in the classroom are teaching the presenters answers were that while it may disrupt the way the students or teacher thinks it doesn’t really interfere.  If anything it just gives another view of the way to do things.

At the end of the day I got to sit down and chat with Al Upton, @alupton and Amanda Rablin, @ackygirl. It was great just having a casual chat with them talking about everything from fandoms to events like zombie walk and comic con. They’re two really awesome people who I’m really glad I got to meet.

To read up on the Twitter feed or other blog posts go to:

Conference twitter: @ACEC2014

Student twitter: @ACECDLs

Hashtag: #ACEC2014 

Student blog: Digital Leaders Australia

My other posts on the conference:

1        Shining Remix         2        3 

ACEC 2014: Now it’s Personal - Shining Remix

Yesterday during Dr. Alec Couros’ presentation there was one thing he presented which has made we walk away thinking about it enough to want to do something about it. We were on the topic of how stories can be moulded and twisted until it becomes a completely different story. He spoke about people taking movies and twisting them into a different story and the example he showed blew me away. Shining Trailer Remix is AMAZING!! They’ve taken the classic horror by Stephen King and twisted the story to make it look like a love story.

After seeing this I’ve decided to speak to my schools English coordinator to have this incorporated into the curriculum. However if in the case of being unsuccessful, which I will not be, I plan on attempting this on my own anyway because it was THAT awesome!

To read up on the Twitter feed or other blog posts go to:

Conference twitter: @ACEC2014

Student twitter: @ACECDLs

Hashtag: #ACEC2014 

Student blog: Digital Leaders Australia

My other posts on the conference:

1        Shining Remix    2         3

ACEC 2014: Now it’s Personal - Day 1

The day started off bright and early in Hall B for the opening welcome. Two grade 4 students played the ukulele and sang for us before then being welcomed by Dr. Jason Zagami,@jzagami and the conference being opened by Julie King.

“Digital technology curriculum assists students to become confident creators of digital solutions.” – Julie King 2014

After that we had our first keynote presenter, Dr. Alec Couros, @courosa. The main idea I took away from listening to Alec was the importance of digital identity, even as an accident. These days’ people are making amazing contributions though the internet, creating, collaborating, remixing and posting media for all to see, no matter if it’s intentional or not all these creations help develop a digital identity.

One of the most important things, just like in real life, is to teach students what and when is private as well as what and when is public. There is a time to share things and a time to keep things private and distinguishing the difference between the two can be quite difficult; in classrooms when talking about cyber safety generally we don’t distingyish the difference, we will go through not sharing personal details such as address, full name, etc, but the difference between private and public content isn’t discussed and we don’t talk about how to decide if it should private or public.

It’s become a custom in today’s society to share every intimate detail online, from wedding videos and images to pregnancy announcements and much more. However when do we over step the line and is there one? Does sharing these intimate moments publicly make them less intimate? Should we be sharing these memories this way? Can these memories be tainted with comments from the public eye due to social media? In the end there is no right or wrong answer, it all comes down to personal preference. For an example Tabs24x7Official recently got married and as she has became a fairly well known youtuber everyone was so excited to see footage and videos of the wedding. However while she has shared things like the decor of the wedding and getting ready for it she has actually said she didn’t video the actual ceremony. Having an extremely small wedding and wanting to keep it as it is in her memory she decided not to film it even for herself just to keep it that pure, happy, magical memory. She also mentioned that she didn’t want to have the ceremony online as to not let it get tainted by comments of the public eye. Personally I admire her so much for this and think it’s a really smart idea. However as I previously started it is a personal choice.

Alec also spoke about how ideas can grow from being naive, using digital technology to document growth, how mediums change the environments, becoming internet famous and mind your own business learning.

After Alec had finished his keynote we had a bit of a break before going to the conversations with the keynote speaker. Here people from the crown sat with Alec and asked him questions and overall had a discussion about his presentation. For that session I was there just to listen and see how the questions are being put forward as the next session was for the Digital Leaders to have a conversation with Alec. Walking away from the conversations it was a lot to digest and process. We spoke about learning not just in the classrooms but also in everyday life, guidance being the role of the teachers, building networks and much more. Some of the things that stood out to me the most in that conversation were:

·       Developing the abilities to use mediums to express and share knowledge

·       Vibrant student centred environments make different types of learning happen

·       It’s important to make people self aware of where their attention is going

·       Instilling confidence and vulnerability into the average writer

·       Using vlogs as a step to building confidence talking in front of an audience

In the afternoon I got to listen to a group of students from Tea Tree Gully primary school between grades 4 to 8 present about digital leaders in their school. They presented very well talking about what digital leaders are in their school and what they do. The skills they use to create games, test out new apps, program and solve digital problems as well as being self taught and being the go to people to get help from for digital problems in their school.

Just before afternoon tea I had my twitter presentation that went fairly well.

After that I went to the ‘Technology: What’s around the corner?’ workshop before the end of the day. The workshop spoke of technologies ranging from what is already out, in the processes and predictions and plans. A key focus was ‘the internet of things’ explaining what that was and what the future appears to have in store of that. One thing about this specific workshop that I really enjoyed was that the future technologies didn’t seem to just be phones, laptops, etc. There also seemed to be things for a more efficient world and to improve things such as saving money, fitness, posture and even helping people to eat at a better speed. I walked away from this workshop mind blown and with a list of things I want.

Overall the day was amazing, exhausting but at the same time amazing. I look forward to the rest of the week and bombarding my head with information.

Also there was a constant stream of tweets throughout the day as well as a few blog posts which can be checked out bellow. 

Conference twitter: @ACEC2014

Student twitter: @ACECDLs
Hashtag: #ACEC2014

Student blog: Digital Leaders Australia

My other posts on the conference:
1     Shining Remix         2         3

ACEC 2014

For the next three days I will be taking part in the 2014 ACEC: Now It’s Personal. What is that? ACEC is Australian Computers in Education Conference; this year’s theme is now it’s personal.

For the first time ever they are having students participate at the conference to give their perspective and ultimately their voice in their learning. I’ve been lucky enough to be one of the students getting to be part of this awesome experience. For the next three days I’ll be listening to keynote speakers, sitting in on workshops, tweeting about the conference, blogging about it and I will even be on stage on the last day giving my opinion as a bit of a follow up of the conference. I’m only slightly excited.

I of course will still be posting on here about the conference, but there are the other avenues that will be used. To follow the rest of the digital journalism on this conference there are a few places you can check out:

Conference twitter: @ACEC2014

Student twitter: @ACECDLs

Student blog: Digital Leaders Australia

Check out previous posts on Digital Leaders Australia as I have previously done a guest post on there.

Also watch the google hangout about the conference: ACCELN Hangouts04e21 - Student action: The days of 'voice' are numbered