Learning On The Job

I love this idea from Jess McCulloch, who I got to meet at Learning 2.0. (Thanks Kim for tagging me!)

The idea is to share your commute to work with your network. I live about 800 meters from the back gate of the school. Almost every morning I walk the 12 – 15 minutes to school with my wife (PE teacher), my son (grade 1) and my daughter (Discovery/Pre-Kindergarten). Sometimes my other daughter doesn’t want to be left out and she joins us for part of the walk!

At first I thought this was just going to be for fun, but as I was thinking about it and then actually taking the photos it made me realize how use of images was really making me stop and take notice of things that I might otherwise take for granted. The act of trying to capture the essence of my ‘commute’ really made me think long and hard about what was important and what I wanted to share. I could definitely see creating a similar project for students. What a great way to bring students together from around the world!

I live on the third floor of a 20 story apartment block. If you know where to look, you can actually see my apartment in this photo!

There are plenty of places to stop and smell the flowers if you are looking for them.

Besides apartment blocks, there are some nice villas on the housing estate.

There are even some nice tree-lined sidewalks.

The choice of monuments around the place is… interesting.

Although it is a ‘modern internationl city‘, there is still plenty of old Hanoi to be seen.

The back gate of the school.

The Elementary School courtyard. This is usually teeming with kids running around and wreaking havoc!

One of the initiatives that has started at UNIS is a community garden. This one is right in the middle of the ES courtyard so that all the students can watch it grow and flourish.

The library (2nd floor) and canteen.

Finally. My door. Anything look familiar?

Yep. That’s me!

It’s a simple commute and one I usually take for granted. Not this morning though!

I’m looking forward to see the morning commutes of Adrienne, Jabiz, Keri-Lee, and Sean!

Never mind that this originates from a law firm in the United States…

[Source: Buckfire and Buckfire.com]

h/t Coolinfographics

For those of you who know the BBC program(me) Click:

A friend has obviously been playing around with Photoshop!

I’ve been reading a lot about Jordon Romero, the 13 year old from Big Bear, California who just became the youngest person to ever summit Mt. Everest. He is one peak away from indisputable conquering the highest peak on each of the seven continents, also called the Seven Summits. He was inspired to attempt the Seven Summits, it is reported, by a painting in the hallway of his school showing the peaks.

In almost every article I have read, there have been doubts raised as to whether or not he should have been allowed to climb. Some commenters even go so far as to suggest negligence or even abuse on behalf of the parents!

I say this: The boy has a dream and he has done everything possible to realize that dream. His parents have done whatever they can to support that dream and to mitigate (but not eliminate) potential dangers.

As teachers, we should be celebrating the achievements of this tremendously motivated young man (and also Jessica Watson, the 16 year old Australian who just finished a solo circumnavigation!). It is this sort of passion that we hope to see and cultivate in our students.

I wonder what Jordan’s and Jessica’s teachers think? Does it matter that they missed that math test? Does what they missed in class even compare to what they’ve learned outside of it?

Image: ‘Everest/Chomolungma and Nuptse‘ by apurdam (Andrew) (CC BY NC ND)